Watchman

Although I didn’t care much for V for Vendetta I am an overall a fan of Alan Moore. Indeed this blog has a link to an Alan Moore site. Watchman is arguably his magnum opus and the movie version of the book did not disappoint either. What I particularly enjoyed was the comic book feel that the director created with his cinematography. This was most evident in the opening scenes when the character of the Comedian was murdered but was further emphasized in the long nose Tricky Dicky depiction of Richard Nixon.
Rorschbach was by far the most intriguing of the Watchman, the work done on his shifting mask adds moxy to a super hero that has discarded model relativism and sees the world operating within a discrete Good and Evil Dichotomy. He is a true opponent of all that is wrong and far exceeds the robotic and somewhat removed Dr. Manhattan in this arena.
In true Moore form the story abounds with sub plots – Night Owl’s personal struggle, Silk Spectre II’s coming of age, Rorschbach’s demons. Set this within the context of a Cold War spiraling down toward nuclear apocalypse and you have a movie that goes places and keeps you in suspense.
Some conservatives such as Debbie Schlussel have criticized Watchman for its violence. That it is violent is obvious, but the context of the movie set around an extremely dark universe where evil incarnates itself in the worst possible way makes much of this violence necessary. The fact that violence is fought head on and defeated by the clearly conservative super hero Rorschbach (I couldn’t help laughing at his personal rant against leftist thinking) more than atones for such depictions. A definite must see.

Ranking: 8.5/10.