About Watchmen (spoilers)

[Dunbar]

So, any of you seen it yet?

 

I saw it, and I must say I liked it a whole lot.

 

Of the top of my head there's two things that i didn't like as far as changes from the graphic novel goes, first one being that we didn't get to see Rorschach hiding in Moloch's fridge (I was looking forward to that!) and second that Rorschach, during his "transformation", killed the kidnapper with a knife instead of handcuffing him and burning down the house. But yeah, I really liked it, and I thought the ending fit in nicely, avoiding a lot of backstory that would've taken up precious film minutes and making it osmewhat more accesible to your average movie-goer. Woo!

 

Also, leave it to Zack Snyder to film a two minute long, slow motion sex-scene (featuring copious amounts of man-butt!) to the song "Halleluja".

[Nynaeve]

Also, leave it to Zack Snyder to film a two minute long, slow motion sex-scene (featuring copious amounts of man-butt!) to the song "Halleluja".

 

 

Meh, now I'll have to watch it. Damn you, Demi *shakes fist* :P

 

 

 

 

 

Nyn

[Dunbar]

I know how you love your man-butt ^^ maybe afterwards I can persuade you to read the graphic novel as well? <.<

[SinisterDeath]

I do have to give him a round of applause for using some of the most akward/wierd/unfitting soundtrack for a movie ever. :P

 

I saw it.

From what I read about the orginal ending, and what I saw about the new one... It to me, makes a bit more sense... Or it makes more sense to me at least...

 

Silk Specter II = nice rack

 

Dr.M = Why... What is your obession with the attention to detail with his dangly bits!!

Thank god he isn't easilly excited! :P

 

rorshack(sp) - we thought the joker was dark? Damn!

Btw... Why does it seem like he was imittating clint eastwoood? He's like a younger one...

 

Night Owl + Silk Specter booty scene = I think they were playing haleluja because he's still a virgin. :P

[Vemynal]

I really loved the movie

 

but imo...

 

less blue penis!

[Dunbar]

Excellent!

[Emperor]

The movie characters were spot on.  I thought Zack did a great job adapting this comic book to film.  Even though I enjoyed the book ending better, the movie ending made sense and accomplished almost the same exact thing.  I had high expectations for this film and glad to see that the movie delivered on them which is many times not the case. 

 

 

[Dunbar]

Well, the movie ending was used, I think, to avoid a lot of backstory. In the graphic novel there's a lot of time spent providing just that for the octopus, and that might alienate some wievers : p

[SinisterDeath]

Well, the movie ending was used, I think, to avoid a lot of backstory. In the graphic novel there's a lot of time spent providing just that for the octopus, and that might alienate some viewers : p

 

Well at least it makes Osymodius(sp) research on Mr.Blueballs(I just came up with that!) slightly more related? Or something like that...

Maybe they explained in the comics how they found that giant squid thing... but imo, I think it explains Mr.BlueDomeHeads decision to leave for another galaxy a little more... logical?

 

Or in the comics did they also blame Mr.BluePants for the alien invasion?

[Dunbar]

He wasn't blamed, but he got so detached with humanity after nite owl and silk spectre got it on that he decided to leave *nodnodnod*

[Tenshin_Xo]

I thought it was well translated!  I don't know how they could have fitted in the backstories, and character developments without alienting non-readers badly. 

 

As far as the ending goes, yeah I think that although of a different bent it accomplished the goal as a climax, and made it an easier story to tell.

 

Dun, I think that it helped show how personally involved and yet psychologically detached Rorschach was without having to give him more camera time to do more character development in film.

 

I was surprised with the penis.  I didn't think they'd be able to show that, I thought male full frontal was beyond R.  Way to remain faithful to the comics, though I thought the comic version was a bit "less impressive".

 

Now, soundtrack.  I thought it was damned excellent.  It was practically all 80 covers, and fit.  Some of the punk/slam numbers that were covered into rock songs/ballads were a bit surprising though.  It took me a few minutes to realize what I was hearing.

