WATCHMEN Movie Discussion (SPOILERS allowed)!

[uscmhicks]

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.

yep , that summed it up really. It wasn't perfect but I think he did a great job all in all really.

 

[TheObsoleteMan]

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.

That's the way it's being marketed. If you've never read the comics or have any knowledge of what the material is really about, I can only imagine the shock and confusion of the average moviegoer sitting down to watch what's been sold to them as a "superhero" movie.

 

[BadMoon]

WTF did you guys actually like?

A new figure comes out people ^^^^^, movie ^^^^^, game ^^^^^.

 

[BadMoon]

LOL! My only complaint and I do mean only is the dumb ass soundtrack. I get what they were going for but I don't need to hear 99luftballons in any movie. EVER!

 

[barbelith]

WTF did you guys actually like?

Sometimes you have to climb outside the comfy geek sandbox and watch a proper movie. Let's say The Reader or The Wrestler. And then you step back and look at Watchmen and realize that a few nicely shot scenes does not a quality movie make. I don't know what's more depressing, the fact that people make excuses for things like the Dan/Laurie alley fight or the fact that I am no longer surprised they do so.

That scene doesn't just undermine Dan and Laurie as characters. By extension it undermines the presentation of Rorshach and the Comedian and even Ozymandias' final plot and also guts the intended ambiguity of the Keene Act. Once you start thinking about it, much of the film starts unraveling from that single scene (and unfortunately that's not the only scene that has this effect).

Is that what we're supposed to do? Stop thinking and just revel in how "cool" everything is? What a joke.

 

[YoNoSe]

WTF did you guys actually like?

A new figure comes out people ^^^^^, movie ^^^^^, game ^^^^^.

I liked the movie and said as much. We're discussing one aspect we didn't think worked.
I was actually addressing your post about it not being brutal. Can you explain how you don't think compound fractures, stab wounds to the throat and broken necks aren't brutal?
It's not ^^^^^ing, it's discussion.

 

[BadMoon]

Sometimes you have to climb outside the comfy geek sandbox and watch a proper movie.

In my eyes that is the exact same sandbox that you are standing in.

 

[BadMoon]

I liked the movie and said as much. We're discussing one aspect we didn't think worked.
I was actually addressing your post about it not being brutal. Can you explain how you don't think compound fractures, stab wounds to the throat and broken necks aren't brutal?
It's not ^^^^^ing, it's discussion.

Ok here is my take. If the book were written today they would have done such acts. The fact that the book was pushing it already for the 80's I can understand it being a simple fist fight. They were threatened with death and acted accordingly in my opinion. I would have done the same. People come at you with knifes and chains what else are you going to do? Tie their hands and hope you don't hurt them?

 

[barbelith]

In my eyes that is the exact same sandbox that you are standing in.

Expecting a film to have an internal logic that extends to its characterization is the same as claiming a movie is great because Rorshach is cool?

 

[barbelith]

Ok here is my take. If the book were written today they would have done such acts. The fact that the book was pushing it already for the 80's I can understand it being a simple fist fight. They were threatened with death and acted accordingly in my opinion. I would have done the same. People come at you with knifes and chains what else are you going to do? Tie their hands and hope you don't hurt them?

Spider-Man should start killing his foes?

 

[BadMoon]

Expecting a film to have an internal logic that extends to its characterization is the same as claiming a movie is great because Rorshach is cool?

I think your problem is that you actually expected this movie to be an academy award winner or something and are discussing it as such. Obviously this was no Lawrence of Arabia or Ghandi. LOL! It was what it was. If you want art movies then stick with them. That's all. If it is what you enjoy I say go for it. I just think you may be watching the wrong genre of film for your obviously more superior tastes.

 

[BadMoon]

Spider-Man should start killing his foes?

He did in the movie.

 

[YoNoSe]

Ok here is my take. If the book were written today they would have done such acts. The fact that the book was pushing it already for the 80's I can understand it being a simple fist fight. They were threatened with death and acted accordingly in my opinion. I would have done the same. People come at you with knifes and chains what else are you going to do? Tie their hands and hope you don't hurt them?

They wouldn't have. Rorshcach is supposed to represent the extreme. Watching him take a meat cleaver to someone's head is not extreme when the nerdy science guy and naive girl are crunching bones and stabbing people a few scenes earlier. Regardless of when it was written or filmed there IS supposed to be a difference in the level of violence committed by different characters.
A man makes a raft out of corpses in the GN, do you really think Moore would drawn the line at Silk Spectre stabbing someone if it made any sense at all?
You would have done the same? Really?

 

[BadMoon]

You would have done the same? Really?

Honestly yes. I was a United States Marine Infantryman. I WOULD have done whatever it took to get those people away from me. So yes I clearly meant what I said.

 

[YoNoSe]

Honestly yes. I was a United States Marine Infantryman. I WOULD have done whatever it took to get those people away from me. So yes I clearly meant what I said.

I have Marine friends. I don't know a single one that could snap someone's bones with a single punch or kick.

 

[uscmhicks]

I have Marine friends. I don't know a single one that could snap someone's bones with a single punch or kick.

you could snap my arm with a flick . I'm like a stick insect.

 

[Kibishii]

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.

Ok, I should start by saying I have never read the graphic novel. So I am not a fanboy and the only thing I know about Watchmen is from the G4 preview and what I have read on Wikki.

HOWEVER, I gotta agree. I have collected comics for 25 years, I love comic movies and violence very, very rarely gets to me, but this movie was over the top in every aspect and felt more like it was Watchmen meets SAW meets Friday the 13th. I will probably get blasted for this, but I wish I would have left earlier. The rape scene, pool table, the dogs with the kids leg, and Blake shooting the pregnant woman really disturbed me. Since I haven't read the GN, I didn't know that there was a difference in personality between the heroes as they all seemed bloodthirsty.

I also agree that Snyder seems like an undersexed 14 year old. The blue shlong wasn't that big of a deal (besides the widespread snickering in the audience), but the amount of nudity and sexual innuendo put in JUST to have more tits was just silly and took away from the story. C'mon, Dr. Manhattan sending clones of himself for sex? Did we really have to see Silk Spectre strip that much (why did I ask...)?

I know I am more conservative than many here (maybe because I have children), and I thought the acting was great, but the storyline was choppy, too fast paced, and the amount of gore and T&A just seemed silly.

 

[barbelith]

I think your problem is that you actually expected this movie to be an academy award winner or something and are discussing it as such.

I expected the film to approach cinema as seriously as the book approached its medium. It's ludicrous to expect otherwise. Watchmen is the Lawrence of Arabia of its medium and genre knows no quality bounds. Do you even understand why the book is so critically well respected? Do you not think it's acceptable to expect the adaptation of one of Time's 100 best novels of the 20th century to hold up to its better films as well? I don't understand the idea that because this is a story in the superhero genre we should throw our critical faculties out the window.

He did in the movie.

Well if you think Spider-Man and Superman should be brutally slaughtering all the gang-level guys who attack them then fair enough. I'm sure you've thought this all the way through.

 

[Memnoch]

Well the thing about Manhattan's clones WAS in the graphic novel and is what led Laurie to leaving.

 

[BadMoon]

I have Marine friends. I don't know a single one that could snap someone's bones with a single punch or kick.

Nor do I. That wasn't my point.

If you really want to get technical ask them the proper way to snap a neck. If they were in the same line of work or MOS if you will, they will tell you that the movies have had that wrong for years. I dare you to try to twist someones head around on swivel. It won't work. Now take your left hand on the back of someones head and push down while taking your right palm on the chin of said opposition and pushing up I am sure you will find a more positive outcome.