Who's Watching The Watchmen?

I am not your typical fanboy, coming to comics late in life. But I do have a modicum of respect for the likes of Alan Moore, whose early work on "Swamp Thing" transcended the genre. Though I lost my original copies of the "Watchmen" series in a flood, I still have my HC version. It was a stunning accomplishment at the time. A mixture of pop culture, hero worship, politics and morality; finely fleshed out by Dave Gibbons' very humanistic visual interpretation. "Watchmen" will continue to be a benchmark of sorts, in the graphic novel realm; comics' "Moby Dick" if you will.

The movie "Watchmen" will, unfortunately, not maintain any similar standing. Except within the narrow corridors of fan geekdom. The film, though a fairly cohesive story, falls far short of being any kind of cinematic powerhouse. And I will tell you why. 

It has always been my contention that anyone making a film based on a comic/graphic novel has a great advantage in that the whole damn thing is already storyboarded. But here Zack Snyder takes this idea quite literally. I would have to go back again, with my HC version,  to see if the scenes actually match the comics panels, but it sure felt like it. I suspect, out of deference to Moore, or fear of fans rejecting it outright if deviated from, in the end it comes off like a frame by frame interpretation of the book. Sadly this creates a plodding slide show-like effect. With camera movement very deliberate, deferentially slow and often static, Snyder fails to make the story sing as a piece of cinema. I feel for him, because I'm guessing this one, whether it makes dough or not, will be consigned to the "damned if you do, damned if you don't" pile.