My sister and I went to see Watchmen yesterday too; she's never read the graphic novel and
somehow avoided all the hype surrounding the movie!
Really liked the movie, many of the scenes and dialogue were taken directly from the GN, I didn't even pay attention to the long running time. Lots of snapping bones and splattering of blood.
(What else would one expect from the director of
300?!
) I always imagined Dr. Manhattan's voice to be deeper and echo-y, that's what his word balloons in the GN always seemed to suggest to me. But after learning that Billy Crudup was cast and then actually
hearing his voice in the second trailer, I couldn't help thinking, "...Really?!"
His performance was still very good, as were those of most of the main actors, especially Jackie Earle Haley as Rorschach.
About the reworked ending...
Spoiler:...it still made sense, though. The "Manhattan" devices substituting for the interdimensional alien achieved the same result. Personally, I would preferred including the orrery scene (Dr. Manhattan's final conversation with Veidt), which probably would've been anticlimactic from a film standpoint. Instead, Doc Manhattan disappears after his goodbye kiss with Laurie 
and she's given the "Nothing ever ends" line instead.
I can't wait for the
Tales of the Black Freighter DVD to come out, but I'm wondering if I should just wait for the planned extended version of the Watchmen DVD instead, with the Black Freighter scenes interspersed throughout the original movie. (Would this even work?
)
