There will be two kinds of audience for this film, those who are familiar with the graphic novel and those that are not. I am of the latter group and on a whim decided to see for myself what I made of director Jack Snyder’s (300) efforts to bring an ‘unfilmable’ work to the cinema. To be honest I am glad that I had not read the graphic novel beforehand as this enabled me to avoid having any preconceived ideas of what it should be like. The film seemed totally fresh and new to me as an audience member.

The film has a relatively unknown cast which helps rather than hinders it. It does not fall into that category of Summer Blockbuster either and as a consequence does not suffer the limitations of being so. As soon as the film started I got the sense that I was watching something different. I was totally thrown into a different world. A dark, murky world, that exists only in the realms of ‘what if?’

For starters the film looks great. I was lost in a world of skyscrapers, continuous rain and neon lighting. The characters are ambiguous and because I had no idea of who they all were this helped to draw me in and make up my own mind. The film basically operates as a ‘Whodunit?’ as members of the Watchmen investigate the systematic murder of their peers by a mysterious unseen foe. Against this backdrop is a world polarised by ideology: America against Russia, where we see President Nixon and Henry Kissinger in a war room that is straight out of Kubrick’s ‘Dr Strangelove.’

It is meandering and scatological but this helped rather than hindered it. I enjoyed just going along for the ride and learning who all these colourful characters were as the film went on a forty year back-story as various lives were explored. The violence is a tad excessive at times and it is definitely worthy of its ‘18’ certificate. But this is a dark story and the violence is in context with a cynical, mercenary and deeply unpleasant society and world.

There is a lot going on and issues being explored, obviously a tough task for a film to take on with a limited run time whereas a serialised graphic novel can take all the time it wants to set things up, but Snyder has made a brave stab of what must have been a daunting task.

With heroes in the shape of the cigar chomping and amoral Comedian, the beautiful Silk Spectre and Silk Spectre II, the sociopathic Rorschach, Nite Owl II and Dr Manhattan (played by Billy Crudup, resembling a giant naked smurf on steroids) these make for an unlikely and unconventional group. But therein lies the genius of ‘Watchmen,’ there are no ‘big stars’ to emasculate the action or drag the film down with heavy exposition. Instead we have a rambling, free wheeling action flick that boasts great visuals, excellent special effects and a soundtrack that includes Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix and Nena (of ‘99 Red Balloons’ fame). I thoroughly enjoyed watching this alternative world with its twisted history unfolding, yes it is long at 163 minutes but it did not feel at any time like it dragged.

I can’t speak for fans of the Alan Moore original but I highly recommend this as it seems like it could be a rare thing: A standalone big budget (dark) superhero film with its own style and originality.