Watchmen Reboot

Watchmen is a three-part movie based on the Watchmen comics. Part One was released on July 17th, Part Two was released on March 25th, and Part Three was released on June 30th. It was directed by David Fincher, and the head writer was David S. Goyer.

Plot
Watchmen Part One: Save Us Edward Blake is mysteriously thrown out of his apartment window and plummets to his death on the street. Rorschach investigates and finds that Edward Blake is in fact The Comedian. Rorschach notifies Dan Dreiberg (Nite Owl II), Adrian Veidt (Ozymandias), Dr. Manhattan (Jon Osterman) and Laurie Juspeczyk (Silk Spectre II) of the hero's death. Laurie then meets Dan for drinks and reminiscing. Instead of attending Edward Blake's funeral, Laurie visits her mother, Sally Jupiter (Silk Spectre I), at a retirement home in California. Sally remembers the night The Comedian attempted to rape her after the first photoshoot of "The Minutemen", the earliest costumed hero organization. Before actually committing rape, Hooded Justice finds the two and attacks The Comedian. Back at the funeral, Adrian Veidt, Dan Dreiberg and Dr. Manhattan witness The Comedian's funeral service. Veidt recalls the failed proposal of organizing "The Crimebusters", a second costumed heroes league. The Comedian speaks out to say that such an idea is simply a joke and that in less than 30 years, World War III will commence - a nuclear war. Dr. Manhattan remembers an instant during the end of the Vietnam War. When The Comedian is visited by a Vietnamese woman whom he had impregnated, they begin to argue. The woman cuts The Comedian with a broken bottle, leaving a large scar on the right side of his face. The Comedian responds by shooting her down. Dr. Manhattan witnesses the entire conflict without intervening, and The Comedian makes note of this. Dan Dreiberg's memory involves his time spent with The Comedian during the riots caused by a police strike. Meanwhile, Rorschach visits the retired costumed villain Moloch to question him about The Comedian's death. Moloch describes The Comedian visiting him while drunk late one night, nearly a week before his death. He appears to be worried, fearful and saddened, mentioning vague activities taking place on an island full of scientists, artists and writers. After hearing this, Rorschach visits the graveyard and takes a single rose from The Comedian's grave. The characters of the news vendor and the young boy reading the pirate comic are introduced. Laurie has an argument with Dr. Manhattan (who is becoming more distant to her). She visits Dan while Dr. Manhattan makes a rare public appearance on a talk show. Dan and Laurie head out for the night and are attacked by thugs. Their crime fighting training proves handy as they make quick work of their attackers. Meanwhile, a reporter from the Nova Express accuses Dr. Manhattan of giving various forms of cancer to those who get close to him. When the issue is pressed by the media, Dr. Manhattan becomes angered. In an outburst, he teleports everyone in the television studio into a nearby parking lot. The story is instantly a top priority among news stations. Dr. Manhattan informs the army he is leaving to Mars. He then transports himself to an abandoned shack, taking a photograph of a man and a woman at a carnival. After staring at it briefly, he leaves Earth. His departure is a startling message through various news sources, as well as word that Russia has invaded Afghanistan. Dr. Manhattan/Jon Osterman's current location on Mars and revisits various turning points in his life is shown. When his father, a watchmaker, hears about the bombing of Hiroshima, he pushes Jon to become a scientist. Jon attends Princeton and is eventually employed by a research lab at Gila Flats in 1959, where he meets and eventually falls in love with Janey Slater. At a carnival, a fat man steps on and breaks Janey's watch. Jon later fixes the watch, but forgets it in his lab coat. When he goes to retrieve his lab coat from a test vault, he is accidentally locked in. When Dr. Glass and others arrive back from their lunch break, Jon embarrassingly asks to be released, but to everyone's horror, the vault has automatically time-locked and generators have already began warming up to begin an experiment: removing the intrinsic field from cell block fifteen. Expecting certain death, Jon examines the watch he has put back together. He is then disintegrated in a flash of light. A month later, "ghosts" of Jon begin to appear at the research site. First a circulatory system, then a muscled skeleton, etc. Finally, he appears as a complete being, entirely blue with abilities far greater than that of a normal human being. He retains all of his memories and has vaguely similar physical features, although he appears distant and somewhat unemotional to those around him. He begins to argue frequently with Janey, whom he still dates and says he loves and needs (although this is a lie). In addition to his new, purely scientific outlook on life, he can telekinetically assemble and disassemble objects, transport himself or others great distances, alter his size and multiply his image, among other things. He is almost immediately recruited as a military asset of the United States, given the moniker "Dr. Manhattan". He is touted as the first super