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It's 1985. Nixon has just been re-elected for his third term, and costumed vigilantes have been outlawed for the last 10 years after a 40-year run. A former masked avenger, or 'Mask', is killed in his home. Edward Blake (Jeffrey Dean Morgan), formerly known as The Comedian, is severely beaten and thrown from his apartment. This puts Rorschach (Jackie Earle Haley) on the case. Is someone out to get former costumed adventurers? If so, why? We take Rorschach's theories with a grain of salt - he's the only mask left fighting crime outside the purview of the law, and he seems a bit... off. Rorschach takes it upon himself to warn former masks that someone may be out to get them. He starts with Dan Dreiberg (Patrick Wilson), who used to be Nite Owl II, a sort of Batman-esque gadget-oriented hero and Rorschach's former partner. He goes on to warn Laurie Jupiter (Malin Akerman) and Jon Osterman (Billy Crudup). Laurie took over after her mother as Silk Spectre II, and Jon is and always will be Dr. Manhattan: a glowing blue man capable of manipulation of anything at an atomic level. This gives him the power to transform anything into anything else. He can make people explode with a thought and has the ability to see the future most of the time, although he can't do anything to change it. The death of The Comedian brings the old heroes together again to rehash their memories about him and their glory days. Truths are revealed as the threat of nuclear annihilation grows. The heroes discover that Rorschach may not be as far off his nut as he seems, at least on his theory of a mask killer. The nature of the villain and the reasons for his villainy are not quite what they expected, and this makes for an out-of-the-ordinary superhero adventure. Watchmen Perhaps the missing element is the oppressive feeling of the times - the feeling that at any moment the powers that be could push the button. The feeling that we really were just two minutes to midnight on the nuclear clock. The Cold War shaped the lives of those who lived through it. The music, the movies, the culture at the time all contributed to make us feel a hair's breadth from doom. The comic tapped into that oppressive feeling and built on it to bring the reader even closer to the end. I don't know if that feeling could have been brought out in any film after the fall of the Iron Curtain. The Blu-ray edition of Watchmen The extra features disc features three featurettes and a music video. Most of the drool-worthy features are accessible on the main disc. A featurette on the phenomenon of the Watchmen On the whole, the film is good. If you liked it, it's a good introduction to the comic. If you liked the comic, it's a good attempt to bring the source to life. The director's cut is 24 minutes longer than the theatrical version. No major revelations there, just padding. Good padding, though. The theatrical version is available as a digital copy only. While it's nice to have a digital copy, it's be nice to have access to the theatrical version in high-def. Also included in the package is a coupon for $10 off of the Ultimate Collector's Edition. We'll see how that one does. |
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