Character study, but not action-packed

Rating: 7/10 (5 March 2009)

It's a cliché, but: the book was better. Even with a length of 160 minutes, the movie is just too short to explain the whole story. The result is a movie that confuses you a lot.
And there's a lot of story: the movie takes place in an alternate 1985, where masked loonies walk the streets, beating up evildoers, but are now outlawed, so they've retired. America won Vietnam, Nixon is still in the White House and the Cold War is about the get hot, with America and Russia both keen to start WWIII. Luckily America has Dr.Manhattan, who keeps the Russians calm. The story focuses on a few superheroes, and this is where it shines: the characters are never one-dimensional but always very complex in its character studies. These heroes all have their problems.
While most of the actors are not well known, they are all very good, with the exception of Matthew Goode (Adrian Veidt) who didn't convince me (he seems a little too young). Billy Crudup stands out, it's a difficult job playing this godlike character who shows almost no emotion.
I'd say the movie has a slight marketing problem: the trailer makes it look like an other action-packed superhero movie, which will disappoint some people. It starts off as a whodunit, but it soon focuses in on the characters, leaving the plot hanging until the end.
So did I like it? Weeeeeeeell, yes. Having read the book some times, I'm a little annoyed by things that have been left out, changed, etc. but it was certainly not a bad movie. Not even a mediocre one. They even had the balls (pun intended) to show Dr.Manhattan in all his naked glory, which I didn't expect. I applaud the fact that we can now have a Hollywood blockbuster that for once isn't afraid to show you male nudity. We all know what it looks like, so what's the problem? What I didn't like is the morphing effect on Rorschachs mask, which is kinda nice, but illogical since he is just a man.
My last advice: don't go see this for the action, but for its interesting characters. And if you liked it, check out the comic book.