Watchmen...a quicky spoiler free review

..so, I got to see Watchmen a few days early. It's great to have a friend that's a theater manager!

Anyhoo..got to see it with myself and eight other human beings. No TIMMIES (although it is  R rated so that might keep most of the timmies out) But enough about that, on to the review. I've been a fan of the Watchmen since I read it during its original run. I've read it probably 10 more times since then, so I'm super familiar with the text and images. I would say the movie is about 60% faithful to the graphic novel. It's widely known by now, that there was a significant change made that has the uber fanboys panties in a wad. Without spoiling it for anyone, let me just say, the change made sense, and the other smaller changes they made were mainly done to support the ending (actually, the movie ends just like the book, just the events leading up to the end have been altered, but the outcome is the same)

The movie is a visual masterpiece, and seeing the heroes (especially the opening montage where you see the rise and fall of the Minuteman), in the flesh was definately giving me geekgasms! All of the major set pieces are there, and they are GRAPHIC! Watchmen uses every ounce of that "R" rating. There's gore, sex and plenty of violence. The actors that played Rorshach, Nite Owl, and Comedian really shine, esp Jackie Earle Haley (yes, the guy from the Bad News Bears), as Rorschach. He really is riveting both in and out of the mask. The movie clocks in at around 2:45 minutes, but it never really drags. I was worried about some parts of the book and how they'd translate, but everything seemed to carry over fine. You could tell that there was a ton of stuff cut from the movie, and from what I've heard the directors cut is 100 minutes longer! The designers really did a great job bringing the look of the novel to the screen. The sets are incredibly accurate, and the costumes, while modified a bit from the book, look great. I would have liked to see the Comedian in his gimp mask though. Nite Owl's costume definatly took some cues from the Batman movie costumes, and Ozymandias from the crappy Batman movie costumes (NIPPLES!!!...Ugh) Dr. Mahattan is a technical tour du force. They really breathed life into the 100% CGI character.

I can ramble on forever about the movie, but I think the above says it all, plus if I go into specifics, I'll risk spoiling it for you. One little easter egg to watch out for...and those that have read the book will get it. When Nite Owl is looking for information on Adrian Veidt's computer, check out the folder in the upper right hand corner. It made me laugh out loud!

Anyhow....yes the movie has some problems, and I can pick nits for hours about differences in the book and movie, but, If you go in and just enjoy it as a movie, I think you'll dig it. I don't know how well it's going to do with casual viewers that are expecting a true superhero movie ala Batman, or with the younger crowd that have no frame of reference to the source material, but for fans of the graphic novel, or the superhero genre in general, I think it'll be well accepted. I sure as hell liked it!