"Who watches the Watchmen?"

We watched Watchmen a while ago, and I've watched it again a couple of times. The film is based upon a graphic novel by the same name. The story explores the character traps that superheroes, and the societies they protect, can fall into.

The heroes are all too human: a macho-man who tries to rape one of his fellow superheroes, and glories in the killing fields of Vietnam; a child abuse victim who hides behind his ski mask and metes out brutal justice to brutal criminals; a glowing-blue former scientist who can manipulate space and time, but can't understand people; the younger woman who became a superhero out of hero-worship; the spectacled liberal who wonders what his band of superheroes fights for, when society seems to turn against them; and the brightest man of the age, who feels the only way to turn society away from the brink is to trick them into banding together in common cause against a mortal threat.

The story is set in an alternative history setting: a version of the mid-1980s, in which Nixon is still in power (thanks to victory in Vietnam, thanks to our heroes). Society is still violent, and crying out for heroes, but our heroes have been outlawed due to their own abuses of their power. The world is on the brink of nuclear Armageddon. As the story opens, one of the superheroes is murdered in his apartment. All of these elements are woven together, as our heroes try to untangle them, and save themselves and the world.

The feel of the film is dark and gritty. Often-times the world in which superheroes are set in, seems to glamorous and sterile, and if the world was really that way, why would we need superheroes? Like Batman Begins, Watchmen portrays the gritty side of society...and the compromises that the superhero makes in making his or her way through that society.

The film is definitely worth watching. I understand the DVD has extra footage not seen in the theatrical release, so enjoy! ...and think about the messages.