Your initial tone made me think you didn’t like it all that much Spoony. Good to hear you enjoyed it.

Your initial tone made me think you didn’t like it all that much Spoony. Good to hear you enjoyed it.

For sure, I’m going to go see it this weekend. I just read the comic for the first time and I’m anxious to see how it translated to film for myself. Thanks for the review though Spoony, get better soon!

For sure, I’m going to go see it this weekend. I just read the comic for the first time and I’m anxious to see how it translated to film for myself. Thanks for the review though Spoony, get better soon!

Phew good thing I stopped the review before you started with the spoilers cause its almost my birthday and one of the things I wanted to do was to go watch Watchmen, seeing you liked the movie then it must be good, I was afraid you said it sucked cause although ive never read Watchmen but the idea of superheroes are not protected by anyone but themselves is a pretty good concept. Thanks for the Heads-up Noah

Phew good thing I stopped the review before you started with the spoilers cause its almost my birthday and one of the things I wanted to do was to go watch Watchmen, seeing you liked the movie then it must be good, I was afraid you said it sucked cause although ive never read Watchmen but the idea of superheroes are not protected by anyone but themselves is a pretty good concept. Thanks for the Heads-up Noah

Eh, i went in completely devoid of Watchmen knowledge and I enjoyed it just fine. Though afterward, I immediately went and purchased the comic cuss I wanted more. lol.

so, not reading it before hand didn’t hurt my experience at all.

Eh, i went in completely devoid of Watchmen knowledge and I enjoyed it just fine. Though afterward, I immediately went and purchased the comic cuss I wanted more. lol.

so, not reading it before hand didn’t hurt my experience at all.

Spoony!

Firstly, the Smiley on Mars is actually IN the comic and if it had not been in the movie, I would have gone “blarhh.”

Secondly, you’re spot on about Tricky Dick’s nose.

Spoony!

Firstly, the Smiley on Mars is actually IN the comic and if it had not been in the movie, I would have gone “blarhh.”

Secondly, you’re spot on about Tricky Dick’s nose.

Also, I rather liked the Silk Specters…

The old one rang true to me and the young one was sexy and fairly likable…

Really, I just liked all the actors. Videt, I had to get used too. Rorsarch, I fell in love with in an instant. Dr. Manhattan had an awesome body….

Right on Spoony. I agree 100%,

I am going to see the movie now , since you gave it a good rating .
I already read the comic after Linkara 5 panel review of it. It was the first comic i bought in years and i wasn’t disappointed on of the best stories i ever read.
Thanks fore all those those awesome shows from you in the past months Spoony, you are definitely one of my favored Internet comedians.

OK, so here’s my question. Is there any point in watching this movie if I thought the trailer alone was a total abomination and all the people involved should be hunted down and shot? Now, I wouldn’t even consider that normally, but since you’re usually kinda critical towards stuff like this… That made me think

OK, so here’s my question. Is there any point in watching this movie if I thought the trailer alone was a total abomination and all the people involved should be hunted down and shot? Now, I wouldn’t even consider that normally, but since you’re usually kinda critical towards stuff like this… That made me think

I don’t know how true this is, but I’ve heard the whole pirate story thing was filmed as an extra for the DVD.

I don’t know how true this is, but I’ve heard the whole pirate story thing was filmed as an extra for the DVD.

In case you didn’t know, Tales of the Black Freighter is coming out as a direct to video animated movie.

I completely agree with every point you make, man, and made a lot the same points on my own li’l text review. Great minds think alike and whatnot. Forgot about Nixon’s giant fake nose and 99 Red Balloons…but with All Along the Watchtowers, I believe that chapter of the book is actually named after the song, so they probably felt a bit obligated.

I completely agree with every point you make, man, and made a lot the same points on my own li’l text review. Great minds think alike and whatnot. Forgot about Nixon’s giant fake nose and 99 Red Balloons…but with All Along the Watchtowers, I believe that chapter of the book is actually named after the song, so they probably felt a bit obligated.

Good review, with fair opinions.
I’m going to watch this movie, not exspecting it to be a 100% to the comic.
You were talking about how Watchmen and 300 were the most faithful to the comics, what about Sin CIty? I thought that moive was VERY faithful to the comic,
For fans who want a more ‘Complete” version of the film should go buy the Motion comic that came out this week, Its practically word for word. The only problem I had with that was they used a guys voice for the women…… ugh.

Good review, with fair opinions.
I’m going to watch this movie, not exspecting it to be a 100% to the comic.
You were talking about how Watchmen and 300 were the most faithful to the comics, what about Sin CIty? I thought that moive was VERY faithful to the comic,
For fans who want a more ‘Complete” version of the film should go buy the Motion comic that came out this week, Its practically word for word. The only problem I had with that was they used a guys voice for the women…… ugh.

I saw it without any knowledge of Watchmen and I rather enjoyed it. And yes, I agree that the film has the same flaws that you pointed out, Spoony.

Anyway, there was one scene of the film in particular that I didn’t like: The prison break out. It felt like they wanted to rip off the elevator scene from The Matrix as much as possible, and I personally think it could’ve been edited differently while still working out well. It’s been a decade and the Wachowski formula has become tiresome and overexposed through parody and lazy writing. Studios need to learn to let it go.

I saw it without any knowledge of Watchmen and I rather enjoyed it. And yes, I agree that the film has the same flaws that you pointed out, Spoony.

Anyway, there was one scene of the film in particular that I didn’t like: The prison break out. It felt like they wanted to rip off the elevator scene from The Matrix as much as possible, and I personally think it could’ve been edited differently while still working out well. It’s been a decade and the Wachowski formula has become tiresome and overexposed through parody and lazy writing. Studios need to learn to let it go.

I agree with most of what you said Spoony, but just as a note, the Hendrix song was used rather notably, because at the end of Watchmen 10 some of the lyrics were used as the ending quote. “Outside in the cold distance (Antarctica), a wild cat did growl (Bubastis the lynx), two riders were approaching (Nite Owl and Rorschach), and the wind began to howl.”

I actually was expecting a 1:1 copy of the book, and was surprised positively when it turned out not being so. I actually thought that the parodical/satirical aspect of the original book was emphasised better in the film than in the book. However, I had a few issues; the backstories of Rorschach and Ozymandias were cut down way too much for my liking. Also, some of the new stuff they added, such as the new version of Ozy’s backstory was really clashing with the rest of the dialogue quality-wise, you could clearly see that it was added, not because I knew it was added, but because it was blatantly apparent that it was written into the film later on during it’s development.

I liked the movie though, as did my girlfriend who had never actually read the GN, something that surprised me.

I actually was expecting a 1:1 copy of the book, and was surprised positively when it turned out not being so. I actually thought that the parodical/satirical aspect of the original book was emphasised better in the film than in the book. However, I had a few issues; the backstories of Rorschach and Ozymandias were cut down way too much for my liking. Also, some of the new stuff they added, such as the new version of Ozy’s backstory was really clashing with the rest of the dialogue quality-wise, you could clearly see that it was added, not because I knew it was added, but because it was blatantly apparent that it was written into the film later on during it’s development.

I liked the movie though, as did my girlfriend who had never actually read the GN, something that surprised me.

I actually was expecting a 1:1 copy of the book, and was surprised positively when it turned out not being so. I actually thought that the parodical/satirical aspect of the original book was emphasised better in the film than in the book. However, I had a few issues; the backstories of Rorschach and Ozymandias were cut down way too much for my liking. Also, some of the new stuff they added, such as the new version of Ozy’s backstory was really clashing with the rest of the dialogue quality-wise, you could clearly see that it was added, not because I knew it was added, but because it was blatantly apparent that it was written into the film later on during it’s development.

I liked the movie though, as did my girlfriend who had never actually read the GN, something that surprised me.

A good review with fair opinions. I went into the film knowing full-well that a perfect 1:1 adaptation of the book would have been impossible, and on its own terms it’s a solid movie and I hope it gets more people interested in the book.

However, there were some things that bugged me quite a lot. They more than likely stem from trying to make the film more palatable to a cinema audience, but instead just came across as dumbing-down.

SPOILER WARNING

For example, why do the characters have superhuman qualities to them? Rorschach moves like a ninja, the Comedian punches through a wall, and Laurie kicks a man so hard he lands upside-down in a bin. It was repeatedly stressed in the comic that these people were only human, but that’s gone. By the time Adrian catches a bullet, it’s not surprising or impressive at all. Also, I felt Laurie’s personality seemed to have been transplanted with Generic Female Role B (strong woman). She was definitely the weak link in the cast.

My biggest complaint though is that several key scenes no longer leave things open to interpretation. For example, the rape scene. In the comic, it was more than implied that Sally in some ways brought it on herself; she announced “loudly enough” that she was getting changed, she scratches Blake, and Hooded Justice berates her, saying “for God’s sake, cover yourself up”. Instead we’re not allowed to interpret the scene as anything other than Blake = evil and Sally = Generic Female Role D (innocent victim).

Also, the scene with the child murderer comes to mind. In the film he’s aggresive, carries a gun and acts like a detestable pile of shit once he’s handcuffed, and you don’t mind seeing him get hacked open. In the book he’s a nervous, pathetically frightened man who you almost feel sorry for as Rorschach burns him alive. It’s a case of taking out any sort of conflicting opinion about the character and replacing it with more OTT violence and gore (a common problem I found in this film).

Honestly, it felt like the film was forcing opinions down my throat; it was almost like it didn’t want me to decide how much I hated the Comedian, or to decide whether Adrian’s a stuck-up prick or a sad, troubled man. In fact, I’m surprised they didn’t kill off Adrian at the end, as Hollywood formula usually dictates that no villain gets away without some form of punishment (though Dan does beat the crap out of him, in a scene that felt incredibly tacked-on). I also agree that the altered ending didn’t work as well. I’m not saying it didn’t work, it just didn’t work as well.

As for the use of My Chemical Romance in the soundtrack… don’t even get me started.

That said, I thought it was probably the closest we were ever likely to get to a faithful adaptation, but I’d recommend the book over the film any day.

A good review with fair opinions. I went into the film knowing full-well that a perfect 1:1 adaptation of the book would have been impossible, and on its own terms it’s a solid movie and I hope it gets more people interested in the book.

However, there were some things that bugged me quite a lot. They more than likely stem from trying to make the film more palatable to a cinema audience, but instead just came across as dumbing-down.

SPOILER WARNING

For example, why do the characters have superhuman qualities to them? Rorschach moves like a ninja, the Comedian punches through a wall, and Laurie kicks a man so hard he lands upside-down in a bin. It was repeatedly stressed in the comic that these people were only human, but that’s gone. By the time Adrian catches a bullet, it’s not surprising or impressive at all. Also, I felt Laurie’s personality seemed to have been transplanted with Generic Female Role B (strong woman). She was definitely the weak link in the cast.

My biggest complaint though is that several key scenes no longer leave things open to interpretation. For example, the rape scene. In the comic, it was more than implied that Sally in some ways brought it on herself; she announced “loudly enough” that she was getting changed, she scratches Blake, and Hooded Justice berates her, saying “for God’s sake, cover yourself up”. Instead we’re not allowed to interpret the scene as anything other than Blake = evil and Sally = Generic Female Role D (innocent victim).

Also, the scene with the child murderer comes to mind. In the film he’s aggresive, carries a gun and acts like a detestable pile of shit once he’s handcuffed, and you don’t mind seeing him get hacked open. In the book he’s a nervous, pathetically frightened man who you almost feel sorry for as Rorschach burns him alive. It’s a case of taking out any sort of conflicting opinion about the character and replacing it with more OTT violence and gore (a common problem I found in this film).

Honestly, it felt like the film was forcing opinions down my throat; it was almost like it didn’t want me to decide how much I hated the Comedian, or to decide whether Adrian’s a stuck-up prick or a sad, troubled man. In fact, I’m surprised they didn’t kill off Adrian at the end, as Hollywood formula usually dictates that no villain gets away without some form of punishment (though Dan does beat the crap out of him, in a scene that felt incredibly tacked-on). I also agree that the altered ending didn’t work as well. I’m not saying it didn’t work, it just didn’t work as well.

As for the use of My Chemical Romance in the soundtrack… don’t even get me started.

That said, I thought it was probably the closest we were ever likely to get to a faithful adaptation, but I’d recommend the book over the film any day.

I haven’t seen it yet, but i will. I have to say the lack of the squid and the change in the ending really pissed me off, aha, but you know.
Incidentally, heres the ending, courtesy of cracked.com:
http://www.cracked.com/article_17131_how-studios-would-have-ended-watchmen-storyboard.html
=]

I actually liked Ozymandias’ pummeling at the hands of Nite Owl at the end. Ozy styles himself as a messiah, and he’s letting Dan take his shots so that he can revel in his own martyrdom. It’s very smug and self-righteous of him, and I thought it was well in-character.

Interesting that you mention the “super strength” of the characters, which I hadn’t thought of until now. Still, I’m inclined to let most of that slide. We’re still talking about peak-of-human-athleticism heroes here. If they’re able to single-handedly take apart gangs of criminals barehanded, you ought to give them a little wall-breaking, body-hurling leeway. Rorschach in particular has always been harder than a coffin nail. Note that I said a LITTLE leeway. I will grant you it was a little excessive in Silk Spectre and Nite Owl’s case. Ozy is the only guy you might actually allow having chi-strike super-strength and speed (and you’ll note that he still easily dismantles the heroes two-on-one).

I actually liked Ozymandias’ pummeling at the hands of Nite Owl at the end. Ozy styles himself as a messiah, and he’s letting Dan take his shots so that he can revel in his own martyrdom. It’s very smug and self-righteous of him, and I thought it was well in-character.

Interesting that you mention the “super strength” of the characters, which I hadn’t thought of until now. Still, I’m inclined to let most of that slide. We’re still talking about peak-of-human-athleticism heroes here. If they’re able to single-handedly take apart gangs of criminals barehanded, you ought to give them a little wall-breaking, body-hurling leeway. Rorschach in particular has always been harder than a coffin nail. Note that I said a LITTLE leeway. I will grant you it was a little excessive in Silk Spectre and Nite Owl’s case. Ozy is the only guy you might actually allow having chi-strike super-strength and speed (and you’ll note that he still easily dismantles the heroes two-on-one).

I’ve been waiting for this review. Thanks, Spoony.

From what I’ve heard about the DVDs, here’s the rundown.

1. The theatrical cut.
2. The extended director’s cut (about thirty minutes more).
3. The super-extended cut, which is over four hours, and has Tales of the Black Freighter and Under the Hood mixed in.

I’ve been waiting for this review. Thanks, Spoony.

From what I’ve heard about the DVDs, here’s the rundown.

1. The theatrical cut.
2. The extended director’s cut (about thirty minutes more).
3. The super-extended cut, which is over four hours, and has Tales of the Black Freighter and Under the Hood mixed in.

I’ve been waiting for this review. Thanks, Spoony.

From what I’ve heard about the DVDs, here’s the rundown.

1. The theatrical cut.
2. The extended director’s cut (about thirty minutes more).
3. The super-extended cut, which is over four hours, and has Tales of the Black Freighter and Under the Hood mixed in.

Good stuff, I liked your review. You sound much better too!

Hey, Spoony, good review as always and get better.

I thought it was excellent in most respects, save 2 problems:

1. It was a tad too long. There was a couple beside us that actually got up and walked out with about 30 minutes still to go. I have nothing against long, epic tales that take more then 2 hours to tell, but there was a lot that could have been tightened up or trimmed out to make it more tolerable. Having said that, I would rather have to sit through upwards of 3 hours of good film-making than 1 hour of typical Hollywood garbage these days.

2. The acting was a little flat. Especially the spectre girl, hot as she was, her acting was abysmal. Everyone else was adequate and occasionally moving, but for the most part, I felt there was a lack of that subtle emotional depth that helps make the character really resonate with the audience.

Well, I went to see it and you know what? I quite liked it! I knew from the offset that it wouldn’t be 100% faithful to the book. The trailers seemed to indicate that instead of a deep and thought provoking story, it’d be a dumbed down version with slow motion fight scenes. I was surprised how faithful it was. If anything, it’s a little too faithful at times. I went to see it with a friend of mine who hadn’t read it and I was constantly asked questions like ‘What’s the deal with that weird tiger thing?’ ‘Why does that guy’s mask change?’, etc.

But anyway I did thoroughly have a good time with the film. One of my issues is that that they fucked up the ages of almost all the characters. Rorschach is supposed to be about 45, whereas in the book he’s in his early 30s. Also during the rape scene, The Comedian was supposed to be 16 which he clearly isn’t. Yet if he IS older in the past, he should be older in the present which also isn’t the case. What we get with most characters is that they are all too young looking. Especially Ozzy, who seems to be using some kind of amazing anti-aging technology. It just ends up being REALLY confusing and messes with your head. I don’t understand why it was necessary to knock 10-15 years off all the characters – yet having them in the same time zones. Argh my brain hurts.

Another issue is the choice of actors/actresses. Rorschach and The Comedian were very good and were *almost* like their comic counterparts. Dr Manhattan worked well 60% of the time, but I feel that the thing they messed up the most is the way they explained his perception of time. I feel it just didn’t do a very good job of explaining it. As you said, Silk Spectre (I & II) were not very good at all. But by far the worst person in the film was definitely Adrian Veidt AKA Ozzy. He was just… awful. He did not play the character very well at all. They should have got somebody else to play him in my opinion.

As somebody else mentioned, the whole superhuman quality that EVERYBODY has is really retarded. What the hell? Alright, I know The Comedian is one tough motherfucker but since when did he become an Agent capable of punching straight through a brick wall? That has to be my biggest complaint by far. Alright it’s supposed to show that they are heroes, but it implies that they are actually proper superhumans, which was not the spirit of the book at all! I felt like I’d stumbled into Crackdown The Motion Picture, and not Watchmen at times. it really did piss me off, to the extent of me mentally re-imagining the fight scenes as I was watching them. Alright it’s a comic book film, but the book had no reality bending fight moments. Most of the fights in the film were heavily influenced from The Matrix. Especially that ridiculous Ozzy vs Rorschach & Nite Owl. Alright, Rorschach is a tough bastard, I know. But when he was thrown repeatedly into the edge of that statue – his spine would have broken. After being smashed around again and again, both Rorschach and Nite Owl show NO signs of injury at all. Not even a drop of blood.

Now I’m moving onto the ending. I as with most people, think it worked – but nowhere near as effective as ‘the squid’. I don’t know why, but everybody seems to forget that a large portion of the book was a buildup to ‘the squid’. People also seem to forget that he didn’t just simply teleport a giant squid into New York. The squid had the cloned brain of a psychic, which would send out a very strong negative signal. Also the squid itself was designed by all the world’s greatest artists and horror novelists to represent the most terrifying and most alien creature the human being could see. When the squid would materialize, both the psychic signal and the sight of it would kill anybody within a certain distance while the rest would feel a strong sense of dread and sorrow. This is what united East and West. It was completely alien and unexpected.

Now then, the Dr Manhattan ending does work. I just can’t help thinking that somebody would work out that it could have been a plan by the US government all along. He was their greatest weapon and the whole ‘exile to Mars’ could have been a plan to distract the Soviets. I’m saying that I don’t think the Soviets would drop their nukes and shake hands with Nixon when the USA’s own weapon wipes out a bunch of cities. I’m saying that instead of empathy, there would be a lot of anger towards the US for not being able to control Dr Manhattan. Blame would be placed upon them and the war would carry on. That’s just what I think anyway.

Despite these problems I had with it, it was very good and the most faithful a Hollywood blockbuster could be to its source material. I wouldn’t mind seeing the extended cut either.

For me, I didn’t enjoy the comic or the movie, but I still enjoy discussing them, it’s kind of odd to be in this position. I do enjoy Rorschach, mostly because between him and The Comedian, those are really the only two characters that I really like. I find most of the other characters pretty shallow and flat, but that’s just my opinion.

On to the movie, I did think as far as being an adaptation, it was good, but they cut a few things that I really think should have been left in.

SPOILERS AHOY

First off, I feel that when they show young Walter Kovacs fighting the bullies, it would have been more effective showing him jamming one of the kid’s cigarettes into their eye. I think the only reason maybe to change it to biting part of his ear off is to make it seem more gory or something, but I think it looks more like it’s that problem a few others have been talking about that these people are not super powered.

Secondly, I think that they could have dealt with the Jon becoming Dr. Manhattan scene a tiny bit better. In the movie he’s just going back because he forgot the watch, where as in the comic he returns to the chamber, nobly, trying to find the watch he had repaired for Janice. I don’t think it would have taken much more time to do it the correct way either, but as someone else posted, it almost seems like the Director or Writers or someone just wanted to force -their- view of the characters on us, instead of leaving it more ambiguous as to if we’re supposed to feel for them or hate them.

Those were the only real big problems I had… I really enjoyed the ending (didn’t like Rorschach turning into a whimpery whiny pussy at the end though, before yelling at Doc.) But I think that’s mostly because I really hate Dr. Manhattan, so him getting the short end of the stick and being hated by everyone was good, for me. So was Nite Owl wailing on Ozymandias in retribution for Rorschach’s death.

I also think that Karnak would have been a bit cooler as it was shown in the comic (I think they ran out of budget or something though.) instead of just being some… pyramid thing… Anyway, I’m just starting to ramble a bit now.

