Review: Knowing

Grade: D+

Knowing is a sci-fi thriller that starts in 1959 at a brand new elementary school on the east coast. The school comes up with the idea to bury a time capsule to mark the opening of the School. They have all the children in the class draw what they think the future will look like. One mysterious girl frantically writes down a series of numbers, the teacher comes by and picks it up and puts it in the capsule. 50 years later at a ceremony the capsule is dug up and all the envelopes are handed out to the children. The envelope containing the mysterious numbers is given to a boy whose father is an astrophysicist. He looks at the numbers one night and one sequence catches his eye, he looks at it for a while and realizes it is the date of 9/11 and has the exact number of people killed in the attacks. He starts to go through all the numbers and realizes that they are the dates and correct number of people killed in every major global disaster in the last 50 years. There are a few more sequences left that indicate there will be 3 more events in the coming week or so.

This movie had a great premise, with virtually no follow through. There were some exciting moments and the whole mystery around the “whisper people” was intriguing at times, but overall this movie probably just shouldn’t have happened. Here’s why: it’s a great concept as I mentioned before, but the problem is how do you end it? There really is no good way to end it, I’ve been thinking about it for a while and no matter what you do, people aren’t going to like it. I think the movie was pitched as follows: Writer: “I’ve got this great idea. What if this guy finds these numbers in a time capsule or something, that accurately list the date and number of people killed in every major global disaster for, say, the last 50 years. On top of that there are still some numbers left indicating more disasters and the coordinates to where they are.” Producer: “Ok, great idea, but, how do these numbers come to be and how does it all end?” Writer: “Umm… didn’t really think that far, I’ll go home and smoke copious amounts of pot and come up with something” Producer: “Sounds good”.

Again, great concept but no follow through. The ending to this movie was absolutely terrible. I couldn’t believe it. I would love to say more but I don’t feel like spoiling anything for people who haven’t seen it yet and want to. I was so mad, probably one of the dumbest endings to a movie, made even worse by the fact that they tried to pass it off as an amazing twist or something. Horrible.

Anyway, Nicolas Cage (Ghost Rider, National Treasure) plays John Koestler, an astrophysicist who believes life is just a random sequence of events until his life is flipped upside down when his son Caleb is handed the envelope with the mysterious numbers on them. Rose Byrne (28 Weeks Later, Sunshine) plays Diana Wayland, the daughter of the mysterious girl who wrote the numbers. The cast was great, especially Nicolas Cage, but it still wasn’t enough to carry the rest of the movie.

Overall, the movie had its moments of action and suspense that were pretty cool and entertaining to watch, but the ending was enough to make you want to rip your hair out. I would recommend this movie only to those who enjoy sci-fi horror/suspense movies and judge the ending for yourself.

Review: Crank: High Voltage

Grade: C-

Crank: High Voltage starts right where Crank left off, Chev Chellios, played by Jason Statham (The Bank, Job, Death Race), fell out of a helicopter and slammed into the ground. His body is immediately scraped off the ground and tossed in the back of a van by what looks like some gangsters. Then he is in a room on an operating table where some people, who hardly look or act qualified, remove his heart and replace it with an artificial heart. Chev awakes to hear them talking about harvesting his organs for some reason, he then gets up, beats up the “doctors” and escapes from the building. He finds a box on a belt wrapped around his waist that has some lights on it, this box has a wire going to his body. He calls his friend/”doctor”, Doc Miles, Played by Dwight Yoakham, who informs him that it is a battery pack for the artificial heart they put in him and that he needs to keep said battery pack charged to keep the heart beating. Chev then, upon finding out who probably has his heart, goes on a rampage through the city trying to find a gangster with a box that contains his heart. Sounds good, doesn’t quite follow through.

I am a huge fan of the first Crank movie. A glorious, video game style movie about a man who has to keep his adrenaline pumping in order to stay alive long enough to kill the people who injected him with a strong Chinese poison that will stop his heart. The premise of Crank 2, and the fact that they decided to make a Crank 2, got me very excited to see the movie. I was hoping for a movie similar to the first but with a different twist and hoped that they wouldn’t kill the same jokes from the first. What I saw what the film makers trying way too hard to top the first movie that this sequel just comes off as vulgar.

