Watchmen: Review
Should you watch the Watchmen?
Reasons you shouldn't watch Watchmen:
* It's over 2.5 hours long. That's a long time to be sitting still in one place
* There's a lot of over-the-top violence, several sex scenes, and some full frontal male nudity. It definitely earns its MA rating
* There's way too much sitting around and talking and not enough action scenes
* If you've read the book, you're going to compare it to the book. And everyone knows that the book is almost always better than the movie
Reasons you should watch Watchmen:
* This is a superhero movie written for adults. There's more going on here than two guys in costumes beating each other up
* The special effects and attention to detail are amazing
* The movie deals with complex themes of heroism, truth, and saving the world
* You really want to know what makes these characters tick
The world of Watchmen is different to our own. People once dressed up in costumes to fight crime. Now they are outlawed. A man “died” in a science accident and came back to life with god-like powers. It's 1985 and America is about to begin a nuclear war with the USSR and it doesn't look like anyone will survive.
What would you do to save the day? How far would you go to save the world? That's the question being asked in Watchmen. Does the ends justify the means? As Christians, we believe that we should follow God's way of living all of the time. It doesn't matter what the outcome is, how we act on the way there is just as important.
“But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God’s holy people. Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving.” (Ephesians 5:3-4)
Not even a hint. We are God's holy people. We are to follow him in all that we do. Watchmen forces us to ask if the “heroes” are really heroes if they don't always act like the good guys.
Superhero movies in general are about saving people. But at the end of the day, they need saving again. As the character Ozymandias points out, man's nature will always lead to war and sinfulness. No mere man, or even superman, can truly save us. Only Jesus, through his death and resurrection, can save us from the ultimate bad guy - Sin. And that's a saving that only needs to happen once.
If you're old enough to see Watchmen, go and see it. Once you get past the sex and violence, it's a really well told, thought provoking movie. If you're not old enough, give it a miss for the time being.
For a more in depth review of Watchmen head to Pop Culture Christ.
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