I'm not going to spend more time on telling you guys the story, just going to compare the movie to the comic and give my opinion about it =)
First of all, I'm going to try to be as objective as possible, so I'm also going to give my girlfriends opinion who hadn't read the comic before the movie and didn't know anything about the story (I know! BLASPHEMY!), and this did put a lot of things in perspective.
Before watching the movie I was kind of scared because all of the fuss about Matthew Goode's acting skills, the squid,… And I think it's best to tell you guys right away that in my humble opinion Matthew Goode IS Adrian Veidt. There is no doubt about that, and the squid… Let's just say that even though it was so awesome in the comic, the movie just didn't need it. It would have been "too much".
The opening is SO strong. The comedian gets murdered and then Bob Dylans first chords just crush you. I have honestly never seen a movie where you just get nailed to your seat in that way. Everyone who saw it agreed on that.
The thing about the movie I liked best is that Snyder really put a lot of effort in adapting the actual images in the comic into movie scenes. It's always a hughe plus when you recognise a lot of the comic into the movie, and not just the story. Then came the real mindblowing part: the cast. MY GOD. These people totally nailed the characters. Especially Rorschach. I was so pleased to see that the physical resemblance was unbelievable, and the acting itself made them picture perfect.
Storywise he didn't alter a lot of things (I hardly noticed anything being different, except for some small stuff), but fans who wanted to see the actual end as depicted in the comic might just be disappointed. And I'm not (just) talking about the squid. The ending was a bit too different for me, felt kind of awkward but it still was a good one.
Now let's get to the things that were less appreciated by the audience…
Some people told me afterwards they found Dr. Manhattan very boring, and that he looked too cartoonish. I don't know what too think about that because… It's Dr. Manhattan… He IS very distant because he doesn't see the importance of human life, and as for the cartoonish aspect… I don't agree.
Then there is the biggest problem of the entire movie. Lots and lots of things remain unexplained. I had to explain to my girlfriend where Rorschach's mask came from (don't see that in the film, and that's such a bummer…), why he gives his journal to the New Frontiersman (that wasn't obvious too since they show the kiosk but once… for about a second), the overall linking was pretty sloppy, lots of people didn't understand a bunch of things.
The thing that made the comic so sweet to me was that there was a hughe focus on the characters psychology… In the movie I kinda missed that sometimes for certain people.
In general this was the best comic book movie I've ever seen. In one word it was EPIC. Even if you know every little detail of the book the movie doesn't allow you to breathe for a second. It's marvelous. This is the only comic book movie I've seen so far that really merits a 9 out of 10, even though I would have loved them to make one with every detail which would be the longest movie ever made.
My last words of this review will be the least important… For some.
Silk Spectre II. YUMMY.