Critics Consensus: Watch Watchmen, But Caveat Emptor
The big-screen adaptation of Alan Moore's work is visually stunning but very, very long.
This week at the movies, we've got Watchmen, the long-awaited adaptation of Alan Moore's classic graphic novel directed by Zack Snyder and starring Billy Crudup and Carla Gugino. What do the critics have to say?
Watchmen
After years of speculation, negotiations, lawsuits, and geek anticipation, Alan Moore's classic graphic novel Watchmen is finally hitting the big screen. So, is it worth watching? The answer, say critics, is a qualified yes. The film is set in a dystopian 1985, in which Richard Nixon is still president and the future looks bleak. A group of retired superheroes is forced back into action when one of their colleagues is murdered and suspicions of an anti-hero conspiracy arise. A number of critics find Watchmen to be excessively reverent to Moore's book, as well as overlong and dark bordering on dour. However, others say this ambitious, sprawling superhero epic is emotionally weighty and visually stunning. (Check out Watchmen Headquarters for all of RT's Watchmen-related news and features.)
Also opening this week in limited release:
- Fados, a documentary about the haunting Portuguese musical genre, is at 100 percent.
- The Oscar-nominated 12, a Russian spin on 12 Angry Men, is at 88 percent.
- Explicit Ills , starring Rosario Dawson and Paul Dano and featuring four interconnected stories involving low-income Philly residents, is at 82 percent.
- Tokyo!, an omnibus film that focuses on Japan's largest city and features a segment from Michel Gondry, is at 71 percent.
- Phoebe in Wonderland, starring Elle Fanning and Bill Pullman in a drama about a family coping with a child with Tourette's Syndrome, is at 46 percent.
- Sherman's Way, a quirky indie road comedy in which an Ivy Leaguer and a washed-up ex-jock hit the highway, is at 22 percent.
- Finally, we'd like to give mad props to RE4P3R for coming the closest to guessing Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li's five percent Tomatometer.
ZigBallistic on 03-5-2009 04:49 PM
I don't know if it's a "qualified" yes, RT's top critics seem to agree on the consensus that it does not deliver and instead "disappoints". I'm going to have to see for myself on this one and draw my own conclusions.
Humbaba_O'Reilly on 03-6-2009 12:38 PM
In response to RT's use of "qualified," RT used the "make less strong or positive" meaning of the word, so the "qualified yes" answer from the critics as to whether we should watch "Watchmen" means we should take the "freshness" rating with a grain of salt, especially in light of the Top Critic's less than positive response to the film (wink Michael Phillips). It wasn't used to say the overall response was an emphatic huzzah or thereabouts.
Regardless, I will eventually watch this; maybe I'll hold out for IMAX (anyone, is this absolutely worth it?). I enjoyed the source, but I mostly hated "300" (and A.O. Scott said this was at least a vast improvement over "300," for whatever that's worth) so I will aim for zero expectations and be happy if I am not repulsed. With low expectations I hopefully won't be disappointed, and maybe actually surprised.
BatsInTheBelfry on 03-6-2009 12:59 PM
I hated 300 too. This is definitely better.