ICONIC REVIEW SCORE: 8/10
Happiness is a relative thing in Watchmen, like the blood-spattered smiley face that is its most powerful symbol.
The film's titular superheroes are surly; their most powerful member, glowing blue quasi-deity Dr. Manhattan (Billy Crudup), can stop most but not all of the bombs in an impending nuclear war. Earth would only be relatively ruined.
Such cynical fatalism hangs heavily over Zack Snyder's exceptional live-action adaptation of the apocalyptic 1980s comic book by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons. Most of the visual details and all of the character shadings of the source tale arrive with gratifying exactness and astounding depth.
Against considerable odds - Watchmen was deemed "unfilmable" due to its jagged shifts in time, place and format - Snyder (300) has directed a movie that should satisfy fanboys while engaging adventurous newcomers. The story rarely flags, despite its 162-minute running time.
Check out Rorschach (Jackie Earle Haley), a sociopathic combo of Sam Spade and Travis Bickle, who can barely even look at another human being, hence his mask of undulating blobs. He's the most spellbinding of a host of freaky fascinations.
Anyone who heads to Watchmen looking for traditional caped heroics should heed the film's first words, as government-backed assassin and rapist The Comedian (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) bites the concrete: "Wrong as usual."
None of it can be construed as family entertainment. Watchmen is loaded with savage killings and mutilations, fairly explicit sex and a giant naked blue sage who isn't afraid to display his shortcomings. If this is what you're into, the multitude of DVD choices should scratch any itch. There's even a five-disc box that could keep you in your dungeon for days.
The highlight of the many extras would have to be the extra 34 minutes of the director's cut. There are also numerous featurettes.
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