Watchmen

[Kishiria]

I saw the movie on Sunday, because there was an advance screening of it on military bases including MCAS Miramar.

I recommend this movie whole-heartedly and think Alan Moore is a gigantic spoiled baby for insisting his name be taken off of it. Zack Snyder didn't take the same grotesque liberties with it as the Warchowskis did with "V For Vendetta". (By the way, I've had people complaining about the absence of the giant squid. I've read "Watchmen" three times and can't remember any giant squid. I'm sure it's in there, but it obviously didn't make much of an impression.)

The movie had me from the first five minutes. Unlike many current superhero films that cold-open, "Watchmen" runs credits, using the time to set up the history of the alternate 1980s and the story of the Minutemen as they gave way to the Watchmen. After that, the representation remained true to the book. The actors looked like the characters. The dialogue was preserved.

I was very, very happy to see that the filmmakers didn't give in to the current revisionist-history fad of erasing the World Trade Centre from every shot of the New York City skyline. Glass painting or not, it was nice to see it again.

The soundtrack was another thing that made me happy about it. Unlike most comic-book movies that use the inescapable Danny Elfman soundtrack, "Watchmen" is predominantly classic rock. It worked very well.

Those of you who will end up paying full price for this film are not going to feel ripped off.

[Bremics]

I saw the movie on Sunday, because there was an advance screening of it on military bases including MCAS Miramar.

I recommend this movie whole-heartedly and think Alan Moore is a gigantic spoiled baby for insisting his name be taken off of it. Zack Snyder didn't take the same grotesque liberties with it as the Warchowskis did with "V For Vendetta". (By the way, I've had people complaining about the absence of the giant squid. I've read "Watchmen" three times and can't remember any giant squid. I'm sure it's in there, but it obviously didn't make much of an impression.)

The movie had me from the first five minutes. Unlike many current superhero films that cold-open, "Watchmen" runs credits, using the time to set up the history of the alternate 1980s and the story of the Minutemen as they gave way to the Watchmen. After that, the representation remained true to the book. The actors looked like the characters. The dialogue was preserved.

I was very, very happy to see that the filmmakers didn't give in to the current revisionist-history fad of erasing the World Trade Centre from every shot of the New York City skyline. Glass painting or not, it was nice to see it again.

The soundtrack was another thing that made me happy about it. Unlike most comic-book movies that use the inescapable Danny Elfman soundtrack, "Watchmen" is predominantly classic rock. It worked very well.

Those of you who will end up paying full price for this film are not going to feel ripped off.

The giant squid which is teleported into New York city and suggests a extraterrestrial threat, forcing the US and Russia together.

Rather than a US experiment going wrong and killing millions of innocent people and making things worse.

[ZeroBusterXX]

I always see folks at school reading the book, and I already read it 2 years ago, and I tell them that. They say,"Don't ruin the ending for me," and then I tell them that a giant space squid shows up and kills everyone. No one believes me.
I can't wait to see the movie though. So far, every one of Alan Moore's books have been better than the movies based on them, but I have high hopes for this one.

[Sume Gai]

he giant squid which is teleported into New York city and suggests a extraterrestrial threat, forcing the US and Russia together.

Rather than a US experiment going wrong and killing millions of innocent people and making things worse.

that seems like it'd be a rather big change too the plot.

[demon saint]

the movie going masses would probably think it a lil too unrealistic and corny to have a giant squid teleported into times square only to have the thing flop around and die cuz it didnt have any water to support it. if the producers wanted more realism that is

[Bremics]

the movie going masses would probably think it a lil too unrealistic and corny to have a giant squid teleported into times square only to have the thing flop around and die cuz it didnt have any water to support it. if the producers wanted more realism that is

It "died" because it teleported inside other matter. The objects can't occupy the same place at the same time and all that.

It never was alive, about a tenth of the Watchmen was a side plot, seemingly irreverent, about some movie being made featuring a giant alien monster. I had too read it three times to completely get everything there was in the Watchmen.

