WATCHMEN Movie Discussion (SPOILERS allowed)!

[Memnoch]

Guys, what's the piece that plays when Manhattan is on Mars, it was also in the Comic Con trailer? Love the music but don't know the name.

 

[Scar]

Pruit Igoe & Prophecies

 

[Memnoch]

Ah damn, it's on the Soundtrack album, not the score album and unfortunately at iTunes the Soundtrack isn't being sold by the track! Argh

 

[Dr.Mirakle32]

That's just a cop out, in my opinion. This is the movie. If this isn't what they wanted to make, they would have made something different. It's Synder's job to make the theatrical cut work.

I saw the film again this morning, and it sadly doesn't hold up to repeated viewings for me. Some good moments, and most of it is very pleasant to look at, but it's just all so ... lifeless. And I don't know how you make a Watchmen movie where Dan and Laurie are wanton killers and Adrian doesn't get the same final scene he has in the book.

I thought it DID work. To me, minor stylistic flaws aside, the theatrical cut is about as good as a 2 and a half hour + Watchmen movie can be. There is just way too much stuff in the book, that only a miniseries could be a perfect translation. I thought the theatrical cut was good, but a four-hour extended cut would be even better, IMO.

 

[barbelith]

I thought it DID work. To me, minor stylistic flaws aside, the theatrical cut is about as good as a 2 and a half hour + Watchmen movie can be. There is just way too much stuff in the book, that only a miniseries could be a perfect translation. I thought the theatrical cut was good, but a four-hour extended cut would be even better, IMO.

I guess my main problem with it is that I just didn't care. We're never shown why anything is important. We're not given a reason to become invested in any of the characters and the overall threat doesn't connect. I don't quite understand the "free pass" attitude just because it wasn't a miniseries. You know what? If it could only work as a miniseries, don't make a movie.

I missed the fight in the ally the first time because I went to the bathroom. When I saw it this morning I was utterly shocked that a director who pretends to get the book could possibly have thought it would be "cool" to turn Dan and Laurie into brutal killers. This is a movie directed by a very accomplished 14-year-old.

 

[uscmhicks]

Well... I just finished reading the graphic novel last week and justed watched the movie .

On the way into the screen a man walked out with a girl and said to me and my dad ,

" Your not going to see Watchmen are you ? , it was crap ".

I said to him " did you go in expecting X-men ? "


He said , " something like that , yeah ".

I said , " you should have read the book first or at least waited for some reviews from other people you know ."

The woman with him then said " I didn't understand it ".


I think for people who have never heard of this its hard to understand whats going on and what the movie is actually about. Some people who after watching it with me were coming out asking lots of questions and looking puzzled.
I've only read this recentley and still have a few questions but I do love the story and I did love the movie. I have to be honest though I loved the movie more for certain scenes and characters rather than the story and with the book the story pulled me in more.

I'm not dissapointed with this movie at all , in fact I thought it was great.
For me its the usual case , that the book was much better. Everyone probably expected that but since I only read in recentely it was hard to know which way it would go.


One thing that did make me laugh was that a guy behind me thought Nite Owl was batman.

 

[cerealkeller]

I thought it DID work. To me, minor stylistic flaws aside, the theatrical cut is about as good as a 2 and a half hour + Watchmen movie can be. There is just way too much stuff in the book, that only a miniseries could be a perfect translation. I thought the theatrical cut was good, but a four-hour extended cut would be even better, IMO.

Yup. Changes were made, but they all worked for me. To get everything in, they would have had to make it 6 hours and it would have never gotten made. Or even if they made it in parts, I have a feeling after seeing the first one, guessing they stop when Rorschach gets captured, general audiences would not have come back, because most of the moments suitable for them are in the second half. By that I mean they would have been bored with the first half, it would have done bad at the box office and the sequel would have done ^^^^.

Snyder did the best job possible with this movie IMO. My friend and I back in college tried to work on a Watchmen screenplay for fun, to see if it could work. We gave up. Snyder didn't and got all the major beats in and the essence of the story and characters down to a watchable 2 3/4 hour movie. Bravo to you sir.

 

[The Tuggernaut]

I saw this last night, and I thought it was great! I haven't read the graphic novel yet, but I ordered it from a local book store, since no-one nearby had it in. Most people laughed when the blue wang was on the screen. I don't think that many of them enjoyed the movie as much as I did, and some people were glad it was over. I thought the fight scenes were awesome too.

