Watchmen

[//Neon_Maniac//]

Once in a very long while, a special film comes around. Every generation has a film like this, the film that stands out among the rest as something bigger, something better then what may normally play at the cineplex. Watchmen may very well be this movie.

The film is based on the classic graphic novel, in which a group of superheroes must save earth from nuclear war. Sounds very cliché doesn't it? Well the Watchmen film, like the graphic novel; is everything but cliché. Zack Snyder (Dawn of the Dead, 300) takes the idea of the comic book movie and turns it on it's head. If a film like X-Men is the clean shaven, ladies man of comic film, Watchmen is the hardened, whisky drinking, harley driving son of a bitch that gets shit done.

The film itself is a very dark thing indeed. Increasingly violent; the film pulls absolutely no punches upon delivery, and while the close to three hour running time may scare movie goers off, the film moves with incredible pace; only dragging for minutes near the middle

If you think this movie is going to be good you may be heavily underestimating the greatness that is Watchmen. This may very well be the best graphic novel adaption ever produced.
9.5/10

[Wax Zombie]

I just saw it too. I enjoy it as well.

8/10

*spoiler* Only thing was gay that they show Dr.Manhattan blue dick alot.

[Rust In Peace]

Hahaha at the Blue Dick part, but yeah I refuse to see it untill I have read the Graphic Novel, which so far is AMAZING.

[Shreds_of_Flesh]

What did I say about the blue jackhammers. :thumbup:

Damnit, this is one of the greatest movies I have ever seen. Fn Sally and Laurie, :drooling:

I was surprised to see what I thought we wouldn't see :rocker:

[Dr. Awesome]

This movie was so good. I can't wait until the Ultimate Cut when they splice in the Black Freighter and all the other extra stuff.

[WarBeast]

Movie fucking Rocked!!! I don't think that anybody could have done a better job bringing the graphic novel to the screen... Granted there was more blue wang than a smurf orgy, I'll let that slide because they gave us a look at Silk Spectre's titties... but I digress...

The changes made to the story when translating from paper to screen were acceptable and made sense, as well as what was left out. They kept what was necessary, they changed only what had to be changed. All in all, it was a faithful adaptation that was a powerful cinematic experience.

9.5/10 ... it lost 0.5 for all the blue wang...

[cmurdur]

Homophobes. :dsp:

I'll be seeing this tomorrow with my Comedian shirt on. :bigthumbup:

[FrighT MasteR]

with my Comedian shirt on. :bigthumbup:

:lol2:

[cmurdur]

:lol2:

Don't you have some shitty J-horror film to watch?

[Chief Falling Rock]

there was a guy dressed as rorschach at my theater. Cracked me up, but the guy looks very authentic because he didn't buy a cheap costume. It looked really good. And he had the same build as rorschach, walked like him and everything. He was scaring the hell out of people. It was funny.

And for the movie? It was great. Everything Watchmen should have been, and way more than I expected it to be. The special effects were great. Rorschach who happens to be my favorite character was done PERFECTLY. I can't wait to see Jackie do Freddy Krueger. I had my issues with the tweaked ending, but all in all it still gives the message that Watchmen is supposed to give. I do agree about all the blue wang. That was just.....I don't even wanna think about it. I've always HATED Dr. Manhatten, and seeing his wang just made me hate him that much more. If you're considering seeing this movie, and you know nothing about the watchmen. the best way to describe it is this. Take everything you THINK this movie is gonna be and throw it out the window.

Sex, blood, violence, relationships, all dramatic themes in general, action. This movie throws it all together and it works. Zack Snyder has done an amazing job. I'll go ahead and say it. He's the best new director out there. I CANNOT WAIT to see what he does next. He said at comic con last year that he would love to do Frank Millers "The Dark Knight Returns". Frank said Zack can do whatever of his work that he wants. That geekdream may or may not ever happen. But it does make me happy. Where? Down...down in my pants. Just like Dr. long dong blue balls.

[FrighT MasteR]

Don't you have some shitty J-horror film to watch?

Don't you have some Watchmen masturbatory session to attend to? :starefreak:

[cmurdur]

there was a guy dressed as rorschach at my theater. Cracked me up, but the guy looks very authentic because he didn't buy a cheap costume. It looked really good. And he had the same build as rorschach, walked like him and everything. He was scaring the hell out of people. It was funny.


