Watchmen (2009)

Note Générale:

7,8/10   

Réalisateur:

Zack Snyder

Scénaristes (WGA):

David Hayter (screenplay) and
Alex Tse (screenplay) ...

Date de sortie:

6 mars 2009 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Drame | Mystère | Science-Fiction | Thriller

Accroche:

This city is afraid of me. I've seen its true face.

Intrigue:

In an alternate 1985 where former superheroes exist, the murder of a colleague sends active vigilante Rorschach into his own sprawling investigation, uncovering something that could completely change the course of history as we know it.

Plot Keywords:

1985 | Vigilante | Murder | Conspiracy | Investigation

Récompenses:

1 win & 1 nomination

Avis des utilisateurs:

My favorite movie ever?

Ensemble

Malin Akerman	...	Laurie Jupiter / Silk Spectre II
Billy Crudup	...	Dr. Manhattan / Jon Osterman
Matthew Goode	...	Adrian Veidt / Ozymandias
Jackie Earle Haley	...	Walter Kovacs / Rorschach
Jeffrey Dean Morgan	...	Edward Blake / The Comedian
Patrick Wilson	...	Dan Dreiberg / Nite Owl II
Carla Gugino	...	Sally Jupiter / Silk Spectre
Matt Frewer	...	Edgar Jacobi / Moloch the Mystic
Stephen McHattie	...	Hollis Mason / Nite Owl
Laura Mennell	...	Janey Slater
Rob LaBelle	...	Wally Weaver
Gary Houston	...	John McLaughlin
James M. Connor	...	Pat Buchanan (as James Michael Connor)
Mary Ann Burger	...	Eleanor Clift
John Shaw	...	Doug Roth

Autre(s) titre(s):

Watchmen: The IMAX Experience (USA) (IMAX version)

MPAA:

Rated R for strong graphic violence, sexuality, nudity and language. (also director's cut and ultimate edition)

Durée:

162 min | 186 min (director's cut) | 215 min (ultimate cut)

Pays:

USA

Langue:

Anglais

Couleur:

Couleur (Technicolor)

Rapport de forme:

2,35 : 1

Son:

SDDS | DTS | Dolby Digital

Classification:

USA:R (certificate #44894) | Czech Republic:15 | Australia:MA | South Korea:18 | UK:18 | Netherlands:16 | Ireland:18 (original rating) | Finland:K-15 | Singapore:R21 | Singapore:M18 (edited for re-rating) | New Zealand:R16 | Ireland:16 (re-rating on appeal) | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Germany:16 | Canada:18A (Alberta/British Columbia/Manitoba/Nova Scotia/Ontario) | Portugal:M/16 (Qualidade) | Japan:R-15 | Switzerland:16 (canton of Vaud) | Switzerland:16 (canton of Geneva) | Brazil:18 | Philippines:R-13 (MTRCB) | Norway:15 | Spain:18 | Portugal:M/16 | France:-12 | Iceland:16 | Hong Kong:IIB (cut version) | Hong Kong:III (IMAX DMR version) | Italy:VM14 | Sweden:15 | Argentina:16 | Peru:18 | Mexico:C | USA:R (director's cut) (certificate #45165) | USA:R (Ultimate edition) (certificate #45166) | Denmark:15 | Austria:16 | South Africa:16LV | Chile:18 (original rating) | Chile:Y7 (re-rating)

Lieux de tournage:

Bloedel Floral Conservatory, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Société:

Warner Bros. Pictures

Anecdotes:

At the beginning of the sequence when the "Times are a-changing" song is playing Nite Owl hits a thug in what resembles a lot the (then frustrated) mugging and killing of Bruce Wayne's parents. This, of course, would make the "thug" Joe Chill. This is consistent with comic book canon, with the different DC Earths having alternate or "parallel" versions of the characters in the main (New Earth) DC Earth. As such, he is saving the Thomas, Martha and Bruce Wayne of that Earth. This means that Batman doesn't exist in this Earth.

