On Rotten Tomatoes, "Watchmen" has a 65% approval rating based on 309 reviews and an average rating of 6.37/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Gritty and visually striking, "Watchmen" is a faithful adaptation of Alan Moore's graphic novel, but its complex narrative structure may make it difficult for it to appeal to viewers not already familiar with the source material." On Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average rating reviews from mainstream critics, the film has a score of 56 out of 100, based on 39 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". CinemaScore polls reported that the average grade cinemagoers gave the film was B on an A+ to F scale, and that the primary audience was older men.