Watchmen

Successful comic-based flicks seem to come in only two flavors, both of them fundamentally adolescent: the binary, good-vs.-evil, teen-romance world of the "Spider-Man" movies or the stylized neo-noir darkness of Christopher Nolan's Batman films. Last year I joked that it would be great to see a superhero movie that was actually set in a grimy, realistic, morally bewildering universe, instead of an art-directed simulacrum thereof. What if Batman was in "The French Connection"? Salon.com Andrew O'Hehir

Who is watching the Watchmen? Lots of comic book nerds and fanatics, that’s who.
I got to say from the trailers it look like it will be a stunningly and visually entertaining picture, worthy of Storyblazer commentary. But because the windows are the eyes of the soul, we must be careful of what we put into our soul. The resident Storyblazer nun, Sister Alice Catheryn Tananbaum, (or as we call her Sister ACT) will not let any Storyblazer watch this film. She says that the graphic sexual and violent images will put us all in an occasion of sin. She whacked me several times with a ruler just to get the desire of seeing this film out of my system. Then she backed me cookies even though its Lent.

“Watchmen” focuses on the contradiction shared by most superheroes: They cannot live ordinary lives but are fated to help mankind. That they do this with trademarked names and appliances goes back to their origins in Greece, where Zeus had his thunderbolts, Hades his three-headed dog, and Hermes his winged feet. Could Zeus run fast? Did Hermes have a dog? No.- Roger Ebert

So this is a non-review review. This is an analysis of the film based on second hand reviews and trailer watching. Plus I did read the graphic novel it was based on. I can not say whether the film is indeed worth watching or not, but I can give an estimated guess based on the information I just gave you.

In any case, Watchmen, while having some interesting characters, cool visuals, and a promising story, fails to tell that story well. Instead of getting a developed character-driven epic about humanity, we’re left with an adolescent storyteller infatuated with gratuitous sex and violence. And we’re left wanting more.
http://cinexcellence.com Joseph Demme

It looks as if it is a dark version of the Incredibles. I think the idea of making an edgy suprerhero movie is an interesting idea. However one of the reasons we go to films is to escape the reality of the world we live in. Superhero films help to inspire us by usually giving us an individual who inspires us to rise above our mediocrity and become a person of honor, integrity, and virtue. By giving all the characters in the film a moral lapse; by giving them have severe Jerry Springer type issues they have to deal with, we get a film that transplants the world we try to escape into a more fantastically messed up world we wouldn’t really want to go to.

It’s not crash-bang enough for those who love superhero films, not complex enough for those who hate them. It’s flawed, then, but a flawed work of brilliance. Stuart McGurk thelondonpaper .
Although Watchmen had some interesting ideas and concepts, and some moral questions to ponder, the story never really rose to a level that I thought deserved “one of the 100 best novels since 1923’. All those so called Watchman wimp out in the end when it comes to nobility and real heroics. The two most immoral characters actually do seem to show a smile of real bravery and actual moral goodness, but with never really Tran- morphing into an actual role model for good guys.

For sure, it's got plenty of caped crusader action, but not the tame "Biff! Bam! Boom!" variety common to Saturday morning fare. The graphic violence is surrounded by a labyrinthian plot packed with satire and social commentary that oftentimes blurs good and evil into a complicated mixture of gray. ChristanitytodayMovies- Russ Breimeier

It is good to explore the darker side of humanity, but never forgetting to leave a crack for the light to come in through the window. To right an honest review I would need to watch the Watchmen. But time, money, and Sister ACT sometimes prevent a film being seen. But a Storyblazer works even when other forces work against them. Please read other non-Storyblazer review to get an idea of whether you should see this film or not. But for what its worth, under the circumstances, this is my non-Blazer review of Watchmen.

The movie is an impressive work of transposition, but I can’t recommend it. Excessively brutal and sexually graphic as well as nihilistic and and antiheroic, it’s a thoroughgoing deconstruction of humanity as well as heroism, one that takes its world apart without putting it back together again. There are things to admire here, but Watchmen doesn’t make me care. If you can’t care about characters facing the end of the world, perhaps it’s time to turn back the clock and move on. www.decentfilms.com Steven D. Greydanus

The reverence is inert, the violence noxious, the mythology murky, the tone grandiose, the texture glutinous. It's an alternate version of The Incredibles minus the delight. Wall Street Journal -Joe Morgenstern

A powerfully good film, one that takes a bunch of familiar ingredients, and whips them up into a stew you've never tasted before. Scott Weinberg FEARnet

Watchmen is like having too much of your favorite thing. I love ice cream, but I can't eat an entire gallon in one sitting. Willie Waffle WaffleMovies.com

I wish I could say, 'Go for the spectacle,' but frankly, you are better off watching The Dark Knight again in Blu-ray. Much better off. . David Poland Movie City News