I’ve read the book a few times but a film is a separate entity, (and besides there’s already been a film that’s close to Watchmen, both in it’s innovative cross-cutting/overlapping dialogue and themes: Citzen Kane.

re: ‘What part of the movie caused that that was not in the book’ = i could give a dozen examples = where the movie replicates the scenes in the book with visual fidelity but has no idea what the scenes mean. For instance:

The attack on Dan and Laurie in the alleyway by the knottops.

In both the book and the movie, Dan and Laurie try to have sex but Dan is impotent. Later, they are attacked in an alleyway and soundly defeat the attackers. In the book the final panel of the attack sequence shows Laurie and Dan together in a ‘two shot’ – out of breath and ASHAMED. The clear inference is that they realize that they are perverse people – who get off on, and are validated by violence – this realization that only through their perverse need for violence/being in danger are they complete leads them to don costumes again, engage in the fire rescue, prison breakout etc.

But in the film the fight in the alleyway is filmed to GLORIFY the violence and there is ABSOLUTELY NO SHAME in Dan and Laurie. It’s like the film doesn’t get the point of the book at all.

That’s the main reason this version of Watchmen is so poor. They just didn’t get it.

(then add to that no sense of pacing, drama, what real adult relationships are like, the nature of getting old, dying, incredibly generic choice and use of music…one could go on and on!

“Deeply misogynist and spiritually empty”? What part of the movie caused that that was not in the book? The book has no heroes (few have noticed it has no villains either).

Why do people love Spiderman crying like a 12 year old girl but hate Doctor Manhattan admitting life is overrated? I’m not getting it.

As for Oswald, he’s dead on on one point. SOMEONE was going to make this movie. If you think you can tell me how they could have done it better, please be my guest!

—Torch

Many people, myself included, don’t dislike it because it doesn’t adhere to the book – it adheres to the book too much: slavishly replicating comic book frames without any sense of what they mean.

It comes across as the work of a very hard-working adolescent – but a disturbed one – the film is deeply misogynist and spiritually empty – and don’t get me started on the bad acting, including flat delivery and rushed dialogue.

And what about the complete lack of establishing any sense of dread, (watch Peter Weir’s ‘The Last Wave’ for tips on how to do this); or the understanding of pacing, tension and narrative in cinema?

I feel bad for everyone involved in the production – of course they worked their heart’s out. Better luck next time!

None of those address the issue of the quality of the movie. Love it or hate it, none of what he says has anything to do with whether it was a good movie or not.