Who's Watching the "Watchmen" Reviewers?

This is somewhat anecdotal, but when you look at the Metacritic scores below it boosts my theory that truly awful leftist films frequently get better reviews than deserved while solid, entertaining conservative films (now that the left’s ceded “liberty” to the right) get worse reviews than deserved and films critics didn’t understand were pro-Bush receive fantastic reviews, but once found out, no Oscar nominations.

Metacritic scores:

Redacted -52; The Lucky Ones – 53; Rendition – 55; Stop Loss – 61; In the Valley of Elah – 65; Grace is Gone – 65.

Taken – 50: 300 – 51: The Dark Knight – 82.

As of right now, Metacritic shows “Watchmen” getting killed with a score of 30, but that’s with only 5 reviews in — albeit from the big boys like Variety, Hollywood Reporter, and the New Yorker…. On the other hand, Rotten Tomatoes has over 30 reviews in and the film sits with a fresh rating of 78%.

The Rotten Tomatoes split appears to be among the more elite critics (Cream of the Crop) and their less creamcroppy counterparts. Among the cream is Anthony Lane’s devastating pan in the New Yorker, which is especially interesting:

“Watchmen,” like “V for Vendetta,” harbors ambitions of political satire, and, to be fair, it should meet the needs of any leering nineteen-year-old who believes that America is ruled by the military-industrial complex, and whose deepest fear-deeper even than that of meeting a woman who requests intelligent conversation-is that the Warren Commission may have been right all along. The problem is that Snyder, following Moore, is so insanely aroused by the look of vengeance, and by the stylized application of physical power, that the film ends up twice as fascistic as the forces it wishes to lampoon. The result is perfectly calibrated for its target group: nobody over twenty-five could take any joy from the savagery that is fleshed out onscreen, just as nobody under eighteen should be allowed to witness it. You want to see Rorschach swing a meat cleaver repeatedly into the skull of a pedophile, and two dogs wrestle over the leg bone of his young victim? Go ahead.

I’m not familiar with the source material, but “Watchmen” director Zack Snyder’s “300” was a grand surprise both in its embrace and understanding of the idea of liberty and from a pure storytelling stance. That’s not to say “Watchmen” doesn’t look a little campy, overlong, and overblown. It does, but so did “300.” And Snyder’s storytelling gifts also managed to melt the huge chip on my shoulder for his daring to remake “Dawn of the Dead,” which remains one of the best horror films in years.

As much as I respect Snyder, however, I wasn’t excited about “Watchmen” until the New Yorker used the words “twice as fascistic.” As someone proudly “aroused by the look of vengeance, and by the stylized application of physical power,” — which in non-elite terms probably means: kicks unholy ass — Friday can’t get here soon enough.