Goofs:

Considéré à tort comme goofs: The movie takes place in an alternate reality whose history diverged from ours in the 1930s. In some ways that reality is far more advanced than ours technologically. Because it is impossible to know what could and could not have been developed in the various time periods shown in the movie, most apparent anachronisms and factual errors regarding music, technology, politics, presidential term limits, biographies of John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon, design etc., are therefore redundant.

Guillemet:

Adrian Veidt: I'm not a comic book villain. Do you seriously think I would explain my master stroke to you if there were even the slightest possibility you could affect the outcome? I triggered it 35 minutes ago.

Connexions:

figurer "The Outer Limits" (1963)

Bande son:

I'm Your Boogie Man

My favorite movie ever?

For over 25 years now, I have cited Blade Runner as my favorite movie of all time. After seeing Watchmen, I may have to reconsider.

First, I'm glad I went to see the movie alone. I've heard so many comments focused on a blue dick, or the length of the movie, or some other such nonsense, that I'm sure watching it with someone would have been a constant barrage of commentary and complaint. And no, that's not Javier Bardem.

Yes, the movie is long; nearly three hours. But, unlike the dreadfully insipid Titanic, at the end of this movie I wasn't asking for those three hours of my life back. And, as with all such movies, you must be able to look beyond the literal.

Watchmen is iconic and iconoclastic, deconstructionist and revisionist, laden with allegory and allusion. Consider, for example, the character Ozymandias. I'm wondering how many people who viewed the film ever even heard of Percy Bysshe Shelley's poem by the same name. The character even quotes the poem on a plinth in his Antarctic lair. The allusion is amazing. Here's the full quote;

And on the pedestal these words appear -- "My name is Ozymandias, king of kings: Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!" Nothing beside remains. Round the decay Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare The lone and level sands stretch far away.'

Clearly one must see the allusion to the work, in this case, of a superhero who hopes to leave mankind a lasting legacy, but realizes in the back of his mind that everything is eventually lost in time. Ozymandias was the first poem I ever examined from an expositional point of view, and I was blown away. The use of it in this movie is equally impactful.

Then there is Dr. Manhattan, named, of course, for the Manhattan Project, which yielded the atomic bomb. His character is an allegory for God, and his relationship with man mirrors the apparent detachment with which God sees suffering in the world He created. The deity reference is reinforced often, and one thinks of Oppenheimer's citation of the Bhagavad-Gita, in which Vishnu takes on a godly form and says, "Now, I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds."

In an expository scene in the second act, Dr. Manhattan has a sort of recollection of his life. His account is dizzyingly elliptical, since he does not see time as linear the way others do. This scene has the lyrical feel of my favorite piece of fiction, Alan Lightman's almost unbearably beautiful Einstein's Dreams, and the reference to Einstein cannot be ignored.

But the real beauty of Watchmen is the moral diversity of its superheroes. Each is flawed in different ways, allowing us to inhabit different ethical perspectives, intellectually at least, and witness their consequences. Everything from Rorshach's refusal to compromise, which makes him a doomed fugitive, to the ultimate compromise envisioned by Ozymandias, who can dispassionately evaluate scenarios where millions of lives are sacrificed, calls into question our most cherished beliefs. Where does it leave you? Well, that's for you to decide.

From a purely entertainment perspective, Watchmen is stunning. The visuals are state of the art, and do not suffer from the sort of mental rejection I have for some movies that present too many special effects to swallow at once as reality. And Watchmen doesn't suffer from Hollywood's apparent fascination with camp in comic book movies. Camp works to some degree in Spiderman, since he's a somewhat humorous character to begin with. But the excess of camp rendered the Fantastic Four sequel unwatchable. Watchman proves that superheroes can use more subtle forms of humor, such as irony, without devolving into camp for cheap laughs.

And the music, oh, the music. If you didn't grow up in the 60's and 70's, you will surely miss some of the impact, but don't worry. Even a second hand recollection of such iconic tunes will suffice. I am reminded of the painfully awful Across the Universe, which couldn't even pull together a decent movie built around the greatest catalog in modern music. Watchmen does it in spades.

I LOL'd, I cried. The people in the theatre applauded at the end. I vowed to wait 24 hours before writing a review to see if my euphoria passed. It hasn't.