Watchmen's Tweaked Ending (warning spoilers)

[Bakery]

This thread is for those that have both read Watchmen the graphic novel AND seen the movie. (if you haven't done both I'd reccomend you do.)

!!SPOILERS!! This whole thread is made from spoilers so there's no point in hiding each individual one, don't say I didn't warn you.

Just to get things straight:
The Watchmen graphic novel ended with Ozymandias (sic) creating a false inter-dimensional alien invasion by teleporting (and exploding) a genetically engineered squid into the middle of New York City. The logic behind this was that the mass destruction caused by the 'alien invasion' would cause humanity to unite against a common, unknown enemy thus ending an escalating cold war.

The movie on the other hand ended with the same basic underlying plot by Ozzy, however instead of an inter-dimensional psychic squid, the attacks were orchestrated to appear to be the work of Dr Manhattan.

On the surface it appears to be close enough however I argue that deeper down, the modified ending makes no sense. Firstly Dr Manhattan had no reason to attack the people of Earth. Even if he did, why would he attack only a few cities instead of doing something nasty like igniting the atmosphere? Secondly, the point of the psychic squid (in my opinion) was that it was an unknown enemy. If Dr Manhattan became the enemy of humanity, wouldn't part of the population become submissive to him? He had been called a God on more than one occasion afterall. This would just divide humanity into those that want to fight and those that want to worship. Lastly, Dr Manhattan at the end announces he is "leaving for a less complicated galaxy". Surely peace formed from uniting against an enemy that isn't even there wouldn't last.

Why do you think they changed the ending? I can't see it as being too much of a budget issue, as the CGI explosion was pretty intense itself. Could it really have been that much harder to make it a squid instead of an explosion? Admittedly I know very little about the process involved in film CGI so if you do have any knowledge on it I would like to hear it.

Those are just my two cents and if you'd like to add yours, please post.

-Bakery

 

[rossatdi]

I think they changed the ending because the 'giant squid' thing was probably too much of sell for a two and half hour film.

At least half the world lived in fear of Doc Manhattan anyway, as the cold war was still going on. The TV interview that pushed him over the edge (the psyche profile showed that Jon was losing his grip on his humanity) probably looked like a betrayal to a lot of people.

Doc Manhattan never announces he's leaving to anyone except a few. People wouldn't really know very much about him and would be naturally scared.

Personally I thought it was a valiant attempt at the end. I also particularly enjoyed that they let Night Owl wail on Ozzy for a minute.

 

[PedroSteckecilo]

The Giant Alien Psychic Space Vagina (as I call it) just takes too much time to explain, it would have been a waste of valuable movie time.

I agree with rossatdi, they did exactly what I expected, which is fine and I liked the wailing on Ozzie by Night Owl.

 

[ChromeAlchemist]

I would have been the first to ***** about the endng. But not only did it work well enough (the squid would have taken too long to explain, like the other two have said) but in a ways I thought it did make sense.

The way I saw it was that Dr Manhattan was more hand of Judgement than anything else. It seemed more like the leaders of the countries had declared peace out of fear, and no one would dare try to attack another nation, because of the fear of Dr Manhattan attacking again.

Either that, or he attacked simply because he did, and why do you need to question anything when someone just wiped out millions? All you know is that he is bad, and you don't want him to do it again.

Plus, they did harass Manhattan on the show, perhaps it was the repercussions of that.

Oh well, I'm slightly tired, I'll edit that into some sense later.

 

[Alex_P]

Surely peace formed from uniting against an enemy that isn't even there wouldn't last.

That's kind of the idea in the book, too. Why do you think he's named Ozymandias?

-- Alex

 

[Arcade_Fire]

I don't think the squid ending would have worked on film.

Seriously, do you know anyone who wouldn't laugh their ass off at the sight of a giant squid dropping out of the sky and crushing new york?

 

[Bakery]

The Giant Alien Psychic Space Vagina (as I call it) just takes too much time to explain, it would have been a waste of valuable movie time.

Good point, this didn't occur to me.

Surely peace formed from uniting against an enemy that isn't even there wouldn't last.

That's kind of the idea in the book, too. Why do you think he's named Ozymandias?

-- Alex

Uh oh, I didn't realise the significance of his name, seems I need to do some research.
EDIT: Oh wow I really can't believe I didn't realise this.

