Thread: Watchmen

yeah, things are starting to get pretty depressing. I hope fox loses they upcoming battle, those money grubbing whores.

Did you hear the controversy about the posters and ads billing Zack Snyder as "visionary". Peeps will find anything to bitch about. Something about not having an all star cast means they have to sell the movie on the name of a director with only two films under his name. If I remember correctly both Dawn of the Dead and 300 had NOBODIES as lead characters and both were amazing films. Why should this be any different?

Originally Posted by StealDragon

Did you hear the controversy about the posters and ads billing Zack Snyder as "visionary". Peeps will find anything to bitch about. Something about not having an all star cast means they have to sell the movie on the name of a director with only two films under his name. If I remember correctly both Dawn of the Dead and 300 had NOBODIES as lead characters and both were amazing films. Why should this be any different?

Yeah, you don't need a bunch of stars to make a great movie. Those movies were fantastic. What's more I find with stars, I have an existing bias already, I expect them to act and be a certain way in the movie.

Saw it, loved it.

Saw it, found it boring. I went in not having read the comic nor wiki-ed it before-hand, but I still found the entire plot predictable. After I while I felt that the director got desperate and had to thrown in cheap nudity and crappy sex scenes just to keep our attention. The dialouge at many points was also very cheesy. The only good parts were some of fight scenes and Rorschach's apathetic lines.

Overall, didn't think it was a good movie.

Gentlemen, allow me to express in no uncertain terms my NERDRAGE.

Oh, and major spoilers I guess.

First of all, Matthew Goode needs to be shot. Second, whoever it was that picked Matthew Goode to play Ozymandias needs to be shot. Thirdly, whoever it was that wrote all that extra shit in the ending in a blatant effort to make Veidt sound more villanous needs to be shot.

Adrian Veidt is my favourite character, and then they go and butcher his characterization. I mean, seriously, Ozymandias is supposed to be an idealistic man driven over the edge by his own hubris and empathy, not some drawling over-the-top arrogant sociopath. The entire point of the climax is the realization that Ozymandias is both the hero and the villain. Having him spout some shit about punishing the world ruins the point by pushing him solidly into the villain camp in the eyes of the audience.

I'm also disappointed that they didn't include the scene where a teary-eyed Ozymandias shouts "I did it!" That was one of the most powerful scenes in the comic, and would have transitioned beautifully to the big screen. Hell, it was even the defining moment of Ozymandias' characterization, when the audience realizes that he actually believes fully in his own plot, that he actually managed to pull it off, and that he actually did the right thing, or at least he believes so himself.

But no, that would have cut down on the fight scenes (which actually were really good, so this isn't a complaint about quality.).

And whose bright idea was it to dumb down the script? For example, why does it shove the truth about the Comedian being Laurie's father in our collective faces? And why is Dr. Manhattan's talk with Laurie on Mars shortened down to almost nothing?


So yeah, there's a lot of stuff I didn't like. But despite that I'd call this a good movie, and even probably the best adaptation that is possible, short of slavishly following the comic. I think I'll have to watch it again to get a more nuanced picture.

Saw it yesterday, I liked it. Some of the same qualms as Saizou.

I was angry when the just chopped the guy in the head instead of giving him a hacksaw and exploding his house.

Also, there was no foreshadowing for the bullet catching and even when it did happen it looked so fake. Just the way they positioned everyone it's plausible that he just could have dodged but the directors must have felt the need to somehow include it.

No monster... That didn't really bug me as much as Veidt's character changes though.

Mixed feelings about the last line, it misses all the impact of the "I leave it entirely to you" but it was still pretty good.

Also, Laurie taking Manhattan's line of "Nothing ever ends" took away from it completely.

I would have liked more emphasis on Rorschach's psychologist and how while he tries to solve Rorschach's problems his own life is deteriorating.

Probably more stuff but I did like it.

Originally Posted by mystic_guard_sinoel

I would have liked more emphasis on Rorschach's psychologist and how while he tries to solve Rorschach's problems his own life is deteriorating.

Yeah, this as well.


And to lessen the overall negativity of my posts so far, I'll add that the opening montage was completely fantastic. I don't think I've seen any movie that's pulled off anything similar as well since, well, ever.

Originally Posted by Saizou

I'm also disappointed that they didn't include the scene where a teary-eyed Ozymandias shouts "I did it!" That was one of the most powerful scenes in the comic, and would have transitioned beautifully to the big screen. Hell, it was even the defining moment of Ozymandias' characterization, when the audience realizes that he actually believes fully in his own plot, that he actually managed to pull it off, and that he actually did the right thing, or at least he believes so himself.

I agree with this. But as for making him too villainous, thats one of the drawbacks of a movie, his moral ambiguity wouldnt have translated too well to the film and since Watchmen has no clear cut villain or hero, mainstream audiences would have been left with a "wtf" if it was translated perfectly. I think they did the best with what they had. TBH the lack of the purple monster bothered me more.

^^The ending they replaced it with kinda made more sense. If they were gonna use the purple monster it woulda taken screen time to foreshadow. I doubt cinema goers would've easily accepted a purple monster destroying New York just popping up in the film outta nowhere.


I watched it with 2 people who hadn't read the novel and they hated it as did most of the young crowd in the cinema (conversations overheard on the way out).

Thinking back, I found some of it rushed and not enough emphasis placed on other parts... Which doesn't help anyone who hasn't read the novel. If you have read it you'll probably not even notice whats missing because your mind will fill in the blanks, and you'll love the film like I did. If you haven't read it, unfortunately you'll probably not "Get it".