Rate The Watchmen movie
Mustrum_Ridcully
Hero
That was well done. Maybe the meaning was too obvious, but it just seemed ... believable?But the sex scenes were integral to forming the bond between Dan and Laurie, specially in light of how Dan couldn't ... er... bond before.
Merkuri
Explorer
Two weeks ago my boyfriend and I decided we wanted to see Watchmen, but we had both heard from a couple different sources that it should be treated as an addendum to the book, and that if we watched the movie first we'd never appreciate the novel. Having never heard of it before the movie, we went to the bookstore that Saturday and picked up a copy and both read it in a week so that we could see it the next weekend. I literally finished the book on Friday night around 11 PM and went to the theater at noon the next day to watch the movie. So we saw it in movie form while it was still fresh in our minds. We both loved it.
I thought it did justice to the book. I was expecting differences, having come to the realization years ago that books and movies are two completely different mediums and lend themselves better to different kinds of stories, and I was just floored when they started after the opening montage with something that looked EXACTLY like the first few pages of the book. As it went on I kept being impressed at how closely they managed to stick with the book in many cases, and where they did differentiate it seemed to flow naturally.
This next part's about the ending. Big spoiler. Don't read if you haven't read the book or seen the movie yet.
[sblock]
When I first walked into the theater I was expecting them to totally and completely change the ending. It had been so horrific, so depressing, that I felt like the producers would think that a popular audience would rebel and demand their tickets and popcorn money back. The ending of the book had left such a bad taste in my mouth, but as I put the comic down and started to think on the story more, turning it around in my brain, it just felt right. Horrible, and nightmare-inducing, but right. I wanted the movie to have the same ending as the book but just felt that no one in their right minds would end a movie that way.
I was surprised at the way they ended it. It was close enough to the book that on first glance it had the same emotions attached to it as the book ending, but it felt more plausible, as I've heard others say here. Immediately after I walked out of the movie I liked the movie's ending and felt like it was almost better than the book, but as I got further away from the viewing experience I realized that it lost something. The big piece, I think, was that the city scene when Dr Manhattan and Laurie come back to Earth. The destruction was there, the death toll was as high as the book (probably higher, since multiple cities were involved), but it was just a crater. The feeling of looking across a field of nothing, knowing that something was once there is just a drop in an ocean of sorrow, horror, and disgust of seeing masses of masses of bodies like there were in the book. As I started to compare the two endings in my head I felt like the movie ending had so much less emotion piled into it. It may have made more sense, but it was like the difference between seeing somebody with an amputated arm and seeing somebody who's arm had just been gnawed at by wild dogs, still hanging in bloody, tattered bits. One makes you sad and the other makes you recoil in horror.
Although, I have to say, I enjoyed immensely the idea that somebody actually hit Veidt in the movie. I think that was the worst part of the book ending - the idea that Veidt got away with it with absolutely no consequences whatsoever, not even a slap on the wrist. I felt better that somebody actually decked him for it, but I imagine it's the same type of feeling somebody would get kicking their mortal enemy's dead body if it were already dead when they got there.
[/sblock]
I heard some people say that they felt the story was dated - that the threat of nuclear annihilation didn't have the same oomph anymore. I felt like that was something they did poorly in the movie, but honestly I'm not sure how they could've done it better without making it even longer. Especially towards the ending, the book gave you a really good sense of the fear everyone was feeling in that time period, where they felt that their lives and the entire world as they knew it might end in as soon as a few days. The movie just didn't have time to get that feeling across.
I want to pick the book up and read it again. I want to go back to the theaters and see it one more time. I almost feel like my life is missing something now that I'm finished with the movie and the book, as if Watchmen had been a part of my life for years instead of just for a week. I'll probably read it again soon, but I feel like I need to give it a rest. That type of story really needs time to simmer before you pick it up again. It needs to age like wine.
I thought it did justice to the book. I was expecting differences, having come to the realization years ago that books and movies are two completely different mediums and lend themselves better to different kinds of stories, and I was just floored when they started after the opening montage with something that looked EXACTLY like the first few pages of the book. As it went on I kept being impressed at how closely they managed to stick with the book in many cases, and where they did differentiate it seemed to flow naturally.
