Completely and utterly disappointing

Rating: 1/10 (7 March 2009)

I am not going to write a full-blown essay on this film--frankly, it doesn't deserve one. Yes, the visual effects are good and yes, the cinematography is... well, good. But so what. The acting was pitiful, the costumes were hokey, the fight scenes were contrived, and there seemed to be violence for the sake of violence. The bottom line is that there isn't a good story and certainly not a compelling message that'll leave audiences with a reason to see the movie again. For all the fans of the graphic novel, I'm sure you'll disagree. That's fine, you obviously enjoy the theme of the story. But I can tell you right now, for non-fans that are new to the "Watchmen" story, they'll be disappointed and won't see the movie again. And that really is a shame because director Zack Snyder did really well with "300" and he should be proud of his directing abilities. It also helped tremendously that he had a great story to work with that resonated with people. It's no coincidence "300" grossed over $300 million worldwide. Unfortunately, "Watchmen" doesn't have the luxury of a great story/message and its box office numbers WILL suffer for it.