Watchmen was okay. Better than you'd think, but not as good as you'd hoped.
The execution of the script was daring and bold for a film adaptation, though stumbled in some key places. Snyder and Co. definitely remained faithful both to the literal interpretation of the book and the spirit of the material. The effects were great, soundtrack was solid and the movie was perfectly paced. The problem was some of the actors. Malin Akerman as the Silk Spectre and Jeffrey Dean Morgan as The Comedian were terrible. Their poor performances sucked so much out of the film. Each awfully delivered line was a punch in the gut and sadly, so many scenes depended upon them anchoring the emotional moment. They were not up to the task. As a result, Patrick Wilson and Billy Crudup were only partially successful in their roles, since many of the best scenes required acting against Akerman and Morgan. Oh, and the sex scenes: Akerman totally sucked all the outrage from her sequence with Dr. Manhattan, the first Dan/Laurie sex scene was brilliantly done with all the awkwardness that there should have been but the final sex scene between Dan/Laurie was a full blown disaster (aside from the fan service). I think Akerman is now up there with Jessica Alba as the worst actors of their generation and pay grade. Oh, and fire whoever the hell they got to play Nixon. What a hack!
It's so sad, because with a better cast, a script doctor and better actor direction, Watchmen would have been a great film. Patrick Wilson as Nite Owl, Billy Crudup as Dr Manhattan and Matthew Goode as Adrian Veidt were solid (and I admit, I was feeling negative about Wilson before I saw the film). Carla Gugino ate up her scenes as Sally and Jackie Earl Haley stole the show as Rorschach. The CGI for Dr. Manhattan (based on Billy's performance) is perhaps some of the best CGI acting ever put on film.
Oh, and "blue wang" has become the new detestable geek meme of the internet, officially displacing the contemptible "raped my childhood" war cry.
Overall, 3 out of 5. Like Franz Ferdinand sing, "You could have it so much better".