I saw Watchmen tonight at the IMAX theater. I’m intentionally writing this review a mere hour after seeing the film so as not to have read any other reviews before giving my own unbiased and uninfluenced opinion.

First, a brief background: I purchased my copy of Watchmen around the year 2000, finally giving into the hype around what was said to be one of the greatest comic book miniseries of all time. After reading it, they were right. Nine years later, it still holds up and is probably my favorite comic book story that I’ve ever read. It’s not just a great story, it’s a deep story, with many different threads and themes and so many details that after close to a hundred read-throughs, I am still finding things that I missed before.

It’s so deep that I even wrote a paper about the author Alan Moore’s creative process in writing it. My thesis:

First I will attempt a brief summarization of the plot, characters and overlying tones of the story. This will be followed by an examination of Moore’s creative process as influenced by Freudian thought, and an overall deconstruction of the notion of a hero. Lastly I will equate two of the characters in the story to Harold Bloom’s theory on poetic influence. This will support my contention that the heroes in Watchmen are written from an emotional and fantastical state of mind in the effort to deconstruct the notion and relevance of a hero.

Following is my review of the movie. Spoilers abound, so if you have not read the comic or seen the movie, I suggest you don’t read any further until you have done so. Continue reading →