First there is tons and tons of nudity. I couldn’t believe how much nudity there was, every scene had at least 5 naked girls running around. Also the sex, I was shocked that this movie was rated R given the controversy around Kevin Smith’s last movie “Zack and Miri Make A Porno”. That movie was originally rated NC-17 because the MPAA felt it had too much nudity and “thrusting” during the sex scenes, they felt it was just too graphic. But Crank 2 has the tons of nudity, a public sex scene at a horse race track that involved so much thrusting and so many different positions that at times they actually pixilated out certain body parts, on top of all the thrusting. Now, as many people know, I’m no prude, but there’s unnecessary nudity and then there’s this movie which was just so over the top with all of it. Also this movie had a bunch of graphic violence, which again, I’m ok with, but some of it was going just a little too far with how much they showed for a movie like this.

I would like to say that Jason Statham was fantastic in it though. He really is great in action movies and I enjoy just about every movie he’s been in. The funny thing is I was reading an article the other day that described him as the biggest B movie star ever. I disagreed at first but then I thought about the kinds of movies that he tends to be in, Transporter series, Crank, Death Race, which was a remake of a B movie from the 70’s, and a couple others and realized that for the most part it’s true. I’m ok with that because I love ridiculous B movies like those. Amy Smart was very funny as his girlfriend Eve. Dwight Yoakham was great again as Doc Miles, very funny and inappropriate which is great. Efren Ramirez was back as Kaylo’s brother Venus, pretty funny. There were also plenty of cameo appearances from people like Ron Jeremy, Ling Bai (who’s character was nuts), Corey Haim (hilarious character), Geri Halliwell and David Carradine (see if you can figure out who he is). There were several very funny parts, most of which are kind of fantasy type sequences, my favorite might have been a memory, not quite sure.



Crank: High Voltage does have plenty of humor to it and is rather enjoyable at times but overall, in comparison to Crank, is quite a letdown in my opinion. It is absolutely not for everyone as many people will just find it crude, vulgar and offensive. It is a movie basically only for the fans of the first Crank movie. Crank: High Voltage unfortunately just looks like the Writers/Directors of Crank simply tried way too hard to top the first movie.

Review: Observe and Report

Grade: C

Observe and Report is a dark comedy about bi-polar mall cop Ronnie Barnhardt, played by Seth Rogen (Knocked Up, Pineapple Express), who is on a mission to find the identity of a flasher who showed up and exposed himself to numerous women and bring him to justice. The mall calls in the assistance of the police and that’s when Detective Harrison, played by Ray Liotta (Wild Hogs, Goodfellas), shows up to help solve these cases. Ronnie is convinced that he doesn’t need the police’s help to solve the cases and tries to solve them himself in hopes of impressing the make-up counter girl Brandi, played by Anna Farris (Just Friends, Scary Movie series). Along the way he decides to try to become an actual cop which just angers and irritates Detective Harrison.

This movie has received some bad rap because it is in fact the second mall cop related movie coming out this year. While this is technically true the two movies are completely different. While Paul Blart was about a loveable mall cop trying to defend his mall against a gang of thugs, Observe and Report is about a bi-polar sociopathic mall cop who thinks that he is THE line between good and evil and will do anything to bring a flasher to justice. Also to put it simply, Paul Blart was rated PG and a family movie, Observe and Report is rated R and about as unfamily friendly as it gets.

This movie walks the line between funny and offensive, so it’s definitely not for everyone. For instance, there is a scene where Ronnie is having sex with a seemingly unconscious Brandi, but it plays out so carefully that it actually seems unintentional and probably consensual. This scene will make many people laugh yet feel uncomfortable and will probably anger others. There are scenes with his mother that help make Ronnie seem more human but yet his mother’s alcoholism and seemingly deteriorating state of mind and being, while good for a cheap laugh every once in a while, makes it all seem so pathetic and again kind of awkward and uncomfortable.

