Watchmen

Rated: R

Genre: Action, Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Thriller

Runtime: 162 mins

Released: March 6, 2009

Director: Zach Snyder

Cast: Malin Akerman, Billy Crudup, Matthew Goode, Jackie Earle Haley, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Patrick Wilson, Carla Gugino

I finally saw Watchmen this weekend directed by Zach Snyder (300, Dawn on the Dead), which was originally a really graphic novel written by Alan Moore and illustrated by Dave Gibbons. The Movie is set In 1985, Richard Nixon is about to serve his third term as president of the United States and the world stands on the edge of destruction as the world’s two superpowers vie for nuclear supremacy. The only thing stopping the USSR from launching a doomsday attack is America’s Dr. Manhattan (played by Billy Crudup) a being with enough power to destroy planets and much else.

I never read the novel Watchmen nor am I familiar with the characters because I’ve never even heard of Watchmen before, that might be why this movie was “just ok” to me. I think there were too many characters to get familiar with; usually the audience is introduced to 1 or 2 main characters, but when you are trying to get them to care about 5 or 6 characters it starts to get fuzzy and boring. Not to mention the acting was just average.

The movie is also way to long, with flashback after flashback in the first 2 hours, by the time we hit the climax there is only 30 minutes left. With too many subplots (which come from out of nowhere) I think the only people who will enjoy this movie are fans of the novel, people who are already familiar with the characters.