  
Watchmena.k.a. “Watchmen: The IMAX Experience,” “Cel ce vegheaza,” “Cuvari,” “Strázci - Watchmen,” “Watchmen - Die Wächter,” “Watchmen - O Filme”MPAA Rating:
 for strong graphic violence, sexuality, nudity and language.Reviewed by: Michael Karounos Extremely Offensive
Moviemaking Quality:
Primary Audience:
Adults
Genre:
Sci-Fi, Mystery, Adventure, Action, Thriller, Drama
Length:
2 hr. 43 min.
Year of Release:
2009
USA Release:
March 6, 2009 (wide—3,500 theaters)
 
Relevant Issues
Watches and watchings in the Bible About murder in the Bible What is the Biblical perspective on war? Answer NUDITY—Why are humans supposed to wear clothes? Answer VIOLENCE—How does viewing violence in movies affect families? Answer God
How can we know there’s a God? Answer What if the cosmos is all that there is? Answer If God made everything, who made God? Answer What does God say? Answer Why does God allow innocent people to suffer? Answer  Discover the good news that Jesus Christ offers
“Justice is coming to all of us. No matter what we do.” For conservative Christian audiences, the prospect of seeing Zack Snyder’s “Watchmen” is a non-starter. There is male frontal nudity (albeit blue and animated); numerous instances of blasphemy; shots of women’s breasts; gory violence; and a nude love-making scene. I suspect that (with the exception of Dr. Manhattan’s nudity) such content is put in there for the fanboys, because it doesn’t contribute to the story or to the film as an aesthetic pleasure. However, those caveats aside, let me state at the outset that “Watchmen” is a serious work of art. Calling the synthesis of comics and ideas “serious art” seems oxymoronic, but it is not. Alan Moore’s “Watchmen” is serious in a way that most comics are not, for the simple reason that it contains commentary on the Cold War, the Vietnam War, the prospect of nuclear destruction, quantum physics, the peace movement, social issues such as drugs and crime, and the philosophical significance of power and the use of violence. This seriousness is compelling, but, in its specifics, it is also the Achilles heel of the film, because all the references are so dated. This kind of newspaper topicality is what Robert Frost avoided in his poetry, saying, for example: “Eliot has written in the throes of getting religion and foreswearing a world gone bad with war. That seems deep.” That seems deep. The killing irony is that there is no news worse than old news. Who cares about World War I now? That is why Frost is read and enjoyed by more undergraduates than Eliot or Pound is. Frost’s depth is metaphysical, not political. This is Watchmen’s great virtue as well. Although it is a relentlessly political commentary and anti-conservative, that is the weakest aspect of the work. The strongest aspect is the character of Dr. Manhattan who provides a profound metaphysical dimension around which the temporal issues orbit like planets around the sun. Arguably, without that character, “Watchmen” would be a very good comic book series, but not the classic that it is. The other problem with the movie, besides the topicality of faded 1960s issues, is the disjointed narrative style that it faithfully copies from the comic book. There are intermittent flashbacks that jump from 1940 to 1959 to 1965 to 1985 and points in between. This makes it difficult to follow, if you haven’t read the graphic novel. Preferably, twice. For those not familiar with it, the novel charts the rise of heroes in the United States from the 1940s. These heroes are roughly analogous to American military power and the strengths of its civil society. Dr. Manhattan represents the advent of the nuclear age and the advantage the United States holds over the rest of the world. The retelling of the past (known as “alternate history” in genre terms) occurs in 1985, in the journal of Rorschach, one of the heroes. In addition to him and Dr. Manhattan, there is Nite Owl, the Comedian, the Silk Spectre II, and Ozymandias. The movie opens with the death of one of the characters and the suspicion that someone is out to kill all of them. This, as illustrator Dave Gibbons describes in numerous interviews, is the Hitchcockian “macguffin,” the pretense of the plot. But the movie is about character and ideas, not plot. Rorschach takes us on a picturesque tour of history through his investigations in space and time. In 1977, the Keene Act outlawed the heroes, and those who didn’t go insane or weren’t killed were forced to retire. Nixon is into his third term, the United States won the Vietnam War, and the Soviets are threatening a nuclear war. That is the social background of the novel. Equally compelling to the metaphysical and political elements are the emotional issues. The characters are fully fleshed-out in their relationships to one