The All-Purpose Watchmen Thread *SPOILERS*

[wolves]

I saw it tonight so I'll give some of my thoughts:

I didn't read the book first, though I'll be ordering soon. I knew a little about it though so I wasn't going in totally blind. I absolutely felt like I knew the characters by the end of the movie. The flashbacks and all that were excellent and really did an excellent job of painting a great picture of each of the main characters. A friend of mine was with me and knew nothing of Watchmen outside of what he was going to see. He loved it and agreed that it did an excellent job of getting who's who across to the common viewer.

I heard that some people didn't like Rorschach's narration throughout the movie but I thought it fit. It seems to me that he's more of a lead character than any of the others. At least in the movie version. Plus the pick of Jackie Earl Haley for the role was perfect. The guy is a class A sociopath looking and feeling actor.

I for one wish it was a little longer but if we'll see more on the DVD release then all is good with me. This movie was very similar to Dark Knight in that when I saw it, when the credits rolled it was a feeling of "oh... it's done already?".

Malin Akerman is gorgeous in this movie and played the role very well as did Patrick Wilson. I didn't mind the sex scene one bit and the "climax" thing made my bud laugh who saw the movie with me. It broke up the seriousness of the film a little but wasn't my cup of tea.

To me, and this is obviously a snap judgment since the film is fresh in my mind but I feel it's at least the second best comic book movie made. Just behind Dark Knight. Had a very nice mix of violence, drama, and little dashes of humor.

[HeartlineTwist]

I am somewhat frustrated that some of the complaints I've heard about the movie are things that ARE THE EXACT SAME FUCKING WAY IN THE BOOK.

[Bigal]

Are these from people who have or haven't read the book?

The book is by no means perfect, so what's wrong with that?

[Johnny Latino Heat]

I'm guessing it's because, when it comes to adaptations, people always, or almost always, find something to bitch about. When adaptations aren't that faithful to the original, "fuckers! It's not like that at all!" and yet, this movie is almost exactly like the source material, and yet now people bitch because it's too similar. It's a case of "damned if you do, damned if you don't" in my book. Personally, I loved that it was extremely faithful.

[Boogey131]

I was mostly pleased with the movie but Watchmen was a great comic book, that took advantage of the comic book form fully. Everything in there was in there because of the medium it was written/drawn in. The reason why those complaints are valid are simply because some things only work in the comic book medium. I'm not saying I wholly agree with the complaints, but I can definitely see why they would be made.

Watchmen was never going to be the movie that pleased everybody but the more I think about the movie, the happier I am with how it turned out.

[Kaney]

As someone who isn't majorly into comics, what is an example of something that would only work in the comic book, out of curiosity? Is it just things like you can take as long as you like etc?

[zero]

I was mostly pleased with the movie but Watchmen was a great comic book, that took advantage of the comic book form fully. Everything in there was in there because of the medium it was written/drawn in. The reason why those complaints are valid are simply because some things only work in the comic book medium. I'm not saying I wholly agree with the complaints, but I can definitely see why they would be made.

I always have issue with this line of logic because it goes against the very concept of the adaptation. The Grapes of Wrath is a great novel that takes advantage of the novel form fully, but that doesn't keep the movie adaptation from being a brilliant film that takes full advantage of that medium. Watchmen the book is great book, Watchmen the movie is a great movie. Patton Oswalt wrote a terrific blog on this very concept:

NO, I HAVEN'T SEEN THE WATCHMEN...

...but I can't wait.

Can't you?

No, you can't. You're all going to go see it, you resentful nerd mafiosi. And you'll walk in rolling your eyes and you'll walk out whistling sadly through your teeth because the fuel of the Nerd Mafia is disappointment and exclusion.

Tell you what -- before you go and see THE WATCHMEN, plunk down and watch CATWOMAN, GHOST RIDER and DAREDEVIL. And use those seven hours (and don't pretend like you don't have seven free hours in your day) to get out all of your disgust and the-world-owes-me-my-daydreams-made-real attitude you strut around with.

Because Zack Snyder STEPPED UP, motherfuckers. THE WATCHMEN was going to get made, one way or another. And instead of bleating on his Facebook status updates or Tweeting about how shitty the upcoming adaptation's going to be, he TOOK THE BULLET and tried to do it right. Yes, THE WATCHMEN should be a limited series on HBO and blah blah blah IT WAS NEVER GOING TO HAPPEN THAT WAY. Zack delivered a 2 1/2 hour, honest attempt, and broke his ass cranking out tons of free extras. Hell, he even animated The Tales of The Black Freighter for you chumps. Plus, he gave you a kick-ass DAWN OF THE DEAD remake, plus 300, plus whatever else he's got coming down the pike. He's the best friend the Nerd Mafia's had since Joss Whedon and Brian Michael Bendis, so everyone please crack the tab on a frosty can of Go Fuck Yourself and go see the movie version of THE WATCHMEN.

