boe_dye sez: It wasn't until someone explained it to me that I understood why so many fanboys were jacked about this movie...

Rating: 10/10 (21 March 2009)

I will be honest. This movie was a great film. Visually stunning, gripping, story and flow. This movie was a great film.
So much in fact that, and I will be honest, I like many posers out there went and read the original comic.
And in many cases this is scene for scene the comic. Dialogue almost identical. But where it fails with the fanboys is that it lacks the spirit that was Alan Moores "Watchmen".
Mostly subtle character traits were flawed. The subtle nuances that this film could have easily captured were completely abandoned.
The book was not an action packed adventure story. It was a philosophical character study. A dark look into the behind the scenes workings of heroes, or more appropriately an answer to a question of what is the extreme a person with unlimited means can go to achieve world wide peace.
Now of course, most American audiences would rather see something go "boom" as opposed to something that makes them go "huh...". A movie like "2001 a space odyssey" or more recently "The Fountain" is usually met with scorn and dismay simply because the audience did not understand it.
This movie upset just about everyone to some level. Parents who were stupid enough not to notice the "R" rating, and think that this movie was some kind of cute super hero movie like Spider-Man or Fantastic Four were met with a very unpleasant surprise.
Fanboys were upset because it missed the Spirit of Watchmen.
Then you have the childlike whimperings from the simpletons concerning Dr. Manhattans genitalia. Of course Silk Specters tits are perfectly fine to oogle, but a large blue penis attached to the perfected enlightened man is not.
I have come to learn that with movies based on comics, you have to be able to separate the two. Like an alternate reality, or marvel's "What If?" series. This isn't cannon. This isn't the comic. It is a movie based on the comic. It is a re-telling.
Is it a good retelling? I believe so. But this story wasn't close to my heart like it was with so many people. I did not read comics when this originally came out.
As a movie it was superb, and in the end, that is what I spent my money on.
***Edit*** Second Viewing on DVD The Directors Cut
After watching it again, and only after having read the TPB, I can now say that I enjoyed this movie thoroughly. It really does the comic justice, and does in fact capture the spirit of the original Alan Moore tale.
Admittedly there is much for graphic action then in the comic, however if the movie lacked the slightly exaggerated action then it wouldn't have done well in the end.
One of the biggest gripes that I have argued against is that in fact the ending was changed. Of course when it was written we lived prior to 9/11. Today we live in a post 9/11 world. My contention is that the comic book ending simply isn't big enough for the story to be effective in today's day and age. Never the less, this film is superb and the directors cut is even closer to the TPB then the theatrical version. Ultimately though, I do believe that have the conversation with Jon and Adrian at the end would have been more prolific then having Lara utter the lines "nothing ends, nothing ever ends", however with all of Alan Moores works his endings are a bit on the meledratic side and tend to be difficult no matter how you portray them.
Otherwise this is a fantastic film and even more so after having read the original comic that it was based upon.