Watchmen

By Mal -

5 out of 10

How can a film with so many good things in it be so... average? Tricky one, but Watchmen manages it. And it pains me to give such a low mark. :(

For those not in the know, it's a dark, noir-like story of crime-fighting, superheroes-cum-vigilantes — although some of these characters hardly deserve to be called heroes. Based on a graphic novel whose tone is said to have inspired the latest Batman movies, it sounds like it should be brilliant, but... it just feels pretty flat throughout.

The pacing isn't exactly snappy and a good chunk of the first hour or so is spent filling in backstory. And then there's the narration from one of the key characters, given in the form of journal entries, which had me thinking more of Dick Spanner than the developing story. Rounding off the negatives, a few of the superheroes are... well... a bit wet, frankly. And, for people who are superpower-free, they're all unrealistically able to withstand long falls. Must have a lot of calcium in their diets.

All that aside, however, it's still a beautifully produced film. The levels of sinister in some characters are well portrayed, the lighting (cinematography?) is pretty awesome throughout and it's to be applauded that the cast list wasn't just composed of box-office shoo-ins. There are some nice, low-key gags in there too, but they're so far apart that they don't manage to lend an overall sense of humour to the film.

I did still enjoy it, but I suspect anyone who's not mad keen on graphic novel material might find this film's running length too much for them to enjoy it. I suspect it's better suited to its print-based origins than the cinema screen, but it's still worth a look.

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