We all owe Watchmen something of an apology. It was met with indifference, spite and disappointment when it came out in March, but now, after junk like Terminator Salvation and Transformers 2, Watchmen is starting to look pretty darn good - even this year's big winner, Star Trek, looks rather whimsical and shallow next to it. That's not to say it's without its problems. Alan Moore's graphic novel - in which a cabal of superheroes is being stalked by a serial killer in a parallel version of 1980s America - was structured to take full advantage of the comic-book format. The episodic nature of the issues and the reader's ability to flip back a few pages, or follow a digression, were exploited to great effect. On screen, though, it's not so immediate. If you haven't read the book, you're likely to get lost, and if you have - because director Zach Snyder has stayed very close to Dave Gibbons's original artwork - you'll not only know what's coming up next, you'll also know what it's going to look like. At home, though, it's easier to digest in short bursts, like a TV miniseries, so that the colossal amount of detail and references have time to sink in properly rather than wear you out as they might in one sitting. This release, however, only contains the release version, and while it has some wonderfully strange and powerful moments, you might be better advised to wait for the upcoming Director's Cut. The extra 24 minutes really help, particularly in selling the air of cold-war paranoia that's barely given lip service in this shorter version.