I don't think the squid ending would have worked on film.

Seriously, do you know anyone who wouldn't laugh their ass off at the sight of a giant squid dropping out of the sky and crushing new york?

I think it could have worked if it was portrayed as viscerally as it was in the comic. Several pages of ruined buildings, bloody corpses and giant tentacles just seemed to get me with the sheer 'OMGWTF??' factor and i think it could have been really powerful on the big screen.

 

[Alex_P]

Here you go:

OZYMANDIAS
by Percy Bysshe Shelley

I met a traveller from an antique land
Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them on the sand,
Half sunk, a shatter'd visage lies, whose frown
And wrinkled lip and sneer of cold command
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamp'd on these lifeless things,
The hand that mock'd them and the heart that fed.
And on the pedestal these words appear:
"My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!"
Nothing beside remains: round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare,
The lone and level sands stretch far away.

-- Alex

 

[Slight]

Your argument doesn't really work. Look I've changed some words, and now it holds for the Squid. An argument that fits both sides isn't an argument.

Firstly the Squid had no reason to attack the people of Earth. Even if it did, why would it attack only a few cities instead of doing something nasty like igniting the atmosphere?...

... If Dr Manhattan became the enemy of humanity, wouldn't part of the population become submissive to him? He had been called a God on more than one occasion afterall. This would just divide humanity into those that want to fight and those that want to worship.

You think that, by your reasoning, a psychic squid with the same power as Dr M to destroy cities wouldn't garner some submissive, god-like, worship from the population? Flying Spaghetti Monster anyone?

Surely peace formed from uniting against an enemy that isn't even there wouldn't last.

Did Ozy have plans to keep popping these squids out at regular intervals? If not, then that really doesn't hold either. The squids don't even exist!

For me, I was expecting to hear that the entire film had completely departed from the orignal the way some people were wailing about it. But if you look at it, the fact that both endings fit into essentially the same story means they are, in effect, completely interchangeable - It's just a MacGuffin to drive the actions of the other characters. It's the Pulp Fiction briefcase of endings... it doesn't matter what actually happens, just that Ozy did it.

The Dr. M ending just gives the finale a thread that follows through the entire film and allows them to finish up with exactly the same. For me the whole graphic novel vs movie nonsense has just got to the point where people are looking into it too much and arguing the toss.

 

[Alex_P]

Did Ozy have plans to keep popping these squids out at regular intervals?

IIRC he goes pretty much bankrupt just making the one.

That's actually a rather important departure in the film: Ozymandias destroys a whole bunch of stuff and it looks like he still has the ability to do more. If someone (Rorschach) outed him as being the one who caused all the bad stuff would that really ruin his plan? "Dr. Manhattan destroyed everything", "Some other guy with Dr. Manhattan's powers in a box destroyed everything", what's the difference? (I guess they could now try to nuke Antarctica to stop him.)

-- Alex

 

[Bakery]

Just to get this out of the way, I'm not complaining that the ending was changed, I still loved the movie as a whole, I was just curious as to why they might have changed it.

Firstly the Squid had no reason to attack the people of Earth. Even if it did, why would it attack only a few cities instead of doing something nasty like igniting the atmosphere?...

... If Dr Manhattan became the enemy of humanity, wouldn't part of the population become submissive to him? He had been called a God on more than one occasion afterall. This would just divide humanity into those that want to fight and those that want to worship.

I think the key difference between Mr Squid and the Doc, is that the squid was an UNKNOWN enemy. I think the population would have no idea of what potential threat it might hold and therefore would be more inclined to fighting rather than worshipping. With Dr Manhattan, I think people would know of his power, and how royally screwed they would be trying to fight him.

Surely peace formed from uniting against an enemy that isn't even there wouldn't last.

When I said this, I was also referring to the fact that Manhattan had teleported to Mars. I'm pretty sure this fact was reported on the (in story) news and would have been known at least by world leaders.

EDIT: (so as not to unnecissarily bump the thread) I'm off now, but that doesn't mean you can't continue the discussion.

 

[Slight]

Just to get this out of the way, I'm not complaining that the ending was changed, I still loved the movie as a whole, I was just curious as to why they might have changed it.

