Watchmen film discussion (Spoilers!)

[Gemini]

I wonder what store I should order it through...



Will do.

You can ususally get it for like 20 bucks at a chapters or a coles, or even if your lucky an HMV. but it's not the absolute edition, just the normal one

I got mine for like 17$ Canadian, which would probably be like 14$ American

 

[Sacred&Profane]

It was ****ty.
I don't care if it was as close an adaptation as possible. It wasn't a good movie in any way, shape, or form. At times, it felt like "Watch Snyder adapt scenes from Watchmen!" with no connective tissue. Whenever Rorschach was describing his journal (especially in the Joke voiceover) the visuals and dialog just weren't cohesive. The pacing was totally off.

 

[Planet-man]

I guess what I'd say is that a lot of my views on it are pretty much summed up in Bass' post except for his last paragraph and bit.

Personally I think it was a very good movie with a few legendary moments, but it had problems enough that it isn't truly and completely great. The best parts were the opening credits and the Dr. Manhattan origin sequence, by far. I loved the use of music except at times it began to feel a bit like a gimmick and could've used more scoring, like the perfect theme in the Manhattan origin sequence(Bob Dylan and Ride of the Valkyries were brilliant, though).

I would've prefered if it had been more realistic and natural in general, not really in terms of the fight scenes but the simple character moments like Comedian and Manhattan in the Vietnam bar.

I thought it was funny how the audience grew audibly more desensitized to man-on-woman violence as the movie went on.

Nixon was great. I wondered if they were using Langella when I first heard him but am so glad they didn't. Even the characateur qualities, true to the book, worked fairly well.

I maintain the exact same stance on Ozymandias as when I first saw a promo shot of him: too young, too thin, too evil looking. He was Niles Crane when he should've been Tom Cruise(perhaps literally - he's probably who I'd have cast and he pretty much is him in real life anyway).

Patrick Wilson is a whole 'nother story. I hadn't seen a single pic of him out of costume before the movie and was stunned at how much he became Dreiberg. Deserves congrats.

Rorschach was superb in every aspect except for the Bale Batman voice, but I expected that. I imagine him sounding like Rainn Wilson as Dwight on The Office. I think that works better, but Alan Moore voices him the same as Haley, so that's fair.

With a handful of momentary exceptions, it's not a truly great work of art on its own, but simply a very enjoyable and mostly satisfying adaptation of a great work of art. I'd give it an 8.5/10 if I was raiting it that way.

I still don't understand why people said, and probably continue to say, it's "unfilmable". I think it's one of the most filmable things I've ever read and can easily imagine making an unbelievable movie out of it. Snyder and co came about as close as I expected, and all in all, they deserve congratulations for it. I look forward to seeing it again and reading the book again.

Edit: Oh, and that Saturday Morning Watchmen video Moony posted on Facebook? Laugh. Out. Loud.

 

[DARKKNIGHT]

I've seen it a second time, and I have to say that I like it more than I did after my initial viewing. Looking solely at the movie, the ending they had in their works. It would have benefited from staying closer to the actual GN though, but hey. I've heard people complaining about the plot being incoherent or what have you. I really don't get this. I mean as far as I remember it pretty much follows what went down in the GN. While I like TDK, particularly the Joker, that is a movie that hardly has a plot, yet people worship it. I just kind of don't understand where all the hate for this movie is coming from. But to each their own.

 

[Iceshadow]

I just got back from it and I liked it well enough. I'd place it above The Incredible Hulk and below Iron Man. The only time the music really jarred me was The Ride of the Valkyrie during the Vietnam flashback, and the 99 Red Balloons (German Version) during dinner between S.S. and N.O. The opening was fantastic though, and the first half is done well. It's about halfway in that everything just seems to stall with not enough action to break it up, the Nite Owl/Silk Spector romance wasn't terrible, just predictable/boring. I mostly liked the ending even though it just kind of happened. As for the characters: Rorschach was awesome, Dr. Manhattan was cool and creepy (blue orgy!), The Comedian was well done, Nite Owl was decent, Silk Specter was there, Silk Spectre's *** wasn't there enough, and Ozymandias needed more screen time (to flesh him out a bit) and he needed to enunciate more (I swear he had a German accent when I first heard him).

Other points to note:

-I had no problem with the fighting at all, it was just like 300 but with more clothes on.

-They could have left out Ozymandias' tiger...thing, WTF was that about?

-Good call on not cutting away on the violence.

-In the opening credits, David Bowie was standing next to Mick Jagger outside Studio 54, I lol'd.

-The movie could have used more blue dongs, that's right more blue dongs, the audience ate it up (not literally).

-I was just joking, I wouldn't have complained if there was no nudity in the whole movie (except for Silk Specter's ***, there really needs to be more of that). I can't believe nobody in the movie was like "Hey John, you're nudity makes me a little uncomfortable. Could you, I don't know, wear pants or pixelate it or something?".