Seth Rogen did a fantastic job as the lead character which is actually a bit of a step out of the norm compared to his usual roles. He actually manages to make you sympathize with this deranged character. Ronnie Barnhardt is very reminiscent of the infamous character Travis Bickle in Taxi Driver. In fact, a lot of the movie plays out a bit like Taxi Driver in a mall. The only word I have to describe his character and most of the movie is irrational. His characters irrationality can be explained by his bi-polar disorder and the fact that he stops taking his medication. He does well when everything is going well for him, but as soon as something changes he’ll snap. The rest of the movies irrationality does not have an explanation, like how does he interfere with a police investigation and suffer no consequences. I would like to discuss more but will not give away anymore of the movie for those who want to see it. I will say that the ending is a bit of a shock and I still don’t completely know how I feel about it, much like Taxi Driver.

Observe and Report is far from perfect, but it tries to be something more than a silly comedy and it is a nice change away from the usual comedies that have come out lately. It is darker in tone and while it didn’t have as many laughs as I had hoped for, it does have a nice commentary about out world today. This movie is worth the time and money and will probably be a subject of debate. I do commend Jody Hill, Seth Rogen and crew for taking such a big risk with a movie like this. I also am beginning to love WB more and more for taking bigger and bigger risks with movies like this and the huge risk they took with Watchmen and several others. I recommend this movie to everybody who has a sense of humor, if you are overly sensitive; do not see this movie because I don’t want to hear your complaints.

Review: Adventureland

Grade: A

Adventureland is a new comedy out about a teen in 1987 who has just graduated from college and wants to go to grad school but his parents are having money trouble so he has to take a summer job at a local amusement park in order to save up some money to move to New York and attend Columbia. This is another one of those movies that's advertisements don't properly portray the movie. If you just watch the trailers it shows that it is a movie directed by Greg Mattola, who also directed Superbad, and that it appears to be on the same line as Superbad, as in it looks to be another teen comedy about a bunch of foul mouthed kids trying to have sex, doing drugs and partying. While some of that does go on in the movie, that is not what this movie is about.

Adventureland is actually a sweet, coming of age story. The main character James Brennan, played by Jesse Eisenberg, has just graduated from college and is looking forward to a European trip with some friends before heading off to grad school in New York. He is talking to his parents about how he needs a little extra cash for his trip when they tell him that they are having a little money problems so they won't be able to help him with his trip to Europe and that he will need to get a job to save up some money to pay for school. After some searching he lands a minimum wage job working the games stations at a local amusement park, Adventureland (which is a lot like Lakeside Amusement park for those in the Denver area). The trailers seem to portray James as a lonely and desperate immature boy when in fact he is a very intelligent romantic at heart. At Adventureland he meets Em Lewin, played by Kristen Stewart (Twilight), a beautiful girl who helps him out on his first couple days and they become friends. The movie mostly follows these two as their friendship grows into love and they both encounter some problems and tough decisions.

The supporting cast in this movie is fantastic. Martin Starr plays the lonely character Joel, a very sweet but nerdy guy who's having trouble finding love. Margarita Levieva plays Lisa P, the sexy seductress that all the men at the park want to be with. Ryan Reynolds plays Mike Connell, the park maintenance man. The best supporting characters in the movie are Bill Hader and Kristen Wiig who play Bobby and Paulette, the park owners. Bill Hader has all the funniest parts of the movie as the extremely laid back and, at times, irresponsible park owner and Kristen Wiig is great but very subtle as his wife.

One of the best parts of this movie is the fantastic soundtrack. Again, this movie takes place in 1987 so it's nothing new but the combination of the songs they picked were great. Also, they did not really pick any mainstream 80's music other than Falco's "Rock Me Amadeus" which plays practically non-stop at the park. From the opening scene with "Bastards of Young" by The Replacements, to "I'm in Love With A Girl" by Big Star after the Party at Em's house, to the song "Pale Blue Eyes" by Velvet Underground played a couple times throughout the movie. Also songs by The Rolling Stones, David Bowie, New York Dolls, Poison, Judas Priest, Whitesnake, Lou Reed, The Cure and INXS. It really is a perfect soundtrack for this movie.

I would recommend everybody give this movie a chance. Like I said, this movie is not some raunchy and filthy teen sex comedy, it is a very sweet, wonderful and romantic at times coming of age comedy. I believe it would appeal to most people.