Ahh ok, I reckon there's a very thin line between the two sides of the Squid vs Dr M, but in any case I just revert to the statement I made at the end of my last post.

I reckon the whole ending ends up being a MacGuffin that links in a little better with the story up to that point. Having it set-up Dr. M adds a nice bit of tension between him and Ozy for those scenes in Antarctica too.

 

[Sylocat]

The squid would take a while to explain, but they could definitely have made time for it just by cutting some of the real fat. We didn't need to see the Comedian's fight in his apartment, they could have shaved several squid-explaining minutes just by starting when the book started.

For that matter, pretty much all of the fight sequences took too long. The book wasn't about the ass-kicking awesomeness of the heroes, the movie needn't have placed so much emphasis on it, either (I'm not saying they should have cut the fight scenes altogether, but they didn't have to spent so much time on them).

Most of the monologues could have been trimmed down a bit, too. If the book had a flaw, it's that a lot of the dialogue was a bit more wordy than it needed to be. Now, in a comic book that's often justified, since we can't hear the characters' tones of voice and have limited views of their body language and facial expressions, so we need it made a little clearer what they're thinking. But a movie doesn't have that limitation. Trimming down the dialogue would have been easy, and more appropriate in many spots.

 

[tiredinnuendo]

My only issue with the ending was this:

When a giant squid race attacks the world, there's no one to blame but the giant squid race, thus humanity unites. When Dr. Manhattan attacks the world, the Soviets blame the US for making Dr. Manhattan, or keeping him around, or pissing him off on national tv, or whatever.

Dr. Manhattan was rather inhuman but he was still a known quantity with a known source. I think the movie massively underestimated humankind's desire... no... NEED to blame.

- J

 

[Rusty Bucket]

Personally i hated the ending in the novel. It was just so completely stupid. Maybe that was the point, but still, teleporting a huge squid into New York? What? Oh, and what was all that stuff about psychics at the end? That was random.

 

[thenumberthirteen]

Here you go:

OZYMANDIAS
by Percy Bysshe Shelley


"My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!"

-- Alex

That line was carved onto a statue of a Pharaoh in the film.

Yeah the ending was good, and it saved the film writers having to put that bit about scientists, and writers being kidnapped. A change I didn't like to the ending was they didn't have the final scene with Ozzy and Dr Manhattan where he asks him if it will work out in the end, and John replies "It never ends". I know they have Laurie say it, but I think it looses some poignancy as Adrian was craving validation for what he did.

 

[Redlac]

I did wonder why they chose to change the ending like that. As for those that say a giant alien squid-monster would be unreasonable to believe in this film.. you've just spent 3 hours watching a naked blue man who can manipulate matter. Doesn't seem so odd now, does it?

The whole point of Mr Squiddy was that Dr M had publicly left the world for some place else, and as far as anyone on earth knew he'd left for good. Once he'd been gone a while and the war was about to kick off... BOOM! Squid! The resulting alien attack shock causes everyone to sit up and smell the nukes.

Besides, it would only have taken Ozzy a few minutes to explain. Who knows, maybe it'll be an extended ending in the DVD/BluRay.

 

[SomeBritishDude]

I didn't mind the change from squid to explosion (at least at first)

But that last quarter of the movie was really badly paced. The whole thing felt rushed, and didn't nearly have the emotional impact of the book. In the book we had several huge panels of countless bodys lying in the street. Not in the movie. It's strange that the only point where they decided to [b/]take out[/b] blood was the only point where it mattered.

Also, Rorsatch didn't die alone. This was an important point of book. No one is ment to care about Rorsatch, and Night Owl screeming was just as cheesy as hell (not the first time in the movie)

Another point that hit me, after coming away from the movie, is that ultimately, the Dr Manhattan approach wouldn't work. Dr Manhattan is associated with america. Wouldn't america be blamed by some for the catastrophy? Would the Soviets see it as a trick?

I've already posted my thoughts about the movie as a whole in a few threads, but to some it up, I've never had more conflicting opinions. On the one hand, parts of the movie are incredibley powerful, and some of the best I've seen in a comic book movie to date (Rorsatch and Dr Manhattans origin storys especially). On the other hand there where other moments in the film that where so over the top that it was hilarious. It seems that Zack was trying to get across that this was a super hero movie for adults. But ultimately the things he added just felt immature.