The Problem with Expectations...

I expected to dislike Watchmen. At best, I thought I'd appreciate the visuals and feel let down by the rest. I was wrong. Visually, the movie is stunning, and the opening credits are a thing of fucking beauty. The story, well, it's not exactly surprising. I hadn't read the graphic novel, but I pretty much knew who the bad guy was going to be nearly from the get-go. I'm not even going to get into the representation of women in the film.

However, the story was a wild ride, and while the Comedian and Rorschach are vicious and brutal, I couldn't help a glimmer or two of sympathy for them, which surprised me. The acting was unever at best, Nite Owl II (Patrick Wilson), SilkSpectre II (Malin Akerman), and Ozymandias (Matthew Goode), were not great, but Dr. Manhattan (Billy Crudup), Rorschach (Jackie Earle Haley), and the Comedian (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) were nicely played.

The movie didn't begin to feel like it was nearly three hours, and that takes some doing. I want to see it again. Very much.

Also, OMFG, 24 has me...quite beside myself tonight.