A good movie, but not a great movie, for peculiar reasons. I put this about on the same level as most of the Lord of the Rings movies, and with somewhat similar types of detractions. The concept and the script are solid, and it generally looks well done, but where I start to stall out is that most of the male actors struck me as either so-so depictions, or just misinterpreted. If you are going to attempt to interpret such a well known and widely read graphic novel, you have to get these strongly defined characters right on the money. Forget director's vision, because if you don't nail these personalities, or at least make them stronger rather than weaker than the source material, viewers are going to be keyed right into this right off the bat. So here is what came immediately to mind as I watched this: Having Rorschach sounding exactly like Nolan's Batman was an unfortunate distraction that was impossible for me to ignore. Next, Doctor Manhattan as being somewhat melancholy would have been ok if it was clear that he is too advanced to feel attachment to normal life, but in this movie he crosses the line into seeming sort of dumpy, with a "poor me" demeanor. He completely loses his appeal, and yet apparently committed to his weightlifting routine. Comedian wasn't nearly as coldly psychopathic as he needed to be as the initial driving force behind the movie. And finally Ozymandias, who was just merely there. On the other hand, I would say that Carla Gugino as Sally Jupiter and Patrick Wilson as Nite Owl were both excellent.
I think the changes in the script were ok. Normally this is something that I hate in movies, but here I think the story actually needed to simplify the script a bit at the end. Audiences aren't brilliant, and Moore's original story has a relatively complex idea behind its finale. As such, this more straight forward and obvious ending was probably a good idea, but I completely understand why Moore probably hated it.
The other key problem for me was with the prominence of the soundtrack. It's too rich. Iconic, generation defining songs being used in any movie is a gamble as to whether your audience buys into this, and Watchmen uses a LOT of very historic, culture shaping songs. This can only work -sometimes- in movies, but it opens up a strong possibility of creating a polemic in the viewers mind. Everyone has heard these songs, and everyone is going to have a very specific association of whether these songs are good, bad, or whether they really fit the scene. For the most part, I think this movie bit off more than it could chew. Ultimately it breaks the suspension of belief. The Watchmen jumping right in trying to harness Bob Dylan's The Times They Are A-Changin' was a completely ill-fitted choice, as was The Sound of Silence, and Hallelujah. At best these songs jerk the viewer out of the movie, and at worst it makes your audience dislike the scenes they are shoehorned into because the context is all wrong.
I think the changes in the script were ok. Normally this is something that I hate in movies, but here I think the story actually needed to simplify the script a bit at the end. Audiences aren't brilliant, and Moore's original story has a relatively complex idea behind its finale. As such, this more straight forward and obvious ending was probably a good idea, but I completely understand why Moore probably hated it.
The other key problem for me was with the prominence of the soundtrack. It's too rich. Iconic, generation defining songs being used in any movie is a gamble as to whether your audience buys into this, and Watchmen uses a LOT of very historic, culture shaping songs. This can only work -sometimes- in movies, but it opens up a strong possibility of creating a polemic in the viewers mind. Everyone has heard these songs, and everyone is going to have a very specific association of whether these songs are good, bad, or whether they really fit the scene. For the most part, I think this movie bit off more than it could chew. Ultimately it breaks the suspension of belief. The Watchmen jumping right in trying to harness Bob Dylan's The Times They Are A-Changin' was a completely ill-fitted choice, as was The Sound of Silence, and Hallelujah. At best these songs jerk the viewer out of the movie, and at worst it makes your audience dislike the scenes they are shoehorned into because the context is all wrong.