Watchmen - 3 stars out of 10

Watchmen - 3 stars out of 10

"Watchmen" was not my favorite superhero movie.  In fact, I couldn't really get into it at all.  I was warned that I should read the graphic novel before seeing the film and now I see why.  While Superman and Batman have been included in pop culture for a long time, this film made me realize how little of the DC Comic universe I am familiar with and how different it is than the Marvel universe that has dominated cinema over the past fifteen years.  "Watchmen" just doesn't "feel" like other superhero films and it is not supposed to.  Right away, I liked that the heroes do not have super powers and that they were just average people trying to make the world a better place amidst the Cold War.  Granted, that was spoiled when a gigantic blue character came into the picture, but their inclusion in a warped 1980's New York City was pretty cool.  The concept had a lot of promise and, maybe my mistake was watching the 3+ hour Director's Cut, but my excitement for "Watchmen" ended there.  Rorschach was really cool but his voice reminded me of Batman (the Christian Bale edition) too much, Nite Owl II (played by Patrick Wilson who is awesome) visually reminded me of Batman so I was kind of sad when I realized that it wasn't Batman, and Dr. Manhattan didn't remind me of Batman at all but he just didn't fit in with the rest of the characters.  That's where I lost interest - I feel like the movie would've been great without Dr. Manhattan but since most of the plot revolved around him, I couldn't ignore him and enjoy the story.  I'm sure that if I was familiar with the graphic novel, I would like him a lot more but I just couldn't form any sort of attachment to this large smurf.  The special effects are awesome, the cinematography gives the film a really dark feel, and the violence is portrayed beyond what we want to see (circular saw + arms = no cutaway... well in a sense there WAS a cutaway...), but unless you are already interested in this group of heroes, I don't think that this movie will make you a fan.