Watchmen: Review

I've never really read comics or graphic novels, but I really like most of the movies based on either. The characters are usually really complex, trying to do good things, but struggling with their identity or personal demons and attempting to make the world a better place. I understand Watchmen changed the face of graphic novels, and from the movie I can see how it would have done that really well. The characters all work to preserve society when traditional methods seem to be failing, but they're not actually superhuman (except Dr. Manhattan, obviously) - they age, can be killed, but do have skills at fighting crime. However, they're not all perfect either. The movie starts with the death of the aged "Comedian" (Jeffrey Dean Morgan - so cute and pretty awesome) as they figure out that someone is killing off the remaining Watchmen. The original Watchmen all started up before WWII and as some aged, younger people took their places. The movie goes on to showcase the back stories of how the remaining Watchmen became who they are, but overall, I didn't care for the movie. It was much too long, and in specific scenes much too violent compared to the dark nature of the rest of the movie. However, the soundtrack was lots of fun, and I appreciated the alternate time, with Nixon in his 5th term. The individual characters were uneven in the story and there wasn't a real leader or hero to care about, except perhaps "Comedian" who we know is dead, see only in flashbacks, and doesn't turn out to be a great guy. There's a moment when Dr. Manhattan disappears where the movie seems to be gaining plot, but Billy Crudup is so unconvincing, that it barely returns to any sort of story. The visual effects were good, but if it doesn't result in a story worth remembering, I wouldn't bother seeing it again. 2 Stars/Lambs