Watchmen Film, Yay or Nay

[Royta]

I thought it was decent. The filming was bi-winning and was filled with tigerblood. Loved it. But the writing was stupid at times. They really padded out parts in the comic (such as the discussion between...that girl en jon (forgot the names) on mars). And some other parts that were important were cut completely.
I also wanted to kill people after seeing the ending. Unacceptable. It just made no sense.

I do respect the movie though. Putting ALL those comics in one movie is a tough nut to crack.

 

[Smooth Operator]

It was alright, but as I didn't know anything about the series before hand I couldn't work out for the longest time if these people really have some sort of superpowers or it's just strange halloween movie.

And the sex scenes... jesus f*ing christ, we all like boobies but keep that shit short, we didn't come to the theaters to wack off.

 

[tomtom94]

Big yay, love the film. I really don't understand the complaints about the ending; to my mind it makes sense - the only thing that the US have against Russia is Dr. Manhattan, so what would happen if he went rogue? Force them to co-operate, while also forcing the actual Dr. Manhattan, who could threaten the plan, into exile.
Plus, Snyder's trademark slow-motion is more controlled because it contrasts nicely with the talky scenes (for evidence of when he forgets this, watch Sucker Punch). And the stylised lighting works beautifully, to say nothing of the soundtrack. Hence why it works as a film as well as an adaptation.

Want to see the Ultimate Cut (with Tales of the Black Freighter added in) at some point.

 

[thylasos]

It was far too long, I'll say that. The massively protracted music montages didn't help with that, to be honest. I spent a lot of the movie being bored. I felt entirely justified in stepping out of the cinema for five minutes at the one and two hour marks to stretch my legs and have a cigarette.

I did appreciate the faithfulness to the graphic novel, but at the same time, I wouldn't try to read that in one sitting. I get the feeling it would've worked better as Terry Gilliam's original conception for transferring it to live-action, a mini-series.

I certainly wouldn't buy it, and it's unlikely I'd rent it. I don't have the patience to watch it again, but I'm glad I saw it once, for all its flaws.

 

[Rawne1980]

I did enjoy the film but I could only watch it once.

But it was good.

 

[Quaxar]

I confess I did watch the film before reading the novel and as such may be a bit biased in the other direction but I have to say while I do love the graphic novel I was really confused about the ending... I have to say I much preferred the film's because to me it made a lot more sense.

Novel had a better subplot though.

 

[Tsukuyomi]

Personally I've read the Comic (yes, it's a comic. 'Graphic Novel' is just a long/pretentious way of saying it.) and seen the film. Done both a few times.

....and I didn't think either were particularly bad. or one was worse than the other. Honestly for the ratio the Watchmen film was probably the closest adaptation to a comic that we've EVER seen. Yeah, they snipped out the Black Freighter and Under the Hood bits but big deal.

Overall I'm just wondering where it's so wonderful in general. Yes, I get the messages and whatnot, and I do find the idea of holding up a real mirror to the concept of superheroes and asking "what would these types of people REALLY be like?" to be a compelling concept. It's a great idea, but instead of addressing that and being done with it the entire thing just wallows in it. It feels like it's a 250-some page sign that is just telling me it's not okay to enjoy Superheroes because 'the real world isn't like that'. Admittedly life isn't all beer and skittles but must we really wallow and glory in the grit and grime of it all?

 

[capper42]

I really like it. I recently saw it too, but waited until after I'd read the book. I prefer the ending in the book, but I can definitely see why they changed it for the film, as it would have added a great deal of unnecessary length to explain it.