I'd give it a 3 1/2 out of 5.

 

[Langsta]

I'm probably going to say some stuff that other people have said:

Rorshach was PERFECT. He was exactly how I imagined him from the comic. I didn't have a problem with the "Bale Batman voice;" that's exactly how I imagine Rorshach to sound. He was identical to the comic, with and without the mask. The prison sequence was awesome. I don't think anyone could play Rorshach as good as Jackie Earle Haley. If Heath Ledger deserved to be nominated (yes, I said nominated, not win, for everyone who thinks he won only because he died) for an Oscar as the Joker, then Jackie Earle Haley deserves a nomination as Rorshach. And speaking of nominations, I think the SFX for Rorshach's mask is definitely worthy. It's hard to convey emotion when someone's wearing a mask, but they really did an excellent job in this case. I kinda wish they would've included the Kitty Genovese part from the book and explained how Rorshach got his mask. But Rorshach....was flawless.

I also thought Patrick Wilson was great as Dreiberg. Like Rorshach, it was as if they'd based the book version on the film version. Blake was great; however, when it got to the part where he's got the cigar in his mouth and he's using his flamethrower on some Viet Congs, I couldn't help but picture Ron Perlman in the same scene and think how much awesomer it would be if he were the Comedian.

The Silk Spectres were ok, but could have been better. Ozymandias was pretty bad. His accent was bad. And I'm just being nitpicky here, but I thought he looked too thin, and I didn't like they way they gave Bubastis' fur a bluish-tint (and y'know, didn't have her appear until the end, so people were like "WTF" when she showed up out of nowhere).

I had a problem with Doc Manhattan. The animation looked kinda fake IMO. Maybe it's better on IMAX. And the shading around his eyes and crotchal region (the darkest shades on his body in the comic book) looked like it was an actual part of his body. I just think they could have done a better job with his animation. Richard Nixon's makeup was bad. They over-exaggerated his nose, so he looked more like a caricature of Nixon instead of the real deal.

It's hard for me to imagine that viewers who haven't read the book would be able to fully comprehend the story from simply watching the movie. Obviously, they couldn't make an exact replica of the comic. But there's stuff they could have left out and stuff they could have included. They showed more of Mothman and Silhouette than more important characters like Captain Metropolis and Hooded Justice.

I didn't find the music to be distracting. At least they included music from the book (as in songs whose lyrics were used as quotes in the book).

I would have liked the squid ending better.

I was surprised at how many people brought kids. And some woman a few seats behind me actually started laughing during the rape scene.

4/5

 

[ProjectX2]

There was a woman with a baby sitting behind me.

It was very weird.

 

[Iceshadow]

My friends and I didn't read the comics and we had no trouble following the story at all.

 

[DARKKNIGHT]

An oldish couple walked out of the theater I was in after Rorschach killed the child murderer with the butcher knife. I thought it was funny.

My friends and I didn't read the comics and we had no trouble following the story at all.

Same with the friends I went with.

 

[Planet-man]

You know.... Jeffrey Dean Morgan was so perfect as the Comedian that I didn't even think about while watching the movie. It was just like.... there's the Comedian, from the book, and I didn't even think about how it was an actor or casting choice.

I can't really think of any higher praise for an actor.

 

[Iceshadow]

I also noticed that IMDB has David Hayter listed as one of the screenplay writers, for those who don't know David Hayter voices Solid Snake in the Metal Gear Solid video games. I thought that was nutty.

 

[Doublehex]

Yeah, David Hayter is primarily a screenplay writer, he just does voice acting on the side. He did the second script for Watchmen. Alex Tse did the third, this one.

 

[thee great one]

Why? Zack Snyder didn't **** on Alan Moore's work. He brought it to life and actually improved on it.

He's just saying. I wouldn't really call him an *** for it.

I'm going to go as far as saying that Alan Moore should get on all fours and kiss Zack Snyder's feet for this.

You are insane. Improve on it? They ruined some of the best scenes.


I have mixed feelings on it. Some parts were really good and some were really terrible. I am sort of pissed they ruined my favorite scene of Rorschach's death by adding Night-Owl there. All he did was the cliche "Nooooo!!!", it ruined it.

I even loved the extra dialogue in that scene.

Rorschach was really good, I liked him a lot better without his mask. He seemed way more scary.

 

[Sacred&Profane]

You are insane. Improve on it? They ruined some of the best scenes.


I have mixed feelings on it. Some parts were really good and some were really terrible. I am sort of pissed they ruined my favorite scene of Rorschach's death by adding Night-Owl there. All he did was the cliche "Nooooo!!!", it ruined it.

I even loved the extra dialogue in that scene.

Rorschach was really good, I liked him a lot better without his mask. He seemed way more scary.

