I would agree with you that the characters weren't particularly likeable in Watchmen, but I still cared what happened to them and empathised. I don't think the characters were any more likeable in TDK, but in TDK they were boring.
If this movie was trying to be a The Dark Knight wannabe then it certainly failed at that - which is entirely a good thing!
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"There he goes. One of God's own prototypes. A high-powered mutant of some kind never even considered for mass production. Too weird to live, and too rare to die."
"Watchmen" is far better than The Dark Knight / Why does no-one own this wonderful game: Fragile Allegiance? / Speak (Type) Italian to me!