First one? Really? (Watchmen - now with free spoilers!)

[IronHide]

No one else went and watched the MOTHER F**KING WATCHMEN LAST NIGHT?!?! (In Imax to )

It. Rocked. My. Socks.

Damn near everything was spot on, they cut some stuff here and there, but for the most part it was amazingly well done.

*Spoilers*



















Now. As everyone should already know by now, the ending was changed. There was not 'alien', Ozy used the machine that Dr. M built for him to replicate his power to destroy stuff in a big blue haze. My friends and I discussed the ending and came to the conclusion that this was an adequate alteration. The 'alien' could have worked, but I think that the resulting dialogue that needed to be used to explain that would have added another 30 minutes to an already 3 hour film. At the end of the day, I was happy with it.

There were also a few little things left out here and there, no real side story about Rorschach's shrink, nor any dialogue between the newspaper stand guy and the kid reading the comics. The big one for me was that they never killed Hollis Mason in the movie. Again, just little things, nothing that made me say 'Well, they ruined the movie now!'

The one thing that was surprising to me was the interactions between Rorschach and Nite Owl towards the end of the movie, Snyder really made it seem like they truly cherished each others friendship and even had Nite Owl watch Rorschach die.

All things considered. I give it two big thumbs up. I was surprisingly impressed and suggest you go watch it now. NOW! GO!

[Brendocon]

I've got no problem with the removal of squidbomb, but thought that a lot of the fallout in Antarctica just flopped badly. The sense of "oh ****, Adrian's really the good guy" just wasn't there... replacing Laurie's realisation that they were trying to prevent world peace with Dan going psycho just didn't work thematically for me.

Considering that, by all rights, it shouldn't work as a movie, I thought it was good. A lot of the acting was naff (Sally and Adrian in particular) and the super agility slo-mo was shiiite. These are middle aged people without superpowers, they are not Neo. In the book, Adrian takes out Dan by throwing crockery, not in a scene from Kung-Fu Hustle.

The big fight at the beginning and awful "he's got a poison capsule" delivery made it fairly easy for everybody around me to guess who it was.

Other than that, good stuff. Great soundtrack. For a near-three hour film that I knew the plot of, I wasn't bored. Which is fair play.

3 Brendstars.

I wanted to go "arrooooooo" really loudly whenever Nixon was talking.

[IronHide]

Nixon made me laugh the most. It really did remind me of the Futurama Nixon.

The fight scenes were a little above and beyond at points, but I dont think that it made them look like they were 'super' heroes. Just crimefighters who knew how to fight.

The assassination attempt scene was stupid as far as the dialogue. That did make it amazingly obvious. They did really drag out the opening fight scene. That and you could see his face at certain points.

The actor who played Rorschach was amazing, really did him justice imo.

[Shanti418]

The actor who played Rorschach was amazing, really did him justice imo.

Jackie Earl Haley, otherwise known as the Bad Ass Kid from the original Bad News Bears

The ending worked fine IMO as well.

If you read the graphic novel, then you will understand that this is basically a good a movie as they could make following it religiously.

However, given the comments I've heard from SOME people (and others that completly disagree with them), I remain unconvinced that this is a movie the laypeople will see, understand, and like. Because there is so much story and so many points to hit and so many visual touchstones, the characterization could fall flat for some people. I would have liked to see more from both Night Owl AND Silk Spectre I, but there's only so much you can do even in a 3hr movie.

But most likely, this is a good as it gets for a Watchman movie. They didn't shy away from anything, you'll know that when you see Rorschach's origin.

Also, I agree with Brend that although the Dr. M for Squid worked out OK (Anyone see S.Q.U.I.D when they go to a closeup of the US monitors at the end?), once the heroes got to Antartica, the movie kinda limped to the end. Although I was happy to see Ozy's cat made it to the screen.

Still though, even though its denser than pound cake, there are a lot of movie goers who will walk out and go, "Giant blue schlongs? Heroes that get off on fighting crime? Nuclear Destruction of New York City AND the guy who causes it "wins" and lives? AWESOME!!!"

[Guest]

Altered the topic title to better reflect the content.

Just in case there are still people out there who think Watchmen is some kind of Sylar-related spin-off from Heroes, or, umm, Swiss timepiece manufacturers, or whatever.

[Professor Smooth]

I was blown away. I didn't even notice the stuff that was left out (seemingly only until the DVD release).

While it's strange that they followed the graphic novel SO closely and then changed the ending, I have to admit it does make a bit more sense this way. You could argue that Alan Moore was purposely trying to avoid that, but I thought it worked really well.

The only thing I really missed was Ozymandias' "I WON!" towards the end.

Anybody catch Don Murphy's slamming of Moore? It's hilarious. I'd like to dissect everything he said, but I'll leave it to somebody more qualified. I dug the part where Murphy said that Moore was a hypocrite because he accepted all the extra money he got because the movie spiked sales of the graphic novel.

He also says that if he didn't want these movies to be made, he shouldn't have sold the rights. The only problem was that Moore sold the rights (although I think DC owns everything Watchmen and just pays Moore residuals) YEARS ago, before there was a likelihood of the movies being made and WAY before his work was turned into crap like (urgh) LXG.

And WHO turned the awesome League comics into LXG, and did only slightly better with From Hell, thus permanently souring Alan Moore on all future adaptations of his work?

Yep. Don Murphy.

I should be careful. A friend of mine wrote a tirade against Don Murphy during the run up towards the first Transformers movie and Murphy got his phone number and called to rant at him.

Good times, good times, see the movie!