another, their histories together, their resentments and friendships, and in that sense the novel is epic in scope, traversing all boundaries. The affairs between the characters are convincing and felt: the pains are real, the pleasures are real, the human issues which separate them are real. Compared to “Watchmen,” the “X-Men” movies are adolescent exercises in adult conversation, and don’t get me started on the infantile level of “Star Wars.” “Watchmen” is a film for adult tastes and sensibilities. Violence as an expression of power is central to the understanding of the movie and the characters. In an interview, Alan Moore stated, “And yes, Watchmen came to be about power. About power and about the idea of the superman manifest within society.” The idea of a Nitzschean “superman” is perfect for the conception of a superhero. Similarly, power and the “superman” is what “The Dark Knight” is about as well. In that film, power is wielded by criminal gangs, by the police, by Batman, and by the Joker. Each of them has a different ethic in their use of violence. The police are deontological, placing the law above all other considerations. The criminal gangs and corrupt police officers are utilitarians: whatever action benefits them the most is the best action. Batman operates on virtue theory: the action must be “right” because it is intrinsically the right thing to do, whether it is legal (deontological) in the eyes of the law or beneficial (utilitarian) to him doesn’t matter. The Joker is non-ethical. He is the supreme nihilist and doesn’t even recognize a value system with “good” or “bad” as descriptors. Seen from this perspective, societal conflict is a conflict of value systems and force. “Watchmen” is similar to “The Dark Knight” in that way. There are power constituencies (the military, the police, the heroes, the Russians, etc.), all of whom use force in accordance with their ethics. Moore stated in another interview, “We tried to set up four or five radically opposing ways of seeing the world and let the readers figure it out for themselves; let them make a moral decision for once in their miserable lives!” It is important to know that Moore is a self-proclaimed anarchist. Anarchism as a system of thought is a radical left ideology which is anti-authoritarian. This is why in Moore’s “V for Vendetta” and in “Watchmen” there are characters who wish to recreate a new order by first destroying an existing order, as in the prison riot. Toward that end, Moore gives us moral “choices” on the philosophical use of violence. Those moral choices are represented by the kind of “hero” we identify with. Rorschach is described as a psychopath, but in fact he is the movie’s legalist, the deontologist who adheres ruthlessly to the strict letter of the law. The Comedian is perhaps a hedonist, doing only that which gives him pleasure, though it may not be “good” for him. Nite Owl, like his doppelganger, Batman, is an aretaic; he wants to do the right thing in any given situation, as does Silk Specter, although that sometimes means crossing the law. Ozymandias is a utilitarian, willing to sacrifice some to save many. And Dr. Manhattan is the ultimate existential materialist: he exists in Time, not Space, and sees life itself as matter. At one point, he argues that a dead body has the same amount of matter as the living one, and he speculates what benefit life is to the universe. Also, like “The Dark Knight,” the movie takes its violence seriously. Force exists as an ethical statement—punitive, pleasurable, beneficial, destructive—and not as a gratuitous exercise of force for the sake of force. “Watchmen” is a long viewing. It is sometimes ponderous, grisly, and confusing, but for those who have read the book and have reasonable expectations of what can be done in cinematic form, it is an instant classic—a tour de force which asks universal questions through comic book characters. For Christians, Dr. Manhattan represents the seeker who questions the existence of God and the meaning of life. His questions are in part answered in the realization that life is a miracle, “gold from air,” unexplained by the processes of nature. When the movie is over, the character that viewers will be most interested in is Dr. Manhattan and his journey to another galaxy, a journey he wouldn’t make if he were just interested in matter. Violence: Extreme / Profanity: Heavy / Sex/Nudity: Extreme See list of Relevant Issues—questions-and-answers.   Comments below:
Positive
