Genre: Crime/Action/Superhero
Director: James McTeigue
Writer: Jimmy Ellis
Based on DC Comics characters
Cast: Bill Pullman, Sharon Stone, Ian McKellen, Manuel Garcia-Rulfo, Fionn Whitehead, Pom Klementieff, Matthew Fox, Olivia Holt, Tony Curran, Andrea Londo
Plot: A beautiful young woman (Olivia Holt) is thrown through her window, a scream as she plummets to her death in the rain. As a crowd starts to build around the event, a yellow badge with a smiley face sits in her apartment. "Some things never end."
1985
In the slums, Isaac Ramos hears grunts and blunt strikes and peers out of his room to see his mother, Carla Ramos (Andrea Londo), in the corner of the living room as a vigilante in a trench coat stands over a man who was assaulting her. Carla Ramos thanks the vigilante with terror in her voice as he picks up his hat and catches Isaac out of the corner of his eye. The boy stumbles back, scared of the vigilante's mask; Rorschach. Rorschach stands by and stiffly pats Isaac's back before leaving, a page falling out of his pocket. Isaac picks it up.
Present
A man in a purple and gold dressing gown sits in his High-rise. He takes his medication before grabbing his cane and struggling to his feet as we see his medication is to aid with his cancer. A knock at the door gets Adrian Veidt's (Ian McKellen) attention as his assistant Marlene (Pom Klementieff) informs him his guest have arrived. Veidt smiles as a man around his age with a woman slightly younger enter with looks of displeasure on their faces.
Laurie Jupiter (Sharon Stone) and Daniel Dreiberg (Bill Pullman) stare with grimace as the ailing Adrian Veidt coughs and scowls at his assistant Marlene. Veidt smiles a pearl white smile at the pair as they become uncomfortable. “So how long have you been married?” Dreiberg looks away as Laurie gulps and notes they divorced. Veidt chuckles to himself; “Chasing the man on Mars eh?” Dreiberg snaps and demands to know what Veidt wants. Veidt obliges as he throws down a newspaper headlined by the death of Hera Veidt; Adrian’s daughter. Laurie shudders as Dreiberg is confused as he was unaware Veidt had a daughter. Veidt says this isn’t important. What is important is finding out who did this as this was clearly a message for them. “or maybe just for you…” suggests Laurie through a soft voice as Veidt twists his head and tells Marlene to tell her story
A few nights ago…
A man drags Marlene by her hair in to an alley and unzips his pants when a knife swiftly chops off his penis! Marlene screams as blood spurts everywhere as a brown trench coat sporting vigilante stands over the man as he crumbles to the floor and dies from bleeding out. Marlene’s face twitches as she stares at the vigilante; “W-who are you?” Marlene asks through her trembling tears. The vigilante stares as the ink blots move around his Rorschach mask and in a raspy voice he replies; “A second coming.”
Daniel Dreiberg and Laurie Jupiter sit in a coffee shop, looking out the window as celebrations take place amongst some folk at the death of Hera Veidt. Adrian watches these celebrations from his Highrise, turning to look at how he “single handily saved the world”, the newspaper article in a golden frame on the wall. Veidt picks up a picture of his daughter and reflects on her life.
1995
A decade after his triumph, Adrian had looked for something new to pour himself in to and decided he wanted a child. He worked tirelessly in his lab to create one that could be perfect. Then one day, he created Hera, and she was almost perfect. Almost. As the years went by, Adrian grew displeased with social influence on his daughter and created distance, continuing to bank roll her to ensure she would never have to really make contact, all for but a meal on her birthday and Christmas. Fatherly things. Fatherly things even Adrian had to admit he would miss.
Present
Dreiberg and Jupiter discuss the tyrant Adrian was and how maybe his decisions and karma may have finally caught up to him. “But I mean…Technically…He did save the w-” Jupiter snaps at Dreiberg before he can complete this sentence, reminding him what they lost. Dreiberg stares with a sadness; “Is it what we lost…or what you lost?” Jupiter doesn’t have an answer as a young man enters and joins them with a smile but sense of concern. “Hey mom. Dad.” Dreiberg and Jupiter look at their son; Walter Dreiberg-Jupiter (Fionn Whitehead).
1995
Carla and Isaac Ramos stand at the unmarked grave of Rorschach and place down some flowers. Carla looks at her son as his lip trembles. “There are some good men and some bad man in this world. I know for the last decade it feels like the darkness has been taking over but the light always shines through.” The boy stares at his mother. “Maybe you need to embrace the greater darkness to truly create the light.” Carla looks at her son with concern, unsure of the true meaning behind his words.
