Watchmen (spoiler? alert)

Saw The Watchmen last night. Truthfully, I was pretty disappointed. Aside from the obnoxious ladies in front of us who nearly started a brawl and then had the movie stopped in the middle of a somewhat important dialogue so they could find a pack of cigarettes-- I'd say the movie fell annoyingly short of my expectations.

The creators of this film were had a wealth of great characters and plot to work with, and they had an extraordinary potential to make a great film. But they settled on a better-than-average movie that mostly appealed to comic book enthusiasts.

First, they tried to cover too much plot. I fail to understand the relevance of The Comedian's entire storyline. All they needed from him was 1) to die and 2) to point out he walked a fine line between good guy and bad guy. His entire portion of the plot could have been summed up in less than five minutes, which would have cleared probably a good half hour of the movie. I can't forgive them for spending so much time developing a deceased and irrelevant character, especially when the movie was already three hours and quite complex. They needed to trim the fat, compromise, make it accessible to those of us who did not read the graphic novels. And now I hear there is a director's cut with an additional half hour? Outrageous.

Second, they made the viewer work too hard. I consider myself an intelligent person, and I love a movie with multiple layers that makes the audience really think to understand ALL of what's happening. But I do not appreciate a movie that makes me take huge leaps of deduction in order to understand basic elements of the plot. The movie was so pretentious that they couldn't even bother to sum up the villain's scheme with a simple line, like "*gasp* You're using John as a scapegoat - giving the world a common enemy so they will unite in peace!" Or something similar. But instead they dance around it and make you figure it out for yourself. They said everything in the most complex way possible, which, after three hours, was a tad taxing.

Like I said, I enjoy a film with intelligence. But there is no excuse for not clarifying. The movie was unnecessarily obfuscated and, in my opinion, irritating.

That being said, I have to admire the complexity of the characters, though I wish they'd focused on fewer of them.

And my last question for the comic-book people who apparently adore The Watchmen - what the heck was that thing on Mars?? They never explained that.

So those are my gripes. A story with potential for greatness - inadequately realized. Grade: B.