Watchmen (Zack Snyder, 2009)

Adaptations of the graphic novels of crusty visionary Alan Moore have not had an entirely happy history, from V for Vendetta to From Hell, and he seems to have disowned this one as a precautionary move. This was a mistake.
Watchmen, published over 20 years ago, is probably Moore's most emblematic work. Set in a parallel 1985, with Nixon still in the White House and the world on the brink of armageddon, it follows a group of former superheroes as a mysterious assassin starts trying to bump them off one by one. A complex plot, at least by the standards of the genre, is held together by the narrative of the vigilante Rorschach, a sort of an unhinged Marlowe with a mask, and contains more darkness than a Batman film could ever hope to entertain. We're firmly in adult territory here: this is an utterly broken world, full of cynical politics, and at the finale the main villain of the piece comes out as far more ambiguous than the mere idea of a superhero film could lead us to expect.
It helps a great deal, of course, that Snyder wisely sticks to the original work, virtually frame by frame, and adds only his one forte: gut-wrenchingly visceral action (see 300). Even the casting is slavishly faithful.
Don't go expecting great depth here, but it will also not insult your intelligence and it's a hell of a ride, far more involving than the much-feted but ultimately lumpy The Dark Knight.

7/10