[Dunbar]

Yeah, the soundtrack was pretty awesome, Halleluja took me completely by surprise

 

another thing I noticed was missing after leafing through my watchmen at home just now, we never saw the original Nite owl (Hollis Mason) get killed in the film, which was... well, sure, it wasn't necessary, but still. I need to reread it now : p

[Emperor]

I plan to reread it as well.  I am know there is stuff I missed the first time read through.

[Cadsuane]

I think I'd like to watch it before I see the movie. Then I can be properly critical.

[SinisterDeath]

Yeah, the soundtrack was pretty awesome, Halleluja took me completely by surprise

 

another thing I noticed was missing after leafing through my watchmen at home just now, we never saw the original Nite owl (Hollis Mason) get killed in the film, which was... well, sure, it wasn't necessary, but still. I need to reread it now : p

 

Actually, I think we did see him getting killed. It was just so obscure and fast that we hardly noticed it... I remember seeing an old guy and going 'was that the orignal night owl getting killed?

[Dunbar]

oh, I didn't notice that at all o_o

 

 

[Emperor]

http://pandagon.net/index.php/site/comments/bamboo_review_watchmen/

 

Good article that lays out the faults of the movie compared to the comic.

[Quisalas Selene]

I came over to the 'Chan just to talk about this movie!  :)  Hi everyone.  I thought they did a fantastic job with the translation and when the global crisis was changed from a faked alien adventure to Dr. Manhattan attacking the world, it made so much sense and it tied in Ozymandius trying to bring public sentiment against John make even more sense.  It was a change from the book, but it was a good change in this case.

 

Before we saw the movie I said something to my husband about them probably not showing Dr. Manhattan's penis and he laughed at me and I said "What? I just want it to be true to the source material!" and he cracked up.  I was very happy they put in there, and very surprised at how liberally they showed it... the first time I saw it, I thought "There, that was the nod to the source material, now they'll never show it again" but they did, and I thought it was awesome of them.

 

I went and refilled our drinks during the apartment rescue and sex scene.  I was thirsty and figured it was the part of the movie I would miss the least. 

 

One thing I thought was a bit odd was that they didn't have Laurie be a smoker.  Her hitting the flamethrower button in the movie mostly just made her look like a complete idiot, where as in the comics she was looking for a lighter so it made some kind of sense.    There was no reason to take out that she was a smoker at all.  It also felt like they tried to 'nice-up' Laurie, which struck me as odd since the whole point of the comic was how messed up a person would have to be psychologically to be a masked hero.

 

In the book, Nite Owl didn't get mad at Ozymandius after the scheme was explained.  He didn't like it, but he didn't get into a fistfight with him because what he was doing was so wrong.  He saw the wisdom of not turning Veidt in almost immediately and in the book, he never even asked about Rorshach.  I don't know if that change was necessarily bad or good, it was just a change.  But it changed the nature of the heroes into something less dark.  The scene where he punches Ozy in the face certainly felt good, and Ozy not fighting back made the weight of what had happened sink in nicely.  But it made Nite Owl too different from the book Nite Owl where he goes along with this huge loss of life because he sees that if he doesn't, nothing good will come of the disaster.

 

*reads the review Empy posted*

 

Oh, that's well put.  Very well put.  And Laurie's actress was pretty awful.

[Emperor]

Q, I have read some of your other posts on D and D and you always impress me with your thoughts. 

[Quisalas Selene]

I do aim to please, dear. ;) 

 

For the record, I just read Watchmen for the first time a few weeks ago, but I'd known of the characters for years, my husband liked the story a lot and has talked to me about them.  I was very worried when I went to see the movie because I had loved the book so very much, but even with the issues I spoke about (and the review you linked spoke about), it may just be the best comic-book adaptation I've ever seen.  Other movies may be more exciting, or more impressive with their special effects, or any number of other things, but that was a fantastic adaptation. 

