why does everyone love watchmen?

[No_Remainders]

I never really understood the appeal. I absolutely hated the movie. The only thing I found good about it was the soundtrack. I've had people tell me that I need to read the graphic novel to really understand the appeal, but after watching the movie I have no desire to. Doesn't that kind of defeat the purpose?

Being someone who actually read the graphic novel and then saw the movie, it might work the other way around, but I absolutely despise the movie.

Main reason? Y'know the bit at the end where

Spoiler

the explosion goes off?

Yeah, that happens differently in the graphic novel.

WHY WOULD YOU CHANGE THAT?

Among other things, the movie itself was just bad.

 

[AdumbroDeus]

I never really understood the appeal. I absolutely hated the movie. The only thing I found good about it was the soundtrack. I've had people tell me that I need to read the graphic novel to really understand the appeal, but after watching the movie I have no desire to. Doesn't that kind of defeat the purpose?

Being someone who actually read the graphic novel and then saw the movie, it might work the other way around, but I absolutely despise the movie.

Main reason? Y'know the bit at the end where

Spoiler

the explosion goes off?

Yeah, that happens differently in the graphic novel.

WHY WOULD YOU CHANGE THAT?

Among other things, the movie itself was just bad.

Changed it and now it sucks...

I mean the

Spoiler

alien squid

would've definitely worked perfectly in the context of a movie, it's definitely not one of those things that needs to be changed to work within genre.

And the extra component of the demonization of doctor Manhattan was a great choice, especially since he had to stay silent about it adding to the impact.

Sorry, what made it not as good as the graphic novel was that it was late, not because it was inherently a bad movie.

 

[Cenequus]

Liked the film to be honest mostly because it wasn't super cheesy as many superhero films are. I'd say I don't like the characters but they are perfect imagining from the comics. I'd say dunno why people likes Watchmen as a franchise,they don't seem very different from the "bad guys" if not by the fact you are told they are "the good guys". Really awkward at best,still the film was okish and deffinetly in the top 5 of all the superhero films released so far.

 

[Gaiseric]

Because it imho it challenged our common perception of what a superhero movie is and the very concept of what it means to be a hero. It calls into question if temporary evil is acceptable if long-term good is the result. It calls forth a cast of characters that are complex, well developed, and flawed in equal degrees.

Plus the graphic novel is wildly popular and the movie was a fairly decent rehash of that.

Idk if the movie was "special" but its one of my favorite movies of all time so yeah . . .

You sir put my feelings about the movie into words

Also I have no problem with long or slower paced movies so that aspect has no negative affect on me.

 

[Rawne1980]

I like the story behind it but wasn't really a fan of the movie.

 

[Woodsey]

I watched the film the other day and thought it was great (I haven't read the comic). Visually it was brilliant, the characters are interesting (although some are underdeveloped - Veidt particularly) and I liked how they each represent a particular political or social group (although I know that's a carry over from the comic).

The music choices were a little weird though, apart from the intro which was fantastic.

It certainly seems to be a love-it-or-hate-it film.

 

[SammiYin]

Because it was dark, gritty, and pretentious as fuck. People "love" that shit.

 

[Secret world leader (shhh)]

While the movie was pretty decent as far as adaptions go, i can't help but think the Comic's ending made more sense.

Spoiler: Comic and Film spoilers

I don't see how making it look like Dr.Manhattan went nuts and blew up some cities would make any difference to the Cold War, it seems like America and Russia would just mourn their losses, accept that Manhattan flew off into space forever and get back to their nuclear dickwaving contest while in the Comic everyone would be like "oh balls, Giant alien squid monsters are coming to kill us!" and unite against the threat.

 

[Artina89]

I personally didn't like the film all that much either. I too, found it to be overly long and boring. I did watch it again on channel 4 when it was on, but I found myself switching channels. I like the comic, don't get me wrong, I just prefer V for Vendetta over The Watchmen.

 

[achilleas.k]

I think other people mentioned some good reasons for it being (at least) a likeable film and you can add those to my own list.

I'd like to add one more point though:
I absolutely loved the way you can feel Dr. Manhattan losing his grip on what we perceive as reality. This is a man (for lack of a better word) who can "see" time. He doesn't see into the future; he's not a fortune teller. He perceives time differently from what we do. While we experience moments in sequence (and unidirectionally at that) he experiences everything that happens always. He's above, looking down. It's a hard (read: impossible) concept to grasp and even harder to convey.

In general, I found all the characters compelling and very well written. You could get a feeling of how lost they all were since masked heroes had been outlawed and the baggage they carried. But Dr. Manhattan for me was an amazing attempt to depict a timeless super-being trying (and failing) to interact with normal people and I'm sure the novel does a much better job at it (I'll have to read it someday).

Even if the depiction wasn't as good as I claim (it's a subjective matter at best), the fact that it even attempts to describe what "timelessness" could be like is something that made me love the film a little bit more.

 

[Rhatar Khurin]

I love the film!

To me it is one of the most accurate of comic book conversions every made and does not lose anything in the undertaking

 

[Retronana]

You really need to read the comic, it's like the citizen kane of graphic novels except entertaining.

 

[Waaghpowa]

The only thing I hated about the movie were the little things.

Spoiler

The fact that they changed it from the massive squid to "Blame Dr. Manhatten" and Rorschach's bit with the kidnapper. How he killed him with the cleaver rather than burning the house down. Apparently it was because they were worried about ignorant meats heads claiming "They rip off Saw HURP DURP

 

[Moeez]

The movie was way too long, it was boring, and i could not sympathize with the characters. why is this movie so special?

EDITT: my problem is exclusively the movie

Uhh, loads of people hated the movie, where have you seen this praise that annoys you?

 

[Optiluiz]

I loved both the movie and the comic, and loved the director's cut of the movie even more. I think it really depends on how much you like superheroes and take the time to absorb all the details in the backround. The comic had a better ending however, in my opinion, because everything led up to it. There were clues from the very beginning, subliminal messages and such. They couldn't do that with the movie ending, which was still great, and closed things nicely.

 

[zombie goat fetish]

WHAT!!! different people have different tastes OMG stop all presses. You answered your own question you don't like it therefore not EVERYBODY likes it.

 

[Crazy_Dude]

"Men go to jail......DOGS GET PUT DOWN!!!!!"

Everybody loves rorshack

 

[jackpackage200]

I somewhat recently wrote a 10 page paper on Watchmen. The philosophy is totally sound if you consider each character as the physical manifestation of a worldview, ie. nihilism, utilitarianism, a-morality, etc.

In my opinion, artworks that represent genuine explorations in thought often stand the test of time and criticism best.

 

[Galletea]

If you don't like it you are an idiot... Just kidding, but the whole idea of having to 'get' something bugs me. I mean, what is there to get? It doesn't really matter if you miss the subtleties of a film, if you don't enjoy it, you're not going to care.

I really enjoyed the movie, much more than I liked the book. I thought the characters were pretty well rounded and the direction worked well, and yeah, the soundtrack was rather good. I'm sure you like plenty of things I don't, but that's what keeps life interesting isn't it?