Review: This film takes place in 1985 on the eve of nuclear war as a masked vigilante, Rorschach, investigates the death of The Comedian, a former teammate from the disbanded Watchmen crime-fighting group. The opening credits sequence of moving photographs beautifully sets up the back-story of the Watchmen & the alternate history of the USA populated by superheros and villains. This film improved for me upon a second viewing. While I appreciated the craft and the storytelling the first time, I had missed a lot of the details because I had never read the original comic.
Quotes:
"Is this bean juice?"
"Human bean juice. Badge belonged to The Comedian. Blood too. He's dead."
"Meeting with Dreiberg left bad taste in mouth. A flabby failure who sits whimpering in his basement. Why are so few of us left active, healthy and without personality disorders? The first Nite Owl runs an auto-repair shop. The first Silk Spectre is a bloated, aging whore dying in a California rest resort. Dollar Bill got his cape stuck in a revolving door where he got gunned down. Silhouette, murdered, a victim of her own indecent lifestyle. Mothman's in an asylum in Maine. Even Adrian Veidt, possible homosexual. Must investigate further."
"Do you remember that crazy guy? What did he call himself... Captain Carnage. The one who used to pretend he was a supervillain just so he could get beaten up all the time?"
"Yeah, he tried that on me once. I just walked away. He starts following me down the street in broad daylight, yelling 'Punish me! Punish me!' I'm just saying 'No! Get lost.'"
"God. Whatever happened to him?"
"Well, he pulled that on Rorschach, and Rorschach dropped him down an elevator shaft."
"It's a joke. It's all a fucking joke. You know, I thought I knew how it was. I thought I knew how the world was. I've done some bad things. I did bad things to women. I shot kids. In 'Nam, you know. But that was fucking WAR! This... I never done anything like this. God, here I am... spilling my guts to one of my archenemies. But the truth is, you're the closest thing to a friend I got. What the fuck does that say? Shit!"
"Maybe we should get a cab. These are bad neighborhoods."
"Yeah, well, I'm in a bad mood."
"None of you seem to understand. I'm not locked in here with you. You're locked in here with ME!"
"Dan? Is everything alright?"
"God I'm tired of being afraid, afraid of war, afraid of the mask-killer... and afraid of this goddamn suit, and how much I need it."
"Me too. So to hell with it; let's take Archi out."
"You're serious."
"I used to be a masked avenger too, you know; I'm used to getting up at 3 in the morning and doing something stupid."
"John, please. You have to stop this. Everyone will die!"
"And the universe will not even notice. In my opinion, the existence of life is a highly overrated phenomenon. Just look around you. Mars gets along perfectly well without so much as a microorganism."
"So in order to save this planet... I had to trick it with the the greatest practical joke in human history."
"Killing millions!"
"To save billions. A necessary crime."
"You know we can't let you do that."
"'Do that', Rorschach? I'm not a comic book villain. Do you seriously think I'd explain my masterstroke to you if there was even the slightest possibility you could effect the outcome. I triggered it 35 minutes ago."
4 1/2 out of 5 Stars
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