This next part's about the ending. Big spoiler. Don't read if you haven't read the book or seen the movie yet.
[sblock]
When I first walked into the theater I was expecting them to totally and completely change the ending. It had been so horrific, so depressing, that I felt like the producers would think that a popular audience would rebel and demand their tickets and popcorn money back. The ending of the book had left such a bad taste in my mouth, but as I put the comic down and started to think on the story more, turning it around in my brain, it just felt right. Horrible, and nightmare-inducing, but right. I wanted the movie to have the same ending as the book but just felt that no one in their right minds would end a movie that way.
I was surprised at the way they ended it. It was close enough to the book that on first glance it had the same emotions attached to it as the book ending, but it felt more plausible, as I've heard others say here. Immediately after I walked out of the movie I liked the movie's ending and felt like it was almost better than the book, but as I got further away from the viewing experience I realized that it lost something. The big piece, I think, was that the city scene when Dr Manhattan and Laurie come back to Earth. The destruction was there, the death toll was as high as the book (probably higher, since multiple cities were involved), but it was just a crater. The feeling of looking across a field of nothing, knowing that something was once there is just a drop in an ocean of sorrow, horror, and disgust of seeing masses of masses of bodies like there were in the book. As I started to compare the two endings in my head I felt like the movie ending had so much less emotion piled into it. It may have made more sense, but it was like the difference between seeing somebody with an amputated arm and seeing somebody who's arm had just been gnawed at by wild dogs, still hanging in bloody, tattered bits. One makes you sad and the other makes you recoil in horror.
Although, I have to say, I enjoyed immensely the idea that somebody actually hit Veidt in the movie. I think that was the worst part of the book ending - the idea that Veidt got away with it with absolutely no consequences whatsoever, not even a slap on the wrist. I felt better that somebody actually decked him for it, but I imagine it's the same type of feeling somebody would get kicking their mortal enemy's dead body if it were already dead when they got there.
[/sblock]
I heard some people say that they felt the story was dated - that the threat of nuclear annihilation didn't have the same oomph anymore. I felt like that was something they did poorly in the movie, but honestly I'm not sure how they could've done it better without making it even longer. Especially towards the ending, the book gave you a really good sense of the fear everyone was feeling in that time period, where they felt that their lives and the entire world as they knew it might end in as soon as a few days. The movie just didn't have time to get that feeling across.
I want to pick the book up and read it again. I want to go back to the theaters and see it one more time. I almost feel like my life is missing something now that I'm finished with the movie and the book, as if Watchmen had been a part of my life for years instead of just for a week. I'll probably read it again soon, but I feel like I need to give it a rest. That type of story really needs time to simmer before you pick it up again. It needs to age like wine.
Silver Moon
Adventurer
Spolier warning:
Good comment, what made the dead body scene really hit you was that you had gotten to know so many of the dead people at the newstand over the course of the series. Since the movie didn't include nearly all of those scenes with the secondary characters seeing them dead wouldn't have made a difference.
Merkuri
Explorer
The fact that we saw two of those characters at the very end of the movie doing exactly what they had done in the book (with no lead-up or explanation to it) makes me think that they originally had some of those newsstand bits in it but took them out because the movie was long enough already. I wouldn't be surprised if the DVD had an extended edition that let us get to know those characters a bit more.
(I was purposefully vague here so I don't need to block this all out in a spoiler, so I hope you'll know the moment I'm talking about.)
Waited a while after seeing it before posting, to be able to consider it more fully.
All in all, I didn't like it. I liked the comic (I hate the term "graphic novel," it smacks too much of trying to pretend it's more high-brow than it is; kind of like saying "erotic thriller" instead of "softcore porno") when it came out, but the message of the comic is dated now...to the point where the fear of a nuclear war with Russia seems somewhat like a relic of the 'good old days." That, I think, is less a problem with the movie than with the original story, however. As we get further and further from the Cold War, I'm not sure Moore's story is going to be able to completely stand the test of time.