Positive - Parents, I strongly recommend that you Do NOT allow your children/teenagers to view this film. Not only is it extremely violent, graphic and horrific in its display of violence it is also very strongly sexually explicit! This movies deserves a rating of “MA” for Mature Audience. The reference to Dr. Manhattan as “GOD” is outrageous. It is also outrageous that towards the end of the movie he says “maybe I'll start life of my own on another planet”!!! Positive - Avoiding this movie is a “missed opportunity” to tell people the Gospel story. Movies do NOT have to have correct theology to provide Christians “icebreaker” topics as a way to share God's GOOD NEWS [evangelism]. A running thread within “Watchmen” examines philosophical questions under the Philosophy banner THEOTHANATOS. Positive - From the first time I saw the previews that they were making this into a movie, I was excited to see it. Fortunately, I went on a “men's night out”' to see “Watchmen” instead of the group of families we usually view some movies. I have to capitalize on statement (shout) so it will get my point across. DO NOT BRING YOUR CHILDREN TO “WATCHMEN”! This is not, not, not a comic book movie like superman. These are dark and often anti-heroes. There is a rape scene, a graphic (for lack of another word) sex scene, and violence, violence, violence. I think to many people went into this movie thinking they were going to see the super friends. Note: Rorsach/Owlman are not Batman, Dr. Manhattan/Ozmodious are not Superman, and Silk Spectre is not Wonder Woman. If you listen to the dialogue, you learn that many of the first “heroes” were police who took to dressing up in response to criminals doing the same. These were real people with real, and often disturbing problems. While other comics insert portions of the real world into their books/movies, The Watchmen was about real issues and many of the ugly realities of this world we live in. The heroes were flawed, like we are, many to a point where the word hero could not describe them. But they were real people who chose to do what they do for various reasons. Something we as Christians should take away from this world is while we are to be a instrument of change, WE cannot change this world, Only the love of Jesus Christ can. Positive - I walked out of “Watchmen” on its opening night stunned that I had just seen such an amazing, intelligent, and visually stunning film--it being a big-budget blockbuster, no less! This is a many-layered film that presents a group of superheroes that have vastly different ways of viewing the world. Each of these characters has a compelling back story, and in the end all their views come together in a surprising and groundbreaking conclusion. But I'm not going to go too much into the plot; that's what plot summaries are for, and there's one higher up on this page that will give a much greater explanation than I can. Positive - The movie's impact is hindered by its violence, language, and sex content. The violence is mostly stylized martial arts action. Fair to expect that given the genre. However, there are some grisly scenes of brutality ‘n bloodshed. The language is chock full of one too many gd's. Why oh why? The sex is progressive (unfortunately) and the nudity—gag me. Mister blue man himself Doc Manhattan is a walking smurf birth suit. No angle is spared. Egad. Why any of these facets are included is beyond me. The movie would have been just fine without their tacky (and utterly misplaced) additions. Rather, “Watchmen” chooses to test the R limits simply because it can; be forewarned. Positive - This movie is in my opinion fantastic. True art in many senses. The serious commentary and depictions of human nature or society are profound. Many would call this offensive, but my opinion is that people simply look for things that offend them and complain in ignorance. Positive - I won't write about the technicality aspects of this film. The film was great in its storytelling and pace, and as watching the graphic novel first gave me a head understanding about this one. I can only say, that being a follower of Christ and knowing who Jesus is personally, having this intimate relationship with the True Living GOD and His Holy Spirit brings immense relief. I'm relieved to see there are no men with superpowers walking like gods among men. I'm relieved that our faith isn't challenged by the existing by such visible “gods,” although in many places false gods have appeared and garnered their following. Positive - I have waited a long time before commenting on the film "Watchmen". This is for many reasons, I had yet to read the comic (amazing), and the release of the Director's Cut of the film. Now not but a couple of weeks ago, and just a few days since I viewed it--"Watchmen" has been released in a 5-Disc Collector's Edition set including the Ultimate Cut of the film. It takes the Director's Cut version and integrates Tales of The Black Freighter into the movie. I believe this was a very wise decision. The "Tales" themselves are okay, but I believe the interuptions of the real world into the comic world provide a moment to breathe and think over what has already been seen, before moving on to the next act. This provides greater depth to this film, as well as introducing a little more of the comic into the story. Neutral