For me, I didn’t enjoy the comic or the movie, but I still enjoy discussing them, it’s kind of odd to be in this position. I do enjoy Rorschach, mostly because between him and The Comedian, those are really the only two characters that I really like. I find most of the other characters pretty shallow and flat, but that’s just my opinion.

On to the movie, I did think as far as being an adaptation, it was good, but they cut a few things that I really think should have been left in.

SPOILERS AHOY

First off, I feel that when they show young Walter Kovacs fighting the bullies, it would have been more effective showing him jamming one of the kid’s cigarettes into their eye. I think the only reason maybe to change it to biting part of his ear off is to make it seem more gory or something, but I think it looks more like it’s that problem a few others have been talking about that these people are not super powered.

Secondly, I think that they could have dealt with the Jon becoming Dr. Manhattan scene a tiny bit better. In the movie he’s just going back because he forgot the watch, where as in the comic he returns to the chamber, nobly, trying to find the watch he had repaired for Janice. I don’t think it would have taken much more time to do it the correct way either, but as someone else posted, it almost seems like the Director or Writers or someone just wanted to force -their- view of the characters on us, instead of leaving it more ambiguous as to if we’re supposed to feel for them or hate them.

Those were the only real big problems I had… I really enjoyed the ending (didn’t like Rorschach turning into a whimpery whiny pussy at the end though, before yelling at Doc.) But I think that’s mostly because I really hate Dr. Manhattan, so him getting the short end of the stick and being hated by everyone was good, for me. So was Nite Owl wailing on Ozymandias in retribution for Rorschach’s death.

I also think that Karnak would have been a bit cooler as it was shown in the comic (I think they ran out of budget or something though.) instead of just being some… pyramid thing… Anyway, I’m just starting to ramble a bit now.

I sometimes get caught up in the hype of a film and none was more apparent than with The Watchmen. The more I read, the more I wanted to see it, the more that was subtly revealed about the characters and the plot, the more I wanted to see the film to see what all the hub-bub was all about. I went into it blind, deliberately not purchasing the graphic novel until I had seen the movie. In all honesty had the movie not been coming back I probably would have bought the graphic novel but I held off so that I could see if I would like the story of the Watchmen enough through the movie to enjoy the source material enough to read the book because as we all know with every single book to movie, comic to movie adaption…..the written/drawn medium always wins out as the superior form.

I used to read comics all the time, I kinda stopped however, and when I had last read I was more of an adolescent. At that time I could see “Watchmen” totally going over my head. Basically I was into Spider-man, Batman and Superman. So when I read that Watchmen was the first comic book for a grown-up, I kind of felt that in all honesty that it was great that someone took the time to make a story for a more mature audience. Having loved V For Vendetta on the big screen, going out and buying the graphic novel and loving it just as much I had a feeling that with everything I read about Watchmen I wouldn’t be disappointed with the film…and I wasn’t. It was fantastic. Even it’s most simplistic of themes were vibrantly displayed. Moore really hit on something with the graphic novel….and I can tell that just from watching the movie. So I plan on buying the graphic novel post haste.

I sometimes get caught up in the hype of a film and none was more apparent than with The Watchmen. The more I read, the more I wanted to see it, the more that was subtly revealed about the characters and the plot, the more I wanted to see the film to see what all the hub-bub was all about. I went into it blind, deliberately not purchasing the graphic novel until I had seen the movie. In all honesty had the movie not been coming back I probably would have bought the graphic novel but I held off so that I could see if I would like the story of the Watchmen enough through the movie to enjoy the source material enough to read the book because as we all know with every single book to movie, comic to movie adaption…..the written/drawn medium always wins out as the superior form.

I used to read comics all the time, I kinda stopped however, and when I had last read I was more of an adolescent. At that time I could see “Watchmen” totally going over my head. Basically I was into Spider-man, Batman and Superman. So when I read that Watchmen was the first comic book for a grown-up, I kind of felt that in all honesty that it was great that someone took the time to make a story for a more mature audience. Having loved V For Vendetta on the big screen, going out and buying the graphic novel and loving it just as much I had a feeling that with everything I read about Watchmen I wouldn’t be disappointed with the film…and I wasn’t. It was fantastic. Even it’s most simplistic of themes were vibrantly displayed. Moore really hit on something with the graphic novel….and I can tell that just from watching the movie. So I plan on buying the graphic novel post haste.

I’m not sure if others have mentioned this already, but many of the things you complained about in the film were just as present in the novel. Maybe it’s time to break it out and read it over a second (or third, fourth, etc) time! For example, the smileys are actually visible in just about every issue of Watchmen, including the giant smiley on Mars. And I think Nixon was purposefully a caricature — how could you not laugh at that nose? The movie’s comedy might be a little different in style from the comic, but that’s just an effect of the translation in medium.

Although, it does have its faults when it tries to emulate the scenes so closely even though cuts were made. Bubastis’s sudden appearance with no explanation is one; I’m guessing she’ll be introduced better in the extended cut but the theatrical release would really be better without her.

On a side note, I enjoyed the use of music, but that’s probably just a matter of preference in traditional scoring opposed to a more fancy-pants artsy style.

Speaking of the musical score, how many of you picked up on the song “Everybody Wants to Rule the World” during Adrian’s back story monologue? Found that to be quite a amusing little in joke if you’d read the novel.

Speaking of the musical score, how many of you picked up on the song “Everybody Wants to Rule the World” during Adrian’s back story monologue? Found that to be quite a amusing little in joke if you’d read the novel.

Speaking of the musical score, how many of you picked up on the song “Everybody Wants to Rule the World” during Adrian’s back story monologue? Found that to be quite a amusing little in joke if you’d read the novel.

Crappy movie. The book wasn’t so good either.

In fact, watching the movie made me realize the book wasn’t so special. I used to hold it as a sacred cow, as something that was so unique it couldn’t be translated. But it was. And, all its uniqueness, now, seem to be just a forced attempt of making it unnaproachable. Because, without them, I realized the story wasn’y actually well done. The characters aren’t as interesting as I tought them to be.

Honestly, I read Watchmen now, and I see a Rob Liefeld comic hidden behing sight gags and soft transitions, with literary quotes for titles. Nothing more.

Crappy movie. The book wasn’t so good either.

In fact, watching the movie made me realize the book wasn’t so special. I used to hold it as a sacred cow, as something that was so unique it couldn’t be translated. But it was. And, all its uniqueness, now, seem to be just a forced attempt of making it unnaproachable. Because, without them, I realized the story wasn’y actually well done. The characters aren’t as interesting as I tought them to be.

Honestly, I read Watchmen now, and I see a Rob Liefeld comic hidden behing sight gags and soft transitions, with literary quotes for titles. Nothing more.

Hooded justice was gay!

Hooded justice was gay!

some bitch gave it 1 1/2 stars.now i no its nothing compared to the comic but seriously, it cant be THAT bad?!

you got it wrong on your explanation of the ending, i’m sorry to say. the world wasn’t uniting to fight or defend against dr. manhattan. the idea was that manhattan was punishing them for their march to war, and that they had to clean up their act lest they face manhattan’s wrath. more or less an analogue to an angry god punishing people on earth for their sins.
good, bad, whatever. personally i thought the movie was just ok, but removing all the aliens nonsense was not a factor in my opinion.

a giant squid-blob fake alien lifeform being constructed from the brains of human psychics (wait, psychics are fucking real now?) whose presence makes other “sensitives” go crazy or something was the absolute stupidest and most nonsensical part of the original book, it made no sense in the context of the story, and i see no reason why the world would unite for any substantial length of time against an apparently non-intelligent lifeform who seems to have crashed on earth purely as a fluke and died on or before impact.
anyone who claims that the absence of the squid actually hurts the story needs to have his head examined. if anything, they should re-publish the novel with snyder’s ending.

you got it wrong on your explanation of the ending, i’m sorry to say. the world wasn’t uniting to fight or defend against dr. manhattan. the idea was that manhattan was punishing them for their march to war, and that they had to clean up their act lest they face manhattan’s wrath. more or less an analogue to an angry god punishing people on earth for their sins.
good, bad, whatever. personally i thought the movie was just ok, but removing all the aliens nonsense was not a factor in my opinion.

a giant squid-blob fake alien lifeform being constructed from the brains of human psychics (wait, psychics are fucking real now?) whose presence makes other “sensitives” go crazy or something was the absolute stupidest and most nonsensical part of the original book, it made no sense in the context of the story, and i see no reason why the world would unite for any substantial length of time against an apparently non-intelligent lifeform who seems to have crashed on earth purely as a fluke and died on or before impact.
anyone who claims that the absence of the squid actually hurts the story needs to have his head examined. if anything, they should re-publish the novel with snyder’s ending.

Watchmen, or any good comics, shouldn’t be adapted in movie at all for the simple reason that it is stupid as doing a remakes. The comic was already a masterpeice, no need to redo it on screen.

What they could have done, and this is valid for ANY superheros movies, is creating an entire new story with the same universe and characters while referencing the comic. Cut the origin backstory crap (unless it’s actually related to the plot) and just make a good and clever super-heros stories, specially designed for screen, that actually make people fall in love with the universe (think blade runner sort of immersion effect) and make them want to read the damn comic. A work of art as well as a marketing ploy.

But studios won’t do that because they’re cowards that only care about “safe” investements (Someone should really define “safe” for me, cause alot of those “safe movies are mediocre and do not do an incredible lot of money. Sounds more like they’re just fucking incompetent.). They will just badly adapt the source material for brainless fans who whine for stupid details and also because it’s just lazier (And “safe”). This is a balent lack of creativity or vision.

Incidently, superheros are a goldmine for the creative bankrupt idiots in Holywoods. Superheros comics are a comic genre that was troughfully explored and because of it, feature a lot of great works while being pretty obscure to most people who are not comic fans. Hence, studios can market this as new material to the ignorant american public who think that books are for gays. This is my feeling about this movie. It might be decent, as superhero movie goes, but all it tells me when I watched it was: “Okay I took a really great and popular comic to do a mediocre movie adaptation in order make money on people who liked Dark knight and stupid comic book fans that watch anything that aknowledge their precious subculture (Guilty as charged I recon). Oooh look special effects! Didn’t you wished to see Watchmen in movie?” The answer is no, I didn’t; I already read Watchmen IN A COMIC and it was MORE than perfect that way. Hell, back then, it made me revised my theory about anglo-saxons being barely evoluated chimps with some manner of primitive and trashly commercial culture ;). What I want is more stories about the Watchmen or about any superheros that are as good as that book.

In conclusion, movie adaptation of comic or any non-movie mediums bores me to tears and should die in a fire. GIMME NEW MATERIAL YOU LAZY FUCKS, THOSE STORIES HAVE BEEN TOLD ALREADY AND IN A MUCH BETTER WAY.

P.S.
My english is crap sorry. :(

P.P.S.
Oh by the way Spoony boy, you might want to read some novel from Umberto Eco if you like that semiotic and symbolism stuff. The guy’s a genius (I heard that he’s the lead authority right now on semiotic), all his books really worth a look. You won’t get bored I promess.

Watchmen, or any good comics, shouldn’t be adapted in movie at all for the simple reason that it is stupid as doing a remakes. The comic was already a masterpeice, no need to redo it on screen.

What they could have done, and this is valid for ANY superheros movies, is creating an entire new story with the same universe and characters while referencing the comic. Cut the origin backstory crap (unless it’s actually related to the plot) and just make a good and clever super-heros stories, specially designed for screen, that actually make people fall in love with the universe (think blade runner sort of immersion effect) and make them want to read the damn comic. A work of art as well as a marketing ploy.

But studios won’t do that because they’re cowards that only care about “safe” investements (Someone should really define “safe” for me, cause alot of those “safe movies are mediocre and do not do an incredible lot of money. Sounds more like they’re just fucking incompetent.). They will just badly adapt the source material for brainless fans who whine for stupid details and also because it’s just lazier (And “safe”). This is a balent lack of creativity or vision.

Incidently, superheros are a goldmine for the creative bankrupt idiots in Holywoods. Superheros comics are a comic genre that was troughfully explored and because of it, feature a lot of great works while being pretty obscure to most people who are not comic fans. Hence, studios can market this as new material to the ignorant american public who think that books are for gays. This is my feeling about this movie. It might be decent, as superhero movie goes, but all it tells me when I watched it was: “Okay I took a really great and popular comic to do a mediocre movie adaptation in order make money on people who liked Dark knight and stupid comic book fans that watch anything that aknowledge their precious subculture (Guilty as charged I recon). Oooh look special effects! Didn’t you wished to see Watchmen in movie?” The answer is no, I didn’t; I already read Watchmen IN A COMIC and it was MORE than perfect that way. Hell, back then, it made me revised my theory about anglo-saxons being barely evoluated chimps with some manner of primitive and trashly commercial culture ;). What I want is more stories about the Watchmen or about any superheros that are as good as that book.

In conclusion, movie adaptation of comic or any non-movie mediums bores me to tears and should die in a fire. GIMME NEW MATERIAL YOU LAZY FUCKS, THOSE STORIES HAVE BEEN TOLD ALREADY AND IN A MUCH BETTER WAY.

P.S.
My english is crap sorry. :(

P.P.S.
Oh by the way Spoony boy, you might want to read some novel from Umberto Eco if you like that semiotic and symbolism stuff. The guy’s a genius (I heard that he’s the lead authority right now on semiotic), all his books really worth a look. You won’t get bored I promess.

I think the only major flaw was the lack of build-up on the characters in certain places, which is probably all there in the full cut. The one that’s probably most noticeable is the very light amount of backstory for the Silk Spectre, which means her role gets marginalized into the “action girl with a shocking secret”.

The new ending is clever, but it feels shaky. Considering that he instantly deduces what’s going on, Doc Manhattan doesn’t actually seem to care all that much (avoiding spoilers, sounds in-character but it feels off in context).

I hope you feel better spoony, and what I’m about to say may have been pointed out already, but the smiley face on mars is straight out of the comic book.

I hope you feel better spoony, and what I’m about to say may have been pointed out already, but the smiley face on mars is straight out of the comic book.

i laugh as you said new material
when they addapt books or comics, or even video games they are two kinds of people
the ones that want something more like the “comic, videogame, book, etc” and the ones that like something based on
but not exactly
as for watchmen creating an alternate history with the characters would be the same as pink panther (yeah silly comparison but im sleepy) its just a trademark name not what it’s supposed to be
so is the director deccision to think ok im want to be hated by who, the literal film adaption fans or the non-literal fil adaption fans
gosh people complain about every silly thing its annoying its good to complain and disagree it creates versatility but to nail every aspect of something EVERY god dammit aspect that pop ups in the screen?

but i’ve have to agree that probably the comic is much better cause what atract us is the characters and their development

i laugh as you said new material
when they addapt books or comics, or even video games they are two kinds of people
the ones that want something more like the “comic, videogame, book, etc” and the ones that like something based on
but not exactly
as for watchmen creating an alternate history with the characters would be the same as pink panther (yeah silly comparison but im sleepy) its just a trademark name not what it’s supposed to be
so is the director deccision to think ok im want to be hated by who, the literal film adaption fans or the non-literal fil adaption fans
gosh people complain about every silly thing its annoying its good to complain and disagree it creates versatility but to nail every aspect of something EVERY god dammit aspect that pop ups in the screen?

but i’ve have to agree that probably the comic is much better cause what atract us is the characters and their development

Surprisingly, it wasn’t the squid that made me dislike the movie, it was the scene after Rorschach exploded.
Nite Owl seems to think, that Rorschach was right and says something like “You made a mistake, Ozy.”
Well, if he knows, that it was a fault, why doesn’t he DO something against it?! I don’t know why they put that into the movie.
It is out of character and just doesn’t seem to make sense (or is that just the german translation?)

Oh, and I thought there was too much violence. I mean, they want me to believe, that Rorschach is the violent maniac but Nite owl and
Silc Spectre walk out at night and break the bones of roughly 20 Yakuzas just for fun?! Sorry, didn’t work for me.
In the end he was the most likable character, I think. And that can’t be a good sign.

And Snyder doubled the bodycount of the comic! Why? was that necessary?

Okay, now I’m done. I hope you will become a man of health and taste soon again, spoony – uhm – Gesundheit!

I’m one of those people who went into the movie having not read the book (yet. That will be solved later today.) I really enjoyed the movie- it wasn’t what I expected- but I liked it a lot.

Please Spoony, tell the fans if you are working or not, I saw a video in wich you said you are fired and got pretty worried about u man, do you have a job right now or what
great video, as always

Please Spoony, tell the fans if you are working or not, I saw a video in wich you said you are fired and got pretty worried about u man, do you have a job right now or what
great video, as always

Although I haven’t read the comic, I really loved the movie and am going to go see it again tonight. I will also be picking up the comic possibly tonight as well, whenever I get the chance.

I do agree with your review (and I did see it on Imax – freaking excellent!). Some parts of the soundtrack did seem out of place, but the one that really did it for me was the song that played when Dr. Manhattan was killing the Vietnamese soldiers. The song made that scene outright comical, when it shouldn’t have been, by any means. Also, Rorschach’s awesomeness was slightly downplayed in the scene where he kills the two criminals in his jail cell, simply because they got in. In the comic, he killed both while he was inside the cell and they were on the outside.

To be fair to the movie, the Mars smiley face was actually in the comic book, but yes, they overplayed the smileys elsewhere.

I do agree with your review (and I did see it on Imax – freaking excellent!). Some parts of the soundtrack did seem out of place, but the one that really did it for me was the song that played when Dr. Manhattan was killing the Vietnamese soldiers. The song made that scene outright comical, when it shouldn’t have been, by any means. Also, Rorschach’s awesomeness was slightly downplayed in the scene where he kills the two criminals in his jail cell, simply because they got in. In the comic, he killed both while he was inside the cell and they were on the outside.

To be fair to the movie, the Mars smiley face was actually in the comic book, but yes, they overplayed the smileys elsewhere.

Oh yes, and just one more thing. A friend of mine reminded me that Ozymandias felt outright terrible after he detonated the city in the comic, but in the movie, it just seemed that he may have been a little fazed afterward. He should have been more emotionally involved.

I saw this in IMAX yesterday and I wasn’t too impressed. The story was kinda weak but it was cool to look at.

I saw this in IMAX yesterday and I wasn’t too impressed. The story was kinda weak but it was cool to look at.

Haven’t had a chance to see the movie yet, but I had a few notes for Spoony, just in case he sees this:
1. The smiley face on Mars was actually in the book.
2. No comic adaptation will ever be more faithful or artistically successful than Sin City. It was exactly like the books, yet much, much better. I don’t understand why everyone talks about 300 when they’re talking about comic-to-movie faithfulness. Sin City did it first, and Sin City did it better.
3. They’ve actually produced all the Tales of the Black Freighter segments in animated form, starring Gerald Butler from 300 as the voice of the sailor. They’ve also produced a 60 Minutes-style documentary based on Hollis Mason’s book “Under the Hood.” Those should be released on DVD in a couple of days, and there’s talk of integrating them with the four hour cut of the movie for a cut that would probably be at least five hours long as a super-special DVD release.

Anyway, can’t say much else until I actually see the movie, but I’ll certainly be back once I have.

Okay, I feel like a tool. I just went back and read all the comments, and I didn’t say a single thing that hadn’t already been said. But then, I did say them all in one place, and with more style. Oh, well. I’ll shut up until I see the movie.

Okay, I feel like a tool. I just went back and read all the comments, and I didn’t say a single thing that hadn’t already been said. But then, I did say them all in one place, and with more style. Oh, well. I’ll shut up until I see the movie.

I must be the only nerd in the world who honestly wasn’t that impressed with Watchmen. I mean, it wasn’t bad by any means, but it was no where near the second coming that so many of my friends seemed to think it was. I walked away from it annoyed and mystified. Before I read it again, I checked the Wiki page to see what deep symbolic mystery I was missing, and all I saw was unnecessary pretension and stupid I Spy games in the backgrounds of the panels. If anyone can tell me what I’m not getting, that would be great.

I actually appreciated the music score, given a little perspective. At the time of watching the movie, each musical cue was a jolt – but each time it made me consider our world as opposed to the Watchmen world – this is a world where ‘All Along the Watchtower’ didn’t have true relevance until 1985, where protesters were shot by young men, who in our world in 1967 were just young, nervous National Guardsmen who didn’t want to shoot on unarmed civilians. It didn’t work on actually viewing the movie, but in restrospect had a great effect in thinking over my reactions.

I actually appreciated the music score, given a little perspective. At the time of watching the movie, each musical cue was a jolt – but each time it made me consider our world as opposed to the Watchmen world – this is a world where ‘All Along the Watchtower’ didn’t have true relevance until 1985, where protesters were shot by young men, who in our world in 1967 were just young, nervous National Guardsmen who didn’t want to shoot on unarmed civilians. It didn’t work on actually viewing the movie, but in restrospect had a great effect in thinking over my reactions.

I am on the same page as you spoony. The thing is I did not read the comic but I did research about it so I could wrap my head around
the story. Its funny I watched it thinking my friend that wanted to go with us but he slept in would have hatted the movie. Since he is a
homo phobe. He is one of thous tools that lessons to HIM and like what ever Bam from jackass like’s. Since he would have been bored
and to dumb to get all the real world evens stuff to really get any thing from it. You really cant blame the guy he just did not put any thing
In to school and just got a GED and is leaching off the world with him getting checks for being unstable.

THANK YOU for being a voice of reason among all the polarizing reviews on this one.

