Critic Watch: Watchmen

Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle gave Watchmen Directed by Zack Snyder, a perfect score despite the film not reaching the psychological sophistication the other films like it achieved. He talked about how the director did such a good job with choreographing action scenes and thrilling audiences with his inventiveness. He also stated that the filmmakers’ strategy was not to hold audience’s attention with the story but with its breath taking visuals. The rest of the review talks about the plot of the film and the good qualities of the film.
Ian Nathan of the Empire Reviews Central gave this film 80 out of 100. In his review, he talks about how the creator of the graphic novel Watchmen, Alan Moore, claims that the film is “inherently unfilmable.” He also states that director Zack Snyder was one of the faithful, staying true to the film and would make sure that it wouldn’t end up like other Hollywood comic book screw-up’s. Nathan’s then talks about the basic plot of the movie and finishes his review talking about how the film tries to please two worlds, the true story to one that new comers would enjoy. He finishes his review saying that this film is memorable and visually stunning.
Shawn Levy of the Portland Oregonian gave this film 75 out of 100. He goes into the history of the film talking about what it is about and how finally technology has caught up to make the imaginations of Moore a reality. He says that the film is filled with inspired spectacles but it reaffirms the belief that the book was to great to be made into a film. He talks about the plot, focusing around one of the characters, Dr. Manhattan and other heroes and eventually talks about the acting. Levy finds that some of the acting isn’t up to the pair that they should have been and the sounds the director chooses to use end up harming the film.
A.O. Scott of The New York Times gave this film 40 out of 100. Scott finds this film to never end, stating that it is too hard to make sense of now but would have probably made more sense if it was released back in 1985. He talks about the original graphic novel and how it was scouting new horizons of complexity and thematic ambition. Scott talks about how this film is better then director Zack Snyder’s “300” film was. He ends his review finding that one of the sex scenes was laughable too.
Joe Morgenstem of the Wall Street Journal gave this film 20 out of 100, one of the lowest scores issued to this film. He finds this film to be too hard to show with one film, saying that it was clearly impossible. Joe also finds that you really have to be invested in this film to fully understand everything that is happening. He goes into the plot of the film and starts comparing it to “300” but ends his review on a good note saying the film as a whole is impressive.