hero with actual super abilities, worrying the active costumed heroes who are already beginning to disassemble for various reasons. Although he is the United States greatest weapon, he is apparently unable (or unwilling) to prevent certain disasters, such as the assassination of President Kennedy. In 1966, Jon leaves Janey for the then sixteen-year-old Laurie. He becomes a hero at Vietnam and is the only superhero to be left active after the Keane Act besides The Comedian, who is also employed by the government (and Rorschach, who evades capture). Then Jon briefly remembers Laurie leaving him and his current activities on Mars. He creates a giant, glass structure that rises from the soil, then stands on its balcony to watch a meteorite shower. Watchmen Part Two: Never Compromise A man walks through the rain past discarded newspapers reporting Russia's invasion of Afghanistan. The man walks into a house, which is soon to be revealed as Moloch's. Moloch climbs out of his bed and takes a gun for safety. Remembering Rorschach's break in last time he checks the fridge wherein he finds a note saying "Behind You". It has been left by Rorschach who then questions him about The Comedians visit to Moloch's a week before his murder. Rorschach makes suggestions that the list was related to the press allegations that Dr. Manhattan has given cancer to many of his close friends. Realising Moloch has no intentional part in this plan, Rorschach leaves. Meanwhile a man, fearing nuclear holocaust, has murdered his two children before taking his own life - we join them during the police questioning his wife. The scene cuts again to the newspaper vendor, who discusses the end of the world with a delivery man who puts forward the idea that in World War III, as opposed to the Second World War, there will be no place to run to. The boy reading the pirate comic learns of the character's plan to make a raft of wood, using the bodies of the dead men who had gas in their stomachs for buoyancy. During this time, Dan and Laurie are having dinner, Dan invites Laurie to live with him after she has been asked to leave her home in the military and had her expense account shut down now that Jon has disappeared. Rorschach, who has ventured outside without his mask to wait for news from Moloch, via a secret message, sees Dan and Laurie leaving the diner. The pirate story continues, with the protagonist seeing the reflection of himself as a maniac, while the news vendor rants to anyone who will listen about the apathy of the world. Adrian Veidt walks to a meeting, discussing ideas of morbidity, death and an afterlife with his secretary who is merely concerned with physical appearance and money. She is shot at and hit, while Veidt fights the man who eventually bites into a suicide capsule to prevent Veidt discovering who sent him. At Moloch's, Rorschach discovers that he was murdered, and a bullhorn from outside commands Rorschach to come out and surrender - clearly, it is a trap. Rorschach attempts to escape by jumping out of a window but twists his ankle upon landing and is overwhelmed by the SWAT troops. He is then taken into custody. Rorschach (now out of costume and in prison) is being interviewed by psychiatrist Dr. Malcolm Long. Long shows Rorschach an inkblot which looks to Rorschach like a dog with its head split in half; though Rorschach tells Long it looks like "a pretty butterfly." Long comments in his journal that Rorschach is getting better, then shows him another ink-blot which causes Rorschach to have a flashback to when as a child he walked in on his mother having sex with a man. The man gets upset and leaves and pays her five dollars. (apparently she is a prostitute) She gets upset and then beats Rorschach. When Long asks Rorschach what he just saw in the ink-blot, Rorschach responds, "Some nice flowers." Rorschach is then led back to his prison cell while other prisoners threaten to kill him for having gotten them locked up in the past. Rorschach then has a flashback to when he was a child and some older kids are taunting him because his mother is a prostitute. One of the kids smashes a piece of fruit in Rorschach's face and then Rorschach takes a cigarette out of the bully's mouth and then shoves it in the bully's eye. Rorschach then attacks the other bully and starts biting his face. Several bystanders then try to pull Rorschach off. Laurie explores Dan's underground base further, almost setting it on fire after mistaking one of the buttons on Archie's console for a cigarette lighter (which turns out to be a flamethrower). Dan explains his collection of superhero inventions and mementos, often talking them down along with his own beliefs. Laurie - captivated - tries her best to raise his spirits and uphold their nostalgic value. On return to the main apartment, Dan and Laurie start to watch TV when passion sparks between them- they attempt to make love but Dan's biology isn't cooperating. The pair fall asleep and Dan has a nightmare involving an old fan of his, Laurie, and a nuclear explosion (similar to the charred Hiroshima couple on New York's walls). Dan awakes and slouches -naked- to the basement. Laurie - finding him - consoles him and by chance they find out that a nearby tenement is on fire. Donning their costumes (for Laurie, the first time since retirement) they set out in Archie to rescue the block's inhabitants. After they are led to safety, Dan's passion is re-awakened (partly due to the fact he's in costume) and the pair have sex on board. Afterward Dan realises that in order to get to the bottom of the case they have to break Rorschach out of prison. On Halloween, Hollis Mason, the original Nite-Owl, is killed by a gang called the Knot-Tops. Watchmen Part Three:

