Watchmen Premieres In London
24 February 2009 1:33 AM, PST


After a hectic history of rewrites, studio rejections, budget heedlessness, and legal wrangling, the $120-million Watchmen had its premiere in London Monday.

Based on the graphic novels by British writer Alan Moore and illustrator Dave Gibbons, the movie is regarded as a superhero flick like none before it.

In his review in the London Times, Kevin Maher wrote: "It's not for the faint-hearted -- and, despite the preponderance of Spandex outfits, capes and costumes, not for kids either. Limbs are broken, bones are smashed and skulls split."

Or as Britain's Guardian newspaper put it: "This is an [R-rated] superhero movie which makes last year's famously brooding Batman sequel The Dark Knight look like Alvin and the Chipmunks."

Steve Anglesey remarked similarly in the London Daily Mirror: "Watchmen is unlikely to steal Slumdog Millionaire's tagline of 'the feel-Good Movie of the year!' but it's searing, spectacular and simply unmissable."

On Time magazine's website, columnist Matt Selman commented, "It's a serious freak-out. ... Watching the visual world of the Watchmen movie unfold was one of the most powerful experiences I've ever had. Not film experiences. Just Experiences."

On the Huffington Post blog, entertainment writer Mike Ragogna concludes: "It will demand your attention and intelligence as it entertains; it's sophisticated and sensationally sophomoric; and for those ... without any expectations or knowledge of the comic's storyline or historical importance, this really will be a blast."

But Robbie Collin wrote on the News of the World website: "This two-and-a-half-hour wannabe pop culture epic isn't the worst superhero movie ever made, mind. But it Is one of the most spirit-crushingly disappointing. Because this time round, it was supposed to be all so different. We were promised darkness. We were promised maturity. But what we've got, is 163 minutes of tin-ear dialogue and absurd violence."

-IMDB News

The Watchmen Watch
6 March 2009 1:35 AM, PST

Watchmen arrives in theaters today (Friday) riding a wave of publicity that few movies have ever enjoyed, especially in early March.

Noting that ticket sales have been selling at a record clip since the beginning of the year and that the film is being rolled out to 3,611 screens -- unheard of for an R-rated film -- several box-office analysts are predicting that the movie is likely to exceed the $70.9 million taken in by director Zack Snyder's last film, 300, two years ago.

CNBC Media reporter Julia Boorstin commented that the movie president "way too much gratuitous blood for me," but she added, "I'm not the target audience and neither are critics -- it's meant for 18-to-35-year-old guys, and I expect them to turn out in droves."

Meanwhile, Oscar winner Slumdog Millionaire, which was the top film at the box office on Tuesday and Wednesday, is likely to take second place over the weekend behind Watchmen. The film is in its 17th week.

-IMDB News





Movie Reviews: Watchmen
6 March 2009 1:35 AM, PST


Most critics have apparently not been influenced one whit by all the praise for Watchmen by fans of the graphic novel, something that Michael Phillips acknowledges in his review in the Chicago Tribune. "Zack Snyder's bloated screen adaptation will go over best with fanboys, fangirls, fanmen and fanwomen who give high marks for slavish fidelity to the source material," he writes.

Kenneth Turan in the Los Angeles Times calls it "something acceptable but pedestrian, an adaptation that is more a prisoner of its story than the master of it."

It's "a bore," writes Philip Kenicott in the Washington Post, it's "long, dull and ... sinks under the weight of its reverence for the original."

Claudia Puig in USA Today says that it "starts out powerfully" but as it proceeds, "it grows plodding, convoluted and forgettable."

And A.O. Scott in the New York Times concludes that the entire premise of the film "is rooted in a view of human behavior that is fundamentally immature, self-pitying and sentimental."

But Kyle Smith in the New York Post is won over. "It transforms each moment into a tableau with great, uncompromising concentration. The effect is an almost airless gloom, but the film is also exhilarating in breadth and depth. There is more going on in the spectacular opening-credits sequence than in the three Spider-Man flicks combined."

And Roger Ebert in the Chicago Sun-Times awards it four stars, writing, "The film is rich enough to be seen more than once. ... I'm not sure I understood all the nuances and implications, but I am sure I had a powerful experience."

-IMDB News

Just got back from seeing Watchmen. Wow.

This is really good. It's not for everyone so if you are not into bloody/violent films then you best stay away.

It's amazing... that's all I can say. A little long but it kept my interest the whole time. Sometime down the road I might do a more detailed review but "amazing" is all I have to say for now.