[demon saint]

ohhhhhhhh ok well the movie is my first true exposure to watchmen i need to do more than browse through the book in barnes and noble

[Bremics]

ohhhhhhhh ok well the movie is my first true exposure to watchmen i need to do more than browse through the book in barnes and noble

Eh, its cool. As long as you enjoy the movie.

[Looksirdroids]

I recommend this movie whole-heartedly and think Alan Moore is a gigantic spoiled baby for insisting his name be taken off of it.

I don’t think that’s a fair statement. Its not as if Moore has watched the thing and decided against having his name attached, it’s just a general policy he now has towards film adaptations of his works. I think it’s a little ungrateful to label him as a ‘gigantic spoiled baby’. He’s created some of the most intelligent, critically acclaimed comics of all time and he’s had some bad experiences with Hollywood in the past.

[demon saint]

even better i had a chance to see all the starring cast, they flew out at my airport after attending wondercon here in sf i got to help get all their freakin heavy bags onto their G4, malin ackerman was lookin hot

[vindKtiv]

I always see folks at school reading the book, and I already read it 2 years ago, and I tell them that. They say,"Don't ruin the ending for me," and then I tell them that a giant space squid shows up and kills everyone. No one believes me.

Wait, did you just seriously ruin the ending for me? lol.

I think I might see this one now. My friend got hyped over this movie and started to read the comics and he said they were pretty awesome.

[Nowhere Man]

Saw it on Tuesday at an advance screening and it was... meh. By far not the worst movie I've ever seen, but certainly not the greatest.

While Snyder took some liberties with the plot, the storyline was fairly faithful to the comic until the climax. The cinematography was also quite impressive.

My biggest problem was the acting. I thought that Jackie Earle Haley, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Patrick Wilson, and Matthew Goode were pretty good, but the rest of the cast left a wooden taste in my mouth.

Makeup was also an issue. Every character that was artificially aged looked terrible, from Nixon to the first Silk Spectre.

Overall I'd give it a "B-" rank.

[ZeroBusterXX]

I saw the film last night. It was good but, it still pales in comparison to the graphic novel. I didn't like some of the changes that were made, but it was still good. Jackie Earl Haley was amazing as Rorschach.

[Furious Rodimus]

Im not too sure how i felt about it to be honest.
At some points i thought it was a little slavish in its following of the major plot points, but I was glad they did trim some of the fat to expediate the process a bit.

I'm thinking a mini-series might have suited the story better, but that's not for me to decide.

I think its good, but its no Dark Knight or Iron Man for that matter. I'm not sure it warrants a purchase though.

[Antares]

I think the thing with the Watchmen is that it didn't aim to be Iron Man or Dark Knight, but was, as Kishiria pointed out, very true to the graphic novel. As such, it wasn't as highly tuned for the big screen as the other two points of comparison. I've read the graphic novel, some time ago, so I wouldn't classify myself as a fan, and I still liked it although some of the critique I've read have stated that the movie seems too thick to penetrate for someone who isn't that familiar with the original concept. I had no problems, because I came in just wanting to see a movie, and so flashbacks of the past didn't faze me one bit (I heard some comments from other people in the theater afterwards that weren't as kind).

The story has a bit of parody, a lot of moral ambiguity at play, and a fairly good cast. The one problem I had was that the ending seemed to fall a little flat. Not wanting to spoil anyone, I won't get into detail. On the other hand it is not something specific I could put my finger on anyways. The idea that the ending is a bit more open-ended than usual in movies of this type wasn't the problem though.

