"Watchmen" is a violent, gory and incredibly intriguing continuation of the graphic novel of the same name, set several decades after it, and assembles new characters with some of the original as well. It is gripping, full of twists and turns, and filled with moments that make you just go "WTF". Centered around a new protagonist Angela Abar, the plot starts out by presenting the murder of her chief police officer, but gradually extends beyond that to a story that is so much more expansive in spatial and temporal magnitude.
Set in an alternative history that aligns with the graphic novel, it puts us in a world that is familiar yet highly strange to us. Suburban living is as we recognize it today, only to be occasionally interrupted by cars and little squids falling out of the sky. There's the talk of Dr. Manhattan in the streets, essentially a god who has gone to Mars. There are police officers who wear masks. Each episode is layered and crafted so well, that it starts out with different threads, spits out to more storyline threads, and ultimately manages to collect them together cohesively into one incredible narrative.
My personal favorites were Episodes 3, 6, and 8. I particularly liked Episode 3 because we get introduced to one of my favorite characters in the series. Episodes 6 and 8, I believe, capture the essence of the story's weirdness and strangeness best. They are tricky, they are surreal, they move back and forth, and they are packed with unbelievable story points. That's not to say the other episodes were lackluster, each of them did a great job of building up the conflict, leading up to the resolution in Episode 9. However, I did feel that the resolution was a bit too convenient and wasn't as interesting as I hoped it would be, which steered the whole climax towards the anticlimactic side.
The visuals of the series was pretty much beautiful, with some of the scenes being just full of awe. I also like what they did with the title sequences, or the transitions. I felt that they were imbued with some creativity, and some of the transitions were unexpected (moving from a shot of one'e eyes to the stars), which I felt added to the mood of a graphic novel and the strange charm the series has.
The series also has astounding cast, imbuing not only our main character but some of the side characters, with complex motivations and layered backgrounds. Most of the characters that were central to the story felt real and fully-fledged. Some of them were not as fully-constructed, and instead were more identifiable by their eccentric personalities and mannerisms, but none were one-dimensional.
This is one of the best series I have ever seen. It is violent, it is fun, it is mysterious, it is twisting, and it is a ride. This is the unmasking of a cruel, wild, and exhilarating narrative.
Set in an alternative history that aligns with the graphic novel, it puts us in a world that is familiar yet highly strange to us. Suburban living is as we recognize it today, only to be occasionally interrupted by cars and little squids falling out of the sky. There's the talk of Dr. Manhattan in the streets, essentially a god who has gone to Mars. There are police officers who wear masks. Each episode is layered and crafted so well, that it starts out with different threads, spits out to more storyline threads, and ultimately manages to collect them together cohesively into one incredible narrative.
My personal favorites were Episodes 3, 6, and 8. I particularly liked Episode 3 because we get introduced to one of my favorite characters in the series. Episodes 6 and 8, I believe, capture the essence of the story's weirdness and strangeness best. They are tricky, they are surreal, they move back and forth, and they are packed with unbelievable story points. That's not to say the other episodes were lackluster, each of them did a great job of building up the conflict, leading up to the resolution in Episode 9. However, I did feel that the resolution was a bit too convenient and wasn't as interesting as I hoped it would be, which steered the whole climax towards the anticlimactic side.
The visuals of the series was pretty much beautiful, with some of the scenes being just full of awe. I also like what they did with the title sequences, or the transitions. I felt that they were imbued with some creativity, and some of the transitions were unexpected (moving from a shot of one'e eyes to the stars), which I felt added to the mood of a graphic novel and the strange charm the series has.
The series also has astounding cast, imbuing not only our main character but some of the side characters, with complex motivations and layered backgrounds. Most of the characters that were central to the story felt real and fully-fledged. Some of them were not as fully-constructed, and instead were more identifiable by their eccentric personalities and mannerisms, but none were one-dimensional.
This is one of the best series I have ever seen. It is violent, it is fun, it is mysterious, it is twisting, and it is a ride. This is the unmasking of a cruel, wild, and exhilarating narrative.