Watchmen

'They' always said that 'Watchmen,' the seminal graphic novel by British writer Alan Moore, couldn't be filmed. In Watchmen: The Movie, which opened in cinemas on Friday, director Zack Snyder proves 'them' very, very wrong indeed.

At three hours long, this deconstruction of the American superhero is bottom-numbing, but gripping. In it, a once-famous group of superheroes emerge from enforced retirement to track down the murderer of one of their own.

What makes the Watchmen so powerful is that Alan Moore's superheroes are archetypes of the characters we read about in 'real-life' comic books.

There's Nite Owl, for example, who fights crime with owl-themed gadgets. He's clearly this world's Batman.

Doctor Manhattan, who obliterated his corporal body in a nuclear accident, represents the alienation and loneliness 'aliens' like Superman must feel, living amongst bickering, brutal humans.

The most bad-ass of the group, a street-smart, brutal crime-fighter called Rorschach, represents the moral absolutism that drives anti-heroes like Marvel's 'Punisher.'

These different, but instantly familiar characters allow you to consider the shocking ending of Watchmen from several starkly different perspectives. As our heroes uncover a global conspiracy that endangers millions of lives, each 'hero' has a very different opinion of right, wrong and what needs to be sacrificed in the name of peace.


Aside from being a really deep, thought-provoking movie, Watchmen is also great fun. It delivers a ton of classic comic-book capers, not taking itself as seriously as The Dark Knight, but also avoiding the cheesiness of previous superhero outings like the dire Schumacher-era 'Batman' movies.

It's smart, it's sexy and it's utterly satisfying - and when you leave the theatre, you'll spend the next hour discussing the ending and whether it was 'right' or 'wrong.'