[krullnar]

I really liked the movie the only prob i had was the glowing blue wang through like 3/4ths of the move/

[Saikuba]

The thing that stuck on my mind walking out of the movie was that I think Zack Snyder has an unhealthy fixation on violence and gore. Much of the movie was accurate to the comic book in a shot by shot sort of way to the point of being harmful to the film because it interferred with the actors giving a good or natural performance. But whenever it came to violence, everything was much more graphic than I ever remember it being in the comic book, especially Dr. Manhattan's killing of people (I mean was it really necessary to not only have that amount of splatter in the flashback scene when he kills the mobsters or whatever, but then to have the camera dwell on it?) I am also not sure why he put so much time into the Nite Owl/Silk Spectre sex scene when he does a lot to obscure the connections that Dan can only really perform when he is Nite Owl. And come to think of it Dan Dreiberg/Nite Owl really seems a lot less pathetic and compromising than he does in the comic. And of course the ending I think is much less ambiguous, which takes away from the power of the story.

With that out of the way I didn't hate the movie, and enjoyed much of it. When Snyder added new stuff it tended to work very well, like that montage in the opening credits. It shows that he understands how to take stuff that works in a comic book and portray it in a way that works better in a movie (though he didn't always do that). And he very clearly was paying attention to even small details, so that the movie is as visually interesting as the comic book. The soundtrack was for the most part excellent other than a odd moments (like 99 Luftballons). I especially liked the Hendrix bit because the song really does fit the chapter. But at the end of the day I think the pros and cons just add to an average movie.

[Mr. Hanekoma]

After seeing Watchmen, I'm left with mixed feelings. On the one hand, I feel like Snyder and the cast did an excellent job of transitioning the comic book to the big screen. As someone who read the comic book, I appreciate the attention to detail that Snyder paid to it, as well as the liberties it took with the plot to streamline everything. The cinematography was absolutely wonderful, and the actors themselves did justice to their characters.

However, from the point of a movie goer who has not read the comic and has no previous knowledge of the story, the movie comes off as weird. People in the theatre around me were asking quesitons like, "Why is there a blue naked dude?"; "Where did that tiger thing come from?"; "Why are they spending so much time on a sex scene?". The plot is just too out there and complicated to pack into a three-hour movie experience. Maybe a series would've worked better, or a mini-series, but you cannot tell a story as complex as the Watchmen in movie-form.

And I don't care what anyone says, the best part of the entire movie is the montage in the beginning. Out of everything Snyder did, that was the best.

EDIT: Does anyone have a track list for the soundtrack? I can't remember all the songs that were in the movie.

[Oruma]

Just watched the Watchmen during the weekend. My feeling was basically "meh", although there're moments when my head wanted to explode.

Having read the original beforehand, I can understand how difficult it is to adapt Watchmen into a movie. the multiple perspectives, the details, etc., can be too much and make it hard to follow for viewers.

What I found most dissatisfactory are (to start off): the prologue, which seemed too drawn out. The amount of violence and sex, i.e. Dan & Laurie's fight scene in the back alley (using lethal force), and the death of that girl kidnapper.
I mean, in the novel both were alluded to, but the movie turned it up to 12; it felt gimmicky, unnecessary, and left nothing to the imagination.

Also, the music and coloring of the movie: music (i.e., the songs) should've been kept to a minimum and coloring should be darker. After all, this is suppose to be a grim world on the brink of WW3. It doesn't seem..."noir" enough

Also, since they took out the "genetically engineered psychic alien creature attack" part, I felt they might as well left out Bubastis (the main villain's pet). Its presence seemed awkward and distracting.

I heard that some people complaint the movie's too faithful to the original; I personally felt the adaptation is not faithful enough.
But still, not a bad movie, I'll give it 3 out of 5

[neoei3318]

I just saw the movie this afternoon and overall, I was pleased.

It's kind of weird to say, but the best executed part was the opening credits.

Other than that, it was a decent adaptation, even though I felt that the restructured ending (the reunion scene between Sally and Laurie) fell flat on its face. Snyder did say he had to remove the scene of Hollis Mason's murder for length, but I thought it took out the "Emotional oopmh" that that scene had.

Otherwise considering the development hell that WATCHMEN went through, it was a decent adaptation.

I am curious of the Under the Hood extra that will come with Tales of the Black Freighter DVD.