 

And the fact that Quis custodiet ipsos custodes just makes me giggle. :D

[Dunbar]

Definitely an excellent adaptation, the only thing that's really nagging my is why Rorschach had to go all choppy on the child-abductor instead of throwing him the hatchet and lighting the house on fire, I don't see any reason not to include this. THey also left out one of my favorite, and to me most-defining quotes from Rorschach (About the fabric of his mask "Black and white. Moving. Changing shape … but not mixing. No gray”), which I feel beautifully summarizes his world view. But alas, it was awesome, can't wait for the director's cut come summer.

[Quisalas Selene]

*smiles*  Jay (my husband) and I were talking about the possible DVD editions and versions of the movie that might come out and both of us are hoping they do something like happened with Lord of the Rings, where they had the theatrical movies, and then they also had the 5 hour long extended movies. 

 

When Jay read this thread (he's a member, even if he never posts) he said something about the reason they couldn't do the handcuffed-to-a-pipe and left to die in a fire thing.  It was done in one of the Mad Max movies, and for anyone who didn't know the book already, it would feel like they ripped off the death from those movies.  So rather than keep the death scene true to the book, they went with someone that wouldn't be immediately dismissed as unoriginal.

 

It's all just speculation of course, but it made a good bit of sense. 

 

The explanation of the mask would have taken a rather long time to do properly, and while that line was a fabulous statement on Rorshach's world view, there's not really a good place to put it in the movie.  I was a little miffed at first that they didn't explain his mask, because if you didn't read the book and just watched the movie, you wouldn't know if the mask was some kind of magic, sci fi, or just some specific ability of Rorshach, which makes you wonder if he's human or superhuman.  But I can see why they cut out the story behind the mask since there were better uses of the screen time.  I still didn't like that his mask looked made of fabric, woven.  It was originally made out of a kind of latex, which should have a smooth plasticy look, not fabric.

 

That was another thing they didn't touch on nearly so much.  How the humans felt diminished and childlike when Dr. Manhattan came along and was a genuine super and not just a guy in a mask.  I thought that aspect of the book was pretty awesome, because it made you stop and think about what confidence and maybe lunacy it must take for people like Bruce Wayne and Tony Stark must have to stand up against these people.  At least Tony Stark had an armor suit.

[AissaJacarn]

We saw it tonight, and wow. Pretty damned blown away.

 

A few little things I liked:

 

1. The bizarre soundtrack worked for me. I appreciate that kind of dissonance, though I know it doesn't appeal to everyone.

2. The way they recaptured so many exact scenes from the book without cheapening either the book or the movie.

3. Nite Owl's kinda a hottie.

 

The modified ending worked for me, since the reasoning behind it and the end result were the same. Besides... the psychic giant squid thing was just odd.

 

Quis, I agree with you that they underplayed the Death of the Supermen angle of the comic book, and that's the only area where the movie really fell short, y'know? Since that was the whole point of the comic...

 

Still, all in all a fantastic movie. I was completely entertained throughout.

[Quisalas Selene]

Psychic giant squid invasion is an odd idea all on its own.  :D

 

I forgot to mention - I loved the soundtrack.  Loved it to pieces, every song was either perfectly appropriate, or so perfectly inappropriate that the contrast was masterful.  That said - I did miss the sex scene with all the Hallelujah manbutt, so that's exempted - I don't know if that was good or bad.

 

Nite Owl was indeed a rather surprise hottie.  I'[ve always liked nerdy boys, but it was so odd to have the nerd in the movie be so incredibly buff and well-built and manly.  Still cool, though.

 

Rorshach pulling on his mask and asking the psychiatrist "What do you see?!" was such beautiful poetry, it really was.

[Dunbar]

Ah, I do love this thread by the way. I listened to the slashfilmcast (www.slasfilmcast.com) yesterday, where they'd invited Kevin Smith and were reviewing this film, pointing out many of the things we have here and some more. Interesting to listen to if you've got about two hours to spare, I highly reckommend it.