Present
Laurie Jupiter and her son Walter Dreiberg-Jupiter walk side by side and openly talk about the events that have transpired, Walter commenting he fears of some kind of war breaking out. Laurie stops and looks at her son and hugs him tight before promising him no more wars. Walter stops and his face becomes emotionless as he watches his mother walk ahead. “Some things never change.”
That night, Daniel Dreiberg falls out of a bar, a shell of what he should be. He tries to hail a taxi but is ignored countless times before deciding to make the long walk home, despite the stiffness in his joints and heavy rain. A gang of thugs soon jump him and despite some effort, Dan isn’t what he used to be and eats some boots to the body and face before the throat of one of the goons is torn open and the rest are quickly and violently dispatched with no survivors. Dreiberg looks up as if he’s seen a ghost; “Rorschach? Is that you” Rorschach II turns to Dreiberg and responds; “I’m the something more he always should have been, a greater darkness trying to force the light to break through.” Rorschach II disappears into the night as Dreiberg pulls out his phone; “Adrian…We need to talk.”
Unrest has begun to swell in the city. Reports of this second coming of Rorschach having an influence as it is he who is now the chief suspect in the death of Hera Veidt, something that has put a huge spotlight on Adrian who almost enjoys the renewed attention, though his ailing health stops him embracing it, angering him to an extent he almost assaults his assistant Marlene until Dreiberg enters and she is excused. Dreiberg watches Marlene run out in tears before turning to a weak though grinning Adrian.
“Laurie?” Laurie’s eyes peak open to a blue hue lighting her room and a figure standing in her room; “Jon?” Laurie wakes up with a smile that falls to a frown as she tries to hold back tears, knowing that the one thing she wants the most is seemingly stuck in her dreams.
Adrian and Dreiberg walk to the lower levels of Veidt’s Highrise where they enter a lab, a picture of The Watchmen hanging front and centre. Dreiberg examines it and can’t help but reminisce. He remembers Walter Kovacs. Rorschach. There mission to stop Veidt. The truth in Walter’s words when he reminded him; “Something’s will never change.” The door to the lab suddenly slams shut and a Rorschach stands watching them. Veidt laughs as the Rorschach is suddenly disintegrated. Dreiberg stumbles in shock; “I’m always one step ahead Dan” sniggers Veidt. “Almost always” growls a voice from the dark as Rorschach II is flanked by fellow Rorschach’s. “Some things HAVE to end.”
Days gone…
Hera Veidt returns home with a man, Isaac Ramos (Manuel Garcia-Rulfo). They share moments of bliss and intimacy and are deeply in love. Hera throws her bag down and it tumbles over, the yellow smiley face badge falling out. The man she is with picks it up and stares. Hera tries to get his attention but he’s transfixed. Hera eventually snaps him out of it and he asks where she got the badge from. Hera looks at him with a hellish glare. Isaac Ramos looks at her with a sadness; “Ozymandias.” Hera lashes out at Isaac as she snatches the badge off him before asking him to leave. Isaac obliges but as he does, behind the door stands a figure in the dark.
Present
Laurie walks out as a downpour hits the city and she sees her son Walter run up to her warning that his father is in danger, revealing that Dreiberg pocket dialled him. Laurie asks if he knows where his father is but Walter is clearly distressed. Laurie is about to speak when it hits her; Veidt.
Days gone…
Hera is thrown against the wall, blood across her face as she tries catching her breath when she is booted in the face, destroying her nose as she begs for her life. The figure lumbers over her and begins to stomp her further, bones cracking. Hera looks up to the figure and asks why when she is lifted by the throat and the smiley badge placed on her as she is thrown out of the window! Isaac Ramos runs and joins the crowd that gathers and bursts in to tears by Hera’s side, picking up the badge and looking to the heavens…
Present
Rorschach II removes his mask; Isaac Ramos. A beat up Veidt smiles. “I told you like I told him, I’m always a step ahead.”
Suddenly a rumble is heard and a giant squid like creature emerges from the underground.
A news helicopter flies over the city with a breaking report as giant squid tentacles tear out of The Veidt Highrise, members of The Rorschach cult are thrown to their death or eaten by the one-eyed creature that had once been at the centre of bringing the world together! Laurie and Walter arrive at the doors of The Veidt Highrise, Laurie in such crisis she faints into Walter’s arms who holds his mother and looks in amazement at the beast.
Mars. Laurie walks on the surface of the red planet as the blue hue she had seen a thousand nights before in her dreams glows brighter than ever, Laurie wondering if it was real…Until she touched him.
