WATCHMEN

Watchmen was one of the most admired comics of the 1980s, and was long considered unfilmable. The book presented a dense and multilayered world of deconstructed superheroes, texts within texts and recurring motifs. In 1985, masked heroes have been outlawed, and those who remain are either operating on the edge of the law or beyond it. But when one old Watchman is murdered, the others are drawn out of the shadows, and the global superpowers step closer to the brink of war. The film replicates artist Dave Gibbons’ striking panels in stunning slow-motion action sequences, but there is an awful lot left out between page and screen. The result is very long and far more nuanced than the average superhero movie, but slightly unsatisfying when compared with the original. See it, but read the original afterwards. (Lachlan Jobbins)