Extremely underrated, very faithful adaptation and probably one of the greatest superhero movies of all time!

Rating: 9/10 (20 May 2009)

I honestly cannot believe how underrated Watchmen is.It did not make a profit during it's theatrical release(though it did pretty good).It also seems to have a lot of haters on the IMDb forums.The reviews were mixed.I think it's one of those movies you will have to watch more than once.It has a fairly complicated storyline and I got lost at times when I saw it.However, overall I enjoyed the movie greatly.I picked up the original 1986 graphic novel and have since finished reading it.It was a bit better than the film, but just a bit! Director Zack Snyder made a very faithful adaptation to a comic deemed "unfilmable".Yes the ending has changed and there are some other things missing(though these might be included in the extended cuts of the film to be released on DVD).The "Black Freighter" & newsstand scenes are gone(though I didn't much care for the black freighter parts), there are also a few other changes.The film is also more violent than the novel.The plot of the film starts off with a superhero named "The Comedian" getting brutally beaten and thrown through a window.Then a masked vigilante named "Rorshach" investigates his murder, while warning his old superhero friends.The rest of the film involves flashbacks of the superheroes, showing how the 1977 Keene act banned vigilantism forcing the heroes into retirement, as well as a romance between Nite-Owl and Silk Spectre(two other heroes).Watchmen is an unconventional superhero movie.Do not compare it to "Dark Knight" or "Spider-Man".It's bloody, R-rated, thought provoking and not for young kids.This is another reason why people did not like it, they didn't know what to expect.Anyway, the film is a must for fans of the graphic novel.Others might probably enjoy the thought provoking superhero film.There is quite a bit of action as well!