Watchmen: Don't watch

Rating: 2/10 (25 July 2009)

The graphic novel was awesome. The movie sucked. Like the awful movie "The Spirit" this movie was a shock to the system. Using the graphic novel about 98% of the time means you miss an important part of the novelization. Instead of wasting time showing a meat cleaver in a bad guys head, the time could have been better used creating a livable fantasy world. More focus on the love story between the Night Owl and Spectra would have made the movie somewhat more likable.
Having a cadence of: Depressing environment, depressing conversation, depressing murder or mayhem in a movie gets depressing. If you are going to use the graphic novel, then make sure to use the elements of the novel. This means ALL elements, don't leave out the seemingly minor characters that make the novel work. In a movie death is not a transition, it is a period of a sentence. If you use death as a transition, then the normal flow of a movie is broken. This is the case with Watchmen.
If you want to see the movie fine, get it on Netflix. It rivals Batman and Robin for lack of character. In the same way that the Psycho Movie was redone, using Hitchcock's story board and the remake didn't work, neither did Watchmen the movie.
Save your money, buy the graphic novel, which really is a great book.