Excellent movie, almost on a par with the comic, or graphic novel if you want to be serious about it; not even Hollywood hack Zach Synder ('300') could ruin a story as profound and exciting as 'Watchmen'. And though his pathetic slow-mo to fast camera moves distract, Synder manages to stay the course in this epic, special edition director's cut which is worth owning, though diehard fans may want to wait for the three and a half hour unrated, three-disc ultimate collector's edition (try asking for that down your local HMV). Written in 1987, Alan Moore & Dave Gibbon's groundbreaking superhero saga charts the rise and fall of 'The Watchmen' vigilantes: Set in an alternative 1985 where America won the Vietnam War, Richard Millhouse Nixon is still in office and superheroes play a pivotal role in U.S. foreign policy; 'Watchmen' is less about capes and cowls than it is about conscience and consequence. Ensemble acting is amongst the best I've seen in a while, with standout performances from Jeffery Dean Morgan (think Robert Downey Jr. on steroids) as tortured sadist The Comedian, Billy Crudup as the all powerful Dr. Manhattan and some brilliant voiceover work by our embittered narrator; Rorschach (Jackie Earle Haley). I also liked some of the music montages such as the opening credits / history of the heroes played out to Bob Dylan's 'The Times They Are A changing'.

With a narrative arc sprawling over thirty years, 'Watchmen' can be quite heavy going at times and one has to pay close attention to appreciate the themes at work here. It's obvious why this movie didn't do as well as hoped commercially; for it's an introspective and murky treatise, one that shatters the superhero mythos whilst toppling an ideology conditioned into the psyche of American popular culture for over three generations.

Alan Moore's insightful take on the genre's appeal more or less encapsulates what 'Watchmen' was all about: "America has an inordinate fondness for the unfair fight. They would prefer not to get involved in a fight if they don't have superior firepower; I genuinely think it's this squeamishness that's behind the American superhero myth: It's the only country where it's really taken hold".

For when The Comedian, having conquered Vietnam for Uncle Sam, celebrates at a Saigon bar and musings: "I think if we'd lost this war, it would've driven us crazy; as a country", you know this isn't going to end with someone posing atop a building at sunset with Old Glory waving in the foreground.

Moore, of course, has completely, and not without good reason, disavowed any and all Hollywood adaptations of his work, and whilst this film isn't as immersive an experience as the book, there's still some enjoyment to be had: Who watches the Watchmen?

Watchmen is a gritty and visually wonderful epic, but like the superheroes it conveys it also has its flaws!