Intelligent & captivating.

Rating: 9/10 (18 March 2009)

All the people who gave Watchmen a 1 or 2 star rating appear to have expected the film to be like X Men or Fantastic 4. Its a totally different sort of film, so don't expect a lightweight superhero romp from Watchmen. If you like to switch off your brain when watching a film then you probably will find it boring.
It's just excellent & I don't think a better film adaptation could have been made. I was a little sad to see that they cut the Black Freighter sub story but there is an animated film being released on DVD / Bluray very soon. Fans of the Graphic Novel will notice the changes made but I think the changes were essential to keep the movie under 3 hours (although I'd have happily sat there for another hour). The finale is altered but its actually more logical than the original ending & does not wimp out on the basic premise. Other little changes are made to avoid having to add lengthy scenes that would slow things down. The look and most of the atmosphere is faithfully reproduced. Sometimes the Movie gets a little glossy but that's virtually unavoidable during the big FX set pieces. In general the seedy, grimy locations (such as Moloch's apartment & the streets of New York) are very well executed. The prison scenes look amazing too.
The casting is spot on & I can't imagine any actors doing a better job than Wilson as Niteowl, Haley as Rorschach & Jeffrey Dean Morgan as The Comedian. In fact the portrayal of Dan Dreiberg / Niteowl was exactly as I imagined him. Even minor characters like Moloch the Mystic & the Minutemen are well thought out. The relationship between Niteowl, Silk Spectre & Manhattan is well portrayed & I always felt that I was watching real people on screen rather than cardboard cut out super-heroes.
The use of violence & gore is very graphic. Snyder unflinchingly shows us bone & viscera in detail. A little too much for some people but I like a bit of splatter in movies & some films avoid it just to secure a 15 rating. Many modern films try to do too much with special effects & just baffle the viewer with too much on screen (Transformers for example). Watchmen is a little more restrained & balanced the spectacular with more subdued effects when needed.
Its basically excellent & one more thing worth a mention is the use of familiar pop & rock music which grounds the movie in reality. Go & see it.