Comic book films are a tried and tested phenomenon. From Spiderman-to-Ironman-to-Batman the transition from page to screen has been made a thousand times with producers keen to create a movie that will keep original fans happy while also attracting new ones. That was until Watchmen, the graphic novel written by Alan Moore and published between 1986 and 1987 by DC Comics. Having previously been described as �unfilmable� Watchmen had gone through four directors, six studios and been twenty three years in the making before 300 director Zack Snyder, finally took the helm.

Set in an alternate 1985 America - a world where costumed superheroes are part of the fabric of society and an all-out nuclear war against the Soviet Union is pretty much imminent - former superhero slash government agent Edward Blake aka The Comedian (Morgan) has been murdered. Determined to uncover what he believes is a plot to eliminate all superheroes, Rorschach (Haley) embarks on a mission to discover who killed his comrade while also warning the other (now retired) Watchmen including Laurie Jupiter aka Silk Spectre II (Akerman) and her lover Dr Manhattan (Crudup) - the only one of the group to have any real powers. Also on his list is Dan Dreiberg, aka Nite Owl II (Wilson) and Adrian Veidt, aka Ozymandias (Goode), �the smartest man in the world� and with a nuclear-sized secret.

First things first; Watchmen is unlike any other superhero film before it and contains all the things that have become at odds with the genre including sex, bloody violence and superheroes with a penchant for rape and murder. It questions who decides what�s right and wrong and can the people put in place to help us ever be justified in killing millions of innocent bystanders or should their crimes of shooting dead pregnant women be overlooked because of who they are. The film is also very dense and has no real �happy ending� but prefers to leave you burden under contemplation rather than enjoying a heroic tale of good and evil. Watchmen has remained true to the comic�s and in an attempt to keep the fan boys happy includes all its minute details, pushing the running time to nearly 3 hours long. That said, it�s a manageable 3 hours as Snyder has crafted a film that keeps you engaged until the end.

Crudup performance as Dr Manhattan - whose god like ability has turned him into an isolated loner who finds it hard to relate to anyone and prefers the climate and remoteness of Mars to the problems and people of earth - is the most moving of the bunch and he works through the CGI to depict his emotional and affected state. He is joined by Haley who perfectly captures the damaged and complex mind that is Rorschach and he plays the sociopath brilliantly. However overall the cast all do good jobs and while Goode and Wilson look a tad ridiculous in their costumes (what is up with Goode�s hair?!) this doesn�t detract from their portrayals of the masked heroes.

Fans of the comic book have been waiting a long time to see Watchmen hit the big screen and while pain staking effort has been made to stick rigidly to the source material, Snyder hasn�t excluded everyone else. Granted, this film is not for the faint hearted but if you like your superheroes more messed up than you are - you won�t be disappointed.