Unlike everyone else, I chose NOT to read the graphic novel before seeing the film. Why? Because it seems that everyone else felt
the need to read it first and I wanted to see it from a different perspective. I personally really liked it! I thought it was well stylized, and
a lot of fun. I had no idea that the ending was different than what it was supposed to be until I got out of the film and my boyfriend and I
talked about it. He actually liked the film ending a lot because he felt that the “squid ending” would be far too campy for the purposes of
the film.

And I suppose I was far too distracted by Silk Spectre’s titties to notice how bad of an actress she was. Hehe. Especially seeing them in
IMAX.

Thanks for the great commentary :) I’m going to start reading now!!

1) Anyone who thinks Watchmen is a bad comic book, and thinks they have legitimate reasons to think so, is wrong and stupid and they are not my friend. They need to read the fuckin’ book again and pay attention this time.

2) Sin City was probably the best comic to screen adaptation simply by the virtue of having the creator right there with you and literally using the comic as storyboards. I enjoyed both it and 300, which was also a grand adaptation of a misogynistic, machismo-driven, historically inaccurate, totally badass comic book (coincidentally also by Frank Miller. Wow, it’s like he can’t write anything else!).

3) I’ve heard Rorschach and Dr. Manhattan were excellent in their respective roles. I would love to hear what you thought of them and their characters, Spoony.

THANK YOU for being a voice of reason among all the polarizing reviews on this one.

Unlike everyone else, I chose NOT to read the graphic novel before seeing the film. Why? Because it seems that everyone else felt
the need to read it first and I wanted to see it from a different perspective. I personally really liked it! I thought it was well stylized, and
a lot of fun. I had no idea that the ending was different than what it was supposed to be until I got out of the film and my boyfriend and I
talked about it. He actually liked the film ending a lot because he felt that the “squid ending” would be far too campy for the purposes of
the film.

And I suppose I was far too distracted by Silk Spectre’s titties to notice how bad of an actress she was. Hehe. Especially seeing them in
IMAX.

Thanks for the great commentary :) I’m going to start reading now!!

@49- Congratulations for admitting that you’re a small minded buffoon with nothing to add. The moment you say that there is only one right opinion, is the moment you prove you have nothing to add to a discussion.

@49- Congratulations for admitting that you’re a small minded buffoon with nothing to add. The moment you say that there is only one right opinion, is the moment you prove you have nothing to add to a discussion.

The squid wasn’t included because they felt it required too much back story and the movie was already pretty fuckin’ long xD

So you want some input on why it’s not liked?

To be honest, I don’t really have an opinion on it. I know I’ve ranted in the forums about why I wouldn’t like it, and all the fanboys railed against me for days on end, basically accusing me of being a complete jerk.

But really, the ads for the movie didn’t even get me revved up. I watched them and went “this looks a lot like Sin City”. Now, with artistic style that’s pretty good. But in terms of the movie… Well, I was bored with Sin City, and this movie didn’t look to be any more interesting. I’d never heard of “Watchmen” until I saw the previews for this movie. And it didn’t do a good job of roping me in to even check the movie out, purely out of curiosity. I felt more axious about the previews and hype of the movie ending than actually waiting for it to come out. And after hearing that it was based on a comic, I went “so it’s something made purely to cash in on the already existing fanbase?” and left it at that.

I don’t typically support movies of that nature simply because of all the horrendous ones out there which attempt to do the same thing. The other reason I don’t support movies that try to cash in on the already existing fanbase, is because it’s highly unoriginal. It basically promotes laziness within Hollywood. “What? Make a new movie with an original plot and dialogue? Why should we do that when we can make a movie about something that’s already incredibly popular and cash in on that alone?”.

Don’t get me wrong, there are interests I have which I would love to see on the big screen… But it doesn’t make the action any less lazy.

And really, that right there is the reason I have no interest in seeing watchmen. The previews don’t make it look any good, and it’s basically a cash-in on an already existing fanbase. I’ll let the target audience watch it and make their decisions on it. I’m giving it a huge “pass” and moving onto something else.

So you want some input on why it’s not liked?

To be honest, I don’t really have an opinion on it. I know I’ve ranted in the forums about why I wouldn’t like it, and all the fanboys railed against me for days on end, basically accusing me of being a complete jerk.

But really, the ads for the movie didn’t even get me revved up. I watched them and went “this looks a lot like Sin City”. Now, with artistic style that’s pretty good. But in terms of the movie… Well, I was bored with Sin City, and this movie didn’t look to be any more interesting. I’d never heard of “Watchmen” until I saw the previews for this movie. And it didn’t do a good job of roping me in to even check the movie out, purely out of curiosity. I felt more axious about the previews and hype of the movie ending than actually waiting for it to come out. And after hearing that it was based on a comic, I went “so it’s something made purely to cash in on the already existing fanbase?” and left it at that.

I don’t typically support movies of that nature simply because of all the horrendous ones out there which attempt to do the same thing. The other reason I don’t support movies that try to cash in on the already existing fanbase, is because it’s highly unoriginal. It basically promotes laziness within Hollywood. “What? Make a new movie with an original plot and dialogue? Why should we do that when we can make a movie about something that’s already incredibly popular and cash in on that alone?”.

Don’t get me wrong, there are interests I have which I would love to see on the big screen… But it doesn’t make the action any less lazy.

And really, that right there is the reason I have no interest in seeing watchmen. The previews don’t make it look any good, and it’s basically a cash-in on an already existing fanbase. I’ll let the target audience watch it and make their decisions on it. I’m giving it a huge “pass” and moving onto something else.

Hey Spoony, thank you for all the great videos you put out. They are very informative and entertaining.

Loved the movie. Agreed with just about everything you said. My only comment is… RED ZONE CUBA!

Loved the movie. Agreed with just about everything you said. My only comment is… RED ZONE CUBA!

You and I feel about the same about it Spoony. Almost the exact same in fact.

I do think about 15-20 minutes might have been shaved off if the slow-mo wasn’t going off – it was the worst with the punches and at the end, though.

I thought blaming Doc was a bit ridiculous, and their reasoning for not including the squid was pretty ridiculous, too.

The Comedian was a lot more important in the book, and they explain it in the book, too.

I also found this film lacking all subtlety – the worst lines of dialogue, the most stilted and awkward, were all ones NOT from the comic, and were all extremely expositional, things that were revealed in the comic without blatantly stating them, got not only stated but repeated.

I do think about 15-20 minutes might have been shaved off if the slow-mo wasn’t going off – it was the worst with the punches and at the end, though.

I thought blaming Doc was a bit ridiculous, and their reasoning for not including the squid was pretty ridiculous, too.

The Comedian was a lot more important in the book, and they explain it in the book, too.

I also found this film lacking all subtlety – the worst lines of dialogue, the most stilted and awkward, were all ones NOT from the comic, and were all extremely expositional, things that were revealed in the comic without blatantly stating them, got not only stated but repeated.

I went in expecting it to suck, and I really enjoyed it. I was quite surprised by how much I liked it.
I agreed with most of your opinions, especially concerning the soundtrack. The Bob Dylan opening was amazing, but a lot of the rest of it just sort of clunked.
I thought that the movie would be a little harder to understand for people who hadn’t read the comic book in the first place; there were a few things that came out of nowhere, like Bubastis. It was like okay, now he has a strange looking cat. Why?
I did notice the slow motion and I approved of it. I thought it was a very cool device.
I honestly didn’t notice the smiley so much. I mean, yeah I saw the badge, and I thought the Mars smiley was a little much, but I didn’t notice it otherwise.
So I could nitpick at the movie, but I really liked it and I encourage others to see it. And read it.

I feel about the same way as Spoony. I quite enjoyed it and thought it was a little better than I was expecting. Granted blaming Dr. Manhattan doesn’t make quite as much sense, but on the other hand because they live in this alternate reality where having a superhero on America’s side has brought the world to the brink of nuclear war, Veidt excising him from the picture was, to me, almost like hitting the reset button, and it showed the world that suddenly they needed to fear him rather than America, who clearly was no longer in control of him, so it sort of restored the status quo in a sense.

I personally think the squid would have been a little too ridiculous for a 21/2 hour movie. The book had a little more leisure to pull you into Ozymandeus’ crazy world, and I think part of the impact of it in the book WAS that it was so freaking ridiculous (and Night Owl and Rorschache clearly thought so), but it worked because everything had been subtly building up to it for some hundred pages. And anyway, I agree with you that the fact that it is a squid is largely beside the point. I sort of felt Ozymandeus’ plot was sort of a moral parallel to the Hiroshima bombings, among other things, and whether or not it involves giant squids, quantum blasts, or radioactive pandas is sort of missing the point.

The only really big criticism I had with the film was that I thought they made Veidt’s character WAAAY too obviously the villain right from the first time you see him. I need to talk to people who hadn’t seen the comic beforehand, but from where I was sitting they might as well have given him a big curly mustache.

I feel about the same way as Spoony. I quite enjoyed it and thought it was a little better than I was expecting. Granted blaming Dr. Manhattan doesn’t make quite as much sense, but on the other hand because they live in this alternate reality where having a superhero on America’s side has brought the world to the brink of nuclear war, Veidt excising him from the picture was, to me, almost like hitting the reset button, and it showed the world that suddenly they needed to fear him rather than America, who clearly was no longer in control of him, so it sort of restored the status quo in a sense.

I personally think the squid would have been a little too ridiculous for a 21/2 hour movie. The book had a little more leisure to pull you into Ozymandeus’ crazy world, and I think part of the impact of it in the book WAS that it was so freaking ridiculous (and Night Owl and Rorschache clearly thought so), but it worked because everything had been subtly building up to it for some hundred pages. And anyway, I agree with you that the fact that it is a squid is largely beside the point. I sort of felt Ozymandeus’ plot was sort of a moral parallel to the Hiroshima bombings, among other things, and whether or not it involves giant squids, quantum blasts, or radioactive pandas is sort of missing the point.

The only really big criticism I had with the film was that I thought they made Veidt’s character WAAAY too obviously the villain right from the first time you see him. I need to talk to people who hadn’t seen the comic beforehand, but from where I was sitting they might as well have given him a big curly mustache.

Ok, this is coming from someone who never read many comics, Watchmen being one I didn’t. I saw it yesterday, and in my opinion, it was fantastic. The score didn’t bother me (except for maybe “All Along the Watchtower” on the way to Veidt’s base of operations. The acting was great from all the actors, even from Silk Spectre ll. I am hard pressed to find any real fault with it. Zack really knew how to get both fans and first-timers of the comic to enjoy the film. I sure did. Also, the diologue didn’t seem clunky to me. It flowed well enough to seem that these characters were human in their nature and intentions. This movie has finally given me the push that I needed to finally read the graphic novel. So in that regard, as Spoony said, the movie was sucessful in its execution.

My stepson actually complained that there wasn’t enough action in it.

I looked at him and said “The graphic novel didn’t really have any real fighting in it. It had a fight in a jail, and a couple people getting punked by costumed vigilantes. One sided fist fights.”

and other people complain about too much action being in it.

Just proof that you can’t please everyone.

My stepson actually complained that there wasn’t enough action in it.

I looked at him and said “The graphic novel didn’t really have any real fighting in it. It had a fight in a jail, and a couple people getting punked by costumed vigilantes. One sided fist fights.”

and other people complain about too much action being in it.

Just proof that you can’t please everyone.

God dammit. . .I had a multip-point diatribe on this whole thing ready to go and be impressive when for some reason the computer decided it’d be great to go back a page. All right, the short-short version. SPOILERS AHOY:

A) The movie was damned good, almost great. The ending’s shift in focus didn’t knock me out but I could live with it. The first two-thirds of the movie had been so reverentially faithful to the spirit of Moore and Gibbon’s work I could forgive it that much.

B) Film is a separate and distinct medium from comics. Unlike a comic that can be read again and again, gone back over, leafed through and examined upon purchase, a film has the exact length of it’s running time in the theater to take you on a journey and immerse you in its world. I didn’t think everything worked in the movie (sex scenes, the abandonment of the Hollis Mason arc, the sudden spontaenous appearance of a gun for Silk Spectre to shoot Ozymandias with) but what did work was enough to offset anything I felt overly jarring. The opening sequence alone was nothing short of amazing.

C) The casting was nothing short of phenomenal. Rorschach, the Comedian, Nite Owl II, and Manhattan were bang-on. The Silk Spectres were managable, but I do agree they were the weakest bit of business in the movie.

Overall, the film is an amazing achievement, and as reasonably close to the spirit of the comicbook as we were ever likely to get from the studio system. Reading about Snyder’s fights to make the film and get it as good as it was I have an immense and abiding respect from the man. Say what you will of him but at least he gave a shit about making a good movie. And he did. It may not be a perfect and seamless adaptation, but it’s true to the essence of the original work and it will generate discussion. I can’t think of a higher compliment to pay to a movie in that it will not only make you think but make you talk about it with your friends afterward.

Stacy

Okay spoony, I agree with most of the points that you stated. But To let you know, the smiley on Mars is in the comic. It’s an actual crater on Mars as well, and I supposed that’s why it was put in the novel.

You are right on about the squid. I wasn’t sure how much a dealbreaker it would be for me, but the movie did a great job of setitng up its ending. If they did the squid, they probably would’ve had to put even more plot to the missing artists and authors and scientists that Viedt shipped off to create it.

About the slo-mo. It bothered me in the trailers, but in the movie I don’t really think that i noticed any slo-mo other than the Comedian jumping off the owlship. I think it was well integrated, but i undedrstand how that isn’t everyone cup of tea.

Okay spoony, I agree with most of the points that you stated. But To let you know, the smiley on Mars is in the comic. It’s an actual crater on Mars as well, and I supposed that’s why it was put in the novel.

You are right on about the squid. I wasn’t sure how much a dealbreaker it would be for me, but the movie did a great job of setitng up its ending. If they did the squid, they probably would’ve had to put even more plot to the missing artists and authors and scientists that Viedt shipped off to create it.

About the slo-mo. It bothered me in the trailers, but in the movie I don’t really think that i noticed any slo-mo other than the Comedian jumping off the owlship. I think it was well integrated, but i undedrstand how that isn’t everyone cup of tea.

The Motion Comic is really good. The big difference is it doesn’t have all the little biographies and journal entries from Rorschach’s psychiatrist and what not. The stuff in between the chapters, in other words.

ooh and another thing. My freind who watched it never read the novel before. One of them really wanted to know where the hell Rorschach’s mask came from becasue that wasn’t adressed in the film. The other wanted to know where Nite Owl’s artic coat came from, since they never set up the fact that he has alternate suits. But those things are rather small all things considered.

ooh and another thing. My freind who watched it never read the novel before. One of them really wanted to know where the hell Rorschach’s mask came from becasue that wasn’t adressed in the film. The other wanted to know where Nite Owl’s artic coat came from, since they never set up the fact that he has alternate suits. But those things are rather small all things considered.

I saw it at midnight, and I thought it was pretty great. I’d previously read the first third or so of the book, so I had a basic understanding of the characters and plot. From what I had read, it seemed to follow the plot of the book almost exactly.

I have to agree that some of the music choices were a little off. Hallelujah, anyone?

Still, great movie. I can’t wait for the extended cut, and I’m definitely going to finish the book now and see what this giant squid nonsense is all about.

I actually saw the premier in Toronto Canada and the actress who played silk spectre was there and made a short intro to it

I actually saw the premier in Toronto Canada and the actress who played silk spectre was there and made a short intro to it

Just an FYI o the Music…

“All along the Watchtowers” WAS playing in the craft on the trip to Ozys base, that’s not a choice by Snyder, that’s from the comic.

Discontent about the lack of a psychic alien squid doesn’t make any sense to me. I found the squid ending completely ridiculous when I read the comic. For one thing, any half-decent scientist would have been able to examine it and realize its DNA is basically human. For another, introducing a sudden extra-terrestrial threat (albeit a fake one) seemed wildly out of place in a comic that had so far concentrated so hard on being as realistic as possible. Maybe if Alan Moore had sprinkled the book with hints about the possibility of alien life, such as people on the street talking about it or included a faux-newspaper speculating about the existence of aliens, it might have worked. But absent that it seems to come right the fuck out of nowhere.

Also, if they had kept the squid in the movie they would’ve had to explain why its there, and they just didn’t have the time to go over all that. In fact I believe the filmmakers specifically cited this as one of the reasons they changed the ending.

P.S. The smiley on Mars was intended to reinforce the “one-in-a-million miracle chance” thing that caused Dr. Manhattan to return to Earth. Laurie was conceived in defiance of astronomical odds against it, making her existence essentially a miracle. Coincidentally this realization occurs in the center of a Martian crater that just happens to resemble a smiley face.

Discontent about the lack of a psychic alien squid doesn’t make any sense to me. I found the squid ending completely ridiculous when I read the comic. For one thing, any half-decent scientist would have been able to examine it and realize its DNA is basically human. For another, introducing a sudden extra-terrestrial threat (albeit a fake one) seemed wildly out of place in a comic that had so far concentrated so hard on being as realistic as possible. Maybe if Alan Moore had sprinkled the book with hints about the possibility of alien life, such as people on the street talking about it or included a faux-newspaper speculating about the existence of aliens, it might have worked. But absent that it seems to come right the fuck out of nowhere.

Also, if they had kept the squid in the movie they would’ve had to explain why its there, and they just didn’t have the time to go over all that. In fact I believe the filmmakers specifically cited this as one of the reasons they changed the ending.

P.S. The smiley on Mars was intended to reinforce the “one-in-a-million miracle chance” thing that caused Dr. Manhattan to return to Earth. Laurie was conceived in defiance of astronomical odds against it, making her existence essentially a miracle. Coincidentally this realization occurs in the center of a Martian crater that just happens to resemble a smiley face.

I haven’t read the novel in ages either, and I sort of flicked through it to refresh my memory before I went, but all in all I really loved the movie. I thought it made what’s a very complex story accessible and a lot of fun with a good ending from the standpoint that my mother who saw it with me and my dad had never read the book (my dad has read it too) and yet she still got a lot of impact out of the ending. We were still talking about it the next day and I actually got my copy out for her to show her how some of the scenes were literally panel for panel and she actually started flicking through it. She’s never been a comic lover and I think she’s actually really interested to read it now; having told me that it had left an impression on her.

So I think you’re right, whatever side people come down on I think that the movie achieved its goal and I’ll probably see it again.

I went to see this with my 7 buddies, none of which had read the comic. They absolutely loved it. Not that anyone of them will the comic afterwards.
I felt that the movie shouldn’t have been made. Not because it was bad or anything, it was actually pretty good. They managed to adapt the main plotline pretty well. But because it was almost completely similiar to the comic, I felt that I knew the story already. It had been told before, and I see no reason to tell it again.
Nice movie, but like many adaptations/remakes, I felt it was pointless

I went to see this with my 7 buddies, none of which had read the comic. They absolutely loved it. Not that anyone of them will the comic afterwards.
I felt that the movie shouldn’t have been made. Not because it was bad or anything, it was actually pretty good. They managed to adapt the main plotline pretty well. But because it was almost completely similiar to the comic, I felt that I knew the story already. It had been told before, and I see no reason to tell it again.
Nice movie, but like many adaptations/remakes, I felt it was pointless

I liked the ending better, so sue me, fanbois. I hated the original ending. SO MUCH. It pissed me off. Oh god. I mean, just ignoring that Manhattan was going after Rorschach like in the book would have PISSED ME OFF. But Nite Owl goes after them and REACTS to it! agh.

I liked Manhattan WAY BETTER in the movie. Sorry, fanbois. He was way less “I know what is going to happen and I am going to let it happen.” He was more human, despite them doing a VERY good job at making him inhuman.

They filled the holes left by stuff they cut out REALLY NICELY.

PS: The Comedian found out about the squid by finding the ship exploding or something and researched. I think.

Also, 99 Red Balloons? References aliens invading. Heh. In-joke!

The action was BRUTAL, oh my god. Like wincing in pain brutal. It was not hurr blood yey brutal. I was impressed. Even then, Rorschach managed to be even MORE brutal.

The actresses… they weren’t THAT bad, I guess… they just were not NEARLY as awesome as all the others. The others were incredible.

The smiley? Was in the book a LOT MORE than the movie. So was the clock. Really.

Overall, I really thought this was a great movie. as you pointed out, I think there were some minor details lost, but I don’t think it was any huge deal. Also, one thing I saw a lot which I think a most people probably missed was that there was a picture of an elephant popping up every were, mostly when Nite Owl II and Silk specter meet after specter leaves John. I think this is pretty much symbolic of the obvious ” Elephant in the room.”

Overall, I really thought this was a great movie. as you pointed out, I think there were some minor details lost, but I don’t think it was any huge deal. Also, one thing I saw a lot which I think a most people probably missed was that there was a picture of an elephant popping up every were, mostly when Nite Owl II and Silk specter meet after specter leaves John. I think this is pretty much symbolic of the obvious ” Elephant in the room.”

I’m actually rather creeped out at how many of your points I completely agree on and came to on my own. The confusion with The Comedian’s connection, the 99 Red Balloons being a problem, and the acting of The Silk Spectre were all things I complained about after seeing it.

I never read or even herd of watchmen but the movie was great and I was sad to watch rorschach die he was great and I hope thay make a movie of his diary. o a man tells his doctore he is depresed, his life is sad and lonely the doctor says go in to towen and see bopo the clowen and you feel better the man says doctore I am bopo the clowen.

