I would like to begin by saying several things. There are spoilers. I have ridiculed this movie for quite some time, and I have received my own criticisms. Take what I say with a grain of salt if you do not like what I have to say, but know that I do everything by the Bible (the graphic novel). I apologize if I get any of it incorrect; I'm going off of memory - forgot to bring something to take notes. Now, onto the movie!
Story [1.5/3 pts]
Originally, I was going to do a synopsis. I could tell that it was going to be several pages long so I am only going to put my thoughts. Several scenes of the movie were omitted; examples of this are: a bar visit from Rorschach, the sessions Kovacs has with his therapist, and the boy and man at the news stand. These are only a few samples of what was cut. If you were to speed read through the novel and only focus on the key portions, you would be reading what Snyder included the film. I do commend him for picking all of the relevant scenes. Also, scenes were changed in order to accommodate the altered ending which ends up with the incrimination of Manhattan. As I have said in my comments on comicbookmovies.com before, the dialogue in the novel DOES play off of the type of ending that Snyder delivers, but it does not give the message with the same amount of weight. To me this is a cop out in the sense that it seems to be made this way to be more understandable to a general audience. Yes, I will complain about that. The flow was good and did not feel like it was issue after issue; it was a very cohesive film. The sex in the film made me chuckle a bit. I have not read 300 so I do not know if it was necessary in that film, but I have read Watchmen, and I know it is not like that in the novel. It was very much a rehash of Leonidas and Gorgo between Dan and Laurie. In conclusion, the story was okay when I forgot that the ending was not the same.
Character Review [2/3 pts]
Dr. Manhattan/Jon Osterman (Billy Crudup): He was easily the worst character to me. I have never imagined such a weak voice for something that is so close a deity. In fact, it seemed to change over the course of the film. At first, it was almost acceptable to me. Then, it seemed to rise in pitch. He did not have the look of Jon Osterman. For our technology, I found his appearance as Manhattan fairly decent though. And... I wish I was that hung.
Silk Specture II/Laurie Juspeczyk (Malin Akerman): She was really flat at times. Laurie is one of my least favorite characters in the novel so I was not expecting much here. She did do a decent job and was able to do some neat tricks while wearing some pretty massive heels. She had decent chemistry with Dreiberg on film which was vital. Her range was fair for the character she was given.
Nite Owl II/Daniel Dreiberg (Patrick Wilson): Wilson was a surprise to me. He appears to be rather young in his interviews so I had no faith. Most of the time I felt like he was convincing as a Nite Owl and even more so when he got a chubby from crime fighting. He was okay during the "impotent" scenes and did a good job in the suit and out of it with his ridiculous slicked back hair and thick-rimmed glasses. Lines were delivered well and was better than most of the others in the film.
Rorschach/Walter Kovacs (Jackie Earle Haley): Has the name of an assassin, but he is actually a good actor. I believe he did the voice so I give him even more props. I was worried in the scene of his death when asking to be killed that he was only going to say it softly, but, when he shouted it, he nailed it. I was hoping for a more pronounced "hurm," but he does okay. He played a fair detective and did an excellent job. He will no doubt be recognized as being one of the best characters in the film, other than most people sympathizing already with the character.
The Comedian/Edward Blake (Jeffrey Dean Morgan): I felt very wishy-washy about this character. I always felt like he would delivery his lines more... well, in a more comic tone. He said them on screen very bluntly with a tone of irony though; it was okay. At times, it looked like he was large enough to play the Comedian and other times not so much. It looked like he was two different sizes in the same costume during the film. He did a decent job.
Ozymandias/Adrian Veidt (Matthew Goode): With what Goode was given, he is not near as bad as earlier reviewers were claiming. Because this film went with the non-squid ending, it seemed more practical to have a character that appeared to be more of a mastermind. I found Goode to be on par with Morgan but not with Wilson or Haley. He did well with what he was given - a Snyderzymandias.
Minor Character Review: (I'm not going to post the person acting as them - imdb.com. These characters had less lines than the major characters. You may consider them major in the film while I do not.)
Silk Spectre/Sally Jupiter: She felt really weird to me. I do not know what it was, but she was pretty horrible to me. She performed well during the rape scene, but all of the others I thought that she was a poor actress.
Moloch/Edgar Jacobi: He put a lot of initial fear into his beginning scenes which I liked and initially calmed down. I was expecting a little bit more. I did like the inclusion of the pointy ears.
Nite Owl/Hollis Mason: Had a very tiny part in this film, but because he said his lines exactly how I read it, I cannot complain one bit.
The Detectives: Were okay. I felt like their lines were not said correctly, but, due to how much less they appeared, this did not detract too much from the film's value.
Wally Weaver: Looked like nothing like he should have. Poor casting choice. I could not stop thinking about how bad this guy looked for the part.
Pregnant Vietnamese Woman: Looked just like how she was drawn. It is like she was born only to do this one scene in the film. Why did they mess up on some of the other casting?
Dr. Malcolm Long: Also, he had a very accurate look. His portrayal was okay; sadly, most of his parts were cut due to time constraints, I am assuming, but he did okay with what was given.
Mrs. Kovacs: Amazing look and mediocrity as far as delivery of lines.
Bubastis: ABSOLUTELY HORRIBLE (yes, I am kidding).
Silhouette: Props for being so fine.
Resulting thoughts are that most of the characters were at least decent. I enjoyed a couple of them quite a bit.
Visual [2/2 pts]
The set design of the movie was bang on. It was impressive. The whole panel to movie comparison really did show that there is great accuracy in that regard. Also, most of the costumes were absolute. The absence of Comedian's mask was a little disheartening. Also, the winter suit of Nite Owl II was one of my favorites and not done correctly in the film. The Minutemen costumes were easily my favorite. The film, like the novel, is not for the light of heart. The blood and guts are there. For the lovers of red, you will not be disappointed. The viciousness of all characters is there and even vamped up, in my opinion, in the case of Dreiberg. The combat was well-choreographed until the last fight scene with Ozymandias when the camera provided an aerial view. That one shot made it look clumsy and showed way too much bravado. When the camera was in control and in closer areas, the fighting was very convincing and original for all of the characters. It was all very practical and resembling of Krav Maga (to me). Manhattan looked fine but left me wondering whether he was circumcised.
Audio [1/2 pts]
At times the sound effects were a bit too much. Pulling off a glove from your suit, flipping a badge into a grave, and a multitude of other minor objects seem to give off much louder noises than what would be real. The effects were unnecessary and aggravating. In regards to the music, I was severely disappointed. I have never watched a movie and thought that the music was so out of place. I enjoy almost every song that was played during the film, but it did not make sense. IF Snyder only chose to play music according to the decade that it belonged to, I would be more reasonable, but I do know that Hendrix's "All Along the Watchtower" (I believe that is the song that was played) was not released in the 80's. Either way, Hendrix was gone. I did not feel like any of the classic rock or folk music that was played during any of the film belonged. A couple of the Tyler Bates originals were slightly fitting. An additional note is that it sounded like many characters were saying each others names differently. This bothered me. Overall, I found the music and sound more degrading than enhancing and feel like there could have been some better choices like maybe consistency.
Rating: 6.5/10
It was okay and worth matinee price.