Movie Mondays!

I have the benefit of being familiar with the original series and as such I enjoyed the movie a great deal because it was a strikingly loyal translation of the original work over to film. However, to someone coming in “cold” it may prove to be a bit jarring. While the movie is considered a “super hero” film, it really conveys something of the sensibilities of its time more than anything else. Set in the early eighties, Watchmen captures the mood of that era as superpowers faced off against each other behind a wall of nuclear weapons capable of destroying the planet many times over. While it seems less important today, it was an all-consuming concern of people during that time and the basic premise of the film is: What if super heroes existed during the arms race? How would it affect the planet and the relationships between nations? In the world the film is set in, we see just how darkly an influence “heroes” would prove to be. The movie is not at all for children, it is not something of the bright and garish colors one would expect from the genre. Instead this does the second Batman film (The Dark Knight) one or two better by delving into a world where people putting on costumes and beating up criminals is more an expression of the costume wearer’s personality defects than anything at all heroic. I enjoyed it but you may not.

I’m repurposing content by taking my NetFlix reviews and posting them here on the blog. If I could figure out a way to do it, I’d post some kind of link for people to connect and make me their friend on the service. Unfortunately, it isn’t altogether clear how one would do that - so if you know a way, pass it along. In the meantime, I’ve got steady content for at least a year.