Watchmen Movie Reviews Not Living Up To Watchmen Movie Trailer

Uh-oh, some critics, who have seen advanced screenings of the Watchmen movie, are not being kind to the highly anticipated film. Could it be that the fantastic Watchmen movie trailers have built up expectations so high that there is no way the actual movie can live up to the hype? One of the biggest questions about the Watchmen Movie has always been how it will play to the general public. So far, the answer among some critics seems to be not very well. In a very negative review that is circulating quickly online, Kirk Honeycutt in the Hollywood Reporter predicts that the box office slide could be drastic after the opening weekend. Honeycutt even goes as far as to suggest that the Watchmen movie could be the first real flop of 2009. A review in Variety isn't much nicer to the Watchmen movie. Justin Chang writes, "the film seems to yield to the very superhero cliches it purports to subvert." Chang also predicts, "After a victorious opening weekend, the pic's B.O. future looks promising but less certain beyond its core fanbase." While the reviews by comic book news sites have been considerable more positive, even those reviews are pointing to flaws in the movie. Harry Knowles of Ain't It Cool News leaves no doubt that he absolutely loved the movie, but he also admits that he didn't like the new ending in the movie as much as he liked the original ending in the comic book. Comic Book Resources also has a very positive review of the film and the actors. However, while Erik Amaya's review praises how much of the film is true to the source material, he still notes, "parts of Watchmen will feel missing to readers and fans of the original novel." A Newsarama review proclaims that Watchmen was worth the wait. Simon Blaire writes, "The film is good. Really, really good. In fact, Watchmen skirts the edges of greatness, occasionally taking a peek over at unexplored cinematic terrain." While Blaire raves about much of the film, he also acknowledges that it could have been better. What will comic book fans make of all these early Watchmen reviews? Even if the Hollywood Reporter and Variety had proclaimed that the Watchmen made The Adventures of Pluto Nash look like an epic masterpiece, it would likely not deter a single comic book fan from going to see the movie. Also, worthy of note is that the most of the popular comic book news sites like Comic Book Resources and Newsarama seem to have positive reviews of the film. While some might argue that comic book sites are of course going to like the movie that is not always true. In fact, comic book sites can often be the harshest critics of comic book movies that fall short of expectations. If Watchmen was the next Batman & Robin movie, fanboys would not hesitate to label it as such. What is a little disappointing is that based on the Watchmen movie trailer, my expectations were set that the Watchmen movie was going to be even better than The Dark Knight. While many of the reviews seem to be touting Watchmen as a really good and enjoyable movie, there aren't a lot of people labeling it as the greatest comic book movie ever. The trailer had fans buzzing about the Watchmen as maybe being the comic book movie that finally cracked the Best Picture nomination ceiling at the Academy Awards. However, there doesn't seem to be much buzz about the Watchmen's Oscar chances in the early reviews. While the early reviews have done nothing to deter my desire to go see the film, they have left me feeling that it might not be the monster hit that the trailers made me think it would be. While how well or poorly the Watchmen does at the box office will not affect my views on the film, it would be nice to see the film do well. Even though there will likely be never be and shouldn't be a sequel for the Watchmen, its success of failure could help to determine the scale of future comic book movies.