And no, the movie will not have EVERY LITTLE ELEMENT FROM THE GRAPHIC NOVEL. That's why the graphic novel exists -- you can go read it after you see the movie. Adaptation. Parallel visions. When you adapt a book, you cut things out, combine and conflate, streamline and linger.

L.A. CONFIDENTIAL stands as the best Ellroy adaptation to date, and it throws away massive chunks of the novel's narrative. THE BLACK DAHLIA slavishly sticks to its source material and it's almost un-watchable.

I do not invite debate.

[Herr Matzat]

BUM review is up, great as always.

http://thatguywiththeglasses.com/videolink...s/5271-watchmen

[jrtdot]

Amazing movie, gfx amazing, I saw it in IMAX, awesome. Loved the music, a great use of old music and when they used the music was great. The story is fabulous, and I like the movie ending, it is believable and exciting. I was really digging Jackie Earle Haley's portrayal of Rorschach. Also became in love with Malin Åkerman

This is quite possibly the best screen adaptation of a graphic novel/comic ever excluding maybe the new Batman series but for a first time adaptation it is THE SINGLE BEST!

[Verder]

What a movie. Incredibly done, great acting almost throughout, even a fantastic soundtrack. The ending was great in how the bad guy wasn't so much really a bad guy after all and how he actually lived. On the flipside I was sad to see Rorschack die in the end, he became possibly my favorite character during the movie Just an absolutely great movie in every aspect, I had never read the novel or even known anything about Watchmen before walking into the theater, but wow.

Definitely the best movie I've seen since The Dark Knight.

EDIT: I won't be asking for links or anything since it's against the board rules, but I just downloaded a 2:38 long version of "Times They Are a-Changin'"... was the opening video really that short? Or is there a longer version of this song which was used?

Edited March 13, 2009 by Verder

[Bigal]

The song was looped. The first verse was used twice.

[Kaney]

Seriously considering placing this as the greatest comic book movie of all time. If you moved Ledger's Joker into Watchmen, fuck. It'd be the greatest movie of all time.

Absolutely spectacular from start to finish. Everything was done pretty much to perfection, the only gripe is it's length, but it couldn't realistically be a great deal shorter without losing out so much that makes it great. I can understand how casual fans could feel perplexed but as a fan of the comic book, I'd happily place it amongst the best movies I've ever seen. Stunning, stunning film.

[apsham]

Zack Snyder is the nerd's gift for sure.

[GoGo Yubari]

Eh. It was okay.

EDIT: I'm finally in the mood to expand on the things I didn't like, so let's do that. But first, I'll say that Jackie Earle Haley, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, and Matt Frewer were all excellent in their roles, and I enjoyed Patrick Wilson and Billy Crudup as well. Also, the opening credits sequence was absolutely gorgeous.

Now, on to the opinionated elitist bastard Dislikes of Dislikey Dislike.

- Malin Ackerman was bad. Actually, initially I was like "I really don't get why people are saying she was wooden in this movie" because she started out fine... and then she needed to convey serious emotion and more often than not she sounded whiny and inconvenienced. She did a good job with the reveal that The Comedian was her father, but that was the only time I enjoyed her in a serious scene.

- Matthew Goode was mediocre. It's not completely his fault, though, as Snyder should take some of the blame too. From his very first scene, Ozymandias has absolutely no human, likable traits to him at all. It's been half a decade since I read the comic, just about, but I remember being shocked by what he was ultimately responsible for because Alan Moore had made you like him. Conversely, in the movie he lurks and snarls and pontificates woodenly while being obscured by shadows. It's amazing to even think he was a superhero at one point because at no point did I not get a Lex Luthor vibe from him during the film. Obviously it doesn't help that I read the comic ages ago and knew that it was him the whole time, but even then that's not an excuse for completely failing to humanize his character.

- The soundtrack choices were borderline obnoxious at points. "Ride of the Valkyries" during a Vietnam War scene? In 2009? Seriously? Sometimes they worked despite themselves ("The Times They Are A'Changin'," "All Along the Watchtower" (which was quoted in that scene in the comic, so hey)), but even still.

- The slow-motion, excessively-violent fight scenes also made me roll my eyes. I'm thinking specifically of Dan and Laurie vs. the Knot Tops, which was completely ridiculous. Really, I didn't care for the fact that Snyder basically made every superhero borderline-metahuman when it came to strength and how much punishment they could take (The Comedian, a 61-year old man by that point, could take that much damage in the opening scene and get back up? Really?). Of course, it was a big-budget superhero movie, so I can see why he went down that route.

I enjoyed the movie. Honestly, I did. I'll probably Netflix the director's cut. But when it comes to comic book movies, it's only the third best one I've seen in theatres in the past twelve months, let alone being the best I've ever seen. It's a fairly flawed movie, but eh. Snyder deserves credit for ambition and clear love of the source material, much of the cast deserves credit for doing well with their roles, and certain portions of the movie were breathtaking to watch, especially on an IMAX screen. But "good but not great" is the highest praise I can give it as a total package, at present.

