Watchmen

If you like action-packed films with no-holds-barred battles to the death, this will be ‘right up your street’. There’s blood oozing over every pavement edge and welling out from under every closed door. There’s loads of publicity surrounding Watchmen so if you’ve not just been released from Guantánamo Bay you’ll probably already know something about it, but just in case here’s an arty-smarty link:

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/features/watchmen-returns-the-20year-struggle-to-bring-a-cult-classic-to-the-big-screen-1632148.html

and here’s an in-your-face ad link:

http://www.watchmenmovie.co.uk/intl/uk/

Well , where does this leave me? Let me give you my version of the plot.

It’s 1985 and Tricky Dicky Nixon is in his fifth term in office. He suddenly became popular when he got his chum Dr Manhattan to win the Vietnam War for him. Needless to say, Dr M has genuine super human powers and is indestructable. The Watchmen are a bunch of self appointed vigilantes who adopt funny names and dress up in weird outfits. It seems that they not only “go to the gym” but also, unlike us lesser mortals, do lots of stuff when they get there. They seem to be super fit and hyper assured of their combat skills and tricks. My favourite is Rorschach. He is slightly built and his super hero outfit consists of tatty raincoat and trilby and, most importantly, a sack over his head featuring moving ink stains on the face. In the film I think you will find that Rorschach convincingly debunks the Rorschach inkblot test. Rorschach has a steely determination to wipe out evil, so he’s kept very busy. His unwavering determination stands him in good stead. He spent (a bit) of time in prison and since he’d been responsible for putting a fair number of his new chums behind bars we expected him to become a victim. We soon learned that our fears were unfounded when one enormous thug gleefully told Rorschach: “Now you are locked up with all of us”. But, after a brief telling incident involving boiling chip fat, Rorschach’s response was: “Wrong. You are locked up with me!”

A few superheroes get the sense that something is afoot when one of their number is murdered – this takes some time and involves much blood and amazing powers of recovery. Maybe one of their own number is up to something (on a grand scale of course)? Dr Manhattan rematerialises himself on Mars to reflect on life and the universe and of course on woman trouble (Silk Spectre 11). Could it be that one of their own number is up to some massive scheme to save humanity which unfortunately means that approx 50% of the human race will have to die? By the way, The two remaining heroes are Nite Owl 11 and Ozymandias.

The advertising blurb tells us that it would be wrong to dismiss Watchmen as just another film of a comic (sorry, graphic novel). The story involves “themes of power, tolerance and the nature of social progress…held together by complex characters and a powerful story line”.

I have a copy of the graphic novel and the film has inspired me to read (and look at) it.

Anyway, it would be good to get feedback if there’s anyone left out there!

“A Good Day To Die” by Simon Kernick

It’s a far cry from “Jane Eyre”. When I picked it up at the charity shop, although I’d never heard of the author, it was easy to deduce that I had a racy crime thriller in my hands. The opening sentence prepared me for a high body count:

“Richard Blacklip wanted to kill someone.”

It turned out that Blacklip was to be disappointed as the main character, an ex London cop called Dennis Milne, had other plans for him. Some 3 years before, Milne, whilst still in the London Met., had ended up killing an undisclosed number of ‘bad’ people as part of his unorthodox approach to crime solving. As the book opens Milne is on the run living in hiding in the Philippines. He learns of the unsolved murder in London of his best mate in the met who was still a cop until his unexpected demise. Our (super?) hero decides to return to London to avenge the killing and all hell breaks loose. I must admit that the term gratuitous violence crossed my mind. Here’s a taster where some drunks were being less than kind to a stripper in a sleazy pub:

“…snarling and cursing she launched a ferocious surprise attack …with the heal of one of her shoes…. The nearest drunk got the heal right in the top of his head, the blow landing with such force that I swear it penetrated bone… She had to work hard to get it out again.”

As the plot unfolds a paedophile ring with connections in high places, a sexy female reporter and, of course, a collection of ruthless villains come into the frame. The plot does hold water and unfolds with some gripping twists. This book is Simon Kernick's second Dennis Milne story and the author is planning a third, so this news may help you to decide whether or not, against all the odds, our hero manages to survive his many scrapes in "A good Day to Die".

I recommend this thriller. There’s a good intro from the author, written in June 2008, and it’s clear that he’s strong on background research and the plot keeps the reader guessing to the end. I'll close with a bit of street philosophy from our thoughful killer/hero describing life in our glorious capital city:

“A never ending conflict between the haves and the would-haves-if they could-get-their-hands-on-it, and the people meant to keep them apart – the coppers.”