The Watchmen

"The accumulated filth of all their sex and murder will foam up about their waists and all the whores and politicians will look up and shout 'save us!'....and I'll look down and whisper, 'no.' "

I'm sure most of you have seen the commercials about this movie, but most of you probably won't go see it.

Blake had to read the graphic novel for one of his classes and he had to go see the movie. So, we got tickets for the opening day matinee and went and saw it.

Thursday, I asked Blake what it was about. He told me it was too complex to explain, so he handed me the graphic novel and told me to read it if I wanted to know before I saw the movie.

I started it when I got to work Friday. Now, this graphic novel is 500 pages long in total. And I know that it isn't the same as reading a 500 page book, but in graphic novels, you have to look at the pictures while reading and get the image in your head. It isn't something you just let your mind see. They are definitely more complex than people give them credit for.

I finished the novel with about 10 minutes to spare before I got off eight and a half hours later.

It's genius.

It is about superheroes, but they are just regular people that want to fight crime in a costume. They train their bodies to be able to fight and such, but they are just normal people.

It starts out with one of the main superheroes getting killed. It is a little more than 10 years after they outlawed all 'masks' as they call them, but if you work for the government you can still go about saving the world. It takes place during the cold war, and it has escaled more than it truly did.

Nixon is President for the 3rd term, because he was able to actually win Vietnam. He sent in Dr. Manhattan (the blue guy... he can't die. He can take things apart with his mind, put them together, warp places... he's a real superhero, like we think of them today) and he finished the Vietnam War in ten minutes.

Again, the comic is genius.

The Cold War is getting progressively worse, being pushed more and more towards actual Nuclear War. Everyone is terrified, even the superheroes.

People go nuts. There are riots, people are killed, and the superheroes decide to come back and do something about it.

The movie changed the ending, but I actually thought the movie ending was a little better than the novel ending.

(I know this post probably doesn't make much sense, but I would suggest reading the novel if you are against Rated R movies. If not, go see the movie. You won't be disappointed).

The novel isn't up to par with my favorite graphic novel author, but it is pretty close. Some of the things he thinks up, it baffles me with how true it is.

So, I completely and totally recommend seeing this movie. It is made by the same person that did 300, and it is on the same level of awesomeness. GO SEE IT!