Anyway, I enjoyed it heaps, and can't wait to read the graphic novel!

 

[Ra88]

Just saw it, pretty much agree with everyone here. Good movie, though the first half was jarring because it felt like they couldn't figure out whether to make it a word for word adaption or based on the book. Second half of the movie was better for that, though it did fail to properly touch on what the book said.

My friends liked it a LOT more then I did though, and they all said they want to read the book now, especially when I explained some things about how deep it is. The movie really was a sneak taste for them, wetting their appetite for the entire thing, so that made me smile.

 

[YoNoSe]

I missed the fight in the ally the first time because I went to the bathroom. When I saw it this morning I was utterly shocked that a director who pretends to get the book could possibly have thought it would be "cool" to turn Dan and Laurie into brutal killers. This is a movie directed by a very accomplished 14-year-old.

I saw the movie a few hours ago and that's definitely my biggest gripe. Not only is the violence out of character and exaggerated to the extent of looking silly, but it robs the parts that should really be brutal of their impact.

BUT I must say that I enjoyed it much more than I thought I would. My overall impression is that an older, more experienced Zack Snyder could have made a better Watchmen but upon first viewing I found a lot to like about the film that actually does exist. I just wish I didn't see the hoofprints of 300 in it.

I'll probably add more but I'm still digesting....

 

[BadMoon]

I saw the movie a few hours ago and that's definitely my biggest gripe. Not only is the violence out of character and exaggerated to the extent of looking silly, but it robs the parts that should really be brutal of their impact.

BUT I must say that I enjoyed it much more than I thought I would. My overall impression is that an older, more experienced Zack Snyder could have made a better Watchmen but upon first viewing I found a lot to like about the film that actually does exist. I just wish I didn't see the hoofprints of 300 in it.

I'll probably add more but I'm still digesting....

I didn't see it brutal at all. After some of the comments on here I expected to see heads flying off and stuff.

 

[Scar]

When I saw it this morning I was utterly shocked that a director who pretends to get the book could possibly have thought it would be "cool" to turn Dan and Laurie into brutal killers.

That was a major problem that I had too. The Comedian and Rorschach's misdeeds can no longer be looked at as reprehensible. Are Dan and Laurie going to justify killing those men as self-defense? That those gang members would otherwise have killed Dan, then gangraped and killed Laurie? The deeds of the Comedian and Rorschach who are both dismissed by every other character as brutal, sadistic psychotics, can no longer be viewed that way when the other heroes are made out to be killers. Suddenly the Keene act seems perfectly logical if the vigilantes aren't apprehending criminals, but killing them on whims. It changes the thrill of being a hero into the thrill of being a murderer... which I feel alters, in a disturbing way, the reason Dan and Laurie sexually connect.

I also hated Sally Jupiter's personality change for the movie, saying that the only reason she had affection for the Comedian was because he gave her Laurie, whereas in the book that subtle kiss that she plants on his photo at the conclusion hints at a deeper longing and arguably love for Blake. Lots of problems I had that I laid out in my post, previously, but it's interesting that everyone's been saying the same thing: they enjoyed the movie, but that they had problems with some of the alterations. I know we'll all probably end up liking the director's cut more; still, the biggest distraction for me was that these people who are looking for a "mask killer" are in reality "masked killers".

 

[Darth Snoopy]

Just got back from watching Watchmen.

Maaan...several people got up and left about half-way through the movie. I heard a couple behind me say "What kind of crap is this?" before they got up and left (what do ya expect...it's Kansas).

I guess people were expecting X-Men, Spider-Man or Fantastic Four.

I liked it, it was a good movie. It wasn't the second coming of (insert your favorite deity here) but it was good.

 

[barbelith]

I didn't see it brutal at all. After some of the comments on here I expected to see heads flying off and stuff.

Laurie stabs a guy in the neck and twists another guy's head completely around. Nite Owl breaks a guy's arm so badly the bones come out of the skin. Not only is it juvenile and gratuitous but it destroys Dan and Laurie as sympathetic characters and undermines the difference between them and Rorshach...

...who we see ram a meat clever into a guy's head three times. And who Snyder decides to use as a plot mechanism to saw a guy's arms off on screen, because, you know, that would be cool.

But maybe we have different definitions of the word brutal.

