I'm used to going out at 3AM and doing stupid things
Malin Akerman portraying the lovely Laurie Jupiter/Silk Specter says this in Watchmen and as it's now past 4:00, I find it strangely appropriate. So let's get this out of the way: It's a good movie, not perfect but very faithful except for one bit at the end. Go and see it.
Now for the nitty gritty. The comic is too long to adapt properly as even a 3 hour movie. You never get to really know the characters, things that build slowly in the comic like the revelation of Laurie's father are almost throwaway moments in the film. But if you're familiar with the comic you have a sense of these characters.
The physical casting for the film is it's strong point. Jackie Earle Haley is perfect as Rorshach. He comes across as psychotic and uses the Christian Bale "Batman" voice to great effect both in mask and out. Patrick Wilson who plays Nite Owl/Dan Drieberg does a great job. His resemblence to the pudgy, comic Drieberg is amazing because he becomes a thin muscular super hero once he puts on the costume. Malin Ackerman was cast to be good looking and she is. She fights in heels even.
Fighting is very stylized, playing with combining slo-motion and sped up moments within each sequence to show the brutality of the fighting. Fighting is also very graphic. It seems all the heroes kill or at least maim their opponents and the movie leaves nothing to the imagination. Despite Dr. Manhattan being the only one with super powers all the other heroes are shown faster and stronger than any human could be. But hey, they're super heroes. There is a fight sequence at the end which is short in the comic but for some reason, very drawn out in the movie.
So I think even the change at the end is valid thematically. I'm just not sure how the Comedian would have ever discovered the villain's full plot with this change but it's a minor point.
Malin Akerman portraying the lovely Laurie Jupiter/Silk Specter says this in Watchmen and as it's now past 4:00, I find it strangely appropriate. So let's get this out of the way: It's a good movie, not perfect but very faithful except for one bit at the end. Go and see it.
Now for the nitty gritty. The comic is too long to adapt properly as even a 3 hour movie. You never get to really know the characters, things that build slowly in the comic like the revelation of Laurie's father are almost throwaway moments in the film. But if you're familiar with the comic you have a sense of these characters.
The physical casting for the film is it's strong point. Jackie Earle Haley is perfect as Rorshach. He comes across as psychotic and uses the Christian Bale "Batman" voice to great effect both in mask and out. Patrick Wilson who plays Nite Owl/Dan Drieberg does a great job. His resemblence to the pudgy, comic Drieberg is amazing because he becomes a thin muscular super hero once he puts on the costume. Malin Ackerman was cast to be good looking and she is. She fights in heels even.
Fighting is very stylized, playing with combining slo-motion and sped up moments within each sequence to show the brutality of the fighting. Fighting is also very graphic. It seems all the heroes kill or at least maim their opponents and the movie leaves nothing to the imagination. Despite Dr. Manhattan being the only one with super powers all the other heroes are shown faster and stronger than any human could be. But hey, they're super heroes. There is a fight sequence at the end which is short in the comic but for some reason, very drawn out in the movie.
So I think even the change at the end is valid thematically. I'm just not sure how the Comedian would have ever discovered the villain's full plot with this change but it's a minor point.