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Watchmen (2009)

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All Critics
Top Critics

Average Rating: 6.2/10
Reviews Counted: 284
Fresh: 183 | Rotten: 101

Gritty and visually striking, Watchmen is a faithful adaptation of Alan Moore's graphic novel, but its complex narrative structure may make it difficult for it to appeal to viewers not already familiar with the source material.

Average Rating: 5.3/10
Critic Reviews: 46
Fresh: 20 | Rotten: 26

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Movie Info

300's Zack Snyder brings Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons' critically acclaimed comic book Watchmen to the big screen, courtesy of DC Comics and Warner Bros. Pictures. Set in an alternate universe circa 1985, the film's world is a highly unstable one where a nuclear war is imminent between America and Russia. Superheroes have long been made to hang up their tights thanks to the government-sponsored Keene Act, but that all changes with the death of The Comedian (Jeffrey Dean Morgan), a robust ex-hero

R, 2 hr. 43 min.

Drama, Action & Adventure, Science Fiction & Fantasy

Directed By: Zack Snyder , Zach Synder

Written By: David Hayter, Alex Tse

In Theaters: Mar 6, 2009 Wide

On DVD: Jul 21, 2009

Box Office:$107.5M

Warner Bros. Pictures

Watchmen Trailer & Photos

More Photos (149)

Cast

Malin Akerman
Laurie Jupiter/Silk Spe...
Billy Crudup
Dr. Manhattan/Jon Oster...
Matthew Goode
Adrian Veidt/Ozymandias
Carla Gugino
Sally Jupiter/Silk Spec...
Jackie Earle Haley
Rorschach/Walter Kovacs
Jeffrey Dean Morgan
Edward Blake/Comedian
Patrick Wilson
Dan Dreiberg/Nite Owl
Matt Frewer
Moloch
Stephen McHattie
Hollis Mason
Laura Mennell
Janey Slater
Rob La Belle
Wally Weaver
Robert Wisden
Richard Nixon
Gary Houston
John McLaughlin
James Michael Connor
Pat Buchanan
Mary Ann Burger
Eleanor Clift
John Shaw
Doug Roth
Jerry Wasserman
Detective Fine
Don Thompson
Detective Gallagher
Frank Novak
Henry Kissinger
Sean Allan
NORAD General
Garry Chalk
NORAD General
Ron Fassler
Ted Koppel
Stephanie Belding
Janet Black
Michael Kopsa
Paul Klein
William Taylor
Prison Psychiatrist
Chris Burns
Dumb Thug
Malcom Scott
Fat Thug
Danny Wattley
Huge
Nhi Do
Vietnamese Girl
Walter Addison
Lee Iacocca
Keith Martin Gordrey
Auto CEO
David Mackay
Child Murderer
Gerard Butler
Jude Law
Keanu Reeves
Jason Patric
Carrie Genzel
Rob LaBelle

Critic Reviews for Watchmen

All Critics (284) | Top Critics (46) | Fresh (188) | Rotten (103) | DVD (14)

Great book, mediocre adaptation.

March 13, 2009 Full Review Source: Richard Roeper.com

| Comments (26)

Richard Roeper

Richard Roeper.com

Top Critic

Watchmen left me looking at the exit far more often than at the screen.

March 9, 2009 Full Review Source: Christian Science Monitor

| Comments (26)

Peter Rainer

Christian Science Monitor

Top Critic

Zack Snyder's film version of Watchmen is a grim and grisly excursion into comic-book mythology.

March 6, 2009 Full Review Source: New York Times

| Comments (24)

A.O. Scott

New York Times

Top Critic

[T]there are problems both with the tale, which was an awful lot more subversive 20 years ago than it is today, and the telling, which in contrast to Moore's radical experimentation is disappointingly staid and straightforward.

March 6, 2009 Full Review Source: New Republic

| Comments (4)

Christopher Orr

New Republic

Top Critic

The reverence is inert, the violence noxious, the mythology murky, the tone grandiose, the texture glutinous. It's an alternate version of The Incredibles minus the delight.

March 6, 2009 Full Review Source: Wall Street Journal

| Comments (30)

Joe Morgenstern

Wall Street Journal

Top Critic

I think Snyder and his writers channel moments of the humanity and humor that's always present in Moore's work.

March 6, 2009 Full Review Source: Salon.com

| Comment

Andrew O'Hehir

Salon.com

Top Critic

It's... not bad.

April 4, 2011 Full Review Source: Movies.com

| Comment

Dave White

Movies.com

This is not just a great superhero film, it's an important political debate.

March 13, 2011 Full Review Source: What Culture

| Comment

Mike Edwards

What Culture Source: What Culture

Watchmen isn't the best super hero movie ever made, but taken on its own, it's good. Snyder and company might not have made it to the bleachers, but at least they aimed for them, and there is certainly virtue in that.

March 7, 2011 Full Review Source: ComingSoon.net

| Comment (1)

Joshua Starnes

ComingSoon.net

Hard to sit through, uneven but ambitious and inspired, and I don't want to see it again.

