Hate to say it but Alan Moore was right for once.

Rating: 3/10 (8 March 2009)

As the comedian would say, the jokes on me! Well in this case, its true. Watchmen, the much beloved Graphic Novel by Comic writer/legend Alan Moore, is such a wonderful, complex, emotionally charged study of the superhero and what makes us human and what that means, and as a film, its a almost 3 hour bore fest.
Honestly, its one of those thinks were the story is so good, to do it as a film simply does not work. Its a completely different medium. In a graphic novel or a book, one has time to ponder the thoughts and ideas and actions of the story on there own time. In reading the material, one can digest and relate to what is being said and reflected apron at your own leaguer.
In a film, you don't have that option. the story has to progress forward in a way that feels right, that flows with the context and pacing of the film. Some of the timeless classic films do this wonderfully. They SHOW AND TELL you a story. The visuals and music enhance the story were it becomes an almost emotional sympathy in a harmonic emotion that resonates on the silver screen.
Watchmen, fails to do this simply because the story has to be given time to digest, for the audience to question and ponder what is being said, at there own pacing, and not that of a timed structure of a film.
There is some incredibly great emotional aspects to the story. it deals with learning about ones self, about the choices we make, how we choose to deal with situations, our own self ideas of right and wrong, and how our lives matter and hold effect on those around us.
To condense this into a 3 hour film, just simply does not work. this story is not suited for a film format because the moment we begging to identified and reflect on what is going on in the film, we're at the next point in the story and are robbed of the much needed time to think about what the story is being said.
And the ending, is a huge let down to boot. Not because its different then the graphic novel (the giant squid) but because we really cant feel the emotion of an entire city destroyed and countless lives lost in the same way we do in the graphic novel.
In the novel, there's a 12 page spread showing the true horror and carnage of a city devastated. The impact hits us, and Ozzy's monologue at the end of the film resonates that this is a necessary evil to save billions of more lives from destruction at the hands of there government.
In the film, this is robbed. partly due to modern history (mostly 9/11) but also due to the fact that on screen, we as a modern movie going audience are somewhat numb to mass carnage.
Yet in the comic, it resonates because at this point in the story you are so invested in the story and characters and have had the much needed time to personally reflect and identified with the films main characters that when the ultimate conclusion hits, its horrifying and shocking, and yet you understand it at the same time.
In the film, you don't. Your left numb, cold, indifferent. You don't feel the loss of life, your told it. You don't come to the conclusion on your own that as horrible as it is, its the lesser of two evils, again your told it.
Its just one of those things that works great as a novel, not so much as film.
Prehapse if they did risk the wrath of fan boys and truly changed up the film to be a FILM and not a direct translation of the comic book, you could have had a truly memorable story. Instead, your given a live action version of the comic book, and as stunning as it is visually to see what happens in between the panels of the comic, your robbed at the same time of the ability to fill those panels in yourself in your mind at your own pacing.
Its very hard to get any adaption of a comic or novel right for the big screen. But sometimes, one should just realize, that perhaps the story's structure could only work in its right element.
Hate to say it but Alan Moore was right. this story, truly is unavailable.
1 out of 5 stars. Read the graphic novel instead.