I posted this on the other board but ...
I thought Watchmen was amazing. There were moments when I had chills, but then again, I happen to love the source material. Granted, the movie could not include everything from the graphic novel, and if you're unfamiliar with the GN you might struggle a bit to put the plot together, but I think it is more accessible and relevant than some of the more negative critics give it credit.
Roger Ebert gave it 4 stars, but he is a geek like me. I would give it 4 stars. It's not the GN, but it has the look and feel of the GN, and with only a few minor exceptions it stays pretty close to the story. Of course, there are a couple of discrepancies here and there, the ending change being the most glaring, but I was still overwhelmed, and I loved it.
Regarding the ending ... no, it's not the squid monster (which I think would have looked really cool on the big screen), but in the context of the story's many thematic issues, the ending creates a nice Christian allegory, even if it doesn't specifically address Christianity (if you want to know what I mean, PM me; I don't want to offer up spoilers here).
What else can I say? I'm glad it took them this long to get this film made. Had they made it in the late 1980s/early 1990s as they had once planned, with Terry Gilliam directing and Ah-nold as Dr. Manhattan (his performance as Mr. Freeze was enough to convince me this would not work), this film might very well be a dated P.O.S. like Tim Burton's Batman (which I loved once but which now looks awful next to The Dark Knight). As such, Watchmen is one of the best GN adaptations I have seen, just a hair below V For Vendetta, which is still my favorite.
If you're a comic book geek, check it out. If you haven't read the GN, if you liked V For Vendetta, and if you appreciated The Dark Knight for more than Heath Ledger's performance, check it out (but pay close attention).
I freaking loved this movie. I'm going to go see it again tomorrow night.
(Caveat: The violence is pretty heavy in places. If Catmatt thinks it's heavy, then trust me, it's heavy. I did, however, appreciate one lovely bit of Grand Guignol when Rorschach takes a meat cleaver goes to town on a pedophile/child murder--wicket stuff).
