faithful, interesting adaptation

Rating: 8/10 (27 November 2009)

I wasn't too impressed by ads for this movie, so I decided to check out the original graphic novel instead, which turned out to be quite compelling. Then, of course, I was more curious about the movie, so eventually I got around to watching it, and I thought it did justice to the source material.
First off, this looks better than I expected from the ads I saw. I wasn't blown away, but it looked decent, at least on HDTV.
But what makes it a good movie is simply that it sticks to the graphic novel, making only minor changes and relatively minor deletions. The movie is what the book is, a revisionist take on both superheroes and hard boiled detectives.
I did feel they softened Rorschach a little in the book; he was more the nut-job right wing vigilante in the original book, and leaving out a lot of his most odious thoughts took away a little of the moral complexity. But its still an excellent story, filmed and acted well.