Hey folks, Harry here... having still not seen WATCHMEN. Why are they hiding it from me? Are they terrified of letting me see it? Please let me see it! ARGH! The following review is from a long long long time contributor taking a new name for the purposes of this review. That said, I have to say I'm incredibly enthused by this particular person really digging this movie. For me... This film has become a near obsession. Last night I went to the Alamo South to see a cheerleader sex comedy called FIRED UP, and all we could talk about before and after was how much we are all DYING to see WATCHMEN. I'm not sure if the rest of the world is going through this mania. But I certainly am. I'm going to go comb a beach looking for that bottle with Barbara Eden in it. That wench can make this movie play for me!

"Managed to sneak into a very early UK screening recently for industry types of Watchmen today Harry and the news is almost all very, very good.

Yes, it's long but yes it's extremely faithful to the graphic novel, to the point that the sex and violence is almost HARSHER than I remember it being in the comic. Cleavers are embeddded in heads, legs snapped in two, arms sawn off with circular saws. No punches are pulled. Small changes have been made here and there (Dr Manhattan being at the first moon landing and The Comedian pulling the trigger on Kennedy in the opening credit montage and quite a lot of extra Nixon and Kissinger stuff) but it's all very delicately handled by someone who has fought hard to keep the source material there and knows how to compliment it - it's very impressive.

Visually it's as if they've all stepped out of the comic and only the bare minimum of CGI is used - a concern of mine when I heard Snyder was going to be directing. The cast all look the part and are mostly very good with Jefferey Dean Morgan's Comedian being the standout chewing scenery all the way and Jackie Earle Haley doing a wonderful job behind Rorshasch's mask.

The music is very clever - many of the songs referenced originally are used and he uses The Times They Are A Changin over the opening credits to sweepingly tell the whole story of the Minutemen and costumed heroes right the way to 1985 in 2 minutes.

My only one concern as a fanboy is that the ending has been changed, ever so slightly.

SPOILER ALERT

The original alien being that Ozymandias creates to drop in the centre of Manhattan has been replaced with "Dr Manhattan energy machines" that destroy the centre of many world cities. Same effect, to scare the human race into peace, but after all of the incredibly fidelity that comes before it sits strangely. There's a final scene that's intended to dilute

Having said that it's a minor quibble in a huge, beautiful, angry, dirty, faithful, sigh of relief of a film. You won't be disappointed and I will be going to see it again.

You can call me Ramses II"