Watchmen rekalled...

FORMAT: At the theater on the big screen.

Watchmen, the most heralded Graphic Novel in the comics medium, has finally made it to the big screen and it was a valiant effort. Not a perfect film but it is a good movie, about what I expected after the onslaught of review love this film was getting. I didn't think it could live up to the hype that I had heard which is the best superhero film ever. I still prefer the Dark Knight, Iron Man and first 2 Spiderman films but that is said not to disrespect but to show where it could rank.

First off I will name the problems I had with the film.

Number 1, the wigs used and make-up to represent older people where not the greatest, almost gave it a campiness that was distracting. After seeing a film like Benjamin Button and the amazing aging make up done in it the bar has been raised pretty high. Plus is it so hard to have an actor or actress grow hair or maybe spend an extra half hour with the hair stylist to make it look natural?

Number 2 would have to be the choices of music for the film, a lot of well know period music that also seemed to be a punch line to a joke most of the time. It works in a couple of scenes but it felt like a crutch or shortcut to try an evoke a certain emotion for many other parts of the film. In all the great superhero films a unique score has made them more than a music video and elevated the emotional resonance of the scenes.

What worked? Everything else.

The cast was great, while not what I had in mind when casting the film myself but all great choices. Rorschach was played perfectly after my initial doubts from the trailers and was the understated star of the film. Dr. Manhattan was more subtle than I could have hoped for. Night Owl II was just the right amount normalcy and Silk Specter II was as sexy as all get out. The comedian showed a certain charm that made you believe that people could tolerate his assholeness. The only character that seemed to get a little shortchanged was Ozymandias but that might have been I found his character more interesting a just wanted more, it didn't take away from the film.

The action scenes were a lot more than I was expecting which I should have expected more since Zack Snyder's other 2 films are great auctioneers. He does use slow motion more than most but when and how he uses it really works for this film. This film has a style from beginning to end that is enjoyable. It was even a little more gory and sexy than I thought it would be even though it is an R rated film. Definitely not a kids film.

There are changes from the graphic novel that I am totally on board with, most for time constraints and other for focusing on major characters instead of digressions onto minor characters. There is one major change that will divide the nerd world but I like the change, I think it makes more sense than the original idea. I had explained this change to some people who hadn't read the graphic novel and they thought the original idea was not good. I know my explanation didn't give it the justice of reading the original but I don't think it still would have resonated with them as well either.

All in all a good film, it isn't perfect but there is a lot more than I like than I dislike with the film. If the music had been predominately a score instead of placed popular music it would have made it to the next level for me. Definitely a worthy ride if you are a fan of the superhero genre and are looking for an adult version of that world, it just isn't the end all of superhero films.