I also agree that Rorschach was the shining light in this movie, but I had such a hard time not seeing him say "herminator" after we saw his face, that it kind of killed it for me after that. And that wasn't an attractive mug either (can't even say only a mother would love that, because she didn't). Speaking of ugly, and maybe this was the intent in a movie that purported to be so raw, but the other actors also weren't the most attractive lot. Except for the metrosexual David Bowie wanabe, and I suppose the CGI super-smurf, the rest of the cast was less than picture-worthy, IMO.

On a more cerebral note, I actually liked the philosophizing. I think it brings these questions to an audience that probably slept through their high-school history and art classes. We need more of this because the next generation certainly isn't getting it from their teachers. I also wished that it wasn't all crammed into the ending, either, which gave the middle of the film a pretty limp feel. It wasn't until Rorschach got cought that the movie really started to take off. And yes, the violence was a bit much (sawing through the guys arms just to get to the lock? That's SinCity-gratuitous).

Overall, it was certainly an unexpected film and while I also caught myself looking at my watch (hence the reason I won't be buying it on disk), it had a lot of visual effects and points to ponder throughout - the symbolism and allegory was fantastic - great artwork and research behind the story. Sequel? Yup, I do think there will be one, especially if they follow up on the Rorschach's Journal thread. But I'm going to guess that ver2.0 will be too polished, sanitized, and Hollywoodized to compare favorably with ver1.0; I also agree that this may lift the movie to cult status by those who will applaud the first one's visceral rawness. I give it a solid B.