I never read or even herd of watchmen but the movie was great and I was sad to watch rorschach die he was great and I hope thay make a movie of his diary. o a man tells his doctore he is depresed, his life is sad and lonely the doctor says go in to towen and see bopo the clowen and you feel better the man says doctore I am bopo the clowen.

Weird – been having some video troubles here lately. This video cut out for me just before halfway through, and the aspect ratio is all messed up. Any thoughts?

“The confusion with The Comedian’s connection”

I actually didn’t even notice that particular plot hole until Spoony pointed it out to me. Still, it’s not so hard to resolve.
The basic premise is The Comedian was traumatized when he found out Ozymandias’ plan. That works for either ending.
They just didn’t come out and say it in the movie (at least not that I recall).

“The confusion with The Comedian’s connection”

I actually didn’t even notice that particular plot hole until Spoony pointed it out to me. Still, it’s not so hard to resolve.
The basic premise is The Comedian was traumatized when he found out Ozymandias’ plan. That works for either ending.
They just didn’t come out and say it in the movie (at least not that I recall).

I’m Cherokee Jack!

My big problem with the ending was that it didn’t give Adrian the chance to ask Dr. Manhattan if he did the right thing like he does in the novel. I though that was the most important moment for the character of Veidt, it’s the only time he shows any kind of humility. Also, I didn’t like Nite Owl seeing and reacting to Rorschach’s death. The point is that Rorschach is the only one who doesn’t compromise his values, everyone else is just complacent. The movie ending kind of detracts from the moral ambiguity, which is what made the ending of the novel so great. That’s not to say I didn’t like the movie, I actually did.

My big problem with the ending was that it didn’t give Adrian the chance to ask Dr. Manhattan if he did the right thing like he does in the novel. I though that was the most important moment for the character of Veidt, it’s the only time he shows any kind of humility. Also, I didn’t like Nite Owl seeing and reacting to Rorschach’s death. The point is that Rorschach is the only one who doesn’t compromise his values, everyone else is just complacent. The movie ending kind of detracts from the moral ambiguity, which is what made the ending of the novel so great. That’s not to say I didn’t like the movie, I actually did.

I agree with you in the whole thing about how the Comedian came across Ozymandias plan, in the comic he sort of comes across the island with the whole missing artists and scientists and I think that it would have being more likely for him to piece together what they were doing than in the way it was shown in the movie where they used energy that was similar to Dr. Manhattan’s energy, I actually said to a friend that unless scientists where going around speaking something among the lines of how they were going to replicate Dr. Manhattan’s energy in order to destroy several cities around the world. I don’t see how he could have figured it out. Also, another thing is that I think the needed to characterize the characters better, but then again there’s the whole issue of run time. From my perspective, they portrayed the first Silk Spectre as hating the Comedian while in the comic book she cared about him and even loved him. Overall, it was a good movie in my opinion and it is worth checking out.

I can’t remember the book that well, so I hope my thoughts are correct…

My only beef is that Veidt was a very vaguely explained character in the movie. Also after the bombing, he was antagonized alittle too much in the movie. In the book the characters let it go after he proved he saved the world.

My other belief is that leaving out the Newspaper seller and the kid(can’t remember the names) until the end left out a connection you got with people living under such circumstances. You end up becoming attached with them as the book goes on and it becomes a tragic thing when they die in the explosion. They were ignored through the movie so you wouldn’t get the same impact. That’s just me though.

Anyway, I appreciated the movie as a honest attempt. I could nitpick all day, but I couldn’t see a movie being made any better. If they had all the money and time in the world to completely cover the story I’m sure they would. Even though I preffered the book, it was fun to watch in theater. It’d be worth buying on DVD.

The smiley on Mars really exist. http://www.msss.com/education/happy_face/happy_face.html creepy

I thought Silk Spectre 1 was fine. Though I do agree Silk Spectre II was pretty bland.

I thought Silk Spectre 1 was fine. Though I do agree Silk Spectre II was pretty bland.

I won’t read Watchmen (not much of a reader). I might check out that audio thing of it, whatever it was. I love to watch movies, so no doubt I will check it out. However, it’s pretty easy to entertain me with games and movies, if I like it, I like it. If not, then I don’t. Simple as that.

I’m not a comic book fan, but The Watchmen sound more interesting after listening to your review. I’ll check out the comic… graphic novel… whatever.

I’m not a comic book fan, but The Watchmen sound more interesting after listening to your review. I’ll check out the comic… graphic novel… whatever.

Veidt *did* mention the Comedian being sent to watch him (Veidt). Like many details this had to be brief. I read the book, so could ‘fill in” parts, but they tried to cover everything. There was just no room, and some aspects were implied. Adding ‘a line or two’ for clarification gets you the (speculative) 4 hour release. They could make a mini-series, with each volume being one part, to get everything. Actually, that could work. Room for the pirate story, Under the Hood, and those other subplots. It could be like Roots, only with crime fighting and angst!

Nite Owl’s winter garb was in the case with his regular costume. It takes work to catch all the details. Actually, this is an advantage of the big screen. In the comic it was not easy to make out these details, so dialog helped to “force” the perspective.

None of the characters had much fleshing out. That explains the moral *unambiguity.* We had to know at the beginning that Comedian was naughty and Nite Owl was nice. Rorschach’s death was probably the deepest part of the movie. A clash of people trying to do good.

There really was much more fighting, gore, and wire-fu than needed. They seemed determined to get their money’s worth of stunt doubles and special effects people. A dozen mugger, who all hang around for their helping of whoop-ass? Couldn’t Dr. Manhattan find a neater way of killing people? Hell, in the book and movie, was there a point in *beating up* Comedian rather than something quiet?

Finally, I still can’t make sense of “Dr. Manhattan attacks world.” External threats don’t lead to long-term peace, especially when that threat is about to disappear. As a Taste of Armageddon (ST:TOS) it makes sense, since people will push for things more when they don’t have to see the consequences. My only hope may, *may*, be the extended version. Damn.

It’s past my bed time, but I want to thank Spoony and all y’all for a place to hash this all out.

I saw it with a bunch of friends, some who had read it and some who hadn’t, while also having refreshed myself with the motion comic earlier in the week (highly recommended, by the way. It’s the full graphic novel, completely unabridged).

I can understand why they made a number of changes that they made (as expected “the Black Freighter” was left on the cutting room floor and I was thankful for it as I didn’t much care for it in the graphic novel). But some of those changes kinda presented new problems and plot holes.

SPOILERS AHEAD!

With people being kicked and thrown about with relative ease, it gives the impression that everyone had powers, when really it was only Dr. Manhattan who possessed any form of super abilities. Also, Roscharch’s mask wasn’t explained (again furthering the idea that he had abilities above the normal human), nor was Ozymandius’s genetically altered pet, Bubastis. Both of which could’ve easily been explained away in a couple of lines.

With Dr. Manhattan being the cause of Armageddon, it kinda presents something of a plot hole, because if he caused something that catastrophic, with all of the other Watchmen defying the Keene Act so flagrantly and just before Armageddon hit (again, caused by one of their own), wouldn’t that make them World Enemy #1? Just from that alone they should’ve been on the run forever, and even moreso once Roscharch’s journal was published. It the novel it was explained that they had to alter their identities, go into hiding, and there was a real sense of urgency to it. But in the movie, everyone just went back to life as usual.

The exclusion of the murder of Nite Owl I left some material that could’ve further expanded the character of Nite Owl II.

I have to say that I liked how Silk Spectre was portrayed in the movie. As she was (at least to me) one of the least likable characters in the graphic novel. If nothing else, the adaptation made that character likable to me.

That’s about all I have at the moment, but all in all I thought it was very good, and felt nothing like it’s nearly 3 hour runtime.

I saw it with a bunch of friends, some who had read it and some who hadn’t, while also having refreshed myself with the motion comic earlier in the week (highly recommended, by the way. It’s the full graphic novel, completely unabridged).

I can understand why they made a number of changes that they made (as expected “the Black Freighter” was left on the cutting room floor and I was thankful for it as I didn’t much care for it in the graphic novel). But some of those changes kinda presented new problems and plot holes.

SPOILERS AHEAD!

With people being kicked and thrown about with relative ease, it gives the impression that everyone had powers, when really it was only Dr. Manhattan who possessed any form of super abilities. Also, Roscharch’s mask wasn’t explained (again furthering the idea that he had abilities above the normal human), nor was Ozymandius’s genetically altered pet, Bubastis. Both of which could’ve easily been explained away in a couple of lines.

With Dr. Manhattan being the cause of Armageddon, it kinda presents something of a plot hole, because if he caused something that catastrophic, with all of the other Watchmen defying the Keene Act so flagrantly and just before Armageddon hit (again, caused by one of their own), wouldn’t that make them World Enemy #1? Just from that alone they should’ve been on the run forever, and even moreso once Roscharch’s journal was published. It the novel it was explained that they had to alter their identities, go into hiding, and there was a real sense of urgency to it. But in the movie, everyone just went back to life as usual.

The exclusion of the murder of Nite Owl I left some material that could’ve further expanded the character of Nite Owl II.

I have to say that I liked how Silk Spectre was portrayed in the movie. As she was (at least to me) one of the least likable characters in the graphic novel. If nothing else, the adaptation made that character likable to me.

That’s about all I have at the moment, but all in all I thought it was very good, and felt nothing like it’s nearly 3 hour runtime.

Actually, there was one more thing I meant to mention, and it was something that was on my mind from the moment it happened in the movie. It’s a rather disturbing sign of the times when, in ’86 all it took to achieve a semblance of world peace and the coming together for the sake of humanity was for New York to be, essentially, nuked by an alien threat while in the movie it takes the blowing up of at least a dozen major cities all over the world to achieve the same effect.

The main problem I had with the Silk Spectre acting job was that she never got angry enough. With her mother in most of those scenes, with Doc Manhattan after she catches him working while still being in bed with her, she only seemed to be annoyed or confused…never actually angry.

Silk Spectre and Nite Owl being as brutal as they were in the fight with the gang members seemed out of place, mainly because it kind of stole a little of Rorschach’s thunder. For example, Rorschach going to town on the kidnapper with a meat clever was almost a step back from what he did to the guy in the comic, but the level of brutality was perfectly normal for him, but seeing other people approach that same level of brutality(popping a guy’s bone out of his skin, and stabbing another one with his own knife) seems to make Rorschach feel less extreme.

I didn’t mind not seeing the squid, and seeing how they placed the movie together, it’s exclusion really tells me they were paying attention. There were a lot of plot points that would have had to be included and characters expounded on to explain why the squid was a unifying force of a threat, how it came into existence, etc., and it would have either had another 30 to 45 minutes added to it, or they’d have had to find things to replace to fit it in.

They did mention that the Comedian was keeping tabs on Veidt, but I think it should have been a little more pronounced. As you said, the murder of the Comedian was the start of everything, and they should have put in more than a brief line or two to explain why Veidt would bother at all.

The main problem I had with the Silk Spectre acting job was that she never got angry enough. With her mother in most of those scenes, with Doc Manhattan after she catches him working while still being in bed with her, she only seemed to be annoyed or confused…never actually angry.

Silk Spectre and Nite Owl being as brutal as they were in the fight with the gang members seemed out of place, mainly because it kind of stole a little of Rorschach’s thunder. For example, Rorschach going to town on the kidnapper with a meat clever was almost a step back from what he did to the guy in the comic, but the level of brutality was perfectly normal for him, but seeing other people approach that same level of brutality(popping a guy’s bone out of his skin, and stabbing another one with his own knife) seems to make Rorschach feel less extreme.

I didn’t mind not seeing the squid, and seeing how they placed the movie together, it’s exclusion really tells me they were paying attention. There were a lot of plot points that would have had to be included and characters expounded on to explain why the squid was a unifying force of a threat, how it came into existence, etc., and it would have either had another 30 to 45 minutes added to it, or they’d have had to find things to replace to fit it in.

They did mention that the Comedian was keeping tabs on Veidt, but I think it should have been a little more pronounced. As you said, the murder of the Comedian was the start of everything, and they should have put in more than a brief line or two to explain why Veidt would bother at all.

Yeah I’m not going to read through the 88 comments to see if someone else pointed out this shit, but:

The smiley face on mars was taken directly from the comic, the smiley face is even ACTUALLY ON MARS. There’s pictures of it on the internet you can find easily. Also, the soundtrack was almost entirely taken directly from quotes and references in the comic.

Anyway, I did enjoy some of the scenes that weren’t in the comic and were added in. Like the Comedian killing JFK and Rorschach putting his face back on and asking the psychologist “what do you see?” Great shit.

I’m also glad they kept Bubastis in the film even though they nixed the squid plot. There’s really no reason for him to exist without the squid, but I’m glad he was there. However, I do know that a lot of people were greatly confused by his sudden appearance and lack of explanation, but fuck ‘em. Bubastis is the shit.

I wanted to see Watchmen SOOOOOO Bad but the annoying thing is… I’m not 18… So that kinda sucks…. I think I will buy the graphic Novel and read it… maybe.

I really liked the movie, and I get the change in the ending, but one scene that kinda threw me off was the flashback Rorschach has of him killing the child murderer. I liked how in the comic he threw the guy the saw and said you have 10 seconds before this pipe blows, but it’ll take 15 to cute the chains. I don’t get why they switched such an awesome scene to him just hitting the guy in the face with a meat cleaver…

I really liked the movie, and I get the change in the ending, but one scene that kinda threw me off was the flashback Rorschach has of him killing the child murderer. I liked how in the comic he threw the guy the saw and said you have 10 seconds before this pipe blows, but it’ll take 15 to cute the chains. I don’t get why they switched such an awesome scene to him just hitting the guy in the face with a meat cleaver…

It’s called the doomsday clock thank you very much!
And was it just me or was the movie fuckin loud as HELL!!!!!!!

I’m a fourth class of viewer–I never read the graphic novel, but I enjoyed the movie.

The smiley was on mars also in the graphic novel.

The smiley was on mars also in the graphic novel.

Overall, I really enjoyed the movie. My quibbles were minor ones- such as them cutting out certain lines (such as some of the stuff between Laurie and Dr. Manhattan on Mars) and I would agree with the ‘too much slo-mo’ complaint.

But for the most part I was very pleased and felt that it was incredibly faithful to the source material. I actually saw it twice and it holds up well on a second viewing.

“I really liked the movie, and I get the change in the ending, but one scene that kinda threw me off was the flashback Rorschach has of him killing the child murderer. I liked how in the comic he threw the guy the saw and said you have 10 seconds before this pipe blows, but it’ll take 15 to cute the chains. I don’t get why they switched such an awesome scene to him just hitting the guy in the face with a meat cleaver…”

Personally, I think that change actually works better in the movie. The way it worked out in the comic was just too… premeditated. It didn’t seem like the action of somebody whose psyche was just irretrievably broken. The chopping he does in the movie is just more raw and primal; like Rorshach’s brain just broke and he’s just doing something, ANYTHING to make it stop. The way he kept chopping at the guy’s head over and over, when one would have done the job, backs that up.

“I really liked the movie, and I get the change in the ending, but one scene that kinda threw me off was the flashback Rorschach has of him killing the child murderer. I liked how in the comic he threw the guy the saw and said you have 10 seconds before this pipe blows, but it’ll take 15 to cute the chains. I don’t get why they switched such an awesome scene to him just hitting the guy in the face with a meat cleaver…”

Personally, I think that change actually works better in the movie. The way it worked out in the comic was just too… premeditated. It didn’t seem like the action of somebody whose psyche was just irretrievably broken. The chopping he does in the movie is just more raw and primal; like Rorshach’s brain just broke and he’s just doing something, ANYTHING to make it stop. The way he kept chopping at the guy’s head over and over, when one would have done the job, backs that up.

A few points that don’t seem to have come up yet:

1. I thought the actor playing Dan was brilliant. I didn’t really care too much about Night Owl in the book, but the actor in the movie really made me care about his character.
2. Speaking of Dan…the first two sex scenes of the movie were pretty hilarious. (Jon working with Adrian meanwhile, and Dan “needing a couple minutes.”) The third was a bit much, IMHO. I understand why it was there, but it could have been a little less graphic. It’s not even really an issue of being offended; I just thought it was unnecessary.
3. At the same time, I was glad they didn’t dress up Jon, and I was really surprised that his on-screen nudity was never really distracting.
4. I loved all the songs in the movie, though I agree that some were misused. One part I did enjoy though was the first fight scene taking place to Unforgettable. I thought that worked pretty well because of how much it contrasted.
5. Moot point, as this didn’t matter one way or the other, but they did a good job with Ozzy’s pet. I was honestly expecting them to leave it out of the movie since it would be a bit hard on the special effects, but they made it look pretty real. Well, as real as you could make that thing look.
6. The makeup was good too. Miss Jupiter is only about 7 years older than Laurie, but they made her look young enough in the flashbacks to make sense and old enough in the present day to be Laurie’s mother. I’ll agree the acting was pretty mediocre though.
7. I was also glad to see the old costumes on the Minutemen. I was a little scared upon seeing Ozzy’s costume in the trailer, and I figured they’d all have that overly stylized look. Nope. The Minutemen’s costumes look pretty handmade.
8. Rorshack’s costume was the only one that bothered me. I was a bit distracted by the constant shifting. My boyfriend suggests that it would have been a bit better had his mask only changed between scenes/cuts, and I agree wholeheartedly. By the way, I also thought it was great that Rorshack looked so much like the character in the novel.
9. I kind of wish the trailer were a bit clearer about what this movie is. I rewatched the trailer today (on Body of Lies) and noticed that it made Watchmen look like just another action/superhero movie. It would be pretty unfortunate if somebody took their kids to Watchmen, not knowing what it was. I mean, it’s a pretty dark movie, especially around the prison scenes.

I just wanted to respond to Alice’s comment, the guy sitting next to me had his 5 year old or possibly younger daughter with him in the movie, the whole time I found myself thinking:Is your daughter fucked up enough now?how about now?

I just wanted to respond to Alice’s comment, the guy sitting next to me had his 5 year old or possibly younger daughter with him in the movie, the whole time I found myself thinking:Is your daughter fucked up enough now?how about now?

I think the squid only made sense in the comic because of all the backstory and foreshadowing they were able to include. Without “Tales of the Black Freighter” or the biographies of the artists (neither of which would translate well to film), the squid doesn’t make any sense.

This is the reason the squid would not work on the big screen.

I agree with much of what you said. When you first mentioned the music, I immediately thought “All Along the Watchtower in Antarctica.” It just had no obvious connection to the scene. However, remembering that there were song lyrics at the end of each chapter, I just checked and, yes, a stanza from Watchtower ends Chapter X, which is just after Rorshach and Nite Owl land on Antarctica. So it was a case of Snyder taking something exactly from the book without wondering if it really worked–similar to what you were saying about the differences in dialog between novels, comics and films. One relevant, written stanza from Bob Dylan is not the same as playing the entire Jimi version.

I have to scold you on one thing, though. If you thought the Mars smiley thing was cheesy, then blame Moore and Gibbons (and Mars itself!), because that was something else that was directly lifted from the novel–page 27 of Chapter IX, to be exact. It’s actually a real crater on Mars called the Galle crater, known as “the happy face crater.”

I just read the novel for the first time yesterday and today, finishing it a few hours before seeing the movie, and I agree that it was extremely faithful to the book. Too faithful, in fact–it felt like ANYONE could’ve directed it; the only mark that Snyder really put on it was, yes, the slo-mo and excessive “anatomical correctness” of the fights. Everything else was just turning single drawn frames into live action, with much of the same dialog. My opinion of Snyder is that he’s a competent technician without a single shred of creativity or artistry–he merely translates ink into CGI.

In all, the movie was good, but only because the novel is great.

I agree with much of what you said. When you first mentioned the music, I immediately thought “All Along the Watchtower in Antarctica.” It just had no obvious connection to the scene. However, remembering that there were song lyrics at the end of each chapter, I just checked and, yes, a stanza from Watchtower ends Chapter X, which is just after Rorshach and Nite Owl land on Antarctica. So it was a case of Snyder taking something exactly from the book without wondering if it really worked–similar to what you were saying about the differences in dialog between novels, comics and films. One relevant, written stanza from Bob Dylan is not the same as playing the entire Jimi version.

I have to scold you on one thing, though. If you thought the Mars smiley thing was cheesy, then blame Moore and Gibbons (and Mars itself!), because that was something else that was directly lifted from the novel–page 27 of Chapter IX, to be exact. It’s actually a real crater on Mars called the Galle crater, known as “the happy face crater.”

I just read the novel for the first time yesterday and today, finishing it a few hours before seeing the movie, and I agree that it was extremely faithful to the book. Too faithful, in fact–it felt like ANYONE could’ve directed it; the only mark that Snyder really put on it was, yes, the slo-mo and excessive “anatomical correctness” of the fights. Everything else was just turning single drawn frames into live action, with much of the same dialog. My opinion of Snyder is that he’s a competent technician without a single shred of creativity or artistry–he merely translates ink into CGI.

In all, the movie was good, but only because the novel is great.

