I assume you've seen the movie and read the comic, or don't care.

I only read Watchmen (the graphic novel) this year. I really enjoyed it. But, I have no fan connection with it, and had no fear of it's good name being soiled.

I really liked the movie. I can't think, as an adaption made today, it could have been done any better. I loved all the main cast and thought they were all perfect, specifically Walter Kovacs' Rorschach. I could have watched him all day.

I had a little trouble with the ending, but must go re-read the comic before discussing further. I understand why they thought they had to do it (squids are silly), but I think they're wrong.

However, the end is probably the least important part of this movie.

I thought the supporting cast (news readers, Nixon, cops, audience members) let many of the scenes down. The two cops in The Comedian's apartment were so bad, I couldn't help but focus on supporting actors from then on. It's a pity, as almost everything else was great.

The choice of pop music was at times a little jarring. I liked Dylan and Hendrix. But any music modern to the movie's setting seemed wrong. I can't take an alternate history movie with un-alternate music. Maybe if they'd gone to the effort to alter the songs just a little, I'd have liked the choices a little more. Would Nena really have written the exact same song in Watchmen's universe? Would Nena's parents have met?

The problems I had with the movie tended to reflect and amplified the problems I had with the book.

Laurie, who we are told was with Manhattan for many years, left him due to his "change", but the change isn't portrayed particularly well. He's a big blue man-shaped Eeyore for the whole movie. I read Manhattan as being more alive and exciting in the beginning, then becoming more depressed and distracted as his "future hole" began to bother him more. I find it hard to read that into the movie.

The book continues on building until the last comic, then ends everything in one issue. The movie does the same, ending in what feels like 20 minutes after building for hours.

Nixon and his advisers in the war room were like a bad parody of Dr. Strangelove. I was horrified, although, that is the point.

I did not like Rorschach's mask, but he was so fantastic in every other way, I forgave it. It makes no sense, it can only confuse the poor audience, but in a way, I can understand why they did it that way. Watching an almost static mask talk is dull. Watching Rorschach's mask move was mesmerizing. I hung on his every word. [More on Rorschach's mask]

I found the whole comic depressing. The movie is much worse. It isn't happy, and it doesn't have a happy ending, no matter how you read it. The movie, with it's very in your face depictions of the violence described in the book, forced me to take in all the unhappiness. It's one thing reading a single panel viewing a particular shock, and another to see it in motion.

The book focuses entirely on New York's Manhattan, with minor jaunts to Vietnam (in flashback) and Mars, and finally Antarctica. All of the non-New York locations are extreme, unreal. The bedrock is New York and everything else happens as a consequence of New York. Suddenly, in the final scenes, we're asked to consider the whole world and everyone in it. The movie ignores the whole world so completely, and warps it's own city to such a degree, it's hard to take in the concept of "the world" in the Watchmen universe. The final scene is overwhelming to the point of losing it's effect.

One part of me loved this movie to death. Bits of it were beyond perfect, almost having me in tears. Others were just... OK. Very few parts were bad.

I think it's the perfect companion piece to the comic. I spent much of the day thinking about it, the movie, and the themes both presented. The differences between the two only amplify my desire to talk about the core themes both stories present.

I really want to see it again.