Grand

Rating: 9/10 (30 March 2009)

I was completely hooked from the first page. Obviously, this, as is the cardinal rule with adaptations, particularly from one medium to the other, can never completely match what the source was. With that out of the way... this gets a remarkable amount of it right. Dr. Manhattan? Couldn't have been much closer. The Comedian? Just about spot-on. Rorschach? Basically so accurate that you need rather sensitive measuring equipment to find anything actually wrong with him here(Jackie Earle Haley... wow). At its best, this hits the mark with such a bullseye that it really barely gets better at all. This gets (some) crucial content and meaning from the books, too. In spite of a running time of about two and a half hours, it didn't lose me, in spite of knowing what was coming. This can boast astounding intensity, when it goes for such, and doesn't overwhelm by going too fast, either... the pace is impeccable. The plot is magnificent, with a couple of big changes made(and as expected, a lot cut out, there was no way to put that mass of material into a feature film length). The writing is great, the choosing and execution are masterful a large part of the way. Certain differences could be argued as being necessary to make this work, in this format. I'm not sure they are all good. There are clear opinions interjected. The acting is, with few exceptions(Akerman being a notable one of them), marvelous. The casting is quite nicely done. The action, the fight scenes, excellent, although it can perhaps be called unfitting to add more to them, and they sure did... but my gosh, it sure is amazing and entertaining to watch. The comics were mainly drama. The CGI is incredible. The stylization and visuals are immensely gorgeous and effective. This does elicit emotional responses, if maybe not as many as desired. The music is full of fantastic and interesting picks. The score is composed well. If one is familiar with the original, given that it is not entirely what Alan wrote(though it tries to be faithful, and often succeeds), you'll hopefully either enjoy this, or avoid it, realizing that you might not. If, however, you are not aware of it, this may confuse and not fully make sense to you(things range all the way from being over- to being under-explained). They made this bloodier/nastier. This has strong(and continuous) violence and harsh language(albeit fairly infrequent), and plenty of nudity/sexuality(at points, less covered than what viewers might be expecting), of varying tastefulness. I recommend this to any fan of the graphic novel, the concept, the dark tone and/or Moore. 9/10