[Nathans_Dad]

Just saw the movie tonight, I read the book about a month ago or so.

My review:

Overall I liked the movie. To me, the movie has the same problems the book has. The first 9 chapters of the book absolutely kick ass. The last 3 I was left with a "WTF?" sensation...especially the ending. It was almost as if someone wrote the first 9 chapters and then asked an 8 year old how the story should end. Just like the book, I liked the first hour and a half or so of the movie. The last 45 minutes were still "WTF" although I do like the ending of the movie better than the book. The artwork and cinematography in the movie is great, it does the best job of any of the comic book movies of actually looking like a comic book. Several of the scenes are taken right off the page. Rorschach is awesome, best job of acting in a comic book movie I have seen.

The violence and sex are WAY overdone. It's almost as if the director just wanted to see how much he could get away with and still be rated R. The book itself is violent, but its violence is often suggested or left up to the reader's imagination. The movie shows it all, often in super slow motion and closeup. Some of the scenes have even been altered from the book...seemingly just to get more gore in. Also, the sex scene is ridiculous. It easily qualifies as at least soft core porn. Now, the chick playing Silk Spectre II is pretty hot, so that part I didn't mind, but sheesh...

As usual I was SHOCKED to see people bringing kids to this movie. There were several kids around 12 there and even one kid I saw who had to be less than 8. What the hell are parents thinking (or are they not thinking??)? Either the parent had NO CLUE what the movie was about or didn't care. Either one is inexcusable. One woman walked out in the middle of the movie, towing a 7 year old. At least he was spared the sex scene.

One last thing. I know Jon (Dr. Manhatten) is nude through 99% of the book. I understand that he should be nude in the movie in order to stay true to the book. Having said that, do we REALLY need to have every other scene have him in full frontal nudity with CG dong hanging there for all to see?

Overall, I give it 2 1/2 stars. Some of the cinematography is really very nice, I liked some of the music, although I agree that it is often overdone (like the rest of the movie). I still think the overall story is neat, if you like the book, then see the movie.