A home made costume is 10 times better than a store bought one any day.

Don't you have some Watchmen masturbatory session to attend to? :starefreak:

Yeah. It's tomorrow with this bad boy on.
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[FrighT MasteR]

:suicide:

[cmurdur]

Opening credits- To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 5 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

Great job at setting up the alternate United States and I like how cameras' flashbulbs were a constant.

[da Gay]

thank you so much for posting that.

[Darkgod]

I was just listening to Big Kevs Geek show or something... and they where talking about all the reviews out there, and how alot are factually wrong... some guy for Ap... said that the comedian, rorschak, etc etc, where part of a group called...... The Masks.... not the watchmen which is the fucking name of the movie but the masks.

[cmurdur]

Hey man, TV Guide Channel said that the Comedian formed "the Justice League."

:suicide:

[Wax Zombie]

I'm seeing it again. :D

[Shreds_of_Flesh]

Hey man, TV Guide Channel said that the Comedian formed "the Justice League."

:suicide:

:suicide:

[joykilla]

Yeah it was pretty good. I'm haven't read the graphic novel but I would like to now. There are some things in the film that I didn't quite understand. I still enjoyed it and wanted more and more toward the end. So I'm going to give it a 7.5/10 so go ahead and get angry! I do believe the film was over hyped. They show way too much in the previews too. I'll probably watch it again in a couple days since I have a copy and try to pick up on the things I missed and rethink my rating.

[buffyslayedme717]

This was probably one of the most disappointing movies I've seen in a while. It was a structural uneven mess, badly acted, and every scene was just more characters talking about what the characters in the previous scene just talked about. I read the graphic novel a few years back and, while I agree that the movie is extremely faithful, you can't structure your film the way it appears on paper (or use the same exact cheesy dialogue)...they're two drastically different medias. I guess if you're a huge fan of the graphic novel and want to see an extremely faithful adaption than you'll dig the movie...but it's likely to be a confusing bore for a lot of the general movie going audiences. On the plus side, the movie technically looks great (even with some questionable CGI) and Malin Akerman looked dope as fuck in that costume even though she can't really act.

[Butchered_victim]

I loved it! I wanna read the graphic novel now. I loved the story, characters, special effects, practically everything. It was so entertaining and it a good balance of action and an interesting story. I wouldn't mind seeing it again. The length wasn't really an issue because the movie had my eyes glued to the screen.

[Cellar Dweller]

Was everything I hoped it would be.:rockin:

[Grendel]

Really enjoyed the opening montage with Dylan in the background. Not exactly an real original use of "The Times They Are a-Changin'," but a good job of encapsulating a lot of less-than-essential, but scene-setting backstory.

'Course, I say that knowing the source material; not sure how that works for someone just seeing it for the first time.

Also, a pretty cool use of music with the muzak version of "Everybody Wants to Rule The World" playing in the background when Ozymandias met with all the captains of industry right before his assassination attempt where 'Lee Iacocca' takes one to the dome.

[Misfit]

A home made costume is 10 times better than a store bought one any day.


Yeah. It's tomorrow with this bad boy on.
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watched the first 30 mins of this online, finish it tomorrow if its not taken down due to copyrights but got a question for ya

whats so big about that comedian character if he dies at the beginning of the movie? does he return in flashbacks or does someone else fill his shoes?

[Dr. Awesome]

watched the first 30 mins of this online, finish it tomorrow if its not taken down due to copyrights but got a question for ya

whats so big about that comedian character if he dies at the beginning of the movie? does he return in flashbacks or does someone else fill his shoes?

He's in a good chunk of the movie, but it's all in flashbacks like you said.

[The Tall Man]

i give it a 8.5/10
i thought it was pretty good even though i haven't read the comic. but i plan to read it soon

[cmurdur]

watched the first 30 mins of this online, finish it tomorrow if its not taken down due to copyrights but got a question for ya

whats so big about that comedian character if he dies at the beginning of the movie? does he return in flashbacks or does someone else fill his shoes?

He's the most important character in the whole story because he heavily affected his colleagues' lives.

[Misfit]

yeah i get it now just finished it :whew:

[cmurdur]

Where do we begin? A year ago I became interested in a graphic novel called Watchmen. I was told it was the greatest graphic novel of all time. Now, would have I ever read it without there being a film adaptation? Probably, but not as soon as I did. It was a complex story, with recurring themes, metaphors, and symbolism. Great depth to go along with it's great characters. And so I became eagerly impatient waiting for the film adaptation. And it came.

