Watchmen A-

In theatres. Rated R. 160 minutes.

Watchmen is grandiose on every level. From the length, coming in at 2:40, to the themes of the nature of God, good and evil, human nature, and war, to the 100 feet high Dr. Manhattan, the movie is nothing if not ego. And, honestly, that’s part of its charm. For the uninitiated, Watchmen is based on the highly celebrated graphic novel of the same name (named by Time in 2005 in its list of 100 Best English Language Novels Since 1923). The setting is a fictionalized 1983 in which masked super-heroes who once helped the U.S. win Vietnam have now been outlawed, Nixon is serving a third term, the Cold War with Russia is at its apex, and it appears someone is killing off the old super-heroes.

The story is told via the journal of Rorschach, one such hero who has refused to take off the mask and is continuing his vigilante ways. While most of the heroes appear to have negligible super-powers if any at all, one is practically a god. Dr. Manhattan was a physicist caught in an experiment that allows him to morph from place to place, see alternate realities, and see all of his own past and future simultaneously. He is being called upon to solve the world’s energy problems, thereby hopefully diverting almost certain war with the U.S.S.R. But Manhattan’s seemingly limitless power has increasingly distanced him from humanity and lover Silk Spektre II, causing him to abandon Earth for a solitary existence on Mars as the USA/USSR situation is coming to a head.

These heroes, or Watchmen, aren’t all powerful nor all good. The Comedian, played to unrepentant gleeful perfection by Jeffrey Dean Morgan (Denny, Grey’s Anatomy) is exhibit A. He’s a killer and an apparent rapist who is in the super-hero game to get his jollies, not help anyone. Morgan, who I hated on Grey’s, nails this part. Meanwhile Malin Ackerman (27 Dresses) doesn’t do quite as well with Silk Spectre II. While she’s not awful, this role demands significantly more out of her than “be cute” or “be sexy,” pretty much what her roles have asked of her until now. The rest of the cast all do well, especially a perfectly blank Billy Crudup (Almost Famous) as Dr Manhattan (well, it’s all CGI, but it’s Crudup’s face and voice at least). Also strong are Jackie Earl Haley as Rorschach and Patrick Wilson as Night Owl II.

While this film has it’s flaws, not the least of which are pacing in the final act, occasional problems with a tone that veers towards camp, and a feeling that too much has been compressed for us to fully care about some of the characters, there’s way more right than wrong. Doctor Manhattan as a virtual god that can’t relate to humanity because he can’t know what it is to fear or want is fascinating, as are the arguments of idealism versus pragmatism in ethics and the nature of time. More to the point, my interest never wavered. The direction of Zack Snyder (300), held a little close to the source material, forcing him to keep some stuff he should have thrown out, but what he gets right is the parallel world that looks and feels like our own, but not quite. It’s this world that really sucked me in and that I’m sorry there really can’t be a sequel to explore further. A-