Possibly the best adaptation that could be made

Rating: 8/10 (8 March 2009)

Hollywood cannot please all of the people all of the time. Hollywood cannot please Alan Moore any of the time.
... And it's a real shame, because if Alan Moore had not chosen to distance himself from the movie adaptation of "Watchmen", and made it clear that he had no intention of seeing the movie, he would realise that "Watchmen" was a very good movie indeed. Possibly the best adaptation of the legendary comic book that could be made.
True, "Watchmen" wasn't perfect. The dialogue was more comic book than movie. Carla Gugino and Matthew Goode were underused. Some of the popular music cues were misplaced. (Simon and Garfunkel's "The Sound Of Silence" is a beautiful and evocative song, and was used well, but appeared in the wrong time period in the movie. Compare and contrast with the perfect use of Dylan's "The Time's They Are A Changing" over the opening credits.) There was a tad overuse of slow motion action sequences. Some of the density of information of the original book was missing. (Then again, to have fitted it all in, how long would that movie have had to be?)
When "Watchmen" worked, it worked perfectly. Excellent period detail, realistic violence (so brave of Zack Snyder to not compromise on showing the hard violence of the original book to get a more audience friendly certificate), massive scope and beautifully pitched performances. (No better performance than that of Billy Cudrup. A walking, talking special effect, to be true, but his calm serene voice hinted a unknown reserves of power and philosophical intelligence. He was the perfect Dr. Manhattan.)
There is a small part of me that feels sad that he will now never see the Gilliam/Aronofsky/Greeengrass versions of "Watchmen", but Zack Snyder made a great film. It was a hard movie to pull off. He should be proud.