Now, this may come as a shock but I was disappointed with the movie. After Sin City , it seemed that "too faithful" was impossible. But that's exactly what happened. It's almost as if Snyder wanted to put in every scene, but at a cost, that had all those scenes feeling rushed. Even the actors' dialogue is like Snyder told them to say it as fast as possible, while trying to do a good job. It captured the story well. But that's not the book. Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons have said for years that the plot is a device or an excuse for them to rip apart superheroes. The movie had the opposite.

There were no recurring themes, metaphors, or symbolism. And if there were, it was in small amounts. There are tons of great moments in this movie, but they alone can not piece this Humpty Dumpty together. I didn't feel that nuclear war made everyone afraid. I didn't feel that Dr. Manhattan truly didn't care about the world. I didn't feel that Dan was a lovable loser and then a total bad ass in the Nite Owl suit. I didn't feel there was a great reveal from Ozymandias to Nite Owl and Rorschach. All this stemming from too much plot. Not in a Spider-Man 3 way, but in its own.

I never thought I'd say this, but I wish some scenes had been cut out entirely to make more room for the more important stuff. Three things come to mind. 1) Dr. Manhattan's look back on his life, 2) Rorschach and the psychologist examining each other, and 3) Ozymandias' reveal to Dan and Walter. Let's start off with the good doctor's reflection.

I feel that chapter four in Watchmen is the best chapter in the book, and perhaps the best ever written. Manhattan's view on time can make your head explode. All these seemly random events falling together like gears on a clock. But with the film, he's basically Bruce Banner. He doesn't destroy the space time continuum, he just gives us a simple origin. He just accidentally leaves his watch in the test chamber, without fate to blame. It was just a simple accident. No fat man, no ironic twist that it was in his pocket the whole time, no father wanting him to become a nuclear physicist. Just carelessness.

One of the more powerful chapters, perhaps second only to chapter four, is Rorschach and Dr. Long. At their first sessions, Long sees Walter Kovacks, not Rorschach, as an obsessed man with psychological problems. By the end, he sees Rorschach, and not Kovacks, as a man who sees the world for what it truly is, after having his eyes opened. His own pains coming from his personal life make him see the blackness that Rorschach sees. The film has him as a throw away character, put in so that we had a reason for Rorschach to tell his origin.

And finally, Ozymandias' reveal. His explanation and full layout of his plan in chapter eleven made me love the character. He thought it out carefully, going over the ideals of Alexander the Great and the Comedian's fateful words at the meeting of the Crimebusters. He wanted to save the world, but the only way to do that would be to hurt it. Here, it was just a simple "I wanted to trick the world, blah, blah, blah..." Very short, and it left me feeling robbed.

Let's talk about acting. Since the first time I read the book, the Comedian has been my favorite character. He saw the real world, the truth, and the little men in masks trying to hold it together. He told them they were pathetic because nuclear war was on the brink and they couldn't do anything to stop it by beating up drug dealers. And he was right. So Jeffery Dean Morgan had me anticipating his performance, as I got excited every time I saw something new of him as Blake before the film's release. Morgan was great as Blake and gave me great relief, as he is not only my favorite, but the most important character in the entire story, as I've said before.

Jackie Earle Haley is going win points with audiences with his portrayal of Rorschach, as he should. But, one moment in particular really bothers me. When the police show up at Moloch's apartment, he loses it. He's scared and clearly showing it. That's not Rorschach. He's monotone at all times, with the exception of his last moments, which are perfectly understandable. As if he has no emotion what so ever. Other than that, he was great. I even started to tear up when he said, "Well. What are you waiting for? Do it. DO IT!"

Mathew Goode may not have blown me away, but I felt he did an acceptable job. I think he got Veidt's since of fear for the world and his pseudo-gloating for saving it.
I also like how he was the strongest out of all of them, kicking the living shit out of Blake, Kovacks, and Dreiberg.

Speaking of, I was expecting Patrick Wilson to give a great performance as Dan, because watching him in interviews, I could tell he understood the character. But I would say that his performance was hurt by the fast paced layout of the movie. I feel that we didn't get to see all of him. Billy Crudup also suffered the same fate as Dr. Manhattan. Just not enough time. Had we been able to see his complete view of time on Mars and lack of interest in human life, we would have gotten more. Although, his voice bothers me. Why does everything about him change except for his voice? I always thought he'd have a powerful HAL9000 style of voice.

