I went to Watchmen expecting it to be awesome, with my roommate who expected it to be awful, and we met pleasantly in the middle, which I am thrilled about. Those who went to it not knowing the source material were probably very surprised, like several of the critics I've been reading. These people seemed very disappointed by the fact that the heroes in Watchmen weren't very heroic. Congratulations on missing the point entirely! These characters are illustrations of the type of people who would actually put on a cape and try to fight crime, "psychological profiles" and very believable ones. These characters are flawed beyond recognition as heroes, yet manage to be completely lovable as well as fascinating. You don't get the fascinating part with the standard goodie goodie masks.
Anyway. I guess I'm a purist when it comes to this novel (and I maintain that being a purist over something that's truly important and amazing is OK) so I initially hated every change, including the big one at the end. BUT, on further reflection, their decisions were actually very smart, and their alterations probably make more sense than the original happenings. I still wanted to see the big baddie in glorious movie CG, though. Le sigh!
So who watches the Wa(someone blocking the view)men? I will, many more times!