Who Watches the Watchmen?

I do!!  Er, rather, I DID!  Last night!  Exclamation point!  Going into the theatre, there was a guy dressed in an awesome Rorschach costume, and after it was over, it turned out he had a couple friends with him going as the Comedian, and Mr. Manhattan (with clothes on, fortunately!).  I didn't get any pictures, sadly.  But it was pretty neat.  The theatre was packed, too, and when it was over there was applause.  Haven't been to too many movies that got applause. 

Disclaimer: I read and really enjoyed The Watchmen graphic novel, so this review is biased in that direction.  Can't help it, sorry.

So, what did I think of it?  Well, in a nutshell, it proves that an excellent comic book does not an excellent movie make.  Watchmen isn't a bad movie, merely a pretty good one.  It's two hour and 40 minute running time flew by and the narrative was engaging.  But this was a 12-issue series they made into a single show.  The Watchmen was a story crafted to take advantage of the comic medium, not the film medium, and there was simply no way to adapt it without losing some of the depth and complexity that made it such a compelling story.

( Click for a more detailed, but SPOILER FREE review. )