The Watchmen were a team of "masked vigilantes" bringing justice where the law was useless back in the 1950s, but as one disgruntled guy in the film asked: "who's watching the watchmen?".

A generation later, the original Watchmen have come acropper, many of them killed either in the line of duty or by religious extremists, or they have simply gone mad. The few remaining from the first generation of so-called heroes are in retirement.

A new generation has come and gone, with only two revealing their true identities - Dr Manhattan, and Ozymandias, a rich and super intelligent businessman.

Despite the watchmen, after a 4th successive term in office for Richard Nixon, the world is on the brink of nuclear war. Dr Manhattan, a bright blue being who is losing touch with his humanity, is trying to find a renewable source of energy. Rorscarch (a strange guy who has an ever changing ink blot on his mask) is investigating the death of one of the remaining watchmen, the comedian.

As the film unfolds, the story and the characters are told via a series of flashbacks (not unlike Slumdog in that respect). Each of the characters sworded pasts come into focus one by one. It is at this point you start to realise that unlike other superhero movies, none of these characters are unflawed, and yet they each seek a resolution to the world's ills - though the ends don't necessarily justify the means.

The film does raise some difficult questions including a few topics touched upon by I, Robot in how the only way to save us might well be to cause the very thing we try to avoid.

In that respect, the film was good and very thought provoking, but the content of the film left me hiding my eyes on more than one occassion and for various reasons as the film's directors once again push the boundaries of acceptable taste.

Even if you ignore completely the full and repeated full frontal nudity of Dr. Manhattan, the excessive and needless gore, gratuitous sex scenes and the rape. It was the scene in which ink-blot face discovers the remains of a child's body being faught over by dogs that really sickened me.

Other than these things though and despite the thought provoking nature of the film, I found it depressing. Since my reviews are primarily based on my own enjoyment of a film, it was this that did the film the most harm in my book. It was long, depressing and at times sick.

For those who loved Sin City and the style of 300 they will, like my housemate, probably love this film. For those who are sensitive to gore, get squeamish during sex scenes and need action - this is probably not for you.

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