This is a great question and timely as I just acquired <PERSON> attempt at adapting these books to film.
As mentioned in another response the symmetrical panel layout with a larger center panel is something that can only be appreciated when reading the source material vs film. I thought it would be nice to have an example below.
Another similar effect that can only be achieved through the book medium is the use of a repeating pattern of color through the 3x3 panel configuration as seen below:
Unless you attempt to literally cut the image into panels for your film as <PERSON> did in Hulk you would not be able to come close to recreating these details. Even with the split screen the images in each panel are moving and you cannot control the pace of how each image is viewed and it is difficult to focus on each detail as the images flash across the screen.
The above examples show what I believe you were referring to as structural aspects of the presentation.
Moving on towards where the film version succeeded or failed. I believe the film failed because of the limitation of time, which is a prevalent negative response whenever such a voluminous text is translated into a film. There is a lot of text/dialog in the comics and there is just too much to present in the few hours of the film. 627
One of the advantages of film is the the motion of images. Unfortunately, I would say the motion is also a weakness in this particular case because the director dictates the pace at which you are exposed to the moving images where with the comic you can linger on an image or series of images and make your own experience. When I read the entire sequence of Doc <PERSON>'s back story in the comic books it had a profound impact on me on a level that cutting and jumping moving images simply could not achieve for me. I did not feel as connected watching the series of events unfold on the screen.
Where the film succeeded was by being an entertaining, visually stimulating well crafted attempt at translating something which ultimately cannot be translated. It succeeded in using the advantages of the medium of film such as pure scale, it was an experience to see Doc Manhattan on the massive expanse of the silver screen, audio, the song choices and the combination with the moving images was well done, and creating all the environments/settings I felt was another success. 594