As the clock ticks down to midnight, it’s looking more and more like Watchmen will make a bang in the Hollywood scene.

Checking out the early reviews on aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes, Watchmen is doing pretty well for itself, nabbing an early rating of 81 percent of “fresh” reviews. (The Dark Knight, just to give some context, received 94 percent, while the Spirit received 15 percent.)

Here’s some highlights thus far — here’s Devin Faraci from CHUD:

A huge budgeted superhero movie that delivers intellectually? That takes serious, ballsy chances with the form? Why, that sounds like a piece of art. A glorious, epic, exciting, mind blowing piece of art.

Empire also had these things to say:

Okay, it isn’t the graphic novel, but Zack Snyder clearly gives a toss, creating a smart, stylish, decent adaptation, if low on accessibility for the non-convert.

Justin Chang of Variety, while not a fan, had this to say:

The movie is ultimately undone by its own reverence; there’s simply no room for these characters and stories to breathe of their own accord, and even the most fastidiously replicated scenes can feel glib and truncated.

Meanwhile, the Hollywood Reporter’s Kirk Honeycutt didn’t seem to like it. (Although based on this comment, I wonder if he ever read [or enjoyed] the original comic):

The real disappointment is that the film does not transport an audience to another world, as 300 did. Nor does the third-rate Chandler-esque narration by Rorschach help.

We’ll keep checking as the opening looms…

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