I gotta say, I really don’t know how to judge this movie. I loved the comic, and knew that the movie could not possibly match up to it. So, when i walked into the movie theater i was definitely expecting a major fuck-up. That, however is not what was shown on the screen, so i must say it really blew me away. Unfortunately, I was also expecting that if it was better than the complete mess I was ready for, it would be amazing. The movie fell a bit short of that though. so here’s what I liked, and what I think should be changed.
I really felt disappointed at the fact that they got rid of one of my favorite parts in the comic. The whole section of Rorschach’s imprisonment, and dialogues with the psychologist were cut to around 15 minutes, whereas in the comic they span across an entire chapter. I felt that that chapter really opened up the readers eyes to Rorschach, and really gave out a strong connection to him, as well as having some of the most thought provoking dialogue in the book. And not seeing the psychologist’s monologue about the meaningless emptiness of life really got me annoyed. Another part that struck me as odd was the removal of almost all the important dialogue between Laurie and Jon on mars. Snyder rushed through that so fast that I hardly realized it had happened. Then, there was of course the horrible acting of Laurie and her mother, and the horrible use of the soundtrack, that both really pulled me out of the experience. I also disliked the way that they made Dan so god damned heroey. In the comic I felt that Dan was a kind of fallen hero, and that he was almost represented in a way that you couldn’t totally like him. He was to resigned to everything. And the problems with him lead me into the biggest problem of the movie. The ending. I agree with Spoony that the squid-thingie’s removal was not very destructive to the movie, but I can’t believe what they did with the whole Dan-watches-Rorschach-explode-and-proceeds-to-go-inside-and-beat-up-Ozzy-while-Laurie-has-a-final-goodbye-kiss-with-Jon resolution. The comic made that part so fill the reader (or me at least) with a feeling of “NO NO NO! NOT LIKE THIS!”. But this feeling was not made by the fact that Rorschach was blown into a puddle of blood and clothing (which by the way, in the movie, what was up with that stupid Rorschach blot that he exploded into? that was kinda dumb). The feeling was brought by the way that everyone so readily went along with the horrors that Ozzy had just committed. The feeling was made by the way that Laurie and Dan went into the next room and engaged in consolatory sex while Rorschach was being killed right outside, and everything that was happening felt so hopeless. And then that feeling led into a sort of resigned sadness, as Jon gave Laurie and Dan’s naked, sleeping, bodies a sad smile, and his final discussion with Ozzy before he left. In the movie they ruined by making Dan see Rorschach die, and scream maniacally into the screen, and then beat up Ozzy. It gave a totally different feeling, and I can’t say I really liked it.

But enough with the bad, and onto the good. I am so glad the added in Jon’s nudity. The way he so carelessly walked around naked really showed you his detachment from human nature. The slow-mo, and action sequences (though somewhat unnecessary) really made the movie fun to watch. I also commend the choice of actors for Rorschach, Dan, and Jon’s parts, as they fit into the characters perfectly, especially Rorschach. I loved the environment too. I really felt like I was looking at scenes, and places straight out of the comic. I also really liked the costume improvement for Night Owl, because I really found it distractingly awkward looking in the comic. Pretty much the rest of the movie, with the exceptions of the things I listed before, were great, and if those little mistakes could be changed, I would admit that this is the a very very close rival to the comic book itself.

Watchman was very well done, you cant fit everything in a big screen showing, but what was put in fit nicely. 4 stars

Watchman was very well done, you cant fit everything in a big screen showing, but what was put in fit nicely. 4 stars

Soundtrack. Bad.

I must say, I never read watchmen before, my friend kept bugging me. I went to the movies with out having read watchmen and I understand and loved it a lot, it made me want to read the book so i bought it and I’m enjoying it as well. And i really liked how they spoke in the movie, but i do agree about the two actors they were horrible.

I liked the soundtrack and the placement of the music, I am just strange like that. But hey thanks for the review I always love them!

I must say, I never read watchmen before, my friend kept bugging me. I went to the movies with out having read watchmen and I understand and loved it a lot, it made me want to read the book so i bought it and I’m enjoying it as well. And i really liked how they spoke in the movie, but i do agree about the two actors they were horrible.

I liked the soundtrack and the placement of the music, I am just strange like that. But hey thanks for the review I always love them!

I’d have to disagree with you about the “pinnacle of the art form” and the fact that it’s unfilmable. “Maus 1 and 2″ is completely unfilmable (also, Art Spiegelman refuses to let it be made into a movie), and has almost universally been deemed the greatest graphic novel, nay, the greatest comic ever written. I had to write a report on it, and it’s the most engaging and addictive piece of literature I’ve ever read. I read both 1 and 2 in one night. Dead serious.
Plus, I hate Rorschach because he’s a jingoistic neocon closet-case.
I love you Spoony, but I have to say fuck you, “300″ rocked.

I loved Watchmen. I thought it was a really, great movie. I came into the theatre practically blindfolded, but at the end of the movie I ended up wanting more. I liked the story, thought the characters were interesting and I just had a very fun time watching it. I’m only 15, so I went to see it with him and he hated it. He thought it was boring and was too long, but he’s not the type of guy to understand comic book adaptations that well.

I also liked the soundtrack. I thought they had good timing along with the movie and that it had some classic songs that really contributed with the feel of the movie at some parts. Plus, I liked My Chemical Romance’s cover of “Desolation Row” that played during the end credits.

Like I said before, I loved this movie and when I get some free time I’m definitely going to get the comic book and the movie when it comes out on DVD. 4/4 stars in my opinion.

I loved Watchmen. I thought it was a really, great movie. I came into the theatre practically blindfolded, but at the end of the movie I ended up wanting more. I liked the story, thought the characters were interesting and I just had a very fun time watching it. I’m only 15, so I went to see it with him and he hated it. He thought it was boring and was too long, but he’s not the type of guy to understand comic book adaptations that well.

I also liked the soundtrack. I thought they had good timing along with the movie and that it had some classic songs that really contributed with the feel of the movie at some parts. Plus, I liked My Chemical Romance’s cover of “Desolation Row” that played during the end credits.

Like I said before, I loved this movie and when I get some free time I’m definitely going to get the comic book and the movie when it comes out on DVD. 4/4 stars in my opinion.

Don’t watch the animated comic. They got ONE GUY to do ALL the fucking voices. Plus, when the characters scream, it sounds like he’s, like, in a library reading it aloud trying not to disturb anyone.

It was a awsome movie. It reminded me of V FOR VENDETTA in many ways (in terms or action, drama, and symbolicness) and I say people really gotta see this because this is a anticipated title that was worth it for sure.

It was a awsome movie. It reminded me of V FOR VENDETTA in many ways (in terms or action, drama, and symbolicness) and I say people really gotta see this because this is a anticipated title that was worth it for sure.

-I’m glad Rorschach’s mask shifted like it did. When I read the comics, I knew that the best way to portray constant shifting in a still-life drawing was to have it changed from one panel to the next; since the movies don’t have to worry about stopping from panel to panel, the shifting thing is, what I think, how it was supposed to look. Bravo to the FX department on that one.
-OHMYGODOHMYGOD YOU CAN SEE MANHATTAN’S JUNK LOLWHUT. Christ, people…
-Brian Tyler would not have been my first choice for score. Not to take anything away from the man behind “Returns A King”, but I don’t feel Watchmen is supposed to be so much epically visual as epically mental (guess who my favorite character is!). Granted, those explosions almost REQUIRED epic scoring, but I would have much rather seen someone like Graeme Revell or Clint Mansell (or Rolfe Kent, if you’re feeling a little frisky on the dark humor front!), not so much the next-gen Harry Gregson-Williams. And let’s not start on the My Chemical Romance song; yeah, it’s cool, but again, HORRIBLY misplaced. Sorry, folks.
-Another thing I’m glad for is just how close the movie followed the comic in terms of dialogue. I’m glad Rorschach was so stilted– somebody do a ratio of actual words leaving his mouth to that diary-entry style in the comic. No argument here.
-And YAY! for keeping the wonderful love story. Just wish I could be a being of pure energy too, sometimes. If anything, just to look that good. That, and splitting my body would make work significantly easier, as shown… hey, a guy can dream.

Well, I thought the film was…okay. A pretty decent adaptation which was surprisingly faithful for the most part, certainly the cinematography, art direction, and the costumes seemed to be right out of the comic book. However, as a film (and you with any movie based on a work of literature it has to stand up on it’s own merit) it has a lot of flaws and eventually collapses under the weight of them. So it’s certainly NOT the groundbreaking superhero movie it claims to be, but its not a terrible one, either.

First the characters:

Jackie Earle Haley, hands down, nails the part of Rorschach both masked and especially unmasked. You could just tell this was someone you didn’t want to cross under any circumstances, and that he was liked a caged animal ready to pounce. I was a little hesitant about how he was going to deliver some of the more pulpy hard-boiled lines Alan Moore originally wrote, but it delivered perfectly and just with the right amount of believability. Best moments was when he’s in prison and says “I’m not locked in here with you, you’re locked in here with me!” and his death scene. However, I did think they could have had the flashback that explained how Kitty Genovese’s murder was the catalyst to becoming a vigilante. And I still think the original way Rorschach killed the child killer would have been a better direction than the one Synder choose.

Jeffrey Dean Morgan as the Comedian I think did a real good job at showing what an outright bastard the character was, although the vicious “don’t give a damn” attitude seemed to outweigh the character’s later remorse, thus making it harder to sympathize. Not that Morgan didn’t pull this off, though with his tearful and drunken confession to Moloch. However, the scene where his pregnant Vietnamese lover cuts him with the bottle and after he kills her? The comic makes it clear that Blake is in serious pain, while the movie makes it seem like Morgan just treats it as an annoyance. Didn’t really work for me.

Billy Crudup’s take on Doctor Manhattan I was initially taken aback by, because it seemed like for a person who was supposed to be emotionless and distant, he certainly sounded a bit depressed most of the time. But then, as the film went on and made clear, it’s not that Doctor Manhattan is necessarily emotionless; rather, because he can see his personal past and the future simultaneously and thus already know the outcome–can see human behavior on display and what they are capable of–he chooses to make himself cold, aloof, and emotionless, even though it drips out from time to time. Quite insightful and something I didn’t pick up from the comic book. Oh, and I know Doctor Manhattan is nearly always naked in the comic, but seeing his junk on film does seem rather pointless, especially since the film doesn’t put this into any context like the comic does.

Patrick Wilson as Dan/Nite Owl also did a pretty decent job, and brings across the character’s socially awkwardness and insecurity quite well. And he certainly looked the part, although not quite as pudgy. Still, it one of those roles I thought could have been played by anyone, really. Malin Akerman as Laurie/Silk Spectre II on the other hand? My god, she made me cringe at times her performance was so bad. It seems like the only note she knew how to play was the annoyed California valley girl. The scenes with her mother (and by the way Carla Gugino also came across pretty badly at times, especially when she was supposed to be older) were horrid. And the sequence on Mars–which is supposed to be an emotional turning point for the character–came off like a bad soap opera.

Equally, but not nearly as wooden, was Matthew Goode as Ozymanidus. First off, on just his looks, he’s horribly miscast. They needed someone to resembled a younger Robert Redford or a Brad Pitt, with a little more muscle definition other than his Schumacheresque costume. Not only that, but the way Goode hammed it up in virtually every scene, he might as well have worn a sandwich board with neon lights that said “I’m the bad guy!”

Anyways, what was good about the film?

I liked the opening credits sequence a lot. Definitely the highlight of the film and the perfect way to set up the world of the Watchmen. Furthermore, this should now officially be the music video for Bob Dylan’s “The Time’s They Are A-Changin’” from this moment on, it was that well put together (then again, what do you expect from a director who got his start in music videos?) I also liked the fight scene in which the Comedian gets killed, aside from him punching through the wall. Every scene with Rorscach was well done, as was the Doctor Manhattan flashback sequence, which could have been a short film unto itself.

However, as the movie went on, the problems really became noticeable. First of all, while the music was good, they were placed in ways which were either made it too obvious or too awkward (seriously Synder, Ride of the Valkyres for Vietnam? Really? Must you invoke Apocalypse Now to make your movie appear to have credibility?). Secondly, Zack Synder, it seems, can’t let go of using the constant usage of slow motion in various sequences, especially the fight scenes. While they work in the Comedian’s death and the attempted assassination on Veidt, they come across really cheesy in places like Nite Owl and Silk Spectre at the prison or Rorscarch and Nite Owl’s fight with Ozymandius, as it seemed way too much like he’s was ripping off the Matrix.

His other problem is that it seems as though Synder doesn’t trust the source material to convey information, so he feels as though he has to overcompensate and exaggerate certain scenes when less could have been more. This is especially true with his tendency to use gore, whether in be Dan and Laurie fighting the street gang in the alley (very out of character for both of them to use lethal force), the remains of the Dr. Manhattan exploded bodies in the nightclub flashback, Rorscarch’s killing the child killer (which I think cheapened the original’s power), and of course the guy who got his limbs sawed off. Oh, and don’t me started on the sex scene between Dan and Laurie in Archie, which was, bar none, the most laughably bad moment of the film on all levels. Yes, I know it’s supposed to be a little silly, but geez.

Likewise, every person who was impersonating a historical figure–especially whoever that was as Richard Nixon–was just awful and cheesy.

As for the altered ending, some of it–like having the explosions go off in one than one major city–I thought worked and improved upon the original comic, as it helped to have closer ties with Dr. Manhattan and it kept the original moral dilemma intact. Unfortunately, it also, if you think about it, doesn’t actually make logical sense if the goal is to unite the world in peace. After all, wouldn’t the world think that, considering Dr. Manhattan gets framed, blame America regardless considering he was their poster boy? And didn’t Ozymanidus already successfully frame Dr. Manhattan and force him to leave anyway? It also renders the appearance of Bubastis (really bad CGI by the way) somewhat pointless. Oh, and I really didn’t like that Jon’s line to Ozymanidus was cut and given to Laurie to say to Dan. Really, really ruined the impact it originally had.

So, overall, not as bad as I thought it would be, but certainly a film that did not live up to the hype. Final score, about 2 1/2 stars out of four.

Well, I thought the film was…okay. A pretty decent adaptation which was surprisingly faithful for the most part, certainly the cinematography, art direction, and the costumes seemed to be right out of the comic book. However, as a film (and you with any movie based on a work of literature it has to stand up on it’s own merit) it has a lot of flaws and eventually collapses under the weight of them. So it’s certainly NOT the groundbreaking superhero movie it claims to be, but its not a terrible one, either.

First the characters:

Jackie Earle Haley, hands down, nails the part of Rorschach both masked and especially unmasked. You could just tell this was someone you didn’t want to cross under any circumstances, and that he was liked a caged animal ready to pounce. I was a little hesitant about how he was going to deliver some of the more pulpy hard-boiled lines Alan Moore originally wrote, but it delivered perfectly and just with the right amount of believability. Best moments was when he’s in prison and says “I’m not locked in here with you, you’re locked in here with me!” and his death scene. However, I did think they could have had the flashback that explained how Kitty Genovese’s murder was the catalyst to becoming a vigilante. And I still think the original way Rorschach killed the child killer would have been a better direction than the one Synder choose.

Jeffrey Dean Morgan as the Comedian I think did a real good job at showing what an outright bastard the character was, although the vicious “don’t give a damn” attitude seemed to outweigh the character’s later remorse, thus making it harder to sympathize. Not that Morgan didn’t pull this off, though with his tearful and drunken confession to Moloch. However, the scene where his pregnant Vietnamese lover cuts him with the bottle and after he kills her? The comic makes it clear that Blake is in serious pain, while the movie makes it seem like Morgan just treats it as an annoyance. Didn’t really work for me.

Billy Crudup’s take on Doctor Manhattan I was initially taken aback by, because it seemed like for a person who was supposed to be emotionless and distant, he certainly sounded a bit depressed most of the time. But then, as the film went on and made clear, it’s not that Doctor Manhattan is necessarily emotionless; rather, because he can see his personal past and the future simultaneously and thus already know the outcome–can see human behavior on display and what they are capable of–he chooses to make himself cold, aloof, and emotionless, even though it drips out from time to time. Quite insightful and something I didn’t pick up from the comic book. Oh, and I know Doctor Manhattan is nearly always naked in the comic, but seeing his junk on film does seem rather pointless, especially since the film doesn’t put this into any context like the comic does.

Patrick Wilson as Dan/Nite Owl also did a pretty decent job, and brings across the character’s socially awkwardness and insecurity quite well. And he certainly looked the part, although not quite as pudgy. Still, it one of those roles I thought could have been played by anyone, really. Malin Akerman as Laurie/Silk Spectre II on the other hand? My god, she made me cringe at times her performance was so bad. It seems like the only note she knew how to play was the annoyed California valley girl. The scenes with her mother (and by the way Carla Gugino also came across pretty badly at times, especially when she was supposed to be older) were horrid. And the sequence on Mars–which is supposed to be an emotional turning point for the character–came off like a bad soap opera.

Equally, but not nearly as wooden, was Matthew Goode as Ozymanidus. First off, on just his looks, he’s horribly miscast. They needed someone to resembled a younger Robert Redford or a Brad Pitt, with a little more muscle definition other than his Schumacheresque costume. Not only that, but the way Goode hammed it up in virtually every scene, he might as well have worn a sandwich board with neon lights that said “I’m the bad guy!”

Anyways, what was good about the film?

I liked the opening credits sequence a lot. Definitely the highlight of the film and the perfect way to set up the world of the Watchmen. Furthermore, this should now officially be the music video for Bob Dylan’s “The Time’s They Are A-Changin’” from this moment on, it was that well put together (then again, what do you expect from a director who got his start in music videos?) I also liked the fight scene in which the Comedian gets killed, aside from him punching through the wall. Every scene with Rorscach was well done, as was the Doctor Manhattan flashback sequence, which could have been a short film unto itself.

However, as the movie went on, the problems really became noticeable. First of all, while the music was good, they were placed in ways which were either made it too obvious or too awkward (seriously Synder, Ride of the Valkyres for Vietnam? Really? Must you invoke Apocalypse Now to make your movie appear to have credibility?). Secondly, Zack Synder, it seems, can’t let go of using the constant usage of slow motion in various sequences, especially the fight scenes. While they work in the Comedian’s death and the attempted assassination on Veidt, they come across really cheesy in places like Nite Owl and Silk Spectre at the prison or Rorscarch and Nite Owl’s fight with Ozymandius, as it seemed way too much like he’s was ripping off the Matrix.

His other problem is that it seems as though Synder doesn’t trust the source material to convey information, so he feels as though he has to overcompensate and exaggerate certain scenes when less could have been more. This is especially true with his tendency to use gore, whether in be Dan and Laurie fighting the street gang in the alley (very out of character for both of them to use lethal force), the remains of the Dr. Manhattan exploded bodies in the nightclub flashback, Rorscarch’s killing the child killer (which I think cheapened the original’s power), and of course the guy who got his limbs sawed off. Oh, and don’t me started on the sex scene between Dan and Laurie in Archie, which was, bar none, the most laughably bad moment of the film on all levels. Yes, I know it’s supposed to be a little silly, but geez.

Likewise, every person who was impersonating a historical figure–especially whoever that was as Richard Nixon–was just awful and cheesy.

As for the altered ending, some of it–like having the explosions go off in one than one major city–I thought worked and improved upon the original comic, as it helped to have closer ties with Dr. Manhattan and it kept the original moral dilemma intact. Unfortunately, it also, if you think about it, doesn’t actually make logical sense if the goal is to unite the world in peace. After all, wouldn’t the world think that, considering Dr. Manhattan gets framed, blame America regardless considering he was their poster boy? And didn’t Ozymanidus already successfully frame Dr. Manhattan and force him to leave anyway? It also renders the appearance of Bubastis (really bad CGI by the way) somewhat pointless. Oh, and I really didn’t like that Jon’s line to Ozymanidus was cut and given to Laurie to say to Dan. Really, really ruined the impact it originally had.

So, overall, not as bad as I thought it would be, but certainly a film that did not live up to the hype. Final score, about 2 1/2 stars out of four.

Spoony, all the fights that were in the film version were in the graphic novel. They’re more intense and protracted in the film, but there aren’t more of them.

I’m too much of a fan of the graphic novel to love the movie version Watchmen, but it was fun to see it in motion.

Also, the Armageddon clock and the smiley are all over the graphic novel as well. You must have forgotten a lot since your last reading.

I liked the movie and I knew nothing about Watchmen, save for a few facts about the creator.

I liked the movie and I knew nothing about Watchmen, save for a few facts about the creator.

Noah. I’m a movie critic, much in the same breath of yourself. Indeed this is a polarizing film. I think that the area that troubled me, goes unaddressed by most. As I see it, the passive nature of the second act detoured from the central conflict. Not only was it backstory heavy, but the breaks in narrative perspective are bothersome. Some backstory is fine, but when more than half the film is flashbacks, while a future “ticking time-bomb” is present, it’s no Citizen Kane.

Wow, this comment section is the most civil and intelligent wealth of criticism about the movie I’ve seen on the internet by far. Good points made by all, no one seemed enraged, and this is a great discussion.

My criticisms:

Bad
- The Soundtrack. A score would have been much more appropriate. It was so bad at times it played more like a fan youtube re-dub. Leonard Cohen during the sex scene and All Along the Watchtower were abysmally timed and placed.
- Malin Akerman as Silk Spectre II. She was so bad she almost ruined the movie for me. Apart from being way too young to play the role, she just couldn’t convey the emotions demanded of her. In Newsweek they call her the ‘Jar Jar Binks’ of this movie. I agree.
- Too faithful to the source material. A lot of the dialogue was in bad need of a re-write to be acceptable for a cinematic performance rather than reading material. Not that the original dialogue was bad, it just doesn’t translate well when spoken.
- Veidt. Aside from changing the ending, which I actually agree with, they never really get into this character. Aside from a poor performance from Matthew Goode, he just didn’t get enough screen time to be compelling. Should have cut some Silk Spectre to make room for Veidt’s motivations and story.
- Superhuman strength. It’s been discussed here enough, but seriously it ruins the humanity of the characters to make them more than human in a story that relies on them being normal people.

