Watchmen is hit and miss.

Rating: 7/10 (7 March 2009)

As a fan of the book, I was prepared for this movie to be terrible, but I am glad to say that it isn't.
Did he adapt the "unadaptable?" No, he didn't even try. The newspaper stand guy, the comic reader, most of the normal people really were all left out. Rorschach wasn't a fully realized character; you never felt his loneliness or sadness, only his anger. Silk Specter was not the mean bitter, and strong-willed character she once was, instead she became Silk Follower who did whatever her current boyfriend did pretty much. A lot of the musical choices really killed the mood of the film at times. The violence in this movie is borderline gore. And at times (mostly during fight scenes) the movie feels too finished and over-stylized.
In terms of tone, the unrelenting feeling of dread and uncertainty is not present in the film. Mostly due to the exclusion of the normal characters. The ending was changed to something that works better in film, but that also makes it less open-ended which is something I dislike.
It's faithful enough to appease most fans, and changed enough to appease most movie-goers. But to me he (the director) shined it up so hard that it left an unmistakable glare. The sex, the violence, the music, the changes just didn't do it for me. Those things may have worked in 300, but they felt out-of-place in Watchmen. At times it felt like Watchmen the book (usually during Doc Manhattan's scenes.) and others where it felt just like any other movie.
This isn't a bad movie, and it's a pretty faithful adaptation. It could have been a lot worse. But some things just held it back.
7.5/10