Neutral - I'm not quite sure where to rate this movie. I think fans of the comic book will love it. I am not a fan of the comic book, but I have read it in its entirety and felt that seeing this moving in its entirety at least once was worthwhile. This movie had a lot of violence, and a lot of my guy friends had to look away at parts because it was too graphic. There were several rather graphic sex scenes too and of course Dr. Manhattan is naked—completely—although a big deal isn't made of it. Because of all this, I probably only saw half the movie, since my eyes were averted the rest of the time. Nonetheless it was a beautifully rendered piece of work and almost faithful-to-a-fault to the comic book, with necessary limitations and only one (to me) noticeable change, which was the end. However, they changed it in a way I thought was how it should have been written in the first place, so it wasn't a patched-in job at all. All in all, “Watchmen” was an interesting movie, worth seeing for adults only if you are confident in your ability to screen out scenes that are inappropriate for Christian viewers to watch, and not a movie I will probably be seeing again in the near future. Neutral - I just walked out of the theater after viewing this film and I'm a little disappointed with the film, “Watchmen”. Its a mixed bag to me for review. Neutral - My view on this movie isn't “neutral” as in, I had no opinion—but it's because I very much enjoyed the movie as a film, but there was enough questionable material for me to regret seeing it. Neutral - This is a movie / story that was designed (ironically by an atheist) to show the utter depravity of man (in a world without God). I think this is the issue that was bugging my sub-conscious mind until I realized it. It is the most Godless movie I have ever seen. And that world is beyond terrible. God is “irrelevant” and simply non existent. As Rorschach said, “we are created this, not God.” Negative
Negative - I saw “Watchmen” at an advance screening this week and was terribly offended with the amount of graphic violence and sexual content. Arms are cut off with blood flying. Legs beaten so much that you see the bones breaking. Four to five sex scenes, including the beginning of a rape scene. Towards the end of the film, the filmmakers bring in humor into the sex scenes to make the audience laugh and feel comfortable with the level of nudity in the film. The language is also very offensive and profane. Negative - Ok, So owned the original comic and I did not remember much of the story so I hoped it would be good. I used to collect comics and I usually can't wait for them to make movies about them. BUT THIS IS NO SUPERMAN, XMEN or anything remotely close to being hopeful or positive. This movie is dark, offensive and frankly a little boring! If you like watching soft core porn while “Hallelujah”(The Jeff Buckley version dummied down) is playing then this is for you. If you think porn is not a destructive force in this world WATCH “WATCHMEN”! Otherwise, there is no way I can say in good conscience go see this film. I know you will get your “oh this film was so good and the story bla bla blaas.” Really to just tell you what you aren't missing the story is slow and relatively boring. There is no good feeling here so what's the point? I can think of a hundreds of other comic story lines that trump this in their weakest plot line. In true hollywood fashion and lack of concern for the christian perspective they once again achieve an over priced, over hyped, offensive piece of trash. Hollywood will probably nominate it for best picture. Negative - This is the first movie I've ever bothered to comment on, mainly because it's the first movie that ever made me continue to question why I saw it in the first place, and hopefully, my review will convince others like me, who were curious about the movie, to not make the same mistake I did. Negative - I was very disappointed with “Watchmen”. The amount of sexual content and graphic violence was ridiculous. I have never seen a movie that was loaded with so much filth. There were several scenes where I felt like getting up and leaving. In fact, if I had been alone I would have left, but the friends I was with did not want to. I regret going to see this movie. I would recommend that all Christians stay away from “Watchmen.” When I got home I prayed for forgiveness that I had gone to see this. Negative - I found this movie a complete waste of time to see. It had many scenes of unnecessary sex and nudity which included many frontal nude scenes of a main male character. The theater had many pre-teen children (some younger) and I was completely embarrassed to be there. The movie previews made people think it was OK for kids. It is not!!! I find no redeeming qualities in this movie to warrant any Christian, or anyone going to see this movie. Negative - The camera angles, special effects, and fight scenes in “Watchmen” were truly amazing. As a martial artist, I really liked all of the fighting. However, the Lord's name was taken in vain 5 or 6 times (I lost / quit counting after 5) and the language overall was very bad / worldly. There was an attempted rape from one of the “heroes”' and other “heroes” had sex in other scenes, also. In the end, they used the “end justifies the means” philosophy to say that lying and doing bad things is ok if it helps some people. The language and sex really took away from what I believe could have been a great movie otherwise. Also, one of the “heroes” was seen as god and even mentioned that he might go create life somewhere else. It's like they were saying that the powers that he received from an accident somehow created god. There is only one true God, Jesus Christ. Negative - THIS IS NOT A MOVIE FOR KIDS!!! Honestly, I'm surprised it's only rated R. This is the strongest R rated movie I've ever seen. I am in the military and have seen quite a bit, but this movie is just completely over the top with gratuitous and graphic violence. Show me one time or even just let me hear the sound, and I get it, but I don't need to actually see someone getting hacked in the head repeatedly with a cleaver and see blood spatter everywhere to know what is going on. Nor do I need to see an inmate get both his arms cut off with a metal grinder. Negative - This movie was disgusting. After the movie ended, my husband and I, by God's kind and gentle conviction, repented. We are now forgiven, by God's mercy. The sex content was repulsive and on “Archie,” blasphemous. There is nothing of, pre-marital and/or extra-marital sex, about which to praise God. Negative - First off I'll say this without any hesitation: DON'T see this movie. If you call yourself a Christian, please do yourself a favor and skip this movie. Movie-making quality is of no importance, if the movie contains sexually prolonged explicit scenes, extreme violence not to mention other questionable themes. Negative - It is evident that this was made for the fanboys. This is NOT a film for children. At times the violence and nudity was excessive, and I felt it was over-the-top in comparison to the novel. As a Christian, I found like watching this movie is like eating rotten grapes: very sour and tasteless. I watched this movie to stay in touch with the latest trends, but after walking out of the theater I felt sorry that I subjected myself to such a movie and wasted my $11 dollars. Negative - The only “God” is the Trinity, and it's frontman, Jesus Christ, is the world's ONLY savior. Negative - I wish I had walked out of this movie. I thought it would be similar to “The Dark Knight,” but I was very wrong! I nearly threw up four or five times because of the violence and the sex scenes. The film is debauchery and hedonism all the way. I felt the sex scenes were like porn and the violence was way, way over the top! I wouldn't even call these superheroes, I would call them anti-heroes. Negative - DO NOT TAKE YOUR CHILDREN TO WATCH THIS MOVIE! My son wanted to watch this movie, so I took him, thinking it was an adventurous/thriller kind of movie and for children is SCARY. My son was quite affected by this movie, and I deeply regret taking him to watch it. He is 13, but the content of the movie is just NOT for children! I think this movie is excellent, and the special effects are fantastic, but beware of taking your children to watch it!! Negative - …This movie is so horrible in terms of writing, and so profoundly moronic it will blow your mind. …This movie is just trash. The movie is so into being cool that it forgets about storyline. The only thing this movie has going for it is the directing which is great, but without storyline, it is like a castle without a story. Its pointless. This movie's x rated porn, with moments of action, but without the short bits of action, you will be totally asleep awaiting the excitement. This movie just sucks. Negative - This film had fantastic scenes in it that were visually stimulating, and characters that were fully fleshed out, however a film like this would definitely not be shown on a church movie night due to is graphic violence, nudity and language. Negative - Yeah, let's use scripture to make a comparison with this movie. To me that seems as useful as trying to compare scripture with a porno in this movie's case. Don't give me that “well it's for an opportunity to share the gospel.” God wouldn't want you to resort to sin to get his point across. Not all movies have to be like this. Really if you think about it back then alot of the greatest movies ever made didn't rely on sex, drugs, and gory violence to grip us. If you want to see good superhero movies why not settle for dark knight, spiderman, etc. Why go to see this movie knowing that it's gonna be garbage? It's called looking it up. This movie was so horrible that even the creator of the series refused to watch it. He actually hates Hollywood representations of graphic novels, etc. Negative - I was extremely enraged by the “attempted” rape scene in the movie. Not to mention the various sex scenes. Also, when randomly walking down the street, there were prostitutes attempting to entice the main characters attention with their breasts, then when he didn't get it they gave them middle finger and yelled out obscenities. There were close-up breaks with bones, where blood exploded from the fractures. They said God's name in vain too many times to count. This is just a pin-drop of the offensive material the movie contains. Please, please, please, DO NOT go see this. Negative - This movie is highly overrated. Although the way it was made was cutting edge, the makers tried to look at a different angle to be artistic. In the end the movie backfires - bottom line is that it is nothing more than a highly artistic and poetic junk on the screen. I tried to like it but this is not my idea of entertainment. There is hardly any Biblical sense in any situation other than what the author intended to portray in his artistic mind, or so he thought. There is no sense of satisfaction after the end credits roll either, and there is no hint of redemption. The whole movie is pointless. Comments from young people
Positive - The comic was incredible. It was deep, dark, gritty, and dove into the depths of human depravity in all its horrible glory. The movie was the same way. It was very dark; I can remember hardly any daylight. It explored corruption within good, sacrifice for greater good, disgust for evil… A strong theme was the fight between good and evil and the greys between—as represented by Rorshach's mask. You'll notice when things become more intense, when he commits murder or acts of violence, the stark definition between the black and white in his mask fades just a touch. Neutral - I have been waiting for “Watchmen” since I saw the teaser trailer set to “The Beginning is the End is the Beginning” in front of “The Dark Knight.” That teaser excited me, lately however, I have become worried. The more I saw of trailers and clips from the film, the more I was reminded of director Snyder's last overblown fiasco, 300, which quite frankly by many means was a boring mess. Positive - First off, this movie is not for kids. Just because it is a 'superhero film', does not mean it is for children. The movie's content is extreme, but the movie itself is great. The movie and comic are about several things including moral dilemmas, cold war anxieties, the balance of power, and people's relationships with each other. This is not a popcorn flick. This is the kind of movie that makes you think. Comments from non-viewers
Negative - I have not seen this movie yet, and I am never going to for that matter, but I am posting this comment to warn all Christians against it. If you need an explanation, just look at the rating! The Bible commands us in 2 Chronicles 7:19 to not forsake his statutes or commands. The seventh commandment is “Thou shalt not commit adultery.” And even though we are not breaking this commandment physically when we watch this movie, the Bible says in Matthew 5:28-29, “But I tell you that anyone who LOOKS at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away.” Those are some very strong words against the things that this movie promotes. Please think about this carefully, and remember what someone else once said on this Web site, “Every time you buy a ticket, you are telling Hollywood that this is what you want.” So I pose you with a final question… Is this what we want, but more importantly is this what God wants? I have not seen this movie, but I have read enough reviews from other Web sites as well as this one to make a decision to skip this movie. I have heard nothing but bad things about this movie. From what I've read and heard about, this movie seems to have extremely violent and graphic content as well as unnecessary sensual content. I am planning to warn several of my friends about this movie. “…Fix your eyes on what is true and honorable and right. Think about things that are pure and lovely and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise” Philippains 4:8. |
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