So, last night I went to see my personal most anticipated film of 2009: the film adaption of Watchmen. Ever since I saw the trailer for it in The Dark Knight way back in June of '08 (I think), I've been looking forward to this movie IMMENSELY. When I heard that the film was very close to the graphic novel, I was stoked and couldn't wait for March 6th to come. Did this mean I had extremely high expectations that could never be met? Heavens no, in fact, I didn't mind many of the actual changes in the film at all. Anyway, here's my attempt to review the film for those who may want to see it. The plot, for those of which many of you might not know, is set in an alternate 1985 America where tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union are high and the Doomsday Clock is set at five minutes to midnight, former superhero turned vigilante Rorschach discovers that one of his former colleagues - The Comedian aka Edward Blake - has been murdered. The film opens nicely with the initial murder whilst the song "Unforgettable" plays softly in the background due to the TV set. After that, a transition is shown from the years 1940 to 1985 in a nice "collage" esque manner while Bob Dylan's "The Times They Are A' Changin'" plays. The opening to this movie was great and everything else seemed to be played just as well throughout the film. ..That is, until the last third of the movie. Since Watchmen has a ton of information in it and the theatrical version of the film (the DVD will about half a hour more of film) only has two hours and forty minutes tell that story, the events of the last third seem rushed with an important event happening just about every five minutes. Not to mention that a few key revelations aren't portrayed very clearly - making it somewhat hard for an audience unfamiliar with the source material to figure out what's going on at points. Other than that though, the film does a great job of capturing the essence of the book despite the flaws in the last act. The acting, I felt, was great and the man who played Rorschach - Jackie Earle Harley - was FREAKIN' AMAZING. These aren't the words of a fanboy, but of a critic. Harley was great in his role and Jeffrey Morgan's portrayal of The Comedian captured that badass side of the character very well. The guy who played Nite Owl was great as well, yet not as good the previously mentioned actors. The only person who seemed to be the worst in the acting department was, in my opinion, the woman who played Sally Jupiter - the original Silk Specter. Her lines felt forced and she didn't give off that feeling of happy-go-luckiness that was in the character. The soundtrack, sadly, was the worst part of this movie. True, there were some good songs such as the songs in the opening. However, there were some songs in the movie that just made you think "What does this song have to do anything?" For instance, when Laurie and Dan meet for their first time in years the song that plays for a few seconds is 99 Luft Balloons. 99 LUFT BALLOONS. That, and when Dan and Laurie have "intimate relations" a cover of Hallelujah is played. This wouldn't be so bad if the cover didn't sound as if it was being sung by the guy from Talking Heads. >_< And a Jimi Hendrix song being played as Rorschach and Nite Owl head to *SPOILERS*Veidt'sbase*SPOILERS* ? The score of the film was good but the song choices were just plain awkward and felt out of place. I must also say this film is pretty graphic. Almost all of the scenes that were gory/graphic in the book have been changed to be more or less graphic, depending on the situation. Even the sex scene, which wasn't too bad in the book - just silhouettes - is much more explicit. I mean, for a minute and a half, I watched Watchmen turn into "Dan and Laurie Make A Porno". Geez. Then again, this is directed by the same guy who directed 300, another grapihc novel adapted film with a drawn out sex scene. The violence is worse, as I stated, with arms being sawed off, bones being cracked out of their bodies, etc. Yet, for some reason, the aftermath of an explosion wasn't shown. Here you have all this gore and violence and yet, in the scene that was supposed to make you think about the consequences of nuclear arms, was cut out. Overall, the film was pretty good. The plot was handled pretty well but it has its problems, the acting's great but with a few "mehs" in the cast, and the score is alright with the song choices being downright strange. if I must rate this, I'd give the film a [b]6.5[/b] . I'd say read the book, but if you just can't do that, the film should give you the same message, just not as well presented.