Best description/review of the Watchmen film I’ve read yet that sums up my exact feelings:
Fully deserving of its R rating, this is a sad, violent film about sad, violent people where the only one actually saving the world is the villain. While most superhero movies are about action and drama, this one’s a straight-up tragedy and definitely not for kids. And yet it works very well, both as a movie and as an adaptation of the comic book.
Snyder is also putting out a couple of supporting films: an animated version of the sea-pirate/horror story and a live-action version of the Night Owl’s autobiography. Though some would argue a film must be judged only on what happens within the limits of it’s time-frame, I think this is more like mixed-media art or even a film triptych. Why should film be limited to its format when formats change? Holding onto limitations of a format can be worthwhile when it serves a purpose (like album art
for an .mp3 file) but shouldn’t be dogma.