Review: Fast and Furious

Grade: B-

New Model, Original Parts. That’s how they kept advertising the new Fast and Furious movie, indicating that they got the original cast back for this new installment, that original cast being Vin Diesel, Jordana Brewster, Paul Walker and Michelle Rodriguez. To a point this is true, but Jordana Brewster is only in it sporadically and doesn’t really have a major part and Michelle Rodriguez dies is the first fifteen minutes of the movie. No, I am not giving anything away as that is a major plot point, but still, fifteen minutes and she’s gone, so really they got back Paul Walker and Vin Diesel. I am ok with this as it is nice to see Vin Diesel back in movies after taking what seems like close to three years off.

In the movie Letty, played by Michelle Rodriguez, is murdered which brings Dominic Toretto, played by Vin Diesel, back to the states in order to find her killer and seek revenge. Meanwhile, Brian O’Connor is back with the FBI and is working on a case to find and stop a heroin smuggler who is somehow bringing in large amounts of heroin undetected, he finds a clue that to get closer to the smuggler he must enter and win a race because the smuggler is looking for the best drivers, and wouldn’t you know it, Toretto finds out that the way to find Letty’s killer is to enter and win the same race. Toretto wins but Brian manages to find a way to get a spot on this driving team.

The movie really was enjoyable and the action in it was very entertaining and fun to watch. The races around the city, with traffic, are exciting and the dash across the Mexican desert was tense and thrilling. Vin Diesel was fantastic and as I said before I was just happy to see the man back in movies. Paul Walker was ok, I never really cared for his acting and he sure hasn’t seemed to improve. Michelle Rodriguez was great for the ten minutes and three lines she spoke. Jordana Brewster was good in the sporadic scenes she was in, where her character Mia, Toretto’s sister, reignites her love slowly with Brian. As far as I can tell this movie actually takes place before the events in Tokyo Drift for a number of reasons, mainly that in the first action packed scene of the movie that is in all the trailers were they are stealing the Gasoline tanks in transit, one of the drivers is actor Sung Kang reprising his role as Han Lue from Tokyo Drift. Then in the next scene Han says that he hears of some new stuff going on in Tokyo, so he might check that out. Also, Han, if you haven’t seen Tokyo Drift yet this is a SPOILER ALERT, dies towards the end of the movie, then at the very end Toretto shows up and says he used to know Han. So really this is The Fast and the Furious 2.5 instead of 4.

Basically this movie doesn’t really show anything new involving these characters and doesn’t really break any new ground in terms of movies like this or the franchise it’s self. Although the action is good and it is still a fun movie to watch especially if you enjoy the franchise.

Review: Monsters vs. Aliens

Grade: A

The premise of this movie is quite simple: Mythical monsters do exist, and the government knows about it and captures them and keeps them in a super secret underground government base. When a meteor containing a powerful substance crashes into Earth, it alerts the attention of an Alien who sends a giant robot to Earth to retrieve it then the titular battle ensues. Very simple but very entertaining. It all starts on Susan's (voiced by Reese Witherspoon) wedding day when she gets hit by aforementioned meteor and then ends up growing to 50 feet tall. She is then captured by a secret government agency that puts her in an underground base where she meets the other monsters: Insectosaurus, a giant, simple minded, insect version of Godzilla, The Missing Link (voiced by Will Arnett), a creature from the black-lagoon-esque lizard-man, Dr. Cockroach (voiced by Hugh Laurie), a mad scientist who transformed himself into a roach-man and the monster who steals the show, B.O.B, a gelatinous blob with no brain and one eye that was the freak accident at a food laboratory of trying to combine a tomato with ranch flavor. When an alien by the name Galaxhar comes to Earth to obtain a precious material known as Quantonium and to conquor the Earth, President Hathaway (voiced by Stephen Colbert) offers the monsters freedom in exchange for defeating Galaxhar and his army of clones and robots.





The visuals in this movie are great and I highly recommend seeing it in 3-D as it made the experience just that much more enjoyable. There are many solid jokes in this movie and I was laughing from start to finish. As I mentioned, B.O.B. really steals the show in most scenes, delivering the finniest jokes, but many of the other characters were funny as well. I don't know why but even though it never speaks I couldn't stop laughing whenever Insectosaurus was on the screen and Will Arnett's character Link kept me laughing as well. Although there is another supporting character that I wish had more screen time because he made me laugh harder than most anything in this movie, that's Stephen Colbert ironically playing the President, with scenes like playing the Beverly Hills Cop theme song to the giant robot, to firing a gun at the giant robot hen being carried away yelling "I'm a brave president", Stephen Colbert had my sides aching after the movie.





