I knew nothing of the Watchmen before the start of the movie. The opening scenes were captivating in setting the history of these crime fighters and introducing the alternative history where the story takes place. The story was even interesting for the most part. Murder, mystery, political intrigue…should be enough to keep your attention. I wanted to like this movie. The characters were likeable and even if they had few real super powers, they were competent crime stoppers. But the movie was rather boring.  Like The Spirit there just wasn’t enough to generate excitement and you kept wanting more action, more reason to care or something to keep you from wondering what was playing in the next theater. Maybe the film is relying on an informed and loyal base of comic fans and perhaps had I read up on it, I would be more forgiving.  As it stands though, Watchmen was barely watchable.