[Boogey131]

As someone who isn't majorly into comics, what is an example of something that would only work in the comic book, out of curiosity? Is it just things like you can take as long as you like etc?

One thing is pacing of the book, the novel was made up of 6 separate issues dedicated to one characters and that's not typically how a movie is set out, there were parts where character back stories were dragged out, now I understand why most of the scenes were like this and am actually quite happy they are but for average movie-goers the pacing is way unconventional, that doesn't necessarily make it a bad thing(to me) but it's still one vital difference in sitting watching the story unfold in one sitting and reading it in your own time. The novel was constructed very carefully by Moore/Gibbons to tell the story in the most efficient way possible and they used the panels perfectly. Going through a pages of 9 paneled pages and then seeing a 3 paneled-sized image is striking and there's really no translation for this in movie form.

Again, I don't necessarily agree with all these complaints, I just see the validity of them. The pacing was far from typical, the way the story is not straight forward and when you get things like this that go against the status quo there are always going to be people who don't understand it. I think when most people saw there was going to be a Watchmen movie they all had a different ideas of what a comic/graphic novel adaptation really was and so, I think there's always going to be a split opinion on it.

Mines is, it's a great adaptation but not necessarily a great movie.

[Herr Matzat]

The "Talls of the Black Frighter" and "Under The Hood" DVDs aperently have been released.

TotBF is about 20 Minutes + Credits. I´ed say that waiting for the Movie DVD that Includes this cut in would be worth it. It makes sens if you know what it is suposed to be and all, but whatching it seperated like this feels wrong, it´s just to much fucked up shit happening. - The animation is well don.

UtH is a very Cheap Production, they basicly faked a sitdown interview... i don´t have the never to sit through something like that at 6 in the morning. Might be good, might be bad. On first sight it´s a bit sad that you clearly can make out that it aint an old videothey dug up... it´s obviusly downscalled HD Cammerawork but if the contend is alright that can be overlooked. It´s about 30 Minutes + Credits.

Edited March 18, 2009 by Michael Matzat on a Plane

[Herr Matzat]

I finaly got to see the movie today. Big Screen, English as it´s suposed to be.

I guss it´s a good movie over all. I can see me getting the DVD of the extendet cut wen it comes out. But i have a few complains. The Major one is that these guys did not feel "unsuper" because of all the flashy SFX stuff happening and bodys flying around like pillows in a Pillow fight. I realy think this is taking away a lot of the essence of the story... of cause it´s a sacrefice to the Mainstream audience but it made me realy sad... esp. because the movie got other things like that right (e.g. the long "good sex" sceen in contraast to the "inpotens sex" sceen.

I thought the squit looked a bit silly in the books, but i would have prefered if they had stuck with the alien invasion gen experiment thing in some way. It´s just one of those points were you get punished for thinking about why there is the big eared cat. Crash boom bang audience dossent care, but other people do.

In a lot of aspects the movie felt to fast to me, i know there would have proberply have been more movies to get this right (Terry Gillam wantd to do three wen he was asked to do it) but it just lakes a ton of things from the book that made you care. Like wen the dieing in new york happens and it realy hits you because you know a lot of these persons and go "oh shit", in the movie it´s just another boom and you only see a few things as easter eggs if you know the book. Instead we now know a big nosed nixon actor a lot better....

I Hope the extended cut is more than just the 30 minutes of "Tbf" + some sceens from the newspaper stand to tie it in. This movie could very well need another houre besides that.

Oh yeah, and they should have been able to get a hot chick that dos not make Dr. Manhatens lack of emotion seem like the best party ever... boy was she wodden....

So overall, it´s a nice litte popcorn flick that breathes fresh air into the Superhero movie sceen. I don´t feel like someone robed my money (Super Mario The Movie) or killed my fantasy (LotR) but it dos not do the artistic aspect of the original book justice.

Edited March 24, 2009 by Michael Matzat on a Plane

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

This was a better comic book movie than Batman.

Seriously, WOW.

The first five minutes with the credits and intro showing from the 40s-80s was utterly perfect. Brilliant, set EVERYTHING. I was lost for words from the start.

I know most of this will be down to the comic books so I guess I can just talk about how well it was realised on the big screen but the characters were FAR FAR more detailed than other comic book characters, morality wasn't just two dimensional. It wasn't black and white. It wasn't good and bad and the look and feel was superb. It really did a great job at putting me in the time and the alternate reality - even Nixon and Kennedy (fleetingly) were great.

It was hard to love every aspect of a character but hate every aspect either. They all had their reasons and their beliefs.

It was sad, funny, happy, crazy and total sanity all at once.