And then there's Malin Akerman. Uhhhhhh, God. Nice to look at, bad to listen to. Her performance was easily the worst with all that bad line delivery. And to piss me off even more, they gave Dr. Manhattan's best line to her! "Nothing ever ends, Adrian. Nothing ever ends." That's the one point in the book where Manhattan basically says, "Fuck you." He all of people knows that everything has a consequence and nothing stays the same. He more than likely looked into the future for a little bit to see what had happened. Veidt is feeling very proud of himself, and the one guy who knows what will happen tells him that nothing is forever. Completely deflates Veidt's bubble of success.

But enough about the bads. Let's talk about the good things from this movie. I would have to say that I felt strange when Owl and Rory where "sneaking" up on Ozymandias. I just knew their efforts would be futile. My favorite moments has to be the attack on New York City. Even though I knew it was coming, I just had another weird feeling inside me. And I especially loved it when the news stand vendor and young boy grasped each other before they were obliterated. Even though we saw practically nothing of them, it was a nice fan moment to see that they left that in the theatrical run. "All Along the Watchtower" was placed perfectly with the scene as the words, "Outside in the cold distance, a wild cat did growl. Two riders were approaching and the wind began to howl," was placed in the book as it fit what was going on.

The fight scenes were great. Much more blood than I expected. When Dan broke the Knot Top's arm, it was certainly a cool moment. And as I said before, I was very happy with Ozymandias' strength, not to mention the addition of one of my favorite quotes with the book, "My name is Ozymandias. King of kings. Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!" Everything with the Comedian was great, especially when he just started kicking the protesters' asses left and right. The sex scene went on a lot longer than normally, right? I mean, Clive Barker only got to put in two ass bumps in Hellraiser, but Snyder managed to put in a soft-core porno scene in his flick. But I'm not complaining.

In the end, I enjoyed it. But, thank God for a longer director's cut in the near future.

7/10

[Shreds_of_Flesh]

Nice review :wideeye:

[woodenheart]

I did not know anything about this film. Did not read the graphic novels see any comic cartoons......this was fucking brilliant..wow!! THREE WORDS....Jackie Earle Haley....:yes: My favourite characters are Rorschack and The Comedian....10/10 for me.....wooooooooooooooooo!

[Shreds_of_Flesh]

Wooden also gave it a 10/10! :cheerlead

[cmurdur]

:dsp:

Speaking of Watchmen cartoons-
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[damiansrules666]

I realize I am going to get dissed for this, but unfortunately this movie was a let down. While I loved the opening scene, as well as the flashbacks showing the affected lives thanx to Comedian, laughed my ass off during the sex scene (working and fucking, oh what a perfect world that would be), I still found it to be bland, the acting was so-so and dare I say the fight scenes, action wasn't what it could be. No, I have not read the graphic novel so I know I will be condemned for that. What I thought was going to be the best movie of '09 has me still searching a flick with that distinction. Regardless, I will give it a 6/10, and give myself a 0/10 for not reading the novel first.

[cmurdur]

If anything, I hope more people read the book, whether they liked the movie or not. Because I can guarantee you this, the book is better than movie. And in my opinion, much, much better.

[Sutter Kane]

I hate being Johnny come lately to the party but I finally got around to watching this movie and I was really impressed. I don't think I've heard a soundtrack that fits a movie better the The Watchmen. I will def be checking out the graphic novel.

9/10

[Gatsu18]

I liked the movie, don't get me wrong. But it was one of the most over rated flicks i've seen in a long time. I just couldn't get enthralled by it at any point. Maybe I'd have better luck with the graphic novel.

[cmurdur]

I lost faith in humanity when I read someone called this movie the Blade Runner of its time. :die:

[Sutter Kane]

:lol:

Fuckin hate that movie. Book was vicious.

[cmurdur]

Fuckin hate that movie.

:finger3:

[Sutter Kane]

Terrible movie. They always fuck up PKD.

Watchmen takes a big straming one on Blade Runner.

[cmurdur]

Terrible movie. They always fuck up PKD.


Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? served as an influence, rather than the absolute lay out for the movie. They took the idea and made it their own, like a companion piece to the book....ah, what's the point? Anyone who thinks Watchmen is by far a superior movie to Blade Runner won't understand what I just said.

[Sutter Kane]

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[cmurdur]

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[Sutter Kane]

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:cmurdur:

[cmurdur]

:smokin2:

[choptop2]

I use to be bored by Blade Runner took me a few watches to finally get into it. Now I genuinely appreciate it. It's certainly much different than the book. But if it wasn't for that film, I doubt many people would remember Philip K. Dick, and a lot of his work would have fallen out of print.


As for Watchmen; it was a big ol' pile of mehhh. I hate Zack Snyder's annoying habit of overcranking and undercranking and his fights look like dances. Plus the films a little too po-faced.

Examining the personal lives of superheroes and their damaged psyches may have worked on the page, because it's still a drawn image. But in live action some of it just came across as hammy. But that's a fine line for any director to walk, not just Snyder.

The only thing comparable to blade runner would be the production design. Watchmen definitely looks great. Though 25+ year old Blade Runner still trumps it in the Art Dept. That movie is like a real place, that only exist on screen.

[Get Some]

Watchmen=overrrrrratedddd

[Sutter Kane]

I think the same thing about Blade Runner.

Its a fuckin' Yawnfest

[Aurone]

I wish more directors when doing adaptions would fallow Zack Snyder's style in films, especially video game adaptions. Imagine if Resident Evil had the same characters, story, monsters, mansion and outcome? Would of made me happy.

[cataclysm vol.2]

I wish more directors when doing adaptions would fallow Zack Snyder's style in films

:die:

The world of filmmaking would be sad sad place if people followed Zack Snyder's poor-to-mediocre style. Having 80% of your movie be in slow motion is not style.

[Aurone]

:die:

The world of filmmaking would be sad sad place if people followed Zack Snyder's poor-to-mediocre style. Having 80% of your movie be in slow motion is not style.

Style might be the wrong word, more along his desire to be faithfull. Both 300 and Watchmen damn near matched the source page for page. If your gonna adapt either a comic or game or anime, I say do the same.

[DMHead777]

Style might be the wrong word, more along his desire to be faithfull. Both 300 and Watchmen damn near matched the source page for page. If your gonna adapt either a comic or game or anime, I say do the same.

That's true. Besides the ending of Watchmen, the movie was pretty spot on to the graphic novel. I thought it was excellent and they did a great job on the cast and the action. The book was much more violent in my opinion, but I don't think people would complain with the slow motion parts if they read the novel first.

[Get Some]

Movie wasn't very good-End of story

[cataclysm vol.2]

Style might be the wrong word, more along his desire to be faithfull. Both 300 and Watchmen damn near matched the source page for page. If your gonna adapt either a comic or game or anime, I say do the same.

Well just to be clear I wasn't intentionally going after your comment about style, so please don't take offense to what I said.

Right on the cover of Watchmen and people in general claim Snyder has style, when he really doesn't. He has a very generic style, all he is just mimicking his source material and other folks. For an adaptation I guess that can work, but imitating is from being stylish or something that would make me call him a 'genius' like others do.


Movie wasn't very good-End of story

Here-here.

Although to be fair the movie wasn't good. At all. Anything good about the movie is thanks to the source material that movie is based off of. Not what Snyder did.

[cmurdur]

Watchmen features a lot of sub-par acting, bad pacing, and most importantly, completely misses the most important part of the book. It's the moments in between the action that's real focus of the story. Moore and Gibbons have stated for years that the only reason the plot exists was so they could get to do what they really wanted to do.

The movie could have been a nice companion piece, with certain changes made to fit the movie, but because Snyder spent so much time trying to make it exactly like the book and talked about how it would be almost 100% faithful, it fails. Snyder should have taken a page out of James McTeigue's book and followed suit, as V for Vendetta remains the best Moore adaptation.

[The Tall Man]

Read the graphic novel. Saw the movie. I have to say it was about as close as you can get to a faithful adaptation except the ending was changed but it still a good substitute ending. It was good movie 9/10. I can see why some people didn't like it because they hadn't read the source material. I think most people expected something like X-Men and got something completely different.

On the note of Blade Runner, it was an ok film, just not the giant classic that everyone makes it out to be. I didn't like it years ago but I re watched it recently and actually liked this time around but it was still weak at times. 6.5/10
:tallman: