Watchmen review

Well, I went and watched the "Watchmen." Let me say that it went where most superhero movies will not even tread, and had me and three of my children very entertained. I really had not paid attention to the rating, but simply went to see an adaption of a comic book that I had (yep, I own copies of the original). Let me warn prudes that this movie is rated 'R' and earns that rating.

The movie does follow the comic book, although I am waiting to see how certain authorities gripe. I tried to find my copies of the comic and read it, but got lost in old issues of 'The Flash.' My memory could thus be slightly faulty, but I accepted what I saw on the screen as mostly 'gospel.'

My fear was that I would not understand the movie without knowledge of the comic, but I easily followed the story. My children, including an 8-year-old, also followed the story. The flashbacks did not disrupt the flow of the narrative or look like the new so one did not recognize them at times. My children have been raised on superheroes and fantasy, so the world of the Watchmen was not strange to them. In fact, the world of the Watchmen was MORE superhero than most movies of that genre, so they followed the story better than normal. I have had to explain things in the Spiderman movies to my youngest, but he came out of this movie fully able to talk to me about scenes in the movie.

Those that do not like watching costumed vigilantes will probably not like this movie. Not that the heroes stay in costume, but these are heroes with or without the costumes. No Batman where clever gadgets provide the advantage. More butt-kicking is done out of uniform than in it. That however means that the characters are constantly identified to the audience as the superheroes, even if the regular people in the world are not so aware.

Just as certain scenes are not cut or edited to keep it 'nice,' the ending was not altered. I expected a couple of things to 'not' happen, but you are left at the end wondering whether or not you actually agree. It caused my children to stay in the theater with me and talk while I watched the credits, which almost never happens (they usually hit the bathrooms during this time).

I thus recommend "Watchmen" highly.