Dr. Manhattan and Laurie have just teleported to Mars. He uses his powers to keep her breathing and then escorts her into his crystal palace. Dr. Manhattan’s “clairvoyant” abilities begin to frustrate Laurie as he seems to already know what the entire conversation will be about. He tries to explain to her the nuance of time by asking her about her earliest memory. She recounts a time when she was five and overheard her parents arguing over one of her mother’s affairs. When her step-father catches her close by, he yells at her and sends her to bed. She pleads with Jon to end their pointless conversation and come back to earth to help save humanity from Armageddon. Jon states that the end of the world will mean the end of human suffering, so why would he want to stop it? The second flashback involves Laurie at a “mask” get together at her mother’s house, where as a teenager she witnesses Byron Lewis aka Mothman have a mental breakdown. She asks her mother if that’s what she has to look forward to when she becomes a costumed hero. As the two argue more about the value of human life, we see a third flashback to the first Crimebusters meeting where The Comedian points out the futility of such an organization. Her brief flirtatious encounter with Blake is brought to an abrupt halt when Sally pulls her away from him and forbids Laurie to ever speak with him again. Jon tells her that the marvelous landscape of Mars is, by far, more incredible than the human condition, when there is another flashback to a party, in Edward Blake’s honor, where a drunken Laurie throws a drink in Blake’s face for the attempted rape of her mother years ago. Jon explains that he understands his scientific approach doesn’t help him to understand human existence, however, it is Laurie’s emotions that are blinding her to see his viewpoint. Laurie becomes more emotional and Jon accuses her of avoiding something. As she comes to the realization that The Comedian is her real father, Laurie bursts into a fit of rage and throws a perfume bottle which shatters the crystal palace. As the palace collapses around them, Jon uses his powers to erect a shield to protect them from the debris. When Laurie states that her life is a joke and meaningless, Jon surprisingly disagrees. He rationalizes that if Laurie can be the product of such an outrageous set of chaotic and improbable circumstances, then her existence is, as he describes, a “thermodynamic miracle.” And if her birth was a “miracle” then so could be any other birth in the world. He points out that since the world is so full of people, that miracles would become commonplace, and its vast improbability would become easy to forget. Jon then tells Laurie they will go back to earth. As Russian tanks mass along the East German border, President Nixon and Vice President Ford head deep inside a government emergency bunker. Before continuing their investigation, Rorschach and Nite-Owl head back to Rorschach’s apartment to pick up his spare costume and journal. In Antarctica, Adrian Veidt arrives at his retreat. He informs his associates that the “delivery” was successful. He studies his wall of televisions and divulges from the broadcasts that everything he’s seeing means that a war is inevitable. Meanwhile, Rorschach and Nite-Owl argue whether they should be looking for a “mask” killer, or trying to uncover why somebody killed The Comedian because he found out the plot to get rid of Dr. Manhattan. After a few outbursts, they agree that either way, the next course of action is to interrogate some of the criminal element to try and uncover some leads. Rorschach leads Nite-Owl to a bar where he usually shakes down criminals to get information. They soon find out that it was a freight coordinator at Pyramid Industries who paid for the hit on Adrian Veidt, but the go-between who carried the money was never told who the contract was on. Before leaving, Nite-Owl finds out accidentally from a “knot-top” that Hollis Mason is dead. They then head to Veidt’s office to give him the news and convince him to help them. Somewhere on the ocean, comic book writer Max Shea and painter Hira Manish are getting intimate in the hold of a ship. They’re happy to be finally leaving the island and be done with the super-secret “movie” they were paid to work on with some other “missing” artists. Shea notices a bomb under a tarp seconds before it explodes, destroying the ship. Veidt is not in his office when the two costumed heroes arrive. They find an appointment book which reads Veidt left for a place named “Karnak.” On a hunch, Nite-Owl hacks into the computer system and finds out Pyramid Industries is one of Veidt’s companies. They realize that “Karnak” must be what Veidt calls his Antarctic retreat and head off to confront him. Before leaving, Rorschach makes one final journal entry detailing Veidt’s role in the plot, and drops it into a mailbox. When