Good
- Rorschach. The actor was brilliant, he translated well onto screen, everything about Rorschach I felt was top notch.
- The ending. Like I said, I felt it was a good adjustment from the comic book. Although why in the world they left in Bobastis the genetically engineered cat and yet altered the important connection with genetic engineering is beyond me. I knew what he was, and even I was perplexed. Every movie-goer that hadn’t read the comic is thinking “why the hell does he have purple tiger?”
- Patrick Wilson, I felt, was a perfect Dan Drieberg. Unfortunately he was almost always accompanied by the god-awful Malin Akerman or an equally ridiculous fight scene where he suddenly becomes Superman. But he was exactly as I had imagined him in the book.
- Rorschach. Yeah I know I mentioned him, but he was that good. I’ll go see it again and buy the extended DVD just to get more Rorschach. He was the most interesting character in the book (to me), and they did him justice in the movie.
- Despite it’s flaws, it’s the best adaptation we could ask for. It’s faithful to the source, even with the flaws that creates. While it does make some changes, it is mainly faithful to the characters. They have the same motivations, same personalities, same philosophies, and same ideals as their counterparts in the book. To me, that’s the most important thing. In the hands of anyone else this could have easily been turned into another Batman and Robin or Daredevil. I’m thankful it is what it is and am awaiting the DVD, where I can mute Malin Akerman and enjoy the movie all the more because of it.

Wow, this comment section is the most civil and intelligent wealth of criticism about the movie I’ve seen on the internet by far. Good points made by all, no one seemed enraged, and this is a great discussion.

My criticisms:

Bad
- The Soundtrack. A score would have been much more appropriate. It was so bad at times it played more like a fan youtube re-dub. Leonard Cohen during the sex scene and All Along the Watchtower were abysmally timed and placed.
- Malin Akerman as Silk Spectre II. She was so bad she almost ruined the movie for me. Apart from being way too young to play the role, she just couldn’t convey the emotions demanded of her. In Newsweek they call her the ‘Jar Jar Binks’ of this movie. I agree.
- Too faithful to the source material. A lot of the dialogue was in bad need of a re-write to be acceptable for a cinematic performance rather than reading material. Not that the original dialogue was bad, it just doesn’t translate well when spoken.
- Veidt. Aside from changing the ending, which I actually agree with, they never really get into this character. Aside from a poor performance from Matthew Goode, he just didn’t get enough screen time to be compelling. Should have cut some Silk Spectre to make room for Veidt’s motivations and story.
- Superhuman strength. It’s been discussed here enough, but seriously it ruins the humanity of the characters to make them more than human in a story that relies on them being normal people.

Good
- Rorschach. The actor was brilliant, he translated well onto screen, everything about Rorschach I felt was top notch.
- The ending. Like I said, I felt it was a good adjustment from the comic book. Although why in the world they left in Bobastis the genetically engineered cat and yet altered the important connection with genetic engineering is beyond me. I knew what he was, and even I was perplexed. Every movie-goer that hadn’t read the comic is thinking “why the hell does he have purple tiger?”
- Patrick Wilson, I felt, was a perfect Dan Drieberg. Unfortunately he was almost always accompanied by the god-awful Malin Akerman or an equally ridiculous fight scene where he suddenly becomes Superman. But he was exactly as I had imagined him in the book.
- Rorschach. Yeah I know I mentioned him, but he was that good. I’ll go see it again and buy the extended DVD just to get more Rorschach. He was the most interesting character in the book (to me), and they did him justice in the movie.
- Despite it’s flaws, it’s the best adaptation we could ask for. It’s faithful to the source, even with the flaws that creates. While it does make some changes, it is mainly faithful to the characters. They have the same motivations, same personalities, same philosophies, and same ideals as their counterparts in the book. To me, that’s the most important thing. In the hands of anyone else this could have easily been turned into another Batman and Robin or Daredevil. I’m thankful it is what it is and am awaiting the DVD, where I can mute Malin Akerman and enjoy the movie all the more because of it.

I’m afraid I’m too lazy to actually read through 12 pages of comments for the moment… But the smiley face on Mars *was* in the book. Chapter/Issue 9, page 27 (no, not from memory – just flipped through my copy).

Armageddon clock was used more in the movie, but only slightly more. There was at least one point I recall in the book where it was talked about being moved (at least in the background – sound from a TV or radio), and you can’t use it as a chapter marker in a movie as it could be in a book – this being, presumably, one of the things considered unfilmable.

Personally I found the movie very enjoyable, but more as a … companion to the book, definitely not as a replacement. The book stands alone very well. The movie stands alone passably (from what I can tell – I read the book first) – but seems like it would be much better after reading the book. As far as the performances go, Nite Owl II and Rorschach were the best. The Silk Spectres weren’t, though perhaps I’m just not critical enough, terrible – they just weren’t close to the level of the other performances around them (as a side-note here, Silk Spectre II’s role wasn’t expanded much, if any, from the book, it’s just that less of her scenes were cut or shortened – since she’s usually around for the *really* plot-important parts).

The removal of the squid didn’t really change the ending for me, but it did make it less clear as to why it worked to create peace. A replacement with some other form of alien or outside threat would have been better than Dr. Manhattan. Mainly, the change makes it a little more ambiguous whether the world is banding together to defend against the squid/Manhattan, or whether the world stops fighting because they’re afraid of Manhattan if they don’t. Of course, the final outcome is the same, either way – nothing ever lasts. I do think that a squid, *if done correctly* (which may be hard given, the time limitations), would have been accepted by the general moviegoing population, though – providing that it was explained and hinted at throughout, with the suggestions of disappearing writers/artists and enough exposition to understand how it worked.

I seem to be the only one who didn’t hate the Silk Specter. She wasn’t outstanding but she didn’t really piss me off that much. I guess she may have been a little wooden, but it just wasn’t that big of a gaping flaw to me. Another thing that pissed me off, though it’s more of a little annoyance than anything, was how the old people when they showed them still sounded like young people. I know this is because they wanted to make sure that the young versions of the superheros were obviously just that, younger versions of them as opposed to completely different people. But it was just weird seeing a 60 year old Sally Jupiter speak with the voice of a girl in her 20s. All said and done though, that’s really a small problem.

I seem to be the only one who didn’t hate the Silk Specter. She wasn’t outstanding but she didn’t really piss me off that much. I guess she may have been a little wooden, but it just wasn’t that big of a gaping flaw to me. Another thing that pissed me off, though it’s more of a little annoyance than anything, was how the old people when they showed them still sounded like young people. I know this is because they wanted to make sure that the young versions of the superheros were obviously just that, younger versions of them as opposed to completely different people. But it was just weird seeing a 60 year old Sally Jupiter speak with the voice of a girl in her 20s. All said and done though, that’s really a small problem.

Hey, cool referencing The Song of Ice and Fire series. some of the best books ever writeen.

To bad I can;t find mine, or I would be reading them right now.

I’m not sure how much I blame the two spectres. I mean, they weren’t good actresses by any means, but I didn’t care for their characters in the novel either. Then again, I also didn’t care about Dan in the novel…

I’m not sure how much I blame the two spectres. I mean, they weren’t good actresses by any means, but I didn’t care for their characters in the novel either. Then again, I also didn’t care about Dan in the novel…

Having heard you rant on so many movies over the past few months, I’ve come to consider you, Spoony, as someone who likes to examine films for logical fallacies, plot holes, and continuity flaws and then proceed to beat the movie to death with them. On that note though, I’m surprised you missed the most glaring logical fallacy of Wachmen’s different ending for the film adaptation.

You see, the entire point of the original story is that, by destroying ONE major city, Ozymandias provided humanity with a threat that is credible enough to unite the world and while simultaneously keeping the other heroes in “moral checkmate,” as he says, which forces them to keep his plot secret from the rest of the world. After all, why would the Soviet Union have to keep peace with the United States if it’s revealed that Ozymandias is the one that destroyed New York City? What would the Soviets care if it is revealed that Ozymandias destroyed an American city just before both sides were about to spark World War III in the first place?

However, in the film’s ending, Ozymandias destroys several cities around the world, including both Moscow and New York City, and while he once again provides humanity with a common threat for all countries to unite against, the concept of the heroes being forced to keep silent is clearly lost. What difference would it have made if all the heroes walked out on Ozymandias and publicly revealed that he was the one behind everything? Because he destroyed cities in both the United States and the Soviet Union (as well as cities in counties allied with one of the Cold War superpower nations), humanity would still have a common enemy to rally against.

And even if Ozymandias is not immortal, like Dr. Manhattan, Viedt Enterprises is still well-established in the story as a HUGE megacorporation with enough wealth that can very likely rival the GDP of small countries (if not Dethklok, heh heh). If his scheme from the movie was revealed, I see no reason why the world’s smartest man wouldn’t commit himself to declaring sovereign territory for himself (a la Latveria) and start developing WMD’s (I’d certainly say he would have the resources), especially if he wants to stay committed to preserving world peace as well as give himself some kind of legacy.

tl;dr: There’s just no reason to believe why the characters should stay silent about Ozymandias’ plot in the movie.

Also, on a side note, I wouldn’t call the film’s usage of Jimi Hendrix’s cover of Bob Dylan’s “All Along the Watchtower” as being all too distracting, as you have. In case you are not aware (or had just forgotten), the ending quote of Chapter X in the source material came from this song, and the quote itself is synced in the movie to the same moment that it appeared in the story; my guess is it was a subtle nod to the die hard Watchmen fans who would even be looking for those end quotes to be in the movie. Well, it made ME smirk, at least.

I’ll try to keep it short:
Watchmen had two main faults. It was too true to the source material. It was not true enough to the source material. I know this sound crazy.
The latter is easily explained: Snyder is an idiot. I don’t mind that the ending is now more unbelievable (The wrath of god kills some creatures, I doesn’t end the game. Why would anyone stop fighting?), but he tried really hard to make Ozymandias look like a villain. Especially when Dan says some stupid things about the perversion of mankind. That’s Snyder’s point of view and I don’t want him to rub my nose into it.
He also added some unnecessary scenes like the Mortal Kombat prison fight or the gore and the second sex scene was uncomfortable long.
On the other hand he sticks to closely to the comic. It’s a comic and not a movie! He wasn’t supposed to film it panel by panel. He was supposed to make a goddamn film. That means you have to cut things that aren’t essential to the plot, focus on the essence and then tell a story by cinematic means.

I was overall entertained because I expected eye candy and I got it. Some scenes were brilliant. I mostly loved the soundtrack and I could even appreciate the ironic (?) trashyness of “99 Luftballons” and “Hallelujah”. “Sound of Silence” at the Comedian’s funeral made me smile and shiver. “The Ride of the Valkyries” was clever and epic. Dr.Manhattan’s theme music (the one from the trailer) worked very well and last but not least Bob Dylan: I can’t remember that I ever loved a part of a movie as much as I loved the opening credits.
And JEH was awesome. He was 100 percent Rorschach.

I’ll try to keep it short:
Watchmen had two main faults. It was too true to the source material. It was not true enough to the source material. I know this sound crazy.
The latter is easily explained: Snyder is an idiot. I don’t mind that the ending is now more unbelievable (The wrath of god kills some creatures, I doesn’t end the game. Why would anyone stop fighting?), but he tried really hard to make Ozymandias look like a villain. Especially when Dan says some stupid things about the perversion of mankind. That’s Snyder’s point of view and I don’t want him to rub my nose into it.
He also added some unnecessary scenes like the Mortal Kombat prison fight or the gore and the second sex scene was uncomfortable long.
On the other hand he sticks to closely to the comic. It’s a comic and not a movie! He wasn’t supposed to film it panel by panel. He was supposed to make a goddamn film. That means you have to cut things that aren’t essential to the plot, focus on the essence and then tell a story by cinematic means.

I was overall entertained because I expected eye candy and I got it. Some scenes were brilliant. I mostly loved the soundtrack and I could even appreciate the ironic (?) trashyness of “99 Luftballons” and “Hallelujah”. “Sound of Silence” at the Comedian’s funeral made me smile and shiver. “The Ride of the Valkyries” was clever and epic. Dr.Manhattan’s theme music (the one from the trailer) worked very well and last but not least Bob Dylan: I can’t remember that I ever loved a part of a movie as much as I loved the opening credits.
And JEH was awesome. He was 100 percent Rorschach.

I’m writing a review for my film class and I’m still not clear on how Blake figured out Ozy’s plot in the movie. This seems be the common problem with everyone I’ve talked to about the film. Nobody can figure out how the fuck Blake knew. Anyone wanna give me a hand?

Ozymandias explains it. The Comedian was asked to keep tabs on the other capes by Nixon.

Ozymandias explains it. The Comedian was asked to keep tabs on the other capes by Nixon.

I thought the casting choice for Ozymandias was terribad. And I think Thomas Jane would’ve made a badass Comedian, but Jeffery Dean Morgan was a great choice

The only thing that they left out that really bugged me was the exclusion at the end where Ozymandias seeks validation with Manhattan for if he has done the right thing and Manhattan fails to give him the answer he seeks, thus making him really exam what he has done. In the book, this scene was thought provoking, and if you weren’t already thinking about the morality behind Ozy’s actions, you certainly were then.

And I think Spoony nailed it with the exclusion of the squid monster. I mean, wouldn’t the world just unite against us for making Manhattan? But all and all, a good film. Definitely better than some of the other comic movies out there…. *coughLeagueofExtraodinaryGentlemencough*

The only thing that they left out that really bugged me was the exclusion at the end where Ozymandias seeks validation with Manhattan for if he has done the right thing and Manhattan fails to give him the answer he seeks, thus making him really exam what he has done. In the book, this scene was thought provoking, and if you weren’t already thinking about the morality behind Ozy’s actions, you certainly were then.

And I think Spoony nailed it with the exclusion of the squid monster. I mean, wouldn’t the world just unite against us for making Manhattan? But all and all, a good film. Definitely better than some of the other comic movies out there…. *coughLeagueofExtraodinaryGentlemencough*

If that’s the case, with Nixon telling The Comedian to keep tabs on the other heroes, wouldn’t Nixon be suspicious when Blake was killed? Wouldn’t he launch an investigation? On top of that, if Comedian was keeping tabs, wouldn’t he have hold Nixon what he saw Veidt doing?

Actually, the smiley on mars was IN the book. Also its a fact that the smiley on mars is REAL look it up, it exists!

Actually, the smiley on mars was IN the book. Also its a fact that the smiley on mars is REAL look it up, it exists!

http://www.msss.com/education/happy_face/happy_face.html

Just a suggestion, and I am sure someone else has suggested it already but I can’t be bothered to skim trough 100 comments.
How about a follow up vlog about this after you have read the book again or a blog about it if there is nothing to important to mention verbally.

Just a suggestion, and I am sure someone else has suggested it already but I can’t be bothered to skim trough 100 comments.
How about a follow up vlog about this after you have read the book again or a blog about it if there is nothing to important to mention verbally.

i’ve talked about this movie enough with my freinds and family over the past few days, i liked it alot. what would an exact replica of film accomplish? money of course, but it seems the mainstream public needs to have everything literary transformed into cinema to pay attention. the movie was far from a masterpiece but people pick fights unfairly these days. it takes hundreds upon hundreds of individuals to make a movie, especially one like the watchmen. everyones expectations were honestly unrealistic.

My main issue with the movie was how it handled the Silk Spectre/Comedian rape issue. In the comic, Sally Jupiter has very complex feelings for Eddie Blake. She has feelings of spite and revulsion because of how he treated her, but she also finds herself inexorably drawn to him years after the attempted rape. She doesn’t want to see him or speak to him, but she also feels deeply ashamed of how much she actually cares for him. In the movie, she’s constantly defending him, stroking his photo with her fingertips and talking about how the whole rape thing wasn’t such a big deal. The emotional gravity was sucked completely out of their relationship.

For that matter, I don’t think the movie made it clear enough that Laurie HATED Eddie Blake for what he did to her mother, and that she made no qualms about letting him know how she felt. In the movie, I don’t think the extent of her loathing is made totally clear, so her outburst at the end is pretty outlandish and not nearly as significant as it would have been if she had been developed more as a character. Not to mention the realization that in the comic the last thing she ever said to him was how much of a scumbag she thought she was. In the movie the last thing before her emotional breakdown is a flashback to her younger self telling him she thought he was cool.

Meh. Maybe with better actresses, this stuff could’ve been conveyed better.

Oh, and without the squid, Bubastis was USELESS. She was supposed to be a nod toward the same genetic engineering that produced the squid. Either leave the genetic engineering subplot or remove it completely. Don’t just keep the halfassed cartoon cat because you think it looks cool.

My main issue with the movie was how it handled the Silk Spectre/Comedian rape issue. In the comic, Sally Jupiter has very complex feelings for Eddie Blake. She has feelings of spite and revulsion because of how he treated her, but she also finds herself inexorably drawn to him years after the attempted rape. She doesn’t want to see him or speak to him, but she also feels deeply ashamed of how much she actually cares for him. In the movie, she’s constantly defending him, stroking his photo with her fingertips and talking about how the whole rape thing wasn’t such a big deal. The emotional gravity was sucked completely out of their relationship.

For that matter, I don’t think the movie made it clear enough that Laurie HATED Eddie Blake for what he did to her mother, and that she made no qualms about letting him know how she felt. In the movie, I don’t think the extent of her loathing is made totally clear, so her outburst at the end is pretty outlandish and not nearly as significant as it would have been if she had been developed more as a character. Not to mention the realization that in the comic the last thing she ever said to him was how much of a scumbag she thought she was. In the movie the last thing before her emotional breakdown is a flashback to her younger self telling him she thought he was cool.

Meh. Maybe with better actresses, this stuff could’ve been conveyed better.

Oh, and without the squid, Bubastis was USELESS. She was supposed to be a nod toward the same genetic engineering that produced the squid. Either leave the genetic engineering subplot or remove it completely. Don’t just keep the halfassed cartoon cat because you think it looks cool.

Spoony, I waited to watch this video until after I saw the film and I have to agree with what you said. It was a good movie, and it didn’t feel as long as it was; I want more. Yes they did cut some stuff out and make changes but nothing so drastic as to ruin the story.

One thing that did bug me was that whenever Dan and Laurie shared a personal moment together there was this sappy music that sounded like it was lifted straight out of a cheesy 80s cop-drama. Maybe that’s what they were going for as a joke, but it was distracting.

Another thing is that I’ve been hearing and seeing complaints about the anti-Bush joke near the end (when the editor of the New Frontiersman says no one wants a “cowboy president”). People are saying that such an obvious rip on George Bush has no place in a story written in 1985, and I agree that Bush-bashing has no place in this movie. But in the comic they have a joke about Gerald Ford falling down the steps of Air Force one (he trips stepping out of a helicopter). So if the original comic felt it was appropriate to mock the politicians of the day, I can allow the modern moviemakers license to put in one tiny joke about George Bush.

Just a quick reply to the mention of an “‘anti-Bush’ joke near the end.”

The conclusion of the original story ends with the editor of New Frontiersman saying, “Nobody wants a cowboy actor in the White House” after hearing news that Robert Redford is considering a presidential run after the events in the story. While the line in the movie is different from that in the book, its context is still very much the same to that in the 1985 story. I see no real reason to think of this as Bush-bashing; I think maybe are looking a little too deeply into this bit.

Just a quick reply to the mention of an “‘anti-Bush’ joke near the end.”

The conclusion of the original story ends with the editor of New Frontiersman saying, “Nobody wants a cowboy actor in the White House” after hearing news that Robert Redford is considering a presidential run after the events in the story. While the line in the movie is different from that in the book, its context is still very much the same to that in the 1985 story. I see no real reason to think of this as Bush-bashing; I think maybe are looking a little too deeply into this bit.

Well, I loved this film. For about half of it, I was shocked at how much had been taken straight from the book; it was like watching the pages of the comic fly past like a flip book.

The only part I felt bad about was the cutting of the Rorschach / Psychiatrist scenes. It was one of the parts of the whole story that really spoke to me, but I guess it’ll be there in the DVD (at least, I’m pretty sure it will).

When it comes to the end, I think you are right. The event in question is not what was important, its the impact and the thought behind it. It was the hero making a somewhat psychotic and somewhat wise decision. It was the acceptance of some of those who the heroes had sworn to protect. And it was the integrity of a man who could not stand by and watch the world he protected believe a lie. That’s the important part: it was what the squid caused that was the crux of the story, not the squid himself.

Also, I remember the smiley appearing several times in the comics. Most of the time, they were incorporated into the covers, including the Mars siting (if I remember right). They were trying to have a little *nudge-nudge wink-wink* to the hardcore fans in my opinion.

http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Mars_Express/SEMMTFNFGLE_1.html

A friend “stumbled” me this link. I too felt like the smiley on Mars was a little too much… Little did I know! It actually exists!

On another note, I really LOVE your videos. I check very often for new material. The internet really has replaced TV for me. All I can say is MOAR, more videos! And you’d make my dream come true if you reviewed “Dreamcatcher”, the movie based on King’s novel. That’s probably the worst movie of all time, but in an enjoyable way. I swear to God this is far funnier in badness than Ed Wood, and that’s saying something.

http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Mars_Express/SEMMTFNFGLE_1.html

A friend “stumbled” me this link. I too felt like the smiley on Mars was a little too much… Little did I know! It actually exists!

