'Watchmen,' 'Terminator: Salvation,' or 'The Spirit': You may choose only one!

HEY! YOU! You’re getting paid to do your job — not sit at your desk and surreptitiously read PopWatch. And don’t try to close your Web browser and feign innocence, either — it’s too late for those kinds of shenanigans. As your punishment, I present you with the following painful scenario: Let’s say you were only allowed to see one of the following hotly anticipated, big-budget action flicks — Watchmen, Terminator: Salvation, or The Spirit. Which would you choose, PopWatchers? Which would you choose?

Me? I think I’d have to go with Watchmen. I’m not a comic-book geek, but my husband is, and he’s been all “squee squee squee” about this movie since he heard it was going into production. Our recent EW cover story about the movie (click here to read it, and here for related Q&As on our Comic-Con hub) got me even more excited, and the presence of Malin Akerman, who was pitch-perfect as Juna on The Comeback, is like peanut-butter sauce on an already delicious hot-fudge sundae. [Insert stomach growl here. And yes, I know my obsession with Lisa Kudrow’s short-lived HBO obliterates my geek cred. So what?] The special effects look terrific (love Dr. Manhattan zapping that dude from behind) and there’s a sense of foreboding in the trailer that sticks with you long after you’ve finished watching. Better still, since the movie doesn’t hit till Mach 2009, I can read the graphic novel on which it’s based beforehand.

First runner-up goes to The Spirit, which looks like a rather sumptuous feast for the eyes (and I’m not referring to its sex-on-a-stick stars Gabriel Macht, Eva Mendes, and S-c-a-r-l-e-t-t J-o-h-a-n-s-s-o-n, either), but the very end of the trailer gave me a split-second flashback to The Cell, and knocked it officially into second place.

As for Terminator: Salvation, well, I need to see a little bit more to get excited. I sat through all nine episodes of Fox’s good-not-great Sarah Connor Chronicles this spring, so maybe it lowered my threshold for Terminator-related entertrainment, but somehow I feel like this is just a variation on a theme I’ve already heard.

Okay, so now it’s your turn, you procrastinating, unproductive employees of The Man. Pick a team: Watchmen, Terminator: Salvation, or The Spirit. And no waffling, please!