Watchmen (2009) ****

I first saw this film a few years ago, and honestly, I had forgotten how good it is. The film takes place in a 1980's where superheroes exist, but they haven't made much difference. They helped America win in Vietnam, but all that did was get Nixon another term. The cold war still rages, worse than ever, and the world edges closer and closer to nuclear war.

Meanwhile, the superheroes, who call themselves “Masks”, have become personae non grata. Outlawed by congress, they live quiet lives, their costumes and gadgets gathering dust. Despite following the rules and laying low, the retired Masks find themselves being hunted. Someone is working their way down a kill list of Masks, someone with access to their secret identities.

Rorschach (Jackie Earle Haley), a vigilante who refuses to retire, sets out to find this killer. He enlists Nite Owl (Patrick Wilson) and Silk Spectre II (Malin Akerman), but they can't seem to interest Dr.Manhattan (Billy Crudup), the blue, glowing, godlike superman who can see the future and manipulate time, space, and matter. They also can't get much of a rise out of Ozymandias (Matthew Goode), the lightning-fast super-genius, so the three set off with the resources they have, to track down a killer. In doing so, they discover a massive, worldwide conspiracy that threatens the lives of millions.

“Watchmen” is a cross between a noir film and a comic-book movie, heavy on the noir. The look is dark, filmed at night, preferably in the rain, and the outlook is very noir. The characters have dark pasts, and seem to have dark futures. Dr. Manhattan, for example, can see the past, present, and future, and can manipulate matter at will, but he is losing the ability to connect with other humans. “Watchmen” presents these characters in their full complexity. The Comedian was a heavy-drinking womanizer and misogynist, but he had a certain charm, and the original Silk Spectre, now an alcoholic herself, still carries a torch for him.

In a sense, “Watchmen” is an anti-comic-book movie. The story declares that superheroes may be able to catch a few criminals, but they have no impact on the societal forces that create rampant crime. They can rescue a few individuals here and there, but they aren't able to stop nations from sliding towards nuclear annihilation. The message is that humanity can't wait around for a superhuman savior. We have to solve our problems with the regular humans we have.

4 stars out of 5