 

[Valfar]

I have no knowledge of The Watchmen at all..never read the graphic novel but, i will get around to seeing it when all the posuer TDK left over garbage fans have all went and seen this movie for 20mins and then left lol...i bet lots of people bandwagoned this like TDK who have no idea about the story at all..hell, most people that i talked to before could had cared less about Batman but, "oh man TDK looks sicks yo"..blow me!...bah mainstream.

 

[Scar]

Rorshach...who we see ram a meat clever into a guy's head three times. And who Snyder decides to use as a plot mechanism to saw a guy's arms off on screen, because, you know, that would be cool.

That was one of my biggest disappointments. Rorschach kills the dogs similarly yes, and I guess if Snyder was going for the parallel that to Rorschach, evil people are now of little more worth than dogs, it makes some small measure of sense. For him to lash out like that seemed a cringe-worthy bastardization of Rorschach's beginning in the book, which was cool and calculated. I'm getting off topic, but what I wanted to say was that in the book, Rorschach could have butchered the man, but he was so enraged and vengeful that he wanted the man to suffer long, and die painfully. The second that cleaver goes into the head, the lights go out... ^^^^, you could make the argument that the kidnapper's brain didn't even have time to register the pain before he died. Now lighting the man on fire... that's going to pretty much satisfy the pain and suffering aspect. The problem with Rorschach standing out in the street, listening to the man die and watching the home smolder? Wasn't bloody... that is the readily apparent reason why Snyder changed it, and that's truly unfortunate because in doing so he changed Rorschach. I was IMMENSELY disappointed with Rorschach's backstory and time with Dr. Long. "The Abyss Gazes Also" was so gripping and overwhelmingly cynical in the book that it was pervasive and insidious. The movie abridged that to such an extent that Rorschach came off as little more than a butcher in that brief bit. Also, by condensing that they removed perhaps some of the most truly powerful textual dialogue. A true shame.

 

[uscmhicks]

I guess people were expecting X-Men, Spider-Man or Fantastic Four.

exactly.

 

[uscmhicks]

That was one of my biggest disappointments. Rorschach kills the dogs similarly yes, and I guess if Snyder was going for the parallel that to Rorschach, people are now of little more worth than dogs... but that's not entirely true. Evil people, yes, but the very fact that Rorschach is out there punishing evil shows that he believes in a deeper good. I'm getting off topic, but what I wanted to say was that in the book, Rorschach could have butchered the man, but he was so enraged and vengeful that he wanted the man to suffer long, and die painfully. The second that cleaver goes into the head, the lights go out... ^^^^, you could make the argument that the kidnapper's mind didn't even have time to register the pain before he died. Now lighting the man on fire... that's going to pretty much satisfy the pain and suffering aspect. The problem with Rorschach standing out in the street, listening to the man die and watching the home smolder? Wasn't bloody... that is the readily apparent reason why Snyder changed it, and that's truly unfortunate because in doing so he changed Rorschach. I was IMMENSELY disappointed with Rorschach's backstory and time with Dr. Long. "The Abyss Gazes Also" was so gripping and overwhelmingly cynical in the book that it was pervasive and insidious. The movie abridged that to such an extent that Rorschach came off as little more than a butcher in that brief bit. Also, by condensing that they removed perhaps some of the most truly powerful textual dialogue. A true shame.

yeah I noticed that. It personally was my favorite part of the read. Finding out about is past , his life and what made him into what he is.
Very interesting but seemed to fly by very fast in the movie. I also enjoyed in the read the doctors home life , his wife and her being annoyed etc since it shown how difficult it was for the doctor ( who appeared to be a long timer at the prision ) to understand him.
They didn't have to go into complete detail with the doctors home life but with the fact that they shown Rorschach go back and ask the doctor what he saw in his face ( the mask ) I think they could of explored it a litte.

 

[YoNoSe]

I didn't see it brutal at all. After some of the comments on here I expected to see heads flying off and stuff.

Bones crunch upon every hit. They seem to snap every limb they touch. What's NOT brutal about that?

 

[tomandshell]

Well, the alley fight did not work for me. That level of violence didn't fit the characters. I am not trying to be a prude, but showing out-of-character actions for the sake of looking "cool" is not a sign of mature filmmaking. That scene hit the wrong note and stood out when so many other moments really captured the feel of the source material.