The Watch
2012 · Directed by Akiva Schaffer
Original language: English
- comedy
- action
- science fiction
The story
Four everyday suburban guys come together as an excuse to escape their humdrum lives one night a week. But when they accidentally discover that their town has become overrun with aliens posing as ordinary suburbanites, they have no choice but to save their neighborhood – and the world – from total extermination.
What it’s like
Bright, flat suburban daylight and sodium-orange streetlamps give way to a night-time sprawl of cul-de-sacs, big-box parking lots and dim basement rec rooms, shot in a loose, mostly handheld style that keeps the camera close to its four lead men as they bicker, bluster and blunder. The palette is warm and beige at first, then tips into sci-fi green and cool blue once the alien threat surfaces, with CGI creatures that look glossy rather than gritty. The score leans on rock-and-synth action cues over a steady stream of crosstalk, and the soundtrack is loud, busy and largely unbothered by quiet. This is a boisterous, raunchy, fast-cut comedy with a buddy-action spine and a wry undercurrent of middle-aged restlessness; the men's arcs are about tentatively reconnecting with friendship and self-respect. Expect frequent crude sex talk and profanity, moderate sci-fi violence with alien deaths and gunfire, some bloody moments and a few squeamish body-horror gags. It suits a loud, laugh-out-loud night with friends rather than anything gentle or contemplative, and it's for viewers who enjoy Rogen, Stiller, Vaughn and Hill's improvisational chemistry and don't mind a rude, bombastic tone.
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