Who's Watched The Watchmen? *Spoilers probable*

[Torque2100]

I saw this monster at a midnight showing a little over 14 hours ago and the more I think about it, the more I hate it. Watching this travesty is like watching Zach Synder take a copy of the Watchmen graphic novel and chop it into little pieces with a meat cleaver, then inviting a bunch of his liberal friends to come over and masturbate all over the mutilated remains.

I mean, I can respect that others might have political views that don't match mine, but the liberal pieties are so in your face and disgustingly anvilicious that they detract from the overall narrative. Plus, the ending makes ABSOLUTELY NO SENSE. The giant, one eyed psychic squid was created for a reason, to trick the world into thinking that it faced an external threat. Emphasis on EXTERNAL. Dr. Manhattan, rogue or not, is not an external threat and would cause nuclear war.

All in all, this movie is a waste of celluloid. If you really want to see Watchmen in motion, just buy the Watchmen motion comic on DVD, you'll enjoy it more.

I suppose what pisses me off the most is that I really expected more from the director of 300. 300 is a cinematic TRIUMPH, it captures not only the look and feel but the soul of the original. By contrast Watchmen is a pod person of an adapatiation. It looks like Watchmen, it walks like Watchmen, it talks like Watchmen, but it's not Watchmen. The soul is gone and it's just going through the motions.

 

[Machine Gun Man]

I thought that the film was very good and was pretty faithful to the comic. Although the silk spectre/comedian/silk spectre 2 relationships never felt fully explored with the discovery of the comedian being Laurie's dad being rather unemotional. Although hopefully the directors cut will fill in many of the missing plot elements, and the black freighter story line.
Jackie Earle Haley as Rorschach was brilliant, the stand out performance of the film. I think that the new ending works well, its not perfect but I think the space squid ending would have been a bit to much for "normal" people to take, and it would have made the film even longer. Over all it gets a big thumbs up from me.

 

[Grampy_bone]

How awesome was Watchmen? SO AWESOME!

I hate all movies (or so I am told by everyone I know) but I loved this one. I'm interested though to see what non-watchmen fans thought of it.

At first the ending changes irked me, but I think it almost works better than Moore's ending. I know that will get me murdered by Moore fans but it's true. I though every actor in the movie was great, especially Rorschach, the Comedian, and Nite Owl (both of em).

 

[PayNSprayBandit]

The soundtrack is the most obvious offender. They used the most inappropriate songs at the most inappropriate times pulling the viewer out of the movie. The worst is easily the horrible cover of "Hallelujah" but the Apocalypse Now music was also rediculous.

The soundtrack was pulled straight from the book!?!

The casting, the acting, the special effects, the pacing, the sets, the costumes and the music were all as near perfect as I could've hoped.

Damn right.

 

[Space Spoons]

I thought it was great. Like many of you, I think the new ending worked better than the novel's, and I can't get over how much I loved the casting job. The costume and prop design was magnificent too. Of note was Ozymandias' new costume. At first, I thought I was going to hate it because of it's slight resemblance to the Batman suits of the late 90's. Once I saw it in action, though, I realized how well it worked, and was actually a bit ashamed for thinking a purple and gold monstrosity like Ozzy's original costume could possible work in a modern film.

I did find the violence to be a bit over the top, though. I understand it's supposed to be a brutal world, but come one... Killing criminals is Rorschach's bag, not Silk Spectre's.

 

[Machine Gun Man]

The soundtrack is the most obvious offender. They used the most inappropriate songs at the most inappropriate times pulling the viewer out of the movie. The worst is easily the horrible cover of "Hallelujah" but the Apocalypse Now music was also rediculous.

The soundtrack was pulled straight from the book!?!

But it is one of the worst versions of Hallelujah that I have heard.

 

[Ruzzian Roulette]

At 12.01am last night the film started, and by the time it finished i was thoroughly satified, the world is bleak, the combat is brutal and the characters well rounded (with the poss exception of Adrian, who was quiet one dimensional). having read the novels i couldnt ask for more and expect to get it from a film version, to be it was like wacthing the graphic novels come to life.

A+ i say!

Agreed on all points, my new favorite movie.

 

[PayNSprayBandit]

The soundtrack is the most obvious offender. They used the most inappropriate songs at the most inappropriate times pulling the viewer out of the movie. The worst is easily the horrible cover of "Hallelujah" but the Apocalypse Now music was also rediculous.

The soundtrack was pulled straight from the book!?!

