Agreed with Gareth that it was a great-looking film -- as I said in another post, loved Haley (when he was without his mask) and Dean Morgan (Comedian) performances.
Having not read the book but reading everyone else's comments who have, I guess Terry Gilliam's comment is true: not all books should be movies. Too much to put in? In Snyder's defense, his main problem was having to cut off half his movie just to get it under 3 hrs.
sure not all books should be movies - but this could have been adapted = Citizen Kane is very similar to Watchmen re: cross-cutting/multiple meanings etc.
the thing is Watchmen wasn't adapted - it was transcripted = just slapped up on the screen with no understanding of what the source material actually meant, (as we talk about in the podcast re: the alleyway scene etc.)
there were no choices made re: where to put the camera, how to direct the actors, etc. that actually enhanced/communicated the story that needed to be told = all in all a profoundly depressing experience
I guess they felt they would run a huge risk of angering fans of the book by toying too much with the shots/script. But as you said, there were lots of things left out apparently that might have helped (but then again, would you have a 6 hr movie?).
There is actually some kind of "Watchmen" series on Comcast cable's "OnDemand", which is 12 parts, and is basically a voice-over of what appears to be the actual artwork from the book (based only on previews I've seen). Don't know if it covers the whole book, or is edited down (I assume the latter).