Beyond Malin Akerman, who I felt was lousy, but not lousy enough to degrade the film itself in anyway, I actually found the acting to be nothing short of phenomenal. Jackie Earle Haley as Rorschach reminded me in many ways of (and to me was nearly on par with) Heath Ledger’s performance last year as The Joker, a performance which I found to be one of the best ever on screen. I thought Nite Owl’s portrayal was spot on, with the man behind the mask being more or less a wall until he’s in costume, which is when he suddenly has a personality.

Finally, I thought Dr. Manhattan was executed with nothing short of perfection, both in Billy Crudup’s portrayal and in the computer-generated design of the character itself (though I can swear someone sitting near me snickered every time his penis was visible). The montage, set to Phillip Glass’ “Pruit Igoe” (written for the film “Koyaanisqatsi”), of Dr. Manhattan’s rebirth and the development of him as an object of terror for America’s enemies, is up there as one of the more heart-stopping and affecting sequences I’ve seen put to screen.