On another note, I really LOVE your videos. I check very often for new material. The internet really has replaced TV for me. All I can say is MOAR, more videos! And you’d make my dream come true if you reviewed “Dreamcatcher”, the movie based on King’s novel. That’s probably the worst movie of all time, but in an enjoyable way. I swear to God this is far funnier in badness than Ed Wood, and that’s saying something.

What I didn’t like was the film’s handling of Ozymandias. In the comic, you could really sympathize with him. He seemed like the only superhero without serious issues or hangups until the very end. The revelation that he was the villain was supposed to come as a shock to the reader. The nice guy was really the evil genius. It was a subversion of all of the comic book cliches and tropes. In the movie, it seems that Snyder went out of his way to make him EEEEVIL! His Egyptian-inspired purple suit is replaced with a rubber-sculpted black nipple suit that only the EEEEVIL villain would wear (Was that really necessary? We know Batman and Robin sucked, that was 12 years ago. Get over it.), the actor plays him as the most effeminate, ambiguously gay media mogul that you’re obviously not supposed to like with a ridiculous over-the-top German/Czech/whatever Eastern European accent that only EEEEVIL comic book villains have, and Nite-Owl’s tirade against him at the end makes it seem that the film is shouting out at you, “VEIDT IS THE BAD GUY! HE WAS WRONG! RORSHACH WAS RIGHT!” This is completely against the ambiguity of the comic, and turns Ozymandias into the cliche comic book villain he says he’s not. I saw an image macro that had Ozymandias sitting in his chair stroking Bubastis while the screens all displayed Inspector Gadget. The caption said, “I’ll get you Gadget! Next time!” That’s pretty much excatly how movie Ozymandias is.

I feel pretty much exactly like Spoony does, always like seeing that in reviewers, I very much agree with that you enjoy it much more having read the book…

I feel pretty much exactly like Spoony does, always like seeing that in reviewers, I very much agree with that you enjoy it much more having read the book…

I think replacing the Squid threat with Dr Manhattan was sensible. The Squid thing was overcomplicated.

What I kind of disliked about the movie was the fact that they cut some very minor things for no apparent reason. Like when Rorschach is going over his first kill; it follows correctly up until the end, when he finally kills the murderer. In the movie, he actually ends up killing him with his own cleaver. But in the GN, Rorschach dropped a hacksaw by his side and lit the apartment on fire. I’m not entirely sure why it was changed, other than to make the scene more bloody and brutal.

Another one is the explanation behind Ozymandias’ name. I don’t think they ever mentioned where the name ‘Ozymandias’ came from in the movie; sure, they gave all the story about how he was obsessed with the Egyptians and building his own empire, but they didn’t mention why he chose his name, or how it connects to the Egyptians.

Also, although this is a pretty minor thing, I didn’t think they gave the proper amount of attention to Dr. Manhattan’s backstory. I know it needed to be trimmed for movie form, but it would’ve been nice to see the explanation behind the symbol on his head. The only thing in the movie about that was him inscribing it in his forehead, and nothing else. On the same page, I didn’t think him telling his story was fully complete. I mean, they went over all the facts, but part of the GN that appealed to me in this scene was how he constantly went back and forth through time, showing all the events of his life and how they were connected. The movie didn’t do quite as much in that respect, only showing each event that shaped him.

Oh, and I thought I’d mention the Motion Comic, which I just started watching. It’s not too bad; I like the fact that it’s not just a read-through of the comic with nothing added (There’s actually some very basic animation…it’s not very good, but I prefer it to just scrolling through the pages with narration). The only problem I have with it is the fact that there’s ONE person doing all the speaking. He can do different voices very well, but…he also does the female voices. In the first episode, it’s strangely creepy to hear the Silk Spectre tell Rorschach to get out using a gravelly, male voice.

What I kind of disliked about the movie was the fact that they cut some very minor things for no apparent reason. Like when Rorschach is going over his first kill; it follows correctly up until the end, when he finally kills the murderer. In the movie, he actually ends up killing him with his own cleaver. But in the GN, Rorschach dropped a hacksaw by his side and lit the apartment on fire. I’m not entirely sure why it was changed, other than to make the scene more bloody and brutal.

Another one is the explanation behind Ozymandias’ name. I don’t think they ever mentioned where the name ‘Ozymandias’ came from in the movie; sure, they gave all the story about how he was obsessed with the Egyptians and building his own empire, but they didn’t mention why he chose his name, or how it connects to the Egyptians.

Also, although this is a pretty minor thing, I didn’t think they gave the proper amount of attention to Dr. Manhattan’s backstory. I know it needed to be trimmed for movie form, but it would’ve been nice to see the explanation behind the symbol on his head. The only thing in the movie about that was him inscribing it in his forehead, and nothing else. On the same page, I didn’t think him telling his story was fully complete. I mean, they went over all the facts, but part of the GN that appealed to me in this scene was how he constantly went back and forth through time, showing all the events of his life and how they were connected. The movie didn’t do quite as much in that respect, only showing each event that shaped him.

Oh, and I thought I’d mention the Motion Comic, which I just started watching. It’s not too bad; I like the fact that it’s not just a read-through of the comic with nothing added (There’s actually some very basic animation…it’s not very good, but I prefer it to just scrolling through the pages with narration). The only problem I have with it is the fact that there’s ONE person doing all the speaking. He can do different voices very well, but…he also does the female voices. In the first episode, it’s strangely creepy to hear the Silk Spectre tell Rorschach to get out using a gravelly, male voice.

I wholeheartedly agree Spoony, but i would have liked to see the scene where Dr. Manhattan says “If I’m going to have a symbol, it will be one I respect.” and the scene where Night Owl only has one sugar for Laurie’s coffee and asks if he should go out to get more, I felt like they made Dan to be too much of a badass in the movie, because in the comic he was… kind of a pussy.

I like your review, Spoony. You were pretty spot on. I’m not so upset by the change in the ending because it achieves the same effect: a common enemy. As much as I liked the big squid alien, i think it would have been out of place in the movie. I did start feeling the length of the film halfway through, though. I started wondering if maybe (slaying that sacred cow) if the whole comic and movie might be just a bit over-hyped. Don’t get me wrong, I really did enjoy it, and will probably watch it again at some point, but it didn’t blow me away.

As for the people saying that was a jab at Bush. Really? They said Reagan was running for president. He was an actor back in the day. And guess what? He played mostly cowboys! Shocking! They made the same kind of joke in Back to the Future. Get over yourselves.

I like your review, Spoony. You were pretty spot on. I’m not so upset by the change in the ending because it achieves the same effect: a common enemy. As much as I liked the big squid alien, i think it would have been out of place in the movie. I did start feeling the length of the film halfway through, though. I started wondering if maybe (slaying that sacred cow) if the whole comic and movie might be just a bit over-hyped. Don’t get me wrong, I really did enjoy it, and will probably watch it again at some point, but it didn’t blow me away.

As for the people saying that was a jab at Bush. Really? They said Reagan was running for president. He was an actor back in the day. And guess what? He played mostly cowboys! Shocking! They made the same kind of joke in Back to the Future. Get over yourselves.

I actually really ended up enjoying the movie, and the fact that I had such low expectations might have helped.

There were a few things that really bothered me, but I thought the actors who played Rorschach, Manhattan and Comedian really brought it together. Silk Spectre I and II were not that great, but I never did care for their characters. The movie really destroyed my preconceptions of how terrible it was going to be. Except for one thing.

The casting of Adrian Veidt (Ozzymandias)
I have NO idea why they got a pretty, doe-eyed, and slim-necked actor to play the part of the most intelligent and powerful man on earth. Isn’t he supposed to be in his 40s and in peak physical condition? And yeah, they fit the actor into costumes with oversized shoulder pads, but it looked ridiculously unnatural. The guy was also slurring his lines all the way through to produce a semi-American accent to cover up his British one. The lines were all there, but there was definitely something missing.

oh, and regarding the smiley on Mars.
I saw Dave Gibbons a few months ago and he explained that the smiley on Mars (which was in the comic book) was actually inspired by….a smiley face on Mars. They produced a book detailing the translation of Watchmen from comic to movie (called Watching the Watchmen, I think?), Gibbons said that they did not initially think of the idea until they saw a real photo of Mars with geographical features that formed a smiley face.

I saw it tonight. It was pretty good overall and mostly faithful to the book.

As Spoony said, the music seemed loud and out of place most of the time.

I cringed at Ozymandias’ costume and the actor playing him. All they needed was a blonde dude with an athletic body and square jaw. He should have been the easiest character to cast and somehow they messed up. His costume in the book wasn’t great, but it was way better than the one from the movie

I don’t understand why they chaged Nite Owl II’s costume as well. He’s supposed to look like an owl, not Batman.

What’s the point of faithfully reproducing the tiniest details from the book while changing major things like costumes?

The only improvement was Silk Spectre (Sally Jupiter). Her haircut in the movie really made her look like a pin-up from the 40s. She was rather ugly in the comic.

As for the Squid, at least it made a somewhat believable common enemy to the USA and USSR. While Dr. Manhattan doesn’t. He’s basically invincible and could destroy the planet by snapping his fingers, how can anyone unite against him?

I saw it tonight. It was pretty good overall and mostly faithful to the book.

As Spoony said, the music seemed loud and out of place most of the time.

I cringed at Ozymandias’ costume and the actor playing him. All they needed was a blonde dude with an athletic body and square jaw. He should have been the easiest character to cast and somehow they messed up. His costume in the book wasn’t great, but it was way better than the one from the movie

I don’t understand why they chaged Nite Owl II’s costume as well. He’s supposed to look like an owl, not Batman.

What’s the point of faithfully reproducing the tiniest details from the book while changing major things like costumes?

The only improvement was Silk Spectre (Sally Jupiter). Her haircut in the movie really made her look like a pin-up from the 40s. She was rather ugly in the comic.

As for the Squid, at least it made a somewhat believable common enemy to the USA and USSR. While Dr. Manhattan doesn’t. He’s basically invincible and could destroy the planet by snapping his fingers, how can anyone unite against him?

I thought it was a good movie. It was stylish, the opening credits scene was amazingly complex yet gave a complete sense of backstory, the setting was stylized, and for the most part faithful. The only reason I’ll never ever want to watch this movie again is because it’s so damn depressing.

I can understand what it means to love the original version and be upset at a movie adaptation, but like you said – I don’t think anyone could’ve done better, given the constraints producers, directors, writers, and other staff have to put up with besides the source material fans’ damn complaints. I mean, look at it this way: have you read Dragonball, and have you SEEN Dragonball Evolution?

Rabble, rabble, rabble, spoony, in this instance i have to say that you are a hypocrite. I read the review of Akira, where you said you couldn’t bear read all of the books, where as in this review you absolutely insist on people reading the fucking watchmen american piece of shit toilet paper material piece of fucking shit fuck shit fuck shit shcasdka,a!!! RABLERABLEREREBALR RABBLE

Rabble, rabble, rabble, spoony, in this instance i have to say that you are a hypocrite. I read the review of Akira, where you said you couldn’t bear read all of the books, where as in this review you absolutely insist on people reading the fucking watchmen american piece of shit toilet paper material piece of fucking shit fuck shit fuck shit shcasdka,a!!! RABLERABLEREREBALR RABBLE

I think the biggest failure of the movie is something you mention in your review. That people will be lost if they have not read the comic. I have heard people say they didn’t quite get what was going on and then people reply “If you had read the comic you would know what is going on”. I have read the comic but if I went to go see The Hunt for Red October and came out wonder what the heck just happened because it just didn’t flow well and had awkward dialog, I would be pissed. Not the greatest example but the point stands.

I think the movie could have been fixed. The awkward dialog to me isn’t how character speak but it just felt like they were rushing through points without cause because that is what happened in the comic. Manhattan tells Rorschach good bye in the lab…why? It was just awkward and it felt like a lot was missing. I think the problem with the dialog is that so much of it comes straight out of the comic and they really didn’t think about how to rewrite the dialog to get the same effect. When you are using 1/4th of the dialog that the book used and you still use a lot of the exact same lines, it just comes off as awkward and feels like something is missing. In a lot of ways I think the greatest downfall of this movie is that it was being too loyal to the comic.

I also thought the transitions were awkward as well but more towards the start of the movie. Manhattan all of a sudden being on Mars and then he starts to tell his back story for example. In the comic it is mad clear that there is nothing left for him on earth before he leaves. That is really made clear in the movie so much and isn’t really felt.

I think cleaner dialog, extending scenes and cutting flashbacks down to more characters explaining rather than reliving could have gone a long way to clean the movie up and give it a more streamlined less awkward feel.

I also agree that the music really didn’t work for the most part.

I Think The Actor Who Played Rorschach Was Awesome!

I Think The Actor Who Played Rorschach Was Awesome!

well, one day i will see watchmen in its full length on tv. until then, society doesn´t work that way. superheros and creating world menacing, ahm, things. if fantasy/sci-fi can tell objective truth about people and their relationship, from daily level to the highest filthy strata of politics, then i dont mind the costums it uses. but the costume, narrative tool, has now a live of its own. less the comic to blame, more the creatives behind the movies and responsible for its adaptation. what was the story of the novel, what its aim. make up your bloody mind about this two question, get some honest guys who dont hate the masses of average people (shot the anti-war protester in the back, yeah thats cool what) and just skip that opportunist, it just depends of the point of view, every opinion is equal good or bad.
so spoonys review is quite superficial. nixon is still in office? i guess there are some laws to prevent re election more than once. skip means the build up of an dictatorship, bonarpatism (read trotsky for this term). whats spoony complain, the guys his nose.
right now i am watching eragon, what a xerox.

I’ve seen a bunch of reviews for this movie, plenty of people having different ideas, complaints and praises. When it comes to Allan Moore’s books, there have been two types of adaptations to the big screen. The just plain bad (League of Extraordinary Gentlemen), and the good movie that deviates from the original stories point and message. After hearing all the different opinions about the film, I’ve think I can finally say what bothered me the most. And it wasn’t the ending. From the way the movie was structured, Zack Snyder put a more fantastic super hero element that separated itself from the graphic novel. The heroes punching through walls and such. When trying to have audiences accept all these things, putting in something like an alien attack (farce or not) would have taken more away from the feeling of realism that the graphic novel was all about for me. I thought that the ending they had fit well with what they had changed from the original material. It was different from the novel, and a different that may appeal to other people isn’t something I’m offended by. I liked it fine.

No, the thing that bothered me the most about this film, and the thing I think deviated from the book in the worst possible way, was the treatment of the character Ozymandias.

There’s a Star Trek reviewer online who made an astute comment that fits well with what I’m trying to say. His said “We are preached to. And those being preached to are not being told to think, they’re being told HOW to think.” This is where the movie missed the ball and went off course. In the book, Adrian Veidt was what I believe to be the best representation of the classic comic book hero. In how he looked in how he acted and how he held himself, he seemed to be the one that was held up on a pedestal so that the people could all look up to him. A classic golden age hero. Zack Snyder decided to change that, saying that he thought it would be better for the audience if the movie set the bar of good and evil. Never mind how conceited I actually think that statement is, Snyder has ignored the fact that this story is all based on controversy. In the way Alan Moore designed it, Watchmen brought forth the question of what we think is right. That is where a large part of its genius lays. This version just try’s to force an opinion on you with how they portray Ozymandias. He’s the villain. We have to know that.

Overall, I didn’t think it was a bad movie. I just thought it missed it’s most important point.

I’ve seen a bunch of reviews for this movie, plenty of people having different ideas, complaints and praises. When it comes to Allan Moore’s books, there have been two types of adaptations to the big screen. The just plain bad (League of Extraordinary Gentlemen), and the good movie that deviates from the original stories point and message. After hearing all the different opinions about the film, I’ve think I can finally say what bothered me the most. And it wasn’t the ending. From the way the movie was structured, Zack Snyder put a more fantastic super hero element that separated itself from the graphic novel. The heroes punching through walls and such. When trying to have audiences accept all these things, putting in something like an alien attack (farce or not) would have taken more away from the feeling of realism that the graphic novel was all about for me. I thought that the ending they had fit well with what they had changed from the original material. It was different from the novel, and a different that may appeal to other people isn’t something I’m offended by. I liked it fine.

No, the thing that bothered me the most about this film, and the thing I think deviated from the book in the worst possible way, was the treatment of the character Ozymandias.

There’s a Star Trek reviewer online who made an astute comment that fits well with what I’m trying to say. His said “We are preached to. And those being preached to are not being told to think, they’re being told HOW to think.” This is where the movie missed the ball and went off course. In the book, Adrian Veidt was what I believe to be the best representation of the classic comic book hero. In how he looked in how he acted and how he held himself, he seemed to be the one that was held up on a pedestal so that the people could all look up to him. A classic golden age hero. Zack Snyder decided to change that, saying that he thought it would be better for the audience if the movie set the bar of good and evil. Never mind how conceited I actually think that statement is, Snyder has ignored the fact that this story is all based on controversy. In the way Alan Moore designed it, Watchmen brought forth the question of what we think is right. That is where a large part of its genius lays. This version just try’s to force an opinion on you with how they portray Ozymandias. He’s the villain. We have to know that.

Overall, I didn’t think it was a bad movie. I just thought it missed it’s most important point.

It was actually all the buzz about the movie that made me want to read the comic in the first place. After that, I was curious to see what the film was going to be like. Spoony, you did actually nail some of the gripes I had about the movie. The musical selection was indeed unfortunate at times, sometimes seeming way over the top cliche. And playing “Hallelujah” during a sex scene? I heard some people say that scene was supposed to be funny, but I thought it was at best unnecessary. Anyway, the other things that bothered me were three casting choices: Ozymandias and Silk Spectres 1 & 2. The actress for Silk Spectre 1 looked way too young (certainly not 67 as she claimed in the movie. I nearly laughed at that.) Some of the scenes with Silk Spectre 2 featured very classic examples of wooden acting, but she wasn’t all bad, just hit-and-miss. I also though they really skewered Ozy in this film. The actor looks vaguely like Christopher Walken at times, and he’s much darker and more sinister than he ever was in the comic. Just like CJHenderson said, they typecast him to be the villain, especially with Nite Owl’s final speech, where his actions were really supposed to add this moral dilemma to the story. You might also add Dr. Manhattan to my list of grievances. His voice wasn’t quite what I’d expected and I didn’t like where the actor went with it. Also, did they really have to have that CG puppet on screen? What’s wrong with a dude painted blue and then adding his “aura” in editing? Anyway, the one thing I thought they nailed was Rorschach. Who doesn’t like Jackie Earle Haley’s portrayal of Walter Kovacs? He really did justice to the character, although some lines, as you mentioned, were clunky in their transition to film. I still went nuts anytime he did one of the famous Rorschach lines (“I’m not in here with you…” or “Small world”). The altered ending was, meh. I didn’t have a big problem with it, especially since the idea of an alien takeover always sounded silly to me. Did Ozy have more aliens lined up to keep up his facade of ET invasion? It really seemed that he’d only developed the squid, so how would he prolong his forced peace? People tend to have short memory spans. Final verdict, I liked the movie but mostly because they didn’t butcher my favourite character. Everything else was passable.

I watched the movie, I tried to read the comic, but couldn’t make myself to read much. If this is the pinacle of graphic novel art form then graphic novels aren’t for me. Never got comic and probably never will.

I watched the movie, I tried to read the comic, but couldn’t make myself to read much. If this is the pinacle of graphic novel art form then graphic novels aren’t for me. Never got comic and probably never will.

Truthfully I think comic movies should try to be multiple movies, especially comics like Watchmen. That way you can include the minute details. I didn’t care about the ending, I thought the alien squid ending wouldn’t have sat well with todays audience. People see aliens today and think it cliche and boring. Yes the comic book lover would love it but others wouldn’t. I love the comic and it I liked the movie. The re-watch value is not there that much, I can’t watch it more than twice usually in like a while.

i just bought the DVD, gonna watch tonight, i hope i like it, cause the novel was awesome….

i just bought the DVD, gonna watch tonight, i hope i like it, cause the novel was awesome….

Odd. I find myself having a very unusual set of gripes about the movie, most of which stem from one basic problem: the movie was too true to the style of the comic while being completely unfaithful to the substance.

The single worst part of the film is it’s original subplot, the free energy thingy. First, the scene with the assassin is changed to the point where it undermines the reveal of Ozymandias as the bad guy, both in and out of story. In the movie, the assassin breaks in, shoots all of the old, fat suits (sigh. . .) Veidt was arguing with and then gets beaten down and killed. And nobody thinks to even look at Veidt, despite this amazingly fortunate turn of events for him? In the comic it was staged to look like a random attack, but here just asking cui bono points the finger right at Veidt.

And in order to accommodate this wretched subplot, they changed the part where Dr. Manhattan made electric cars cheap and effective through mass production of lithium. This means that Hollis Mason’s sign is totally pointless- “obsolete models a specialty-” because those vehicles aren’t anymore, that plot point got changed. Yes, it’s supposed to be symbolic, but without the in-world explanation, it’s just stupid. And as the capstone for this stupidity, you see the electric cars in the epilogue, as if we just hadn’t been trying hard enough before. Yes, the whole part about “having a living god on a leash” didn’t factor in to our cheap and effective energy solutions, obviously.