January 26, 2011 Full Review Source: Las Vegas CityLife

| Comment

Matt Kelemen

Las Vegas CityLife Source: Las Vegas CityLife

A magnificent attempt at Alan Moore's saga and a moving working of art...

December 5, 2010 Full Review Source: Cinema Crazed

| Comment

Felix Vasquez Jr.

Cinema Crazed

The film is a ballsy, brainy, and thoroughly bloody examination of human nature, pop culture and 'the good old days' that never were.

October 27, 2010 Full Review Source: Quickflix

| Comment

Simon Miraudo

Quickflix

Despite its flaws Watchmen is a stunning film that contains far more substance and intrigue than most comic book screen adaptations.

October 6, 2010 Full Review Source: Cinema Autopsy

| Comment

Thomas Caldwell

Cinema Autopsy

Watchmen? Watch paint dry? 6 in one hand a half a dozen in the other..

September 28, 2010 Full Review Source: 3BlackChicks Review

| Comments (3)

Kamal 'The Diva' Larsuel

3BlackChicks Review

Watchmen is one of those rare films which manages to intertwine several genres, without becoming a cluttered mess.

August 4, 2010 Full Review Source: Matt's Movie Reviews

| Comment

Matthew Pejkovic

Matt's Movie Reviews

Stylish to a fault, this graphic novel adaptation is never as good as its opening credit sequence.

April 4, 2010 Full Review Source: Oscar Guy

| Comments (11)

Wesley Lovell

Oscar Guy

Intoxicante ejercicio visual que se aleja completamente de la cinta tradicional de superh�roes para adentrarse en el dilema moral de todo h�roe que se sabe finalmente humano.

March 11, 2010 Full Review Source: Cinenganos

| Comment

Luis Martinez

Cinenganos

...it's hard not to watch every minute of it, even if 215 such minutes is a long haul by anybody's watch. (The Ultimate Cut)

November 7, 2009 Full Review Source: Movie Metropolis

| Comment

John J. Puccio

Movie Metropolis

Buckets of gore, truckloads of angst, hot superhero sex, full-frontal radiation-monster nudity, soap opera machinations, pulp fiction voice-overs, weekend trips to Mars .. and enough back stories for the next half-dozen superhero movies.

September 10, 2009 Full Review Source: Florida Times-Union

| Comment

Matt Soergel

Florida Times-Union

Zack Snyder's direction is both strikingly beautiful--he and his crew obviously went to great pains to re-create the incredible art from the graphic novel--and strikingly brutal.

August 30, 2009 Full Review Source: Washington Times

| Comment (1)

Sonny Bunch

Washington Times Source: Washington Times

Attempts to add something to the original betray an artistic sensibility summed up with 'Whoa, cool!'

August 26, 2009 Full Review Source: CinePassion

| Comment

Fernando F. Croce

CinePassion

The brilliant writer of the comic books that this is based on, Alan Moore, is well known for bisexual characters (women mostly, of course), in his work.

August 18, 2009 Full Review Source: Sci-Fi Weekly

| Comments (2)

Michael Szymanski

Sci-Fi Weekly

Watchmen? Watch paint dry? 6 in one hand a half a dozen in the other..

August 3, 2009 Full Review Source: 3BlackChicks Review

| Comment

Kamal 'The Diva' Larsuel

3BlackChicks Review

Synder has achieved what many said was impossible; he has in-fact filmed the unfilmable, and arguably done so as well as anyone could have.

August 2, 2009 Full Review Source: Cut Print Review

| Comment

Anders Wotzke

Cut Print Review

More Critic Reviews

Audience Reviews for Watchmen

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I had never read the graphic novel till about a year and half ago. I had really missed out on something awesome. Now for the movie it was not disappointing in any way to me. The changes being only a one time reader of the graphic novel I didnt notice too much. There were many parts though from the novel that jumped

June 6, 2008

John Manard

Super Reviewer

A compelling, visceral, visually stunning film, Watchmen is a powerful experience unlike anything I've seen. There are other films that depict the end of humanity, and reveal its flaws, and power. But none have depicted it like this. The complex narrative, which I may not have fully understood on first viewing, and

January 30, 2012

Raymond Wieser

Super Reviewer

Watchmen Quotes

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1. Adrian Veidt/Ozymandias: My new world demands less obvious heroism. Your schoolboy heroics are redundant. What have they achieved?
– Submitted by PlanetaryAssault S (18 days ago)
1. Rorschach/Walter Kovacs: You don't seem to get it.... I'm not locked in here with you; YOU'RE LOCKED IN HERE WITH ME!
– Submitted by Jason D (27 days ago)
1. Adrian Veidt/Ozymandias: It doesnt take a genius to see that the world has problems.
2. Edward Blake/Comedian: No, but it takes a room full of morons to think they're small enough for you to handle.
– Submitted by Alexander M (2 months ago)
1. Rorschach/Walter Kovacs: Never compromise. Not even in the face of Armageddon.
– Submitted by Alexander M (2 months ago)
1. Rorschach/Walter Kovacs: [last line before death, to Dr. Manhattan] Well, what are you waiting for? Do it. [does nothing] DO IT!
– Submitted by Matt S (2 months ago)

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