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Watchmen (2009)
Starring: Patrick Wilson, Jackie Earle Haley, Matthew Goode, Billy
Crudup, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Malin Akerman, Carla Gugino, Stephen McHattie
Directors: Zack Snyder
U.S. Opening Date: March 6th, 2009
THEY SAY
A complex, multi-layered mystery adventure, Watchmen
is set in an alternate 1985 America in which costumed superheroes are part
of the fabric of everyday society, and the Doomsday Clock - which charts
the USA's tension with the Soviet Union - is permanently set at five
minutes to midnight. When one of his former colleagues is murdered, the
washed-up but no less determined masked vigilante Rorschach sets out to
uncover a plot to kill and discredit all past and present superheroes. As
he reconnects with his former crime-fighting legion - a ragtag group of
retired superheroes, only one of whom has true powers - Rorschach glimpses
a wide-ranging and disturbing conspiracy with links to their shared past
and catastrophic consequences for the future. Their mission is to watch
over humanity . . . but who is watching the watchmen?
Based on the 12-part DC Comics series written by Alan Moore and featuring
art by Dave Gibbons.
WE SAY
Appropriately dubbed the “Citizen Kane of comics” by one
British magazine, Watchmen has had a huge influence on both the
comics media and popular culture. Its influence can be felt in anything
from other comics, TV shows such as
Heroes and movies such as Mystery Men and
The Incredibles.
Its epic tale of embittered superheroes has definitely
struck a chord. Throughout the years there has been quite a few stabs at
bringing Watchmen to the big screen (at one point 12
Monkeys director Terry Gilliam was rumored to be set to do it) until
the project was finally green lit with director Zack Snyder at the helm of
things. Snyder is a promising young director who has scored hits with the
excellent Dawn of the Dead remake and
300 and he seems to be the guy for the job,
especially as Watchmen’s stylized comic book world will benefit
from extensive CGI background work.
Except . . .
Thus far the cast announced is a bunch of pretty new
young faces – which misses the point as it is a tale of embittered
middle-aged superheroes. However, if Snyder can use CGI to manage fake abs
for the Spartan warriors in 300 then one supposes that he can
digitally age the cast as well. (X-Men 3 did the
opposite in its opening scenes starring a “younger” Ian McKellen and
Patrick Stewart.)
We here at Sci-Fi Movie Page have always thought that a
mini-series would be the best way to bring justice to the brilliant Watchmen and
its complex universe, so here’s hoping to a nice three-hour superhero epic
like, um, Spider-man 3 . . .
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