The Watchmen pre-game checklist is, indeed, the buzz of many writers. But after seeing the film, not so much.
Big blue ***?
Not that big a deal, albeit utterly unnecessary.
Ultraviolence?
Not for kids, and interestingly one of the areas where Mr. Snyder decided to be less faithful to the graphic novel, but hard-R comic book acceptable for adults.
Casting?
Not as much of a problem as expected… but not always for the best reasons.
The problem with Watchmen is, in the end, that it is a bit of a big stiff bore for two acts with an improved, but mostly uninspired third act.
There is a moment, about 2 hours and 25 minutes in, when the movie shows us exactly what its promise was. It is The Showdown Of The Film… which I will not spoil here. But suffice it to say that it had strong character choices, little fat in paying homage to the book like it was the m-f’ing Bible passed down by God himself, and the book’s perfect combination of narrative and ideology.
Lasted about 10 minutes.
Read the complete post at http://www.mcnblogs.com/thehotblog/archives/2009/03/the_watchmen_re.html