Rorschach’s journal arrives at the  New Frontiersman  newspaper office, its immediately thrown into the “crank file” before being read. After Rorschach and Nite-Owl land “Archie” in Antarctica, they head to Veidt’s retreat. Veidt, through the eyes of his surveillance cameras, witnesses their approach. As Rorschach and Nite-Owl approach Veidt’s Antarctic retreat, they discuss whether or not their old crime fighting partner would actually want the world destroyed. Inside, Ozymandias gets up from his bank of television monitors and heads into a control room. A time gauge reads “Eastern Standard Time: 11:25” He pushes a button on the console, then communicates to his associates that his work is done and to meet him in his vivarium to celebrate. Veidt then recounts, to his friends, his life story. He talks of giving away his vast inheritance, after his parents death, to prove what someone could accomplish from nothing. He traveled throughout The Middle East, Africa and Asia, retracing the steps of his hero Alexander the Great. On his return, he adopts the name Ozymandias, the Greek name for Pharaoh Ramses II, and starts his career as a costumed hero to fight all the evils of the world. He turns to his associates, which he has apparently poisoned, then opens the vivarium dome letting a blizzard of snow into its tropical enclosure. Rorschach and Nite-Owl enter the retreat. A brief melee ensues, but Veidt subdues both of his attackers with precision. When they ask him what he’s trying to do, he explains that he realized fighting crime could never rid the world of evil. Then at the ill fated Crimebusters meeting, he realized that The Comedian was right when he said it was pointless to form a crime fighting team when nuclear war was inevitable. With the Cold War escalating and the proliferation of more arms, he realized the military deadlock would eventually lead to one final conflict. It was then he began to formulate his plan to solve this dilemma — a grand hoax to get the world to believe there was a threat of alien invasion. This would stop all governments from figthing each other, and unite them against one common greater enemy. First, he would need Dr. Manhattan out of the way. He would give all of Osterman’s closest associates cancer forcing him to go into exile. With the new technology Osterman’s super-human intelligence had brought about, Veidt began to research advancements in the fields of genetics and teleportation on his private island. When The Comedian accidentally spotted Veidt’s uncharted island by air, he went to investigate and found the world’s missing artists working on a “monstrous new life form.” But Blake was afraid to expose the plot. He only told Moloch, who he knew wouldn’t understand, and since Veidt had Moloch’s apartment bugged, he found out that Blake knew and killed him before he could tell anyone else. Then in order to throw Rorschach’s suspicion off of himself, Veidt orchestrated his own assassination attempt. Pushing a cyanide capsule into the attackers mouth after subduing him to prevent him from talking as well. Veidt’s master stroke would be to teleport his life form, whose brain was cloned from a powerful psychic, into New York City. Since teleporting technology was limited, anything living that is transported would die of shock and explode. The ensuing psychic shockwave would kill half of the city’s populace. When a disbelieving Nite-Owl asks when Veidt had planned on perpetrating this outlandish scheme, Ozymandias replies “thirty-five minutes ago.” Midnight, November 2, 1985. Most of New York City has been devastated by the psychic trauma caused by the instant death of Ozymandias’ teleported “alien.” Dr. Manhattan and heavily distraught Laurie tour the devastation. After they have seen enough, the two teleport away to the South Pole, to follow a trail of tachyon particles that Dr. Manhattan senses will lead to the source of the disturbance. Meanwhile, inside his Antarctic retreat, Ozymandias continues to detail his “Hoax Invasion” plan to Rorschach and a disbelieving Nite-Owl. He tells them that in order to save humanity from self-destruction, he cloned the brain of a powerful psychic, then had geneticists make it much bigger and powerful. Programmed into the brain were horrifying images of aliens, so that the mental transmissions given off at its death would affect anyone around it who managed to survive the initial psychic blast. This event would force all humans to end their petty wars and unite against a new, more terrifying, alien enemy. After viewing the media coverage of the aftermath of the disaster, Ozymandias revels in his “victory” and convinces the “masks” that exposing the truth would plunge humanity back into its self-destructive course. They agree to keep the secret of who caused the “alien” and the murder of countless innocents, in order to keep the peace. Rorschach doesn’t agree with keeping the secret which forces Dr. Manhattan to kill him. With the crisis over, Laurie and Dan, who have assumed new identities, visit Laurie’s mother. Laurie tells her mom that she knows Edward Blake, The Comedian, is her real dad, and that she has come to terms with that fact and bears no grudge. In the end, the previously ignored journal of Rorschach is (possibly) picked up to be read by the newspaper he sent it to.