“There are press embargoes on many, many films, ” writes Tom Shaw in response to Matt Selman‘s “My Own Private Watchmen” piece, which went up yesterday afternoon. “Usually because the studio thinks that any early reviews would hurt attendance. Just like they would here.

“Sure, we all hold Watchmen dear in our hearts, but consider [the view of] someone who has never read it before.

1. “Far from the ‘all action, all the time!’ previews, the actual movie itself has only a handful of fight scenes, none of which are fair. A young dude beats up an old dude, God beats up the Vietnamese, two people wail on near-incapacitated law officers doing their job, etc.

2. “The setting confuses everyone. What’s Nixon doing being president in the 1980s? I thought the Soviets weren’t a threat and drank themselves into irrelevance? Who are all these ridiculous gang members….extras out of Death Wish?”

3. “The ending: Not really ‘everyone lives happily ever after.'”

4. “And the worst thing: The movie is best described as artistic. Which was the kiss of death to the last two artistic comic movies (i..e, Hulk, Superman Returns).

“So no, if I was Warner Bros. I wouldn’t have early reviews either. Of course, my issue is with the 5% Moore didn’t write. I just don’t see how that 5%, which is (a) all over the internet, and (b) in the last trailer logically ties in with the 95% they did keep.”