There has been a lot of hype surrounding and leading up to the motion picture Watchmen.

It deserves it.

I have been waiting almost a year for this movie to come out, ever since I read about it in Entertainment magazine. I had two goals in life this morning; get the kids to school, go see Watchmen as soon as the theatre opened at 9:00 AM. (I would have been at the midnight showing, but my husband was out of town on business, and it seemed a little irresponsible to leave the kids asleep in the house while I went for popcorn and a flick.) I think this may have been the first time that I ever drank coffee at a show instead of my diet coke.

The first piece of advice I am going to give to any of you thinking about seeing this is: shell out the extra bucks to see it in an IMAX theatre – it is worth it! There were no previews (other than the stupid voice explaining the IMAX experience to me – duh!), just some music – and then bang! we open to a bright yellow screen (and I mean bright) that resolves into a smiley face pin. After this movie you may never view a smiley face in the same way again. Meet an aging hero named “The Comedian”. Since this is in every trailer everybody has seen – I’m not giving anything away by saying he won’t be around much longer.

“Tonight, a comedian died in New York, somebody knows why.” – delivered in a gravelly voice behind a shifting mask of the not-quite-sane vigilante known as “Rorschach” – this line is the ominous thread that weaves through the film. Did an old enemy come after the long-time hero? Is it a government conspiracy? Was it a personal vendetta? Or, is the paranoid Rorschach correct in his musings “Maybe someone's picking off costumed heroes”.

From there we are plunged into the world of superheroes – if they really existed. If human beings with incredible powers had regular flaws like the rest of us, what would they become? “Absolute power corrupts absolutely”. This has always been applied to government and leaders – but what if Superman had not been a boyscout at heart?

• We meet a man who has witnessed so much horror that he know longer knows who he really is – but only knows that there is corruption in the world and he must work to eradicate it or lose his own shredding identity.


• Another whose strength and prowess have made him the greatest soldier, a hero; but his own carnal appetites have turned him into an animal.


• A woman who fights to live up to the image of her mother while resenting everything she is, and is torn between two men and two worlds.


• A “god” who was once a man – ripped a shred by the science he sought to use to better mankind and now cannot remember what it was like to be part of mankind.


• A genius whose altruistic goals are questioned at every turn and who only wants to free his fellow man from evil, but finds that mankind may not want to be freed.


• And finally a retired superhero that desperately wants to escape his past, but finds he can only be whole when he dons the costume he has put away.

From a purely physical viewing standpoint, the movie is amazing. I watched a “making of Watchmen” last night. I knew where to look for the special effects, for the makeup, for the CGI – and still was left holding my breath. (I was only disappointed in Nixon – too cartoony). It is impossible not to get so caught up in this movie that you forget that it IS a movie.

I sat stunned through most of it. There were a few scenes with humor where I heard others laughing, and I did tear up at one point – but for the most part I just sat there engrossed. It wasn’t that I did not get these emotions, it was that I was so absorbed with everything that it was too much.

Watchmen is intelligent, it keeps you thinking throughout the movie. You are left at the end wondering “Who was right? Which way was evil?”

In my opinion, this is the best movie I have ever seen, across any genre. I have been contemplating that statement all day – which is why it took me so long to get this review up. Yes, there are flaws – any movie has them, but they are few.

Go see this movie – that is the best way I can describe it to you.

"Watchmen" is rated R for strong graphic violence, sexuality, nudity and language.