Written by: Alan Moore, Dave Gibbons (graphic novel - writer and illustrator, respectively); David Hayter, Alex Tse (screenplay)
To start, I'm a huge fan of the original "Watchmen" graphic novel, and was very excited when I heard a movie was in production. I struggled to wrap my mind how they were going to adapt the complex narrative structure and visual dynamics into a linear film.
The truth was, they didn't. They distilled the story down to the core plot, removing most of the flashbacks and the "Tales of the Black Freighter" story-in-a-story. Still, what was left was still a pretty decent adaptation, though it was a very loose adaptation. Some elements are almost shot-for-shot reproductions, while others were changed significantly. (The most noticeable item that was removed was the fake giant alien squid invasion at the end, and I was rather bummed that it was changed.)
The acting in "Watchmen" is mostly not great. Most of the characters come off as cardboard. This is a major hinderance to the enjoyment of the film because it drags it down too often. At points, it felt like some of the actors were reading their lines without understanding why they were saying what they were saying. In retrospect, though, they were not given the greatest script to work with, focused too much on visuals and recreating dialogue that was written to be said by characters on a page.
This movie has grown on me more, as I've reflected on it. But the director's cut is far too long to enjoy, and it has too many flaws to ignore without much running in its favor. It is not, by any means, a comic book / superhero movie acceptable for children. And I wouldn't recommend watching it without any familiarity with the original source material.
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