[Brendocon]

Yeah, I don't think Moore owns the rights to any of his DC stuff. Not entirely sure though, as whenever I see the words "Alan Moore" and "rights" together, my brain just sort of ftzthakfnfdjsngrrrrjjjj

The only thing I really missed was Ozymandias' "I WON!" towards the end.

Yeah. A great big "I DID IT!!" and dance of triumph would have been nice. So would Adrian being not quite so slimey.

But most likely, this is a good as it gets for a Watchman movie. They didn't shy away from anything, you'll know that when you see Rorschach's origin.

Agreed. In theory this movie shouldn't even exist. It's seen off far better directors than Zak Snyder. For it to be this good and this faithful is quite an accomplishment.

I was stunned the bit with the dog made it in.

I spotted the SQUID acronym a few times (I think first when Laurie leaves Jon).

Great soundtrack as well, though I'm disappointed Tears for Fears isn't on the CD (which was a lovely moment, hearing "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" playing at Adrian's). I was slightly miffed that they switched out Billie Holliday for Leonard Cohen... and looking at the soundtrack, "You're My Thrill" is actually on there... don't recall it in the movie, though.

But how awesome was the Watchtower sequence, though? And Snyder even subtley underplayed the "wild cat / two riders" bit too, which was nice. Also nice to see him get the "I am Ozymandias... look upon my works" bit in there too.

... there are many here among us who feel that life is but a joke...

[Metal Vendetta]

Very very very good.

And norks! I wasn't expecting that! Lots of blue wobbly penis too. There was laughter in the theatre when the camera panned out of Jon's blue bottom on Mars, which was a bit unsettling, and I thought the sex scene was a bit...odd. Seemed a bit overdone. Also as a massive Leonard Cohen fan I thought Hallelujah was unnecessary, but the rest of the soundtrack was totally spot on.

Rorschach was utterly brilliant throughout.

Now for the 6 hour-long DVD remix with Black Freighter, Under The Hood and the Bernies. That, my friends, will be purest win.

[IronHide]

Also as a massive Leonard Cohen fan I thought Hallelujah was unnecessary, but ...

you dont care for music, do you?

Had to be done, sorry.

The sex scene was a little awkward, I guess they decided to extend it just to make up for lack of at Karnak. Nice knockers though...

Blue wobbly penis got annoying as the teenage mob of girls behind me kept laughing anytime it was shown. Admittedly, I did laugh the first time he whipped it out there. Mainly just the look on my gf's face at the time, she wasnt expecting it which made it funny.

Soundtrack had its ups and downs.
Cohen is amazing. I like Jeff Buckley's version better, but ah well.
Bob Dylan songs = Ace.
Bob Dylan songs redone by My Chemical Romance = Crap
99 Luft Balloons in middle of movie = What the F**k?

[Shanti418]

99 Luft Balloons in middle of movie = What the F**k?

Probably because A, the song was released in the 80s and was popular and B, the song translated is about nuclear war. In it, 99 red balloons are mistaken for a nuclear arsenal being unleashed which causes a domino of launches.

So it seems like a common thread amongst the critics is that Ozymandias and Silk Spectre II didn't bring it acting-wise. I didn't really notice during the movie because in terms of Ozy, I thought he did a decent job with the 10 seconds of character dev he had before the "assasination attempt", and Silk Spectre because, quite frankly, I found her boring and pedantic in the graphic novel already.

To me, the character that probably had the most concern going in due to the wacky lameness factor is the one that came out shining, IMO: Dan/Nite Owl II.

[Metal Vendetta]

To me, the character that probably had the most concern going in due to the wacky lameness factor is the one that came out shining, IMO: Dan/Nite Owl II.

Yep, he was top notch. Really thought he played the part well and it was heartbreaking to see him watch Jon kill Rorschach.

[Brendocon]

99 Luft Balloons in middle of movie = What the F**k?

Probably because A, the song was released in the 80s and was popular and B, the song translated is about nuclear war.

Yup. I thought it was a top choice.

[Shanti418]

Solid Snake Wrote The Watchmen, And He Wants You To Go See It Again

Probably not, but amusing nonetheless.

[wideload]

No one else went and watched the MOTHER F**KING WATCHMEN LAST NIGHT?!?! (In Imax to )

It. Rocked. My. Socks.

Damn near everything was spot on, they cut some stuff here and there, but for the most part it was amazingly well done.

*Spoilers*



















Now. As everyone should already know by now, the ending was changed. There was not 'alien', Ozy used the machine that Dr. M built for him to replicate his power to destroy stuff in a big blue haze. My friends and I discussed the ending and came to the conclusion that this was an adequate alteration. The 'alien' could have worked, but I think that the resulting dialogue that needed to be used to explain that would have added another 30 minutes to an already 3 hour film. At the end of the day, I was happy with it.

There were also a few little things left out here and there, no real side story about Rorschach's shrink, nor any dialogue between the newspaper stand guy and the kid reading the comics. The big one for me was that they never killed Hollis Mason in the movie. Again, just little things, nothing that made me say 'Well, they ruined the movie now!'

The one thing that was surprising to me was the interactions between Rorschach and Nite Owl towards the end of the movie, Snyder really made it seem like they truly cherished each others friendship and even had Nite Owl watch Rorschach die.

All things considered. I give it two big thumbs up. I was surprisingly impressed and suggest you go watch it now. NOW! GO!

Agree with everything you said pretty much.

The movie wasn't perfect but definitely worth the money.

The opening credits were some of the best I have ever seen too. Not sure people who haven't read the book would be able to pull out all the subtleties but it was pretty amazing.