Watchmen

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Year:	2009
Country of origin:	USA
Director:	Zack Snyder
Genre:	Comic book epic
Starring:	Malin Akerman, Billy Crudup, Matthew Goode, Jackie Earle Haley, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Patrick Wilson, Carla Gugino, Matt Frewer
Rating:	5/5
IMDB link:	http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0409459/
Tagline:	Who watches the Watchmen?
Favourite line:	"The world's smartest man poses no more threat to me than does its smartest termite."

Based on the Alan Moore graphic novel, a work that Terry Gilliam declared unfilmable when he had a bash at it - that's right, Terry Baron Munchhausen, Twelve Monkeys, Brazil, Time Bandits Gilliam - Zack Snyder seemed an unlikely choice to achieve the impossible.

The plot:
In an alternate reality, Russia and America teeter on the brink of nuclear Armageddon. A huge, metaphorical nuclear clock points at five minutes to midnight and, should the hour strike, Western civilisation will end.
An unlikely band of superheroes, each getting on a bit, may be all that stands in the way of total war, but here there are complications, too, not the least of which is Dr. Manhattan, a nuclear physicist who, by virtue of a terrible accident, can now bend time and space to his will.
When the women he loves rejects him, Manhattan vanishes.
But has he gone for good, or could he possibly be planning to wreak a terrible revenge?

There's more to it than that, much more, as this is multi-layered and complex, apparently in keeping with the source material, something I am yet to read.
With a runtime verging on the three hour mark, it was with some trepidation that I approached this movie, but my fears were groundless as, with a style and verve that belied the fact that the same director brought us last year's execrable Sucker Punch, this deftly manoeuvres from all out action, to political intrigue, to scenes of tenderness, however brief.
Dazzling to look at - seriously, some of the effects here just knock your socks off - this has just about everything going for it.
It's violent, too, reminiscent at times of the simply excellent counter-culture celebration that was Kick Ass.
By far the best of the Alan Moore adaptations - V for Vendetta is all but unwatchable, and From Hell fares little better - this is one that the author could be proud of but, as is his wont, he choose to remove his name from the project, the eccentric old curmudgeon.
Snyder's best film, and one of the best comic book adaptations out there, this is a must watch.