Welcome to the Shrine to Actors

Watchmen is one of those films where your opinion of the movie can change, the longer you think about it. And then perhaps change back again. This tale of ex-superheroes who reunite after the death of one of their own has some really amazing moments peppered in between fairly good and flawed moments. Depending on which scene you pluck out of the whole, you’ll have an entirely different view of the film.

The masked character Rorschach (Jackie Earle Haley), who begins the investigation into his former friend/colleague’s death, is the strongest character–and strongest acting–presented here. Called at times a lunatic, menace, and sociopath, Rorschach turns out to be far more complicated–and more sympathetic than first appearances might suggest. A look into his backstory provides the audience with added depth to his motives–however that backstory is one of the times when the movie strays off course into unnecessary gruesomeness that seems to delight in its own perversity.

Many of the film’s visuals are stunning–the action and fighting scenes are both exciting and beautiful all at once. At times the actions slows, or moves in frames that capture every graceful movement–mimicking the beautiful frames found in graphic novels. Rorschach’s mask, with its constantly shifting ink blot, is mesmerizing and frightening all at once. And the luminescent blue Dr. Manhattan (Billy Crudup) is at times ethereal, sensual, or terrifying.

While Watchmen holds as dim a view of mankind as The Dark Knight, I didn’t feel nearly as suicidal when I left the theater after Watchmen. It may be the variety of characters, all with different levels of nobility and motives, and with real feelings of friendship, love, uncertainty, remorse, and sacrifice. I confess I was liking the movie a lot more about 3/4 of the way in than when I was near the end, but it’s another one of those parts of Watchmen that can lead to hours long philosophical discussions. Which is pretty good for a “comic book movie”.

Two other things of note: Firstly, during the opening credits we get flashes of a timeline that shows us the original Watchmen (Minutemen), and what happened to them and the group of masked heroes that followed. With the Comedian (Jeffrey Dean Morgan), original Silk Spectre (a 40s glam Carla Gugino), Silhouette (gorgeous Apollonia Vanova), and Hooded Justice (Glenn Ennis), I found myself wishing for a movie about them–and how these regular, non super-human people decided to become masked avengers.

Secondly, for truly wonderful moments in Watchmen, look for Dr. Manhattan and Silk Spectre on Mars, Silk Spectre and Nite Owl in the jail scene, Ozymandias and the assassin, and pretty much anything with Rorschach.

Since this is the Shrine, I have to mention the male prettiness factor, and certainly there are no complaints about seeing the buff Dr. Manhattan in all his blue, naked, full frontal glory. And yes, I know the costume enhanced it, but Jeffrey Dean Morgan has got an incredible set of shoulders on him. Rowrr. And Matthew Goode as Adrian/Ozymandias? Hot hot hot. Though his accent faded in and out a bit, he was smooth, cool, graceful, and ethereally gorgeous in a Linus Roache sort of way.

So, how to sum up all these disparate factors? I’m not sure. I would say if you’re squeamish to violence and not particularly into graphic novel interpretations, then go ahead and skip it. If coolness outweighs grossness (and sexism) in your book, then go ahead and give it a try. There is a lot here that’s worthy, and I consider it a noble effort. There is depth to it, and feeling, and thought-provoking dilemmas. Sometimes it’s too full of itself, wallowing in its own arty pretentiousness, particularly with some of the love scenes, and sometimes it’s too gratuitously violent. Often Watchmen is truly beautiful, and moving, and the action sequences are startling and vivid. Without previous knowledge of the source material, the story is both surprising (with intriguing twists) and frustrating (sometimes we feel we’ve missed a page or two of the story).

Let me sleep on it. I’ll probably tell you something different tomorrow.

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Nite Owl, Rorschach, The Comedian, and Ozymandias Watchmen screencaps, c2009 Warner Bros. Pictures, DC Comics.

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