Seriously, MwoF. Are you ****ing insane?

But I agree with TGO on the stupid addition of Night-Owl and the perfect casting of Rorschach.

 

[ProjectX2]

I think he was drunk.

I hope.

 

[E]

Saw it tonight. It was...good. Not great, but good.

The casting for Rorschach, the Comedian, and Nite Owl were all very good. Doctor Manhattan was not. Adrian Veidt was AWFUL. I don't care how hard of a role it is to do - it was not done well at all. He was so wimpy looking. And he was made to be too villainous...in the comic he was much easier to sympathize with, and that is so crucial.

I was baffled at the music. So much of it was completely out of place and just weird. I hadn't seen any comments or reviews that mentioned that so I wasn't prepared for it, so that was surprising. "The Times They Are A-Changin'" was used very well but that's about it. This is especially surprising since I thought the Muse and Smashing Pumpkins songs in the trailer were great.

The end was TERRIBLE. It almost ruined the movie for me. I begrudgingly accepted that Joe Moviegoer wouldn't "get" having a giant squid teleported into NYC and killing a million people, but completely changing the character of Doctor Manhattan by completely changing how people viewed him or thought of him was just inexcusable. And it was inconsistent - Doc Manhattan takes off to Mars because he's upset that he gave a few people cancer, but he is perfectly accepting that Adrian Veidt set him up as the scapegoat for millions of deaths around the world? Huh?!

I was also bothered that two of the best lines in the comic ("Your fingers, my perspective" and "I'm not a republic serial villain") were changed. It lessened the effect.

I actually thought the extra violence fit pretty well, but things like having Rorschach jumping ten feet in the air were not.

I also agree with two points that were made elsewhere in this thread: 1) the plot got to be very muddled - I can't pinpoint what was done or not done to make it that way, but I thought it was definitely the case.

2) you guys can deny all you want, but I know there are plenty of people - not all, and obviously not McCheese but others in this very thread who I saw make comments even before the movie was released - who decided they were going to hate this movie no matter what. And that is pathetic. It's like they are trying to impress their best friend Alan Moore or something. LAME.

All of that said - I did like it. There were enough good parts to make me forgive its shortcomings. Also this reminded me of the Seinfeld series finale - it was so hyped that there's no way it could have lived up to expectations, so I feel like I have to take that into account. I'll buy it when it comes out on DVD, and if the rumor is true that they will be re-releasing it in theaters with the squid ending I will definitely go back and see it.

Oh, and MwoF - better than Dark Knight? Are you on crack?!

 

[ProjectX2]

I was also bothered that two of the best lines in the comic ("Your hands, my perspective" and "I'm not a republic serial villain") were changed. It lessened the effect.

This annoyed me.

Was the line "Nothing's pointless; not while there's life" or whatever Ozymandias says kept in the movie? I can't remember. I don't think it was in there.

Also, I realised I should have voted for 3 stars and not 4. I rated it 7.5/10 and half of 7.5 is 3.25 and that rounds to 3, not 4... oh well. It's an okay movie, nothing special.

 

[Planet-man]

]Doc Manhattan takes off to Mars because he's upset that he gave a few people cancer, but he is perfectly accepting that Adrian Veidt set him up as the scapegoat for millions of deaths around the world? Huh?!

I don't see the problem there, character-inconsistency-wise. He was upset because he thought he actually gave people cancer. Being blamed for the New York attack, but knowing he didn't do it and that it was for the best anyway, doesn't upset him.

 

[E]

Was the line "Nothing's pointless; not while there's life" or whatever Ozymandias says kept in the movie? I can't remember. I don't think it was in there.

I don't remember, but I don't think so. If so, it wasn't memorable for either of us, which is interesting. And if not, it's just further demonstration as to the dehumanization of Veidt. They REALLY destroyed that character. The more I think about it, I'm more bothered by that than with the ending.

The thing Bass wrote about people praising it while secreting preferring X-Men or whatever was funny because there was a guy in line who had an X-Men shirt on...I just thought it was funny to be wearing an X-Men shirt to a movie based on a comic that is the antitheses of X-Men.

Couple other things:

• McCheese's comments about the Veidt character are spot on.
• I didn't know that people were down on the Laurie "Jupiter" roll character. I thought she was good.
• Night-Owl in the Rorschach death scene was pointless, but Rorschach was so good in it that it didn't ruin it.
• Most of the costumes were BAD. Laurie's was good but Veidt's was AWFUL and the later version Comedian one was almost as bad.
• The Mars fortress was very underwhelming. It should have been incredible and just wasn't.

 

[E]

I don't see the problem there, character-inconsistency-wise. He was upset because he thought he actually gave people cancer. Being blamed for the New York attack, but knowing he didn't do it and that it was for the best anyway, doesn't upset him.

To me, that makes no sense at all.