Anne Thompson asks, in her column at the Daily Beast. I think we all know the answer to that question. The Dark Knight was, I think, a bit of a fluke. It had a lot of things coming together at once, including the untimely death of Heath Ledger, that gave it magic it wouldn’t ordinarily have. It was also the end of the Bush era, which gave it more impact — and it’s an exceptional film on its own. Having not yet seen Watchmen I can’t pass judgment but I’m gonna lay down money that they’re not even close.
Beware the follow-up to a blockbuster. Institutionally risk-averse, Hollywood studios fall over themselves to grab the next project after a hot movie director delivers a surprise smash. But that’s exactly when they should exercise extreme caution. Zack Snyder’s Watchmen, based on Alan Moore’s 1986 meta-superhero comic-book series, is yet another case of a studio willing to overlook the big-budget rulebook in order to get in bed with a filmmaker fresh off a global moneymaker.