Acting-wise, I thought the protrayal of Rohrshach was spot-on, The Comedian was also quite well-done, and Nite Owl seemed (as someone else mentioned) to be the protagonist of the movie, taking over almost every scene he was in. Silk Spectre was drop-dead gorgeous, but...well...bland. I found Dr. Manhattan to be more 'wooden' than 'alien,' and wasn't at all satisfied with the portrayal. Overall, the worst acting was in the character of Ozymandias. Rather than a super-intelligent, physically-honed pinnacle of humanity with an ego to match, he just seemed to be a whiny, simpering mess.
I also had problems with the level of the music in certain scenes (though I didn't find it off-putting in the opening montage), and thought it felt like it lasted every single minute of its length, and then some. In addition, I found a lot of the CGI (particularly in some of Dr. Manhattan's scenes, and Ozymandias' cat-thing in every appearance) to be scene-breakingly jarring. The violence didn't really bug me that much (though the alley fight might have been a bit over-the-top), but the nude/sex scenes with Nite Owl and Silk Spectre seemed a bit forced and definitely went on for too long. The change at the ending was pretty good, as film adaptation changes go, and I actually liked it better than the comic, but felt it was a case of 'too little, too late.'
Overall, I give it a 3. I won't see it again, and won't buy the DVD. While it kept very close to the source material, I'm not sure the source material is terribly relevant anymore. It may have simply taken too long for this to get to the screen.
Regards,
Darrell
All in all, I didn't like it. I liked the comic (I hate the term "graphic novel," it smacks too much of trying to pretend it's more high-brow than it is; kind of like saying "erotic thriller" instead of "softcore porno") when it came out, but the message of the comic is dated now...to the point where the fear of a nuclear war with Russia seems somewhat like a relic of the 'good old days." That, I think, is less a problem with the movie than with the original story, however. As we get further and further from the Cold War, I'm not sure Moore's story is going to be able to completely stand the test of time.
Acting-wise, I thought the protrayal of Rohrshach was spot-on, The Comedian was also quite well-done, and Nite Owl seemed (as someone else mentioned) to be the protagonist of the movie, taking over almost every scene he was in. Silk Spectre was drop-dead gorgeous, but...well...bland. I found Dr. Manhattan to be more 'wooden' than 'alien,' and wasn't at all satisfied with the portrayal. Overall, the worst acting was in the character of Ozymandias. Rather than a super-intelligent, physically-honed pinnacle of humanity with an ego to match, he just seemed to be a whiny, simpering mess.
I also had problems with the level of the music in certain scenes (though I didn't find it off-putting in the opening montage), and thought it felt like it lasted every single minute of its length, and then some. In addition, I found a lot of the CGI (particularly in some of Dr. Manhattan's scenes, and Ozymandias' cat-thing in every appearance) to be scene-breakingly jarring. The violence didn't really bug me that much (though the alley fight might have been a bit over-the-top), but the nude/sex scenes with Nite Owl and Silk Spectre seemed a bit forced and definitely went on for too long. The change at the ending was pretty good, as film adaptation changes go, and I actually liked it better than the comic, but felt it was a case of 'too little, too late.'
Overall, I give it a 3. I won't see it again, and won't buy the DVD. While it kept very close to the source material, I'm not sure the source material is terribly relevant anymore. It may have simply taken too long for this to get to the screen.
Regards,
Darrell
Krug
Newshound
DVD out in July:
The Blu-Ray Blog | Who watches the Watchmen on Blu-ray? Watchmen: Director’s Cut Detailed, includes Facebook Social Media Connectivity
Relieved they won't be cutting the Black Freighter animation into the movie. The styles just don't gel.
The Blu-Ray Blog | Who watches the Watchmen on Blu-ray? Watchmen: Director’s Cut Detailed, includes Facebook Social Media Connectivity
Relieved they won't be cutting the Black Freighter animation into the movie. The styles just don't gel.
Krug
Newshound
Scene of Hollis Mason's death that's included in the Director's Cut DVD:
News: Watchmen Director's Cut Deleted Scene | Latino Review
News: Watchmen Director's Cut Deleted Scene | Latino Review
