A fan written review

Rating: 8/10 (9 March 2009)

After reading the comic book shortly after the film was announced, I deliberated about writing a review this soon as I would have liked to have seen it a second time. Like the many reviewers of this title; I have read the comic book, and I promised myself before watching the movie that I would try to not compare the comic and film too much whilst watching it, so I watch whilst appreciating Snyders creativeness with the characters and filming. I could compare the two versions after.
The movie had received a lot of negative press in the months running up to the release, one which I was upset to hear was that the film was to be an adaptation.
Overall the movie was what I expected; a lot had been cut out, and many scenes shortened and squashed together to shorten the film down to appease a wider audience. It would be hard to write my comments further about how the novel differs the film, as it would spoil the film immensely.
The first scene opened the film perfectly, with the intro credits providing a brief history of the Minutemen and the foundations of Watchmen. I was sceptic about Snyder's trade mark slow motion effects being added in, especially as this was one of the only things that I didn't enjoy too much in '300'. However, I was pleasantly surprised to see these added to 'Watchmen' nicely.
Haley was outstanding in this film, I hadn't seen him in any other films until now, although I've been told his performance in 'Little Children' was very good. I think the majority of the audience will find Rorshach the most likable character from the line-up. The casting was perfect, the awkwardness of Dan Driedberg was perfect, and Dr Manhattan's detachment from human civilisation was played out perfectly, in particular; the watchmaker scene.
Although a great film, I feel as though more could have been added to describe the history of the Minutemen a lot more, as I think a lot of people would come out wanting more. I would highly recommend reading the comic, or even reading the 'Under the hood' sections.
I am eagerly awaiting the directors cut, in the meantime I will just have to settle with watching it again.