Watchmen

I went to see Watchmen solely on the basis of all the blogging about its blue penis.

It is the 1980s...and the 1940s...and the 1970s...and some futuristic parallel time as well and the world is descending into anarchy against the background of the threat of nuclear war. Our retired costume heroes are being targeted by a murderer. Will the murderer be found and can war be averted?

I am no aficionado of comic books and apart from several episodes of the Superman and Batman franchises I have generally been unmoved by the attractions of the films that have been made from them. I thought the Spiderman series was seriously boring apart from the opportunity to gaze upon James Franco.

So Watchmen came as a surprise to me. The film is packed with historical, political and cultural references. So many are there that I am sure I missed more than I picked in this viewing. Watchmen also features references to movies past. The sequences where President Nixon is in his war cabinet mimic Stanley Kubrick's Doctor Strangelove and shots of the bug-eyed spacecraft flying through the clouds brought back memories of the Saturday afternoon serials I used to see at the movies back in the 1950s.

The music and songs featured in the film are interesting and the opening credits sequence, also packed with historical references, is simply terrific. The cinematography is excellent as are most of the special effects.

But I would not be game to return for a second viewing just to check on missed references. Watchmen is also overlong and the scenes of our costumed heroes in plain clothed retirement are often dull, perhaps deliberately so to contrast with the eccentricity of the action sequences. And the film has some very violent moments.

Oh, and the blue penis? Well all I can say is that whoever, or whatever, is the model for Billy Crudup's blue body is very impressive.