What Zack Snyder’s 2009 Watchmen movie got right (and wrong)

2. The R-Rated Superhero Movie

Watchmen is a very dark story, and while R-rated superhero films weren’t unheard of in 2009, they were rare. For fans of the graphic novel, the R rating set the tone and told them that Snyder and company planned to stay true to the grim source material.

 The unrelentingly break atmosphere and world, populated by morally compromised characters like the Comedian, were shocking for people like me who hadn’t read the comics at the time.

Although this is a comic about superheroes, Moore’s characters dealt with very real problems, including relationship troubles, despair, mental illness and low self-esteem. 
Snyder brought them to the screen as they were without any sugarcoating. And thank goodness, because in my opinion the supremely flawed heroes are what make both the movie and the comics so good. HBO also has no qualms about portraying complicated, compromised people, so we can expect more of that from its series.