There is one thing about this movie that I found to be rather interesting. There is a rather strong pro-feminist message throughout the movie. From one of the early scenes where we find two teenagers in a parked car where the gender roles seem to have flipped, as in the girl gets closer to the guy and tries to kiss him but he starts talking about how he's not ready then giant alien robot flies over the car and crashes of in the distance and the girl is the brave one where the guy is cowering and scared the whole time. To the many scenes that have Susan talking about how she is now strong and can take control of her own life and will never be short changed again. Granted, many of those scenes with Susan are also about embracing your inner-freak and never letting people get you down for being who you are.





I do love all the throwbacks to the classic Sci-Fi and monster movies, sadly many of which I think I was the only person in the theater who got the references. From the scene where they discover the alien ship and a man calls on a red phone yelling "code Nemoy" to the president playing the five tones from Close Encounters of the Third Kind to many more references to classics like Independence Day, The Day The Earth Stood Still, Wolfman, Mummy, Star Trek, The Fly, The Blob, Attack of the Killer Tomatoes, Attack of the 50ft woman and many others.





Overall I would recommend this movie for anybody and especially take your kids to this, they will love it. There is fun and excitement for the whole family and everybody will be walking out of that theater with smiles on their faces.

Review: I Love You, Man

Grade: C+

I Love You, Man is a bromantic comedy about Peter Klaven, played by Paul Rudd (Role Models, Knocked Up) who gets engaged to his girlfriend Zooey, Played by Rashida Jones (TVs The Office), then realizes he doesn't really have any guy friends to be his groomsmen. He then goes out to try to make some male friends until he finally comes across Sydney Fife, played by Jason Segel (Forgetting Sarah Marshall), an honest and eccentric investor. While the two form a close bond rather quickly, this bond is also putting a strain on Peter and Zooey's relationship.

Paul Rudd is very funny throughout most of the movie, every time he tries to do an imitation or accent he "sounds like a leprechaun", but the gag of "he doesn't know how to make friends with men" gets pretty old pretty quick. After going on a couple failed, but amusing, "man dates" he finally manages to casually meet Sydney, they have a very entertaining conversation and exchange phone numbers. What then proceeds is Peter trying to work up the courage to call for a while, then when they talk on the phone Peter is very awkward and says weird things, then when they start to hang out Peter is again awkward and says weird things that make no sense. This gets dragged out for a little to long to me but once that is over the movie gets funny again.

Peter Segal is very entertaining as Sydney with many great lines and some random scenes of craziness. One of the funniest parts of the movie is when Segel starts a fight with the Hulk himself, Lou Ferrigno, Lou proceeds to put him in a sleeper hold. The supporting cast was great as well, Jamie Pressly and Sarah Burns are great as Zooey's two best friends and maid of honors. Sarah Burns is very funny throughout the movie as Hailey who is desperate to find a date. Jon Favreau plays Pressly's husband Barry, who is a bit of a jerk in the movie and really doesn't like Rudd's character. Andy Samburg who really only works well in small doses was great as Peter's gay brother who tries to help find him a best friend. Lastly, Jane Curtin and J.K. Simmons were hilarious as Peter's parents and really stole just about every scene they were in.

All in all I would say that if you are looking for a good laugh to definitely head to a theater and check this movie out. It will keep you laughing through most of it and has a pretty good story about friendship and relationships as well.

Review: Duplicity

Grade: B

Duplicity is a great movie about a former CIA agent, Claire Stenwick (played by Julia Roberts), and a former MI-6 agent, Ray Koval (played by Clive Owen), who have a past together, team up to pull off the ultimate con on two corporation owners. At first look, as in the trailers they've been playing, this movie looks like a typical Julia Roberts romantic comedy but with a spy twist. This is wrong. This movie does not play out at all like the trailers want you to believe. I wish I could say more about the plot of the movie but there are so many twists and turns that I don't want to risk giving any of it away because it was simply brilliant. However, I will say that Stenwick and Koval work for two different corporations that are bitter rivals. So much so that each company has a counterintelligence department. These departments look like serious government spies with great technology and most of the people working in these departments used to be actual spies and everybody takes their jobs seriously. The best part about all of this is that these corporations are not some government contracted munitions company, no, they are soap and shampoo companies, this just makes the movie even funnier.