But it is one of the worst versions of Hallelujah that I have heard.

I guess that's a fair opinion, but it was the original, you know.

As for the placement when Jeff Buckley covered it, he described his own rendition of the song as an homage to "the hallelujah of the orgasm"; it wasn't his version we heard, but still. Also, it may be worth noting that the original was the only version recorded by the time the film takes place.

 

[GenHellspawn]

Fan's of the novel will know that the epic ending is what makes the story what it is.

Really? I thought the serious and mature tone of a comic book was, for the time, what made it so famous, not some squid-thing that you only saw in a couple pages. The ending they had gave you the exact same idea of uniting mankind against a common foe anyways.

Although this shouldn't really be a complaint, I found that as a person who's read the novel, there was really no point at all of me seeing the movie. As great as the faithfulness to the source material was, it was like somebody was reading a story I had already heard, with a better voice and leaving out the boring parts. It's not a question of the book being better than the movie, it's a question of the movie and the book being the exact same thing.
Also, from somebody who directed 300, the action is absolutely terrible.

In other words, the movie was fine, if rather pointless.

 

[cleverlymadeup]

The soundtrack is the most obvious offender. They used the most inappropriate songs at the most inappropriate times pulling the viewer out of the movie. The worst is easily the horrible cover of "Hallelujah" but the Apocalypse Now music was also rediculous.

Haha, sorry but that made me laugh a little. That was the original version of Hallelujah as sung by Leonard Cohen, not a cover. I do agree that it was glaringly out of place though. I was happy with the rest of the music though. However, my friends did also complain about the whole soundtrack.

actually i liked the placement of that song as it was intended for a bit of humour in an otherwise overly serious movie, the music was actually pretty well placed tho i think

as for the ending, i think it fit pretty well, the comic book ending would have taken too long to explain and would have been a bit confusing. so i think they did the best they could and i don't really fault them for making the ending they did

as for what they cut out, it really didn't matter tho i know they intend to put a lot back in for the dvd, i've even heard they are putting the comic in a comic back into the dvd version or might be a blu-ray only feature

 

[Slight]

I saw this monster at a midnight showing a little over 14 hours ago and the more I think about it, the more I hate it. Watching this travesty is like watching Zach Synder take a copy of the Watchmen graphic novel and chop it into little pieces with a meat cleaver, then inviting a bunch of his liberal friends to come over and masturbate all over the mutilated remains.

I mean, I can respect that others might have political views that don't match mine, but the liberal pieties are so in your face and disgustingly anvilicious that they detract from the overall narrative.

Nonsense... you're creating absolute rubbish arguments with no reasoning to show for it. The comedian shoots a pregnant woman dead, and yet you're left not feeling angry at him, but at Dr Manhattan who could step in and stop it all - how the hell does that support a liberal point of view?! Liberal points of view says 'power to the people', this film says the people don't know how to use power, leave it to the great, the righteous, and those who are willing to get their hands dirty.

Please, tell point to the moments where it's liberal, and i'll give you a soddding lollypop for each one. Have you even seen 300? Did you recognise the right-wing points of view in that movie? Pure-breed soldiers? Selection of the fittest at birth? The portrayal of the leader of the Persian army as a sexual deviant?

Plus, the ending makes ABSOLUTELY NO SENSE. The giant, one eyed psychic squid was created for a reason, to trick the world into thinking that it faced an external threat. Emphasis on EXTERNAL. Dr. Manhattan, rogue or not, is not an external threat and would cause nuclear war.

Once again, absolute poppycock. Please, take a deep breath and read what you've written... go on, i'll wait. Ok, now read it again. Now, for the love of christ, tell me how the introduction of a completely foreign, alien, squid-like entity is a better trick than the escalation of an already present, globally-regconised, super-powered, godly being. Now tell me how an emotionally-detached, blue, godlike entity would not be conceived as a threat external to the mindset of the human condition.

Are you really telling me if a blue humanoid, capable of bending both time and matter to his will rocked up on your doorstep, you'd be fine with that. It's the giant, suprise vagina-squids that would really rock your boat?!

Seriously, I have no problem with people wailing on the movie, just pick up on the points it fails at, like the inappropriate, and subsequently rather humorous, choice of music. Halleilujah - I'm looking at you.

Please, next time you post, don't just roll a dice to choose your point of view of the day from what else has been said, say what YOU think, and make sure you've thought about it in advance.

