Review of Watchmen

Rating: 7/10 (9 March 2009)

I think I may have had too much of a biased opinion when I saw this film, because I had just finished reading the graphic novel, which I do recommend. So plot wise I knew everything that was going to happen and all the little fussy details were still fresh in my mind. Yet, it is unfair to say that a movie must follow every detail of its former medium, because that would just be pointless. This movie disappointed me in other ways.
For one, it was too short and because of that they rushed things: Important story elements like Dr. Mahnhattan's perception on time, Rorscach's back story (or any character back story, it is so important to the over riding theme of who superheroes really would be should they actually exist), why the alternate history really happened the way it did, and so on. I feel like it was a bit hard to follow for someone who never ever read the novel.
Also, there was some cheesy dialog with some surface acting, but it is forgivable I suppose.
It was beautifully shot, the crew was very creative and effective especially in the beginning. Soundtrack is wonderful. And there are other entertaining perks, like Silk Spectre whooping some ACE in prison dressed up in a skin tight outfit, lots of Sin City/300esque violence, and others.
In short, I feel like the biggest fault of this movie was that they had to make it short, and at nearly three hours that is saying something about the original work's depth, and dumbed it down for the general audience. Oh well what can you expect? They have to make money somehow, and that they did.