This movie was very well written, the dialogue is very smart and the story will keep you thinking until the very end. Filled with clever and witty dialogue this Duplicity does not disappoint. Although the constant "I don't trust you and that makes you not trust me" thing did get old at one point. Some of the best parts are the scenes with the two executives played by Paul Giamatti (Sideways, Shoot Em' Up) and Tom Wilkinson (RocknRolla, Michael Clayton). These two characters are so paranoid and hate each other so much that at one point they end up brawling on an airport tarmac.





Clive Owen was fantastic as usual as the sharp and quick witted Roy Koval. Julia Roberts was surprisingly tolerable and actually enjoyable in Duplicity as an untrustworthy yet resourceful and effective Claire Stenwick, getting away from her usual annoying rom-com character and acting style. As I mentioned, Paul Giamatti and Tom Wilkinson were superb as the corporate execs. The rest of the supporting cast did a great job as well.





This movie was a nice escape from the usual stuff that Hollywood has been putting out lately that give every detail right off the bat and play off typical movie cliché after typical movie cliché. It was a fantastic script that actually makes the audience think and definitely keeps them guessing, I know I was surprised by the ending and that doesn't happen often.

Review: Race To Witch Mountain

Grade: B+

Race to Witch Mountain is a movie based on (not really a remake of) 1975's Escape to Witch Mountain. This version is about two teenagers, played by AnnaSophia Robb and Alexander Ludwig, who have extrodinary powers and are not of this world. They get in the cab of Jack Bruno, played by Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson (The Game Plan, Doom), who, after they get tracked by a government agency, decides to help them recover their craft and find their way home. Along the way they recruit Dr. Alex Friedman, played by Carla Gugino (Watchmen, American Gangster), an astrophysicist who believes there is life on other planets. What follows is a funny and action packed adventure that is fun and exciting for the whole family.





Dwayne Johnson takes the helm of this movie as Jack Bruno, a Las Vegas cab driver who doesn't quite seem pleased with his job at the moment. What is a little too convenient about his character is that he used to be a wheelman for a Las Vegas crime lord, hence his advanced ability at driving cars and some account for why a such a strong guy life Bruno is driving cabs in Vegas. There is a UFO convention in town that is bringing in a lot of crazy people, but this is how he first meets Dr. Friedman. She is in town to give a lecture at the convention about the fact based possibilities of life on other planets.





They are being pursued by a government agency bent on recovering the UFO and the 2 teenage aliens that came out of it for experimentation and cover-up. This agency is being led by Agent Henry Burke, played by Ciaran Hinds, who is a seemingly evil man with no regard for the teenagers life.





This movie is a fast and very fun movie to watch. Johnson is great as Jack Bruno and is very funny at times. I do however wish that Dwayne Johnson would get back to doing non-kid friendly movies like Doom and the Rundown where he really excels. Carla Gugino was very entertaining as Dr. Friedman. There were also some very funny small roles in the movie like Chris Marquette (Fanboys, Just Friends) as Agent Pope, a dim witted low level agent. Also a great appearance by Gary Marshall as Dr. Donald Harlan, a UFO conspirator and "colleague" Of Dr. Friedman. Also some entertaining Cameos from Kim Richards and Ike Eisenmann who played the main characters in the 1975 Escape to Witch Mountain.





I recommend this movie for everybody really. I believe this movie can be enjoyed by all age groups. Also any fans of the Sci-Fi genre or of the original movies will enjoy this as well probably.

