Early WATCHMEN reviews...
Early WATCHMEN reviews are coming in and from the sounds of things they are falling slightly more on the negative than the positive side. On the plus side, the word is the movie is extremely faithful to the Alan Moore graphic novel which is great to hear after what happened with FROM HELL and THE LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN. On the negative side, it's said Zack Snyder forgot he was making a movie and not just images from the graphic novel looking pretty on screen. Hollywood Elsewhere got this in from an annymous reviewer...
Speaking as a huge admirer and devotee of the graphic novel, the film is a staggering failure. On the plus side, youve got a pretty literal adaptation of the source material. It is at times a meticulous and gorgeous recreation of Alan Moores original work. Unfortunately its an empty, inert, meandering and, yes, boring 2 hours and 45 minutes. Oh, and its horribly acted throughout. Watchmen is just not much of a movie. It has no narrative pull and no characters to in. It uses rotely shoehorned-in action scenes, and has a sheen that doesnt befit the dark material.And on the same site, another reviewer, who liked the opening credits but...
"The rest of Watchmen basically alternates between campy silliness and 2nd-rate comic book melodrama. At some points on the level of live-action Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. I assume Snyder was trying to hit that sweet spot of surrealism that accompanies the alternate 1985 reality of the graphic novel, but the kindest thing I can call it is a kind of tragedy/campy combo. There were certainly no cheers at the end. About 80% of the audience rushed out of the theatre the second the credits began; minimal congregating outside. I did come across a group of three 20-something guys, holding their free give-away Watchmen posters, seemingly doing their best to talk themselves into liking the film".Time Blogger Matt Seiman...
Sitting in that screening room and watching the visual world of the Watchmen movie unfold was one of the most powerful experiences I've ever had. Not film experiences. Just EXPERIENCES. I don't think I realized how close I was to the original book until I saw such a loving, detail-rich, almost obsessive recreation of that universe. It had my heart pounding and head swimming. What will people who've never read Watchmen even think of this film? What will it be like for them to sit through these crazy, violent, colorful three hours and not recognize almost every line almost every image? Will they be utterly baffled, bored, or totally love it? Is Watchmen even a good or bad movie? I have no idea.There's a couple more reviews online, a lot of them /film are linking to but I believe those above are the best written and the one's where I can envisage exactly what it is they mean. WATCHMEN opens March 6th.