Watchmen, the film that time forgot

In theaters Friday: Watchmen

New on DVD and Blu-ray: Australia, In the Electric Mist, I’ve Loved You So Long

The last time we were hit with the notion of an alternate version of 1985, it was Marty McFly racing back from 2015 in a tricked out DeLorean to stop Biff from becoming a mega-winning sports gambler, killing his father and marrying his mother. Thankfully, Back to the Future’s teen hero succeeded, but Watchmen, the new comic book actioner based on Alan Moore’s best-selling comic book series, paints an even darker, more nihilistic picture of 1985, one in which the Cold War is hotter than ever and Richard Nixon is still president. How many other comic books are inspired by William S. Burroughs?

Just as Francis Ford Coppola and screenwriter John Milius turned the popular “Peace Now” symbol on its side to evoke the silhouette of a B-52 Bomber for their 1979 Vietnam epic Apocalypse Now, Moore’s adult comic takes the well-known yellow smiley face and corrupts it with a splash of blood. The world of the Watchmen is a world gone seriously wrong. Kind of like 2009, if you take things like, oh, say, the economy, congress, and The Hills into consideration.

Watchmen opens this Friday, and not only does it take us back to “1985,” it also took ages to get to the screen. But Zack Snyder, the young director of 300, finally put all of the pieces together. Fans of the comic book will have no trouble following faithfully adapted film, but for the uninitiated, things could get complicated…and weird. Here’s the basic plot: When police run into a dead end in their investigation of the murder of Edward Blake—the man who doubles as a vigilante called The Comedian—another masked vigilante called Rorschach looks into it on his own believing the U.S. government is working covertly to eliminate all “superhero” crime fighters. Meanwhile the only true person with superpowers is an emotionally detached, blue ghost-like Superman named Dr. Manhattan who gets accused of causing cancer among certain high-profile people, and so exiles himself to Mars. Why? Because that’s where super heros go for some “me time.” Problem is, without Dr. Manhattan’s aid, the U.S. weakens internationally and Russia grows stronger, which causes all kinds of problems. So while Rorschach and his masked friends face extermination, Dr. Manhattan must face his own demons and decide if or how to help the country he once served valiantly. Malin Ackerman, Billy Crudup, Jackie Earl Haley, Carla Gugino and Patrick Wilson star.

Predicting how well Watchmen will go over with audiences is almost impossible. Advance reviews have been good, and the previews certainly showcase a visually stunning experience. But to do Iron Man numbers—forget about catching The Dark Knight—Watchmen’s story and characters will have to resonate with moviegoers, ones that have never picked up Moore’s comic. And that remains to be seen.

New in stores this week is a film with strong Louisiana ties: Into the Electric Mist. Adapted from James Lee Burke’s In the Electric Mist with Confederate Dead, the film stars Tommy Lee Jones, Peter Sarsgaard, Mary Steenburgen and John Goodman. Like many of the New Iberia resident’s stories, this one features gritty detective Dave Robicheaux. Who better for Robicheaux than Jones? This is the third of Burke’s films to make it on screen, and by far the most high profile. Electric Mist was filmed in New Orleans, St. Martinville and at Albania Plantation in Jeanerette. Check it out on DVD and Blu-ray this week.