Thank God Snyder Directed This

Rating: 8/10 (26 March 2009)

I'm a fan of the Graphic Novel (comic) that this is based on and to be honest, I wasn't disappointed with the movie. I was really happy how it turned out, the best way to explain this though, is by talking about how the film was actually made.
After many failed attempts to make this movie by Terry Gilliam and Darren Aronofsky. It was finally given to Zack Snyder to make. What a lot of the fanboys of the book don't realise about this movie, is that when Snyder was first attached, the script had been dumbed down to PG-13. So all the people who didn't like Snyder's directing of it and the amount of effort he put into it should probably have a good long think about what that would mean and go watch the Incredibles.
Now we've got an alternate world to our own here, Richard Nixon is in his third term and America has won the Vietnam war. The story kicks off with a typical Snyder fight scene. Lots of slow-motion and big hits. After the Comedian dies, the credits role, and manage to tell the viewer a whole lot more about the world we are in. Shows the rise and fall of the masked vigilante, the arrival of Dr. Manhattan and the world on the brink of nuclear war.
The story jumps back and forward through time to show how the characters came to be how they are, including the Comedian shooting a pregnant lady (PG-13?), Rorshach cleaving someones head in two with a meat cleaver (PG-13?) and Dr. Manhattan walking around with a blue dick. A lot of people complain about seeing it, but I think its time for people to get over it and it is good point at showing how faithful to the book Snyder was. Some of the most important scenes would have been nowhere to be seen if it weren't for Snyder and the success of 300.
There are only a few criticisms I have of the movie. The use of Hallelujah for the sex scene for one, awful song selection. A few of the fight scenes glorified them as super-heroes when the story was them not being superheros. The last few scenes seemed a bit rushed as well.
I'll definitely buy this one on DVD, I look forward to seeing the directors cut which includes Tales of the Black Freighter (a part of the story to be released on DVD seperatly from the movie).
In the end the movie was a good look at all what life would be like for past their prime superheroes. How it has effected their lives. It was an interesting story that would not have been the same had Snyder not been attached. I'd like to thank have for making it so damn faithful.
8/10 P.S. all the fanboys should think about how much more Snyder seems to care about this story than them. The amount of fighting he did for this movie is admirable and I probably would not have seen it if it was PG-13. He kept in the more important stuff and kept Watchmen feeling like I was watching the Watchmen the whole time.