Nice try...

Rating: 3/10 (10 September 2009)

OK, first things first if you want to watch a good superhero movie, this will do, it's not as good as either of the recent Batman films, but it is better aesthetically than a lot of its contemporaries.
As a major critique though, it starts off very well and just feels quite rushed and a little ham-fisted towards the end, the action seems overdone and a little glib and the dialogue scant, kind of rushed.
BUT - please bear in mind I do consider this to be better than a lot of things that are out there currently/recently.
Now as for a critique/comparison to the graphic novel/comic... Fffffffffffffuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu - youtube the extended Black Freighter segment and you get a comment by one of the guys in the creative team who says something along the lines of "I didn't get it the first time I watched it, but on second viewing..." - dude, why are you even involved in this? You didn't get it? "...many layers" - I'm doing my incredulous face - yes Hollywood is that stupid, no we can't watch a 3 hour film, should've clocked in at about 4, yet I guess cinemas are too cash-hungry to allow an intermission.
Realistically, it's rushed, even losing the Black Freighter, which many would consider integral to the story as a (very good framing device) - the film still needed to be an hour longer, so much characterisation was missed out, so much undeveloped, unexplained... instead of getting a potential Citizen Kane, we get a quite good development/extension of the Suoerman ideology, like the 1st movie where it's all nice and then in the following they try to develop character, it's a weird mish-mash of the two, yet terribly one-dimensional. Unlike Sin City where Rodriguez decided "screw this" I'm truly treating the source material with respect, this (sadly) is just a bastardisation of the original material, that ultimately is sadly and sorely lacking.
A disheartening experience, especially as I considered Zak Snyder to be a decent up and coming director - who I thought would treat his material with more respect.