I've never read the graphic novel but I watched the movie last night.
Pros:
The fundamental underlying storyline. Humanity in all its perverseness leading to our own annihilation and our hopes for a God-like being to save us from ourselves. It was political, theological and thought provoking.
I also enjoyed the anti-hero Rorschach. His partially controlled antisocial personality disorder was both well portrayed and sourced (his childhood issues).
Cons:
At times it failed to engage the audience with proper pacing and poor narrative. Dr. Manhattan could easily have changed many great things in his early days when he still had a normal Human conscience but didn't. Even before Vietnam he had the power to change the world but it was in Vietnam when we learned of his altered human connection.
The sex scene seemed out of place. Had it been more implied instead of eating up 5 minutes of screen time, it would actually have been a more powerful scene. It was done well, just in the wrong movie.
I also didn't like how the original Watchmen played very little in the film. You see them in the beginning and a few carried over into modern times while some didn't even get replacement characters (Silhouette).
Overall an OK movie that could have been done better.
The rEVOLution is not being televised
