The Impact News

Issue date: 3/24/09 Section: Entertainment

True, some of the heroes remember their origins over the course of the film -- the masked detective Rorschach explains how he was scarred as a child (and further scarred as an adult), and walking A-bomb Dr. Manhattan remembers being torn apart and pulling himself back together -- but everyone else simply exists as a familiar archetype, forcing the audience to use their brains and piece together their stories from jokes and implications. It makes you use your brain even as it punches you in the stomach (in the best way possible.)
Keep in mind that the book doesn't give all of their origins, either. In that way, the movie is remarkably faithful to the book, and everything the director cut out was pretty much expendable. Side stories with minor characters who tangentially interact with the main ones are left as cameos: the newspaper vendor, the New Frontiersman staff, Rorschach's psychiatrist, and Captain Metropolis. Certain redundant flashbacks have also been excised.
Although the action of the movie has certainly been ramped up, these are still reflective heroes, which means that when they're not punching people, they're engaging in a not-insignificant amount of dialogue, much of it in voiceover. But if not for the occasional exploding person or snapped neck, all the talking in this film would have driven me insane.
There are two teams of heroes to keep track of from two different eras -- some of which are teh same characters, just older. And the movie, like the book, is approximately 50 percent flashback, which makes things even more difficult to follow as we bounce from an alternate 1985 to an alternate 1945 to an alternate 1965, trying to figure out who would have killed the Comedian when all of his enemies are dead, mostly at his own hand. It's a lot to take in, especially for someone who hasn't read the book.
Maybe one of the problems I had with the film was the fact that these were technically normal people who dressed up like superheroes to take the law into their own hands, yet watching the fight scenes, it seemed that they had superpowers defying gravity and human anatomy. It was strange, but didn't really hamper the experience.
If you're willing to invest all of your attention and 2 hours and 43 minutes of your time, this movie is worth it. Don't wait for the DVD -- the screen will be smaller, and the movie will keep getting longer. If you are looking to see a visually stimulating and entertaining movie on the big screen, then this is the one to see.
They'll be watching…

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