300's
Zack
Snyder
brings
Alan
Moore
and
Dave
Gibbons'
critically
acclaimed
comic
book
Watchmen
to
the
big
screen,
courtesy
of
DC
Comics
and
Warner
Bros.
Pictures.
Set
in
an
alternate
universe
circa
1985,
the
film's
world
is a
highly
unstable
one
where
a
nuclear
war
is
imminent
between
America
and
Russia.
Superheroes
have
long
been
made
to
hang
up
their
tights
thanks
to
the
government-sponsored
Keene
Act,
but
that
all
changes
with
the
death
of
The
Comedian
(Jeffrey
Dean
Morgan),
a
robust
ex-hero
commando
whose
mysterious
free
fall
out
a
window
perks
the
interest
of
one
of
the
country's
last
remaining
vigilantes,
Rorschach
(Jackie
Earle
Haley).
His
investigation
leads
him
to
caution
many
of
his
other
former
costumed
colleagues,
including
Dr.
Manhattan,
Night
Owl
(Patrick
Wilson),
Ozymandias
(Matthew
Goode),
Sally
Jupiter
(Carla
Gugino),
and
her
daughter,
The
Silk
Spectre
(Malin
Akerman).
Heralded
for
bringing
the
world
of
superheroes
into
the
literary
world,
Watchmen
gave
the
super-powered
mythos
a
real-life
grounding
that
had
been
missing
in
mainstream
comics
to
that
point.
The
film
adaptation
had
languished
in
one
form
of
development
hell
or
another
for
years
after
the
book's
release,
with
various
directors
on
and
off
the
project,
including
Terry
Gilliam,
David
Hayter,
and
Darren
Aronofsky,
as
well
as
Paul
Greengrass,
whose
eventual
dismissal
stemmed
from
budget
conflicts
with
the
studio.
-
Jeremy
Wheeler,
All
Movie
Guide