Metacritic Movie Ratings
Watchmen Reviews

A sample of reviews from critics across the country.

• 100

  out of 100

  Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert

  It's a compelling visceral film -- sound, images and characters combined into a decidedly odd visual experience that evokes the feel of a graphic novel. It seems charged from within by its power as a fable; we sense it's not interested in a plot so much as with the dilemma of functioning in a world losing hope.

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• 67

  out of 100

  Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman

  Even Watchmen fanatics may be doomed to a disappointment that results from trying to stay THIS faithful to a comic book.

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• 60

  out of 100

  Los Angeles TimesKenneth Turan

  Snyder stands revealed here as more of a beginner than a visionary in his uncertain approach to making an on-screen world come alive.

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• 50

  out of 100

  VarietyJustin Chang

  The movie is ultimately undone by its own reverence; there's simply no room for these characters and stories to breathe of their own accord, and even the most fastidiously replicated scenes can feel glib and truncated.

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• 50

  out of 100

  USA TodayClaudia Puig

  In the canon of comic-book movies, it's not as campy bad as the "Batman" starring George Clooney, but nowhere near the caliber of the Spider-Man movies or "The Dark Knight." It may have more style, but it's only a jot more entertaining than "Catwoman."

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• 40

  out of 100

  The New York TimesA.O. Scott

  As it is, the film is more curiosity than provocation, an artifact of a faded world brought to zombie half-life by the cinematic technology of the present.

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• 20

  out of 100

  The Hollywood ReporterKirk Honeycutt

  Snyder and writers David Hayter and Alex Tse never find a reason for those unfamiliar with the graphic novel to care about any of this nonsense. And it is nonsense.

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• 20

  out of 100

  Wall Street JournalJoe Morgenstern

  Elegance isn't Zack Snyder's bag; a certain sort of impact is. Watchmen establishes him as Hollywood's reigning master of psychic suffocation.

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