4. Watchmen
WATCH CLIP HEREThe Opening Credit Sequence: A breathtaking alternative version of 20th century American history, scattering our caped crimefighters across such significant events as the 1969 moon landing, the Vietnam War and, most startling of all, placing a rather different culprit at the scene of JFK's assassination. Such radical retelling is subversive, almost sacrilegious- as though a graffiti artist had been let loose in the Louvre. And each vignette, captured in slow-motion (well, it
is Zack Snyder), provides a punchline of sorts; every corner filled with pop-culture references and in-jokes.
The Film: Given the allegedly 'unfilmable' nature of Alan Moore's graphic novel, any attempt to convert the page to the multiplex would inevitably divide fans down the middle. Snyder just happens to be the only one daring/daft enough to persist. It's by no means a bad movie; maybe a more faithful adaptation than many had anticipated, with the tragedy of Jon Osterman standing out as a particular highlight. However, some scenes are overlong (especially towards the finale) while others are skipped entirely. And while it doesn't quite share the source material's anti-superhero stance, it certainly makes you wonder just why you've been putting up with no-marks in a mask for all these years. Still, there really is no excusing the use of Leonard Cohen's 'Hallelujah' as the soundtrack to a sex scene...