Review of Watchmen (2009) by Stanley K — 06 Sep 2013

Good things: a general respect for the tone and spirit (as diseased as it is) of the graphic novel, and an ending that makes far more sense and is much more effective than the original.

Bad things: an overweening worship of the original that is damaging to the story and pacing of the film; a director who is too much in love with fancy visuals, clearly gets his kicks from the display of gruesome violence and appears to know only one way of shooting action sequences (a tedious repetition of slow-mo shot followed by slow-fast-slow shots); mediocre acting across the board (either sneering at the material or unable to grapple with it); a seriously blah score and questionable soundtrack choices.

Overall: this should have been a miniseries, so that the whole saga is given the amount of space it obviously requires. Having said that, this was a valiant effort, though deeply flawed.

Director's cut: the movie is now 3 hours long, but the additions help the movie story flow quite a bit better. However, it also confirms the various inherent flaws highlighted above that render this movie an honourable but ultimately unsatisfying effort.