The Watchmen is a 2009 superhero film directed by Zack Snyder which is based on the limited-series 1986-1987 comic book of the same name by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons. The film follows, in nonlinear fashion, the creation of a superhero group known as the Minutemen in 1938. None of them have super-powers, just guns and gadgets and excellent physical conditioning. In 1959, physicist Dr. Jon Osterman is transformed by an experiment gone wrong into the omnipotent Dr. Manhattan. The Minutemen disband in 1962, feeling they are useless in an era of a superhero with superpowers. Most of the members retire, although a few go on (one dies, and one goes insane). One, a violent vigilante known as The Comedian, continues to fight crime very publicly. Dr. Manhattans appearance radically alters history -- since he can intercept 80 percent of the Soviet Unions nuclear force, America has much more freedom of action during the Cold War. There is no Cuban Missile Crisis (Cuba becomes an American protectorate), North Vietnam surrenders by 1965, and Dr. Manhattan produces so much lithium that electric cars, planes, and trains replace fossil fuels almost overnight (which means no OPEC oil crisis of the 1970s, no oil-funded Arab wars on Israel, and excellent economic growth into the 1980s). Richard Nixon not only wins reelection in 1974, but Congress amends the Constitution to remove the two-term bar and he remains President as of 1985. (Some things remain the same: Kennedy is still assassinated.) A second generation of superheroes does arise, however. These include Silk Spectre II (the daughter of a woman who was a member of the Minutemen), Nite Owl II (a Batman-like character who imitates his Minutemen hero), Ozymandias (a brilliant tactician), and Rohrschach (a somewhat insane vigilate with an ever-changing mask). By 1977, however, state and federal governments have come to rely very heavily on the costumed heroes. When police in several large cities go on strike in protest, riots ensue -- leading the federal government to ban masked heroes. Most retire, although The Comedia unmasks himself and goes to work for the CIA and Rohrschach continues to fight crime underground. A great majority of the film is set in 1985, when The Comedian suffers some sort of emotional collapse and then is found dead after being hurled through the window of his apartment. The paranoid Rohrschach believes someone is murdering retired heroes, and seeks the help of Nite Owl II and Silk Spectre II. They quickly realize that there is, indeed, a conspiracy afoot.... But with Dr. Manhattan suddenly departing the Earth for Mars and the Cold War suddenly very, very hot now that Americas major means of defense is gone, Nite Owl and Silk Spectre may not realize what the conspiracy really entails......... The film starred Malin Åkerman, Billy Crudup (head)/Greg Plitt (body), Matthew Goode, Carla Gugino, Jackie Earle Haley, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, and Patrick Wilson. It was not a box office success.
Posted on: Sat, 05 Apr 2014 00:27:26 +0000
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