Being a young teenager, I was drawn to the previews of Watchman because of the stunning visual effects, the violence, and the superhero aspect. I only hazily remember the storyline. I mainly remember the images of the superheroes that were not what mainstream superheroes are typically like. I also had a vivid memory of the movie creating a montage of superheroes getting old and dying using the Bob Dylan song, “Times They Are A-Changin’.” . This scene stuck with me because it was the first time that I had heard this particular song, and after seeing the movie, this song was added to one of my playlists that I listened to often. I have always linked Watchmen with that Bob Dylan song, so only that scene really stayed with me through the years.

Recently, when I watched the movie again, the first thing I realized is that I probably watch this movie without my mother’s permission. The opening scene starts out with an assassin breaking into the Comedian’s house and throwing him out the window onto the streets of the city below. The violence only gets more stunning from here, and although thrilling to watch, it was not exactly permitted in my house when I was younger.

The movie takes place in a parallel universe to our own, where in 1985 Richard Nixon is still President, even though he seems to be more of a dictator, and the world is awaiting the imminent nuclear apocalypse that is expected to result from the Cold War. I have always been a history buff, and I must have connected with this movie because world history is a foundation for the plot. This universe that the movie takes place in has evolved with the rise of superheroes and has taken appropriate measures throughout recent history to protect the world from the masked crusaders. Nixon outlawed “masks” and then the team that called themselves Watchmen were forced to disband and lay low from the government.
An important aspect of this movie is that only one of the heroes actually has superpowers. The rest of the Watchmen are normal people who made a decision to put on a mask and try to make the world a better place. The heroes are very easy to connect with because they are shown to have human problems that they have to deal with while trying to live a life fighting crime. Silk Scepter is portrayed as trying to live up to the image of her mother who wore the mask before her. Rorschach was born to a prostitute who didn’t want him, and struggled his whole life to find a morality that he didn’t see in the world. It is shown through flashbacks that even though the Comedian was a hero, he did a lot of bad things as well, and was shown as more of an anti-hero.

Even the ending of the movie showed that these heroes were just trying to figure out what was morally acceptable. The villain, Ozymandias, had an idea that if he killed millions of people and blamed it on an attack from Dr. Manhattan, it would stop the imminent threat of a nuclear war. All the heroes eventually agreed on this except for Rorschach, who kept his morality and didn’t compromise.
As I have re-watched Watchmen, I realize there was a much deeper concept of morality and the world we live in than I ever saw when I watched it as a teenager. This movie is much more than just visual effects, as I once thought. I appreciate the plot of this movie and the human characteristics that the characters  dealt with. Most superhero movies today make the heroes seem too powerful or god-like, and it is a nice change of pace to see the heroes face tough decisions.