Another problem was the gore. I’m actually a fan of gore, but there’s a place for it to be and this sure as hell wasn’t it. It was so transparently gratuitous- Doctor Manhattan has total control of matter, and kills people by disintegrating them. Why on Earth would they transform into skeletons amid a giant geyser of lovingly-rendered gore (in slo-mo, of course. What, did you think you were watching a film with the slightest bit of restraint?) when he could just turn them to dust and be done? The fights were fun to watch, but they were too long already and the slo-mo made them unbearably tedious. More to the point, the way it lovingly focused on the maimings made me feel like I was watching torture porn as opposed Watchmen.

In short, the movie was crap. The visuals were impressive, but the changes and especially the modern thematic elements were crowbared in sideways, distorting everything around them. I saw it once, and will content myself with the book from now on.

Man I know I’m really REALLY late joining this discussion, but i actually didn’t realize spoony did a review of this til just today. excellent review, speaking of. I am honestly surprised by it as well. I have been a spoony fan for a long time now and i remember saying to my brother when the film was coming out that I wondered if spoony would review it but that I probably would be afraid to watch or read said review cause i was absolutely CONVINCED he’d hate it and tear it a new asshole. imagine my shock when he not only didn’t do that, but gave as close to a glowing review as spoony ever gets. a glowing review that i completely agreed with

He said it best when he said that fans should honestly be damn grateful for what they got, how faithful it was and dignified the proceedings really were. comic adaptations, particulary alan moore comics, do not have a track record of being either of those things (faithful or dignified) and while the obsessive fans, the ones he described as “too much a fan of the comic” may nitpick all over the place they really should take a breath, step back and look at how damn lucky they really were.

now mind you, i read through a lot of the comments previous and as one poster said, this is an amazingly civil and thoughtful discussion (one of the most so i’ve ever read i think) of this film so i am not really talking about these folks when i say this, but SO MANY people just set up a stool next the bitching cow and milked it til it died. I mean good lord, in a world where most of the comic book movie catalogue is populated almost entirely with batman and robin’s, league of extraordinary gentlemen’s, catwoman’s, steel’s, punisher’s, and that cinematic abortion elektra, and their countless dispicable kin, in a world where a mediocre comic book film is basically the best you can hope for, that it didn’t completely suck (or at least not suck as bad as you feared) is the high water mark, we finally get what i could call and honest to god “good comic book movie”…hell, even a great one, and all anyone can do is bitch about the squid or the collossal blue tallywhacker (but for some reason if you’re bitching about one, you don’t seem to bitching about the other…curious)

I had a couple of minor quibbles myself. but that’s what they were, minor. and honestly i needed the outside perspective of my girlfriend who had not read the comic to even really notice them. I didn’t have a lot of the same complaints most did, i liked the soundtrack (loved it in some instances, namely the opening credits) i didn’t miss the squid and thought framing manhatten was a fine substitute, i liked the alterations to the costumes (i mean seriously, niteowl, ozzy, and the spectre alll looked like complete tools in the book, admit it) i didn’t care about the removal of the black fleet thing (i hear they released it on dvd special anyway) and i didn’t even really dislike the silk spectre as an actress. her problems were nothing that didn’t plague the character in the book (bitchy whiny and pretentious) and really she didn’t do that bad of a job. just not as good a job as say rorshach, who was so perfect how can you even hope to match it?

honestly my only beefs were as follows. the removal of the complete rorshach origin (the kitty genovese thing) made me sad, but then i am such a rorshach whore i was just sad that any matter of his story was cut just because he’s…he’s HIM, ya know? the second was manhattan’s voice, in that i totally did not hear anything like that when i read the book, but i got over that pretty quick and found the motivation for his monotone to make perfect sense as it went on. and the third comes from that outside perspective. my gf pretty much picked out adrian as the baddie within his first couple scenes. if snyder stumbled anywhere i think it was that he never really developed ozzy as a hero first, and pretty much made no bones that he was and has been the bad guy the whole movie. it’s not really a surprise at all even though she kept insisting he was the one and i kept going “just watch, you’ll see” which she’s already figured out is code for “yeah fine you’re right, what? you want a friggin medal?”. though i can say that the oft complaint that you just don’t get it if you didn’t read the book isn;t true, cause she followed just fine and only had to go “wait,…what?” a couple a times and usually directly related to an overly abridged flashback. and as spoony said, it definately did it’s job because she has since picked up the book to find out more based on what she loved in the movie. and many of the things i fell in love with (namely rorshach) she fell in love with the same way so the movie obviously hit the right notes just as well

and i have to mention. jackie earl haley…IS rorshach…like period. i mean as much as i was sorta thrown by manhattan;s voice, as soon as rorshach opened his mouth, it was so completely llike i always imagined it, it literally gave me chills. every word out of his mouth is gold, and he completely embodies everything that made a character that so completely affected my young mind and very much shaped me into the man i am today (i know that probably sounds scary as a concept…and uh…i can’t really defend that…he’s not the best role model to be sure but he sure taught me about never ever giving up and that sometimes you have to stand up and do ugly things so that good people never have to suffer through that ugliness themselves, even if it means doing it totally alone) I know he won’t (or didn’t by now i think) but i honestly think the man should win a friggin award for his raw coiled-and-ready-to-strike awesomeness

now the movie isn’t perfect, but it’s as damn close as we’re ever gonna get and i for one am happy to take this gift horse without even so much as a glance at his eye teeth and maybe some other fans shouldn’t be as concerned about the new pony’s dentures either

Man I know I’m really REALLY late joining this discussion, but i actually didn’t realize spoony did a review of this til just today. excellent review, speaking of. I am honestly surprised by it as well. I have been a spoony fan for a long time now and i remember saying to my brother when the film was coming out that I wondered if spoony would review it but that I probably would be afraid to watch or read said review cause i was absolutely CONVINCED he’d hate it and tear it a new asshole. imagine my shock when he not only didn’t do that, but gave as close to a glowing review as spoony ever gets. a glowing review that i completely agreed with

He said it best when he said that fans should honestly be damn grateful for what they got, how faithful it was and dignified the proceedings really were. comic adaptations, particulary alan moore comics, do not have a track record of being either of those things (faithful or dignified) and while the obsessive fans, the ones he described as “too much a fan of the comic” may nitpick all over the place they really should take a breath, step back and look at how damn lucky they really were.

now mind you, i read through a lot of the comments previous and as one poster said, this is an amazingly civil and thoughtful discussion (one of the most so i’ve ever read i think) of this film so i am not really talking about these folks when i say this, but SO MANY people just set up a stool next the bitching cow and milked it til it died. I mean good lord, in a world where most of the comic book movie catalogue is populated almost entirely with batman and robin’s, league of extraordinary gentlemen’s, catwoman’s, steel’s, punisher’s, and that cinematic abortion elektra, and their countless dispicable kin, in a world where a mediocre comic book film is basically the best you can hope for, that it didn’t completely suck (or at least not suck as bad as you feared) is the high water mark, we finally get what i could call and honest to god “good comic book movie”…hell, even a great one, and all anyone can do is bitch about the squid or the collossal blue tallywhacker (but for some reason if you’re bitching about one, you don’t seem to bitching about the other…curious)

I had a couple of minor quibbles myself. but that’s what they were, minor. and honestly i needed the outside perspective of my girlfriend who had not read the comic to even really notice them. I didn’t have a lot of the same complaints most did, i liked the soundtrack (loved it in some instances, namely the opening credits) i didn’t miss the squid and thought framing manhatten was a fine substitute, i liked the alterations to the costumes (i mean seriously, niteowl, ozzy, and the spectre alll looked like complete tools in the book, admit it) i didn’t care about the removal of the black fleet thing (i hear they released it on dvd special anyway) and i didn’t even really dislike the silk spectre as an actress. her problems were nothing that didn’t plague the character in the book (bitchy whiny and pretentious) and really she didn’t do that bad of a job. just not as good a job as say rorshach, who was so perfect how can you even hope to match it?

honestly my only beefs were as follows. the removal of the complete rorshach origin (the kitty genovese thing) made me sad, but then i am such a rorshach whore i was just sad that any matter of his story was cut just because he’s…he’s HIM, ya know? the second was manhattan’s voice, in that i totally did not hear anything like that when i read the book, but i got over that pretty quick and found the motivation for his monotone to make perfect sense as it went on. and the third comes from that outside perspective. my gf pretty much picked out adrian as the baddie within his first couple scenes. if snyder stumbled anywhere i think it was that he never really developed ozzy as a hero first, and pretty much made no bones that he was and has been the bad guy the whole movie. it’s not really a surprise at all even though she kept insisting he was the one and i kept going “just watch, you’ll see” which she’s already figured out is code for “yeah fine you’re right, what? you want a friggin medal?”. though i can say that the oft complaint that you just don’t get it if you didn’t read the book isn;t true, cause she followed just fine and only had to go “wait,…what?” a couple a times and usually directly related to an overly abridged flashback. and as spoony said, it definately did it’s job because she has since picked up the book to find out more based on what she loved in the movie. and many of the things i fell in love with (namely rorshach) she fell in love with the same way so the movie obviously hit the right notes just as well

and i have to mention. jackie earl haley…IS rorshach…like period. i mean as much as i was sorta thrown by manhattan;s voice, as soon as rorshach opened his mouth, it was so completely llike i always imagined it, it literally gave me chills. every word out of his mouth is gold, and he completely embodies everything that made a character that so completely affected my young mind and very much shaped me into the man i am today (i know that probably sounds scary as a concept…and uh…i can’t really defend that…he’s not the best role model to be sure but he sure taught me about never ever giving up and that sometimes you have to stand up and do ugly things so that good people never have to suffer through that ugliness themselves, even if it means doing it totally alone) I know he won’t (or didn’t by now i think) but i honestly think the man should win a friggin award for his raw coiled-and-ready-to-strike awesomeness

now the movie isn’t perfect, but it’s as damn close as we’re ever gonna get and i for one am happy to take this gift horse without even so much as a glance at his eye teeth and maybe some other fans shouldn’t be as concerned about the new pony’s dentures either

Totally agree, except for the smiley on mars. If only because that particular feature actually exists on mars, and therefore, it can be considered part of the message of the film, and the book, as it appears in both. I didn’t mind the ending all that much, though now, I get where you’re coming from on Dr. Manhattan, it does seem that Ozymandias puts humanity in something of a hopeless situation, rather than a united one, because if Manhattan wants them dead, they’re fucked.

LOL for the Herold And Kumar Reference.

LOL for the Herold And Kumar Reference.

Actually no, there exists no smiley on the mars or anything similar.

There is a geological structure which some people believe resembling a human head, but even that looks totally different.

Spoony’s A Game of Thrones fan.

My fandom meter just exploded. With joy.

Spoony’s A Game of Thrones fan.

My fandom meter just exploded. With joy.

Yeah, the gore was an issue. Especially with the child molester scene, I found the motives behind the gore to be really transparent – make us sit through a constant barrage of gratuitous violence, then make us feel sympathetic towards the murder of the girl so we feel pleasure when the molester gets decapitated. Ugh. …and the fact that it was constant and consistently gratuitous in this way (I mean the audience was cheering and laughing when people were decapitated) only made me feel like I was in the Colosseum.

I hate to put this here since with how many reviews/vlogs Spoony puts out I doubt he has time to keep up with all the replies. I would love for you to do a follow-up review on the Ultimate cut. I really believe the added material was returned in a manner that made the film even better. You can tell that this is truly the version Snyder wanted, and wished to release from day one.

I hate to put this here since with how many reviews/vlogs Spoony puts out I doubt he has time to keep up with all the replies. I would love for you to do a follow-up review on the Ultimate cut. I really believe the added material was returned in a manner that made the film even better. You can tell that this is truly the version Snyder wanted, and wished to release from day one.

NOah, loved the review, except that the squid isn't an alien. Ozymandias creates the squid and sends it through time and space because that'll make it explode (only Dr. Osterman/Manhattan can do this properly). He uses the squid because it looks like an alien, and because its so big, so it'll create a bigger explosion

sorry, i thought i screwed up the first one, so i posted another

noah, you're awesome, but the squid isn't an alien (if you already know this, i'm sorry). Ozymandias makes it and teleports it because: a) it causes explosion b) its big, hence bigger explosion c) it looks like an alien so people will think there are aliens. and by the way, the woman who played Silk Spectre (version 2) is Malin Akerman, and she's at least hot, and canadian, so be careful what you say

Back when I first watched it in theaters, I was with two of my friends; one who has read the book, and one who hasn't. Just about all three of us were a bit underwhelmed by it. Now that I'm thinking about it, I want to watch the film again just to see if my first impression of the movie has faded to allow me to enjoy it more.

Yes there is: Galle Crater

“As the smiley is a key motif in the comic book Watchmen by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons, the crater was used as a story location after the coincidence was noted by Gibbons. According to Gibbons, the similarity “was almost too good to be true. I worried that if we put it in, people would never believe it.”"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galle_%28Martian_c…

I REALLY ended up not liking this movie in the theater and didn't end up remembering much of it. I remember it being real pretentious and LONG. I hadn't read the book and I do think you need to since the book does a better job of showing you that the heroes aren't super, and in fact are assholes-hardly in the vein of Superman or Captain America. I didn't mind Malin Ackerman as Silk Spectre so much since Billy Crudup's quiet and snooty voice of Dr. Manhattan annoyed the shit out of me. For a guy who is supposed to be detached from emotions, he sure emotes. Maybe George Lucas should have directed his scenes.

The book if phenominal by comparison. I've seen the movie a couple more times and it's……better then I remember but that isn't saying much.

That was a pretty much spot-on evaluation of the Watchmen movie and how it is received. I personally love the comic (haven't read it in absolute ages but I plan to re-read it) and I also really liked the movie. It was probably the most faithful adaptation I have seen of ANY source material (inc. LOTR), and I think it did a good job. Yes, it deviated from the comic book with the ending (which honestly I think was warranted), but the bit that I have the most problem is in fact where NightOwl makes a definitive statement that Ozymandias has twisted humanity (while in the book it's left very much ambiguous and down to your own interpretation).

However, even though the movie was really good (you can't deny that Znyder does a damn good job), I think it was doomed from the start. You have Alan Moore (the fucking creator for god's sake) disowning the adaptation before it even hit the screen, you have about 10 failed attempts before it, and you have a loyal cult following of the comic who will pick apart any inconsistency the movie has.

I know Linkara did an off-the-cuff review at about the same time as this one, and has been (so far to date) THE most rational and reasonable of all cult comic devotees about this movie (he brought up similar points, although he honestly really did not like the ending). However when the movie adaptation pisses off Linkara of all people, you know that the fan base in general is going to be HEAVILY polarised on the entire issue.

1 year too late and counting. However, 2 cents worth is what we here in the comments section live on. Great review!

Hey Noah. I'm new to your reviews, hence why I am commenting on such an old one. I love your site so far, you're an intelligent guy, and your reviews, especially your game playing videos are very MST3K-esque. I love that :)

I got into Watchmen on the advice of a friend around a year or so before I had even heard they were making a movie out of it. I absolutely love the graphic novel (am reading it again for the umpteenth time), and i think the movie was definitely a faithful adaptation of the graphic novel as well. My only real complaint was the way they changed the story of what Rorschach did to the pedophile when he found him and found that he murdered her. Rorschach was never, as far as i could tell, psychotic in that sense. Sure he was insane, but to hatchet a guy he had handcuffed in the head was out of character for him. I did prefer the graphic novel on that one, because it was perfect. The guy saying “Save me!” as Rorschach walks off lighting the place on fire, and Rorschach saying “Save yourself” was classic. Sure, it was a pathological thing to do to a guy, but it made more sense to me than him mutilating a guy in the head with a meat cleaver. Other than that, the movie is gold I think.

And about the ending: I like the route they went moreso than the squid alien/monster thing, simply because in a movie these days, especially with how cynical people are about special effects, the giant squid monster would have come off as really cheesy,1950s sci-fi. It works in comic form, but i think in a live action movie, it would have just come off as too campy, and that would have conflicted with the serious nature of the film. Yes, it was kind of odd making Dr. Manhattan look like the villain to the world, but then again, I do think it made some sense in the film.

Also, most of the action scenes in the film were taken from the book. All the scenes i remember: The Silk Specter and Nite Owl fight in the alley while Dr. M was on television, Rorschach fighting the police in the apartment (though the scene was a tad different in the movie), The Comedian kicking the rioters' asses, Silk Specter and Nite Owl saving the people in the tenement fire, and breaking Rorschach out of prison were all in the graphic novel, as well as the movie. I may be missing some however. Hell, they even kept in The Comedian killing the pregnant woman in there, which shocked me, since you don't see many films that show pregnant women being gut shot to death. I am really surprised they kept that in; I would have thought they would have censored that. I am a guy who loves slasher flicks, and isn't easily shocked, but no matter how many times I see that scene, or even see it in the comic, I am still shocked by it.

Anyway, this has gone on long enough. I enjoy watching your videos. Keep making them :)

The movie was amazing, but it did kinda bothered me how they shoehorned homosexuality into the movie… not because it’s “wrong”, but if there is at best very subtle suggestions, don’t make it any more than that.

By far the best “superhero” movie I have ever seen.

I loved the movie and actually bought the graphic novel because everyone keeps saying the graphic novel is so much better and I have to see that for myself.

Sure there are some minor flaws in the film and some modifications were made to the original story, but only the most purist or picky of nerds (seriously, get a life !) would bother about that. Maybe the polarisation can also be attributed to the fact that the movie doesn’t really fall into any mainstream category as we know it. It’s part psychological thriller, it’s part superhero movie, it’s part film noir detective story, it’s filled with political references, it has a few gory scenes and it has a quite unique audiovisual style that I guess not everyone can appreciate (I didn’t even mind the 99 air balloon song, even though the German lyrics might have seemed a bit out of place in an otherwise entirely English spoken film). And to top this, the film is a bit hard to follow if you haven’t read the graphic novel and you have no one besides you to explain what’s left out.

I suspect this film is just too hard to market because fans of typical superhero movies consider it too boring, the purist nerd keep whining about the minor flaws and changes, fans of art house are likely to avoid it and others may be confused about what is going on.

I’m not disappointed so much that the squid wasn’t there, but that the attack spread. In the novel, Ozymandias’s plan was in the category of “the ends justify the means.” He was able to unite all of mankind and save them from total (or at least near total) destruction. I admit it is sad that anyone had to die, but if he was able to save billions by killing a few million (if even that much) then I actually think he did the right thing. In the movie, though he detonates the bombs, or whatever they were supposed to be, in several major cities. He brings the death toll up ten fold or more for the same end. It made it a lot more questionable about whether he was right or not. Presumably he still saved more than he killed, but I think he killed more than he needed to.

My own problem with it was the lack of subtlety. No I don’t mean the fight scenes. The most obvious was Rorschach’s backstory. The majority of the book showed a cynical view of humanity and when he gives his last speech to the psychiatrist you start to understand how he turned from what was essentially a comic book hero into the vigilante he is. That scene gave a more disturbing feel than simply showing him as a psycho taking a meat cleaver to a guy’s skull. This cynicism was meant to be felt throughout the movie, from the hopelessness people felt about the impending nuclear war to the psychiatrist after each session. The book then turned it upside down by showing a glimpse of humanity at it’s best… before Ozymandias promptly kills everyone. There was no feeling of subtlety, it was as blunt as the meat cleaver scene.

………Also, they kept saying Rorsach’s name wrong. The comic even compares the name to Raw shark in case you didn’t know how to say it out loud.

i agree. squid or no squid, it worked well, and the pirate comic was better off not in the movie. and you’re right, this movie wasnt just faithful, it was FAITHFUL!! one thing that threw me off is that the comic book made Dr. Manhattan look and sound like a diety, but in the movie he sounded and acted like a bitch. btw, that was what nixon’s real nose looked like. and actually there really is a smiley face on mars. no joke! its a crater called Galle.

I’m probably beating a dead horse here at this point but the squid plot just wouldn’t work the movie.  I mean aside from having people walk out or just simply taking the piss out of it for eternity. The squid plot pretty much took up a good few subplots in the comic, that to include in the movie would just inflate it, confuse the shit out of people and probably would have people ripping out if for that.

As for the soundtrack, specially the Along the watchtower, I think that was mainly a reference to the comic, the comic would often include lyrics from songs stuck here and there… Including this one and I believe at around that point in the book. Its a clever shout out but I can see why it probably doesn’t work.

I have a lot of Teories abouth the movie until I watch Sucker Punch
Now i know that Zack Snider don’t Undertand the comic
He made visualy more faitfull possible because he know that will be good for his name as a fillmaker
However he doesn’t understand at all
That is the reason he take out the squid but left the blue penis
 
Is the kind of guy who want to take out the shorts of batman and superman because someone says “your hero wears underwear upon his pants.” after that he apperas and says “look, now he doesn’t wears the underpants anymore, now you like my superman?”
And the guy who make funny answear:
“Dude you ruin the character and more than never is a Loser who suck ball. I liked the old superman you dumbass!”

Probably he heards a lot thgat the giant squid was ridiculous from people who don’t read comics, and want give one of smart.

I think that the giant squid was ridiculous.
But doctor manhatan as a villain was stupid

the problem with the squid is that there was no real point in changing it, and he needlessly strayed from Alan Moore, who is commonly thought of a comic god

You liked the Willie Nelson intro after the 4th time watching it???? 3 times is to much. The intro gets real annoying real fast! Loved the movie though…