And guys, seriously, you can hardly notice Dr. M's pecker. If you're looking for it, you'll find it, but there is so much more going on on-screen, so please, stop staring.

For me this movie hasn't united fanboy versus non-fanboy, it's just acted as a light to point out all the idiots who are gunning for an argument over the movie in advance and who are now picking at straws to try and destroy an otherwise good film, at worst.

 

[Chaz D]

Not seen it yet, but a friend of mine showed me this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDDHHrt6l4w

Personally, I doubt the film is as good as this is.

 

[cleverlymadeup]

Seriously, I have no problem with people wailing on the movie, just pick up on the points it fails at, like the inappropriate, and subsequently rather humorous, choice of music. Halleilujah - I'm looking at you.

i thought it added some humour and was a bit misplaced but kinda funny and there's the whole god/orgasm kinda thing in there too

And guys, seriously, you can hardly notice Dr. M's pecker. If you're looking for it, you'll find it, but there is so much more going on on-screen, so please, stop staring.

i didn't mind it tho i could have dealt without it, tho i was kinda shocked they showed it numerous times, i think they did cause he was blue

 

[Eagle Est1986]

Not seen it yet, but a friend of mine showed me this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDDHHrt6l4w

Personally, I doubt the film is as good as this is.

Saw that yesterday, can't get it out of my damned head now.

 

[WhiteTigerShiro]

I went and caught the midnight showing on Thursday night. Having purchased the graphic novel to see the original story, I just have to say that I couldn't possibly have been more disappointed with the movie. My gripe isn't with what was cut out, I understand that Book-to-movie translations often have to shave-off access weight; my gripe is with what they left in.

Scenes being set in different places that didn't quite fit the conversation's intended mood, scenes being completely changed (Dan warning Veidt about the "mask killer"? Really?), a completely tasteless sex scene (and don't give me that "it was meant to be humorous to lighten the mood" excuse), all of the subtle points of the comic changed to be slaps in the face, the majority of the emotional scenes were either way over-the-top or poorly acted. Speaking of poor acting, I think that Rorschach and Comedian were the only characters who were done well, and to a lesser extent Dan/Night Owl (though even he bugged me in a couple scenes). All the other characters were just terribly done, and yes, that includes Big Blue (which, while it didn't bother me per say, I have to wonder about the director's logic for having about 10 times as much blue wang shown as compared to the original work).

There were a few redeeming scenes, sure. I liked the banter between Kovaks and Tall Order, though that was the only decent translation from the jail scene. The flashbacks between Manhattan/Comedian and Night Owl/Comedian were done fairly well. A couple other scenes here or there, I'm not about to go through 2 hours and 40 minutes worth of separating-out what I did and didn't like about every scene, of course. Suffice to say, the scenes that I felt were poorly done (or poorly changed) far out-weighed the scenes that I did feel were on the mark.

Having seen the final product in action, I can understand why Alan Moore (as I've read) specifically didn't want his name in the credits.

 

[ace_of_something]

The soundtrack is the most obvious offender. They used the most inappropriate songs at the most inappropriate times pulling the viewer out of the movie. The worst is easily the horrible cover of "Hallelujah" but the Apocalypse Now music was also rediculous.

That was the original Leonard Cohen version. Still.

I wholeheartedly agree with this statement; the soundtrack was wildly inappropriate, corny or distracting. I like pretty much all those songs but not as a blasting soundtrack. Some spots (like the funeral) should've been sans music really.

The sex-scene was tasteless and stupid as well.

Other than that I liked it.

 

[anNIALLator]

I really enjoyed the film. I liked the new ending and the music was great but I was disappointed that they left out the newspaper stand side story, although it would have been difficult to work into the film..

 

[damselgaming]

Oh come on- It was a GREAT movie. I saw it in IMAX yesterday and as a big fan of the novel loved it! You have to see it as an extension of the book rather than a translation of it. It was just cool to see the characters brought to life so well. And as a female i'll just say that it makes a change to see a penis on screen rather than a skanky woman. And for those complaining about the sex scene- it was handled as well as it could have been. It's an R rated movie so it would have been ridiculous not to show anything. It was just some passionate lovemaking for christs sake. In fact my boyfriend has now coined the term 'Watchmen Love', as in- do you want some 'Watchmen Love'? Thank you Nite Owl.

 

[Machine Gun Man]

If you go see Watchmen you're probably a moron and a vapid, indecent human being.
http://www.debbieschlussel.com/archives/2009/03/the_watchmen_li.html