Adrian and Dreiberg run through the collapsing structure as Rorschach II hunts for Veidt through the growing rubble. Veidt opens a vault and grabs a briefcase, Dreiberg sees the contents and looking at Veidt with a look of hate and disgust he never knew he had inside him. Veidt quickly pulls a revolver and blasts a charging Dreiberg into the arriving Rorschach II, the two falling into the cloud in which the beast was hidden!
“What do I call you? Dr Manhattan? The people on earth call you The Martian?” Jon Osterman () turns to Laurie and looks deep in her eyes; “Call me what you always called me Laurie.” Tears well in Laurie’s eyes as she holds Jon and begs him to come home. “I told you I’m tired of Earth, those people. If it were to fall apart the universe would lose nothing.” Laurie holds Jon’s hand and asks why she was here then. Jon looks over to her and says he was always going to come back for her. Tears stream Laurie’s face as she laughs; “What about Walter?”
Walter Dreiberg-Jupiter slowly marches towards the falling Veidt Highrise and closes his eyes tight and takes a deep breath as the squid creature breaks the surface and military forces begin to roll in, a nuke in bound. Jon looks at Laurie. The silence and surrounding of space quieter and colder than usual. “You came home for the new millennium. You thought I’d forget?” Jon looks down; “I hoped you’d forget…It would keep you safer.”
2000
As the new year begins, Dan Dreiberg celebrates with friends, laughter rife in the Dreiberg household as the married couple tried to hide the cracks in their foundation. Laurie heads upstairs where she sees Jon Osterman, carrying the same blue hue he had since the accident that made him a god. Dan celebrates and hides tears downstairs, unaware that his soon to be ex wife Laurie was having sex with Jon Osterman aka Dr Manhattan upstairs, soon to conceive a son to the god with a house on Mars.
Present
Adrian Veidt makes it out of the Highrise and is helped up by nearby law enforcement. Veidt’s attention is turned though his jaw dropping with a wicked smile that carries concern as the rest of the city looks on in amazement. Walter Dreiberg-Jupiter lifts the creature out of the ground, his eyes glowing white and his expression stoic as he clenches his fist and incinerates the monster. Veidt shakes his head; “It ends.”
Walter Dreiberg-Jupiter is hailed a second coming of Dr Manhattan. Walter doesn’t react to these comments and begins to isolate after saving the world. Adrian Veidt takes credit for Walter’s arrival, commenting that he let him be dormant in fear of the chaos caused by Dr Manhattan. Adrian Veidt is hailed as the man who created a god. The truest saviour.
Dreiberg lays in hospital on life support as Laurie enters. She comforts Dreiberg who is clearly near his end. Laurie cries as she thanks Dreiberg for his love, support, time and home they shared. Dreiberg holds her hand as tears run down his face. Dreiberg tells her to promise him she’ll be happy when she really goes home. A blue hue appears behind Laurie as Walter enters and thanks his father. Dreiberg tells his son he loves him and always knew he’d be special. Laurie and Walter disappear as Dan Dreiberg breathes his last breath with a smile.
Adrian Veidt walks through his penthouse sipping wine, healthy and upbeat. His assistant walks next to him with a black eye, clearly beaten by Veidt himself. He caresses her shoulder before sending her away. Veidt then enters his office and enjoys the view along with the spoils of war. “I always thought we’d meet again.” Veidt smiles as he turns and looks to see Dr Manhattan. Manhattan is short with his words as he says he knows what Veidt has done. Veidt smiles as we see inside the contents of his briefcase include many cures, including that to cancer. “Hera knew, didn’t she?” Veidt smiles as he is revealed to of killed his own daughter as she knew of his medicines and threatened to expose her father via a man she met by the name of Rorschach. Veidt knew what weight that names legacy carried. He knew its intentions. Veidt reminds Dr Manhattan he was always a step ahead and there was always a second squid, just in case. Dreiberg was never meant to die and Manhattan Jr was a pleasant surprise. Only one thing mattered to Adrian; Victory.
Dr Manhattan sighs, men like Veidt are what made him tired of this Earth. Dr Manhattan leaves but reminds Veidt destiny is cruel to men like him. Veidt laughs off Dr Manhattan’s words before walking to his window and enjoying the view when his heart suddenly begins to ache and he can’t catch his breath. Veidt turns to find Rorschach II with Marlene now sporting a Rorschach mask and shotgun. Veidt looks at his wine glass and shakes his head in disbelief as he is blasted through the window! Marlene and Isaac go to find The Smiley Face badge but it’s gone.
Laurie and Walter adjust to life on Mars as Jon Osterman watches them, the badge in his hand. “Some things need to end.”
No comments:
Post a Comment