Review: Watchmen

Grade: A+

Unfilmable. That was the word that many movie studios used to describe Alan Moore’s graphic novel Watchmen. They said the material wouldn’t translate to the big screen. Well, after 23 years and several false starts Watchmen has finally made it to the big screen. It has had many ups and downs on the long road, director changes, cast changes, rewrites and the famous legal battle. WB finally gave the project to Zack Snyder, and rightfully so. Zack Snyder knows how to make a graphic novel adaptation. The studio put enough faith in him they allowed him to keep the original time and setting, something that most studio execs wanted to change to a more modern setting. Snyder sticks true to the graphic novel. Most of this movie looks like it was taken straight off the pages of the novel. Yes, he left some minor parts out and made some other minor changes, this is to be expected and only helps the flow of the movie in some parts. Snyder makes a truly faithful movie. Now, I will highly recommend people read the graphic novel, it is a beautiful piece of work and this movie, while it can be enjoyed by anyone, you get a little more out of it if you’ve read the source material. I will also warn people, this is not an action movie, much like the novel, it is a drama based around these people who just so happen to be masked adventurers. It does have action in it but, again much like the novel, it’s not loaded with it.

The characters are very dynamic and beautifully written. It takes place after a piece of legislation has been passed, the Keene Act, that bans masked adventurers. A few revealed their identity and are trying to live a normal life, some are trying to cope with not being able to fight crime anymore and others still do fight crime illegally. Night Owl II is going through somewhat of an identity crisis, trying to figure out who he is if he can’t be Night Owl II anymore. Rorschach finds out that the man Edward Blake who was murdered in the first scene is actually the Comedian and becomes convinced that there is a “mask killer”. Silk Spectre II is trying to find herself as well after leaving Dr. Manhattan because he is becoming increasingly separated from humanity. Ozymandias has revealed his identity as Adrian Veidt years ago and now uses his image as his alter ego to help build his multi billion dollar empire. After Rorschach tells his old partner Night Owl II about his maks killer theory, they begin to slowly work together to find out why someone killed the Comedian and end up stumbling upon a larger conspiracy.

The scenery in this movie is beautiful, from the New York streets to Veidt’s Antarctic premises. The cinematography was amazingly colorful and vivid. The special effects were spectacular and dazzling at times. The editing was great. The kicker about this movie though is the soundtrack. From the fight sequence in the first scene being set to Nat “King” Cole’s “Unforgettable” to Night Owl and Rorschach flying to Antarctica set to Jimmy Hendrix’s “All Along The Watchtower” but the best was the opening credits showing the history of masked adventurers starting in the 20’s and 30’s and leading up to the movie’s setting of 1985 all while Bob Dylan’s “The Times Are A-Changing”, this is probably the most beautiful opening credits I think I have ever seen.

The costume designs were amazing. From Silk Spectre II’s tight yellow and black latex costume to Night Owl II’s (yes, Batmanesque) brown outfit and goggles to the different Comedian costumes he wore throughout the decades. The most well done though was Rorschach’s simple yet mind boggling costume. Basically he wears an over coat with the collar up, gloves and a fedora. What’s so amazing is his mask. What looks like just a sock over his head actually has what looks like an inkblot test on it (hence the name), but that inkblot is ever changing and actually tends to shift with his own emotions. So, even though you can’t see his face you can tell exactly how he feels.

The movie, much like the novel, was so fantastically written. So many amazing lines throughout the movie, from Rorschach’s line of “the whores and politicians will look up and shout ‘save us’ and I’ll whisper back ‘no’” to Dr. Manhattan talking about the accident when he gained his powers “I feel fear for the last time”. The writing of this movie and many of the characters will really make you think.

Now for my last warning, many people tend to ignore a movie’s rating and take their kids or basically go see something they are not prepared for. This movie is rated R, and for good reason. There is the usual strong language, but there is also strong and graphic nudity, there are two sex scenes and Dr. Manhattan is nude in many scenes. Also there is strong graphic violence, lots of blood and sometimes even seeing tearing flesh and bones being broken through the skin. So, just know what you are getting into.

As with most movies based on books I recommend reading them, and Watchmen is no exception. While you can still definitely enjoy this movie without ever reading the novel, I fell you could get more out of it if you have. I know many people are put off by the fact that it’s a graphic novel, so it’s like reading a comic book, but there is a reason that Alan Moore’s “Watchmen” is the only graphic novel to ever be on Time’s list of 100 greatest novels of all time. The writing is spectacular and really draws you in. It is easily one of my personal top 10 favorites, maybe even top 5.

Overall, this is a spectacular movie that must be seen. So, who watches the Watchmen? Well, hopefully everybody.