Amateur Movie Review: Watchmen

This review may be late in the posting, but that's because I was off the island, had a hectic work schedule when I returned, and was battling a lingering flu. Anyway, on with the review: Since seeing the previews in the theaters and after months of anticipation, I finally get to see this much awaited flick. I've known about the Graphic Novel for a long while now but never got around to reading it; the book was just too esoteric for me - especially the art. I tend to favor the more mainstream comic books since that's where I cut my teeth on as a youngster. Obviously, the plot/story line was a radical deviation from comic book norms - especially back when it was first published in the mid-80s. Listing my favorite scenes, one was obviously the scene where Silk Spectre was gettin' the "bizznez" from Night Owl after a night of superheroing in his ship that he affectionately called "Archie." During that 'delicate' scene, I saw some guy walk out of the theater with a young boy (no doubt some embarrassed father or adult accompanying the boy). He obviously had no clue that this movie was for mature audiences (didn't he bother to read the ratings? Guess not). Another favorite scene was when Nite Owl and Silk Spectre was trashing the inmates at the prison where Rorschach was incarcerated in an attempt to rescue him; and the scene with the whole team together in Ozymandias' lair. Of course there were many, many other scenes, but that would be giving away too much of the movie. Anyway, my favorite character of the bunch? Rorschach (I'm still wondering how and why the inkblots on his mask kept shifting around, after all, it's only a cloth mask right?). Another character (or more accurately, the actress) that piqued my curiosity was one of the first generation Watchmen (back then called Minutemen) called Silhouette played by Apollonia Vanova. Whoever, cast her in that role, however short in the flashback scenes, should get a raise! Without giving out too much of the movie, it certainly did not follow any clichéd story/plot lines which disappointed me a bit, but on the other hand, such deviation made for more compelling characters and story. I give it 4 and a half stars. I docked 1/4 star for it being a bit too long and dragged out in some scenes and another 1/4 star for not being too clichéd (which actually turned out to be a good thing).