Watch the time

Rating: 7/10 (1 January 2010)

Jack Snyder has created a well-crafted if overly-long film with Watchmen. The artistic and glossy comic book style are well delivered and the performances are on the whole good. However, it embellishes characters too much when the film could have been cut or more time provided to drive the story.
The opening credits are wonderfully produced to bring a quick but timely impression on the background to the film we are to follow. There is no denying Snyder's flair and all-round artistic quality in this sequence and throughout Watchmen.
Jackie Earle Haley is the star performer as Rorschach with a bitter and violent edginess. For me Watchmen spends too much time in its own self-pity, wallowing in the bleakness of the world. Characters are introduced but are dragged out to long when more exposition should have been given to driving the plot. The unfortunate 'love-triangle' is a ticking hindrance to the story and may have been a cinematic tool to provide a respite from the bleakness.
Watchmen is a dark and brooding film with great artistic and creative merit. However, Watchmen kind of gets caught up in its narrative a little too much, and this is its achilles heel.