Watchmen

[samsong]

the short answer is money.

watchmen the movie is lifeless and, well, retarded.  first, the two or three things that i even remotely enjoyed.  the opening credits were pretty beautiful until it entered the realm of the overtly and irresponsibly political.  liked the dr. manhattan sequence replete with koyannisqatsi score and billy crudup's mastercard voiceover, and jackie earle haley was pretty awesome.  my friends complained about rorsharch having christian bale's batman voice but i saw a video of alan moore reading from the book as rorsharch and he uses that exact voice, so whatever.  not that it needs justification--it works. 

the movie's only faithful to the book in that it replicates images/words and maintains plot, but it's so incredibly off in terms of ideology.  the violence is absurdly gratuitous for no particular reason.  for a movie with such high production value, i'm perplexed as to why the make-up is so horrendous.  malin akerman should be banned from movies where she isn't the token nudity girl who gets no more than 2 minutes of screen time.  matthew goode as ozymandias was always a stupid choice to me and it's as plain as day in the movie.  patrick wilson's talented but seems to have the most limited range ever.  he does the same whiny bitch shtick in every movie.

save for the dark knight, i haven't seen a big hollywood movie in recent years that didn't leave me underwhelmed and profoundly bored.  this was certainly no exception.

[Stefen]

This flick was doomed from the beginning. It was especially doomed once it was confirmed it was being helmed by a hack who values style over substance.

I predict it'll win a lot of MTV Movie Awards so it's got that going for it at least.

CALLED IT.

[Fernando]

Patton Oswalt recently posted a blog defending the movie (without having seen it yet), saying that the angry nerds need to calm down because there's no way the movie could be 100% like the book...

Just read that blog and for the lazy I'll link it because it's awesome, not only what he says about Watchmen but he gives us wisdom on what's the real deal now on TV, and because he kept rooting for the wire all these years I'll believe anything this man recommends.

http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendId=67077201&blogId=475266763

[New Feeling]

save for the dark knight, i haven't seen a big hollywood movie that didn't leave me underwhelmed and profoundly bored. 

like, ever?

[samsong]

in recent years*

[Kal]

It was great visually but too fucking long and pointless. I would have enjoyed it more if it wasn't so long, or if I had any clue of what I was watching. I never read anything related or knew anything about the characters, which probably puts me in the same place as most people who are going to the movies to watch this.

As cliche as most of the dialogue was and the bad acting, I did like how the story fits with historical events and culture, and what they did with the music throughout the movie. It seemed so out of place sometimes that it was great.

[bonanzataz]

Patton Oswalt recently posted a blog defending the movie (without having seen it yet), saying that the angry nerds need to calm down because there's no way the movie could be 100% like the book...

Just read that blog and for the lazy I'll link it because it's awesome, not only what he says about Watchmen but he gives us wisdom on what's the real deal now on TV, and because he kept rooting for the wire all these years I'll believe anything this man recommends.

http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendId=67077201&blogId=475266763

Speaking of the Nerd Mafia, where the fuck were you when Joss Whedon's terrific new series DOLLHOUSE premiered on, of course, Friday, February 13th? It's the THIRD time he's come up with a brilliant, kick-ass concept, broke his back bringing it to light, and then had a network a) put it in the death slot and b) shuffle the episode order. GET HIS BACK, people. Besides, I'm on it in two weeks. Do you really want to let the show get canceled, and miss Tahmoh Penikett kick the living crap out of me? The fuck else are you doing on a Friday night?

thaaaaat's right. WATCH IT!

watchmen was okay. the makeup looked a little too purposefully cartoonish to be called "bad." i hate IMAX.

[Sleepless]

What if Woody Allen had directed Watchmen?

http://www.slate.com/id/2212953/slideshow/2212955/fs/0//entry/2212956/

admin-edit: click the pic for more directors.

[socketlevel]

***Possible spoiler***

I enjoyed the film until the 80% mark then it went downhill.  sure i have a problem with the ending, not the changes that were made regarding the major plot point that everyone bitches and moans about, in truth the ending that's in the movie kinda makes sense in a different way then the book, it exists on it's own which is nice.   

my problem is with the tone and attitude of the characters.  in the book the characters seem to all have a certain acceptance for reality that doesn't exist in the movie, like their pragmatic outlook at the end of the book is bleak and overflowing with a jaded apathy.  the only character at the end of the books that has any good nature is Rorschach, who stands by his convictions regardless of the social and political climate.  in the movie the others seem to side with him in their tone... it's a tricky subversion on the film makers part, that even though they don't state they side with Rorschach, they sit quietly in his corner.  i don't like this, it's sneaky because the film maker or anyone defending this point could easily rely on subjectivity... and part of the finale was lost due to their now more moral dispositions.

anyway with all the bitching and moaning, it was a good movie, and realistically probably the best adaptation that any studio would have let happen.  rather then everyone saying it's shit as a knee jerk reaction, maybe they should look it over again.  i just wished it kept it's anticlimax mood, and somehow tried to get that very point across.

-sl-

[NEON MERCURY]

this was my first imax experience...they built a new one here and its very nice...it even has that stacker game in the arcade section..you know the game where you gotta stack the blocks that are moving on top of each other to the top to win a prize..its fun and it reminds me of when i was a kid and going to showbiz pizza...i was one stack away from winning a Wii...well, enough of the lobby...the screen is fucking huge!  i was not prepared for it...we sat in the second to last row in the rear....i can't believe how far back you have to sit to feel 'level'...but the stadium seating is awesome and the seats them selves are comfortable...

as for the film..ive never read the graphic novel...but i knew that the graphic novel has a huge cult of followers..and i new of the mystique of watchmen...but having not been familiar with the novel i wasnt sure what type of (disa)vantage point that would put me in...but i was excited to see some slick looking shit..(at least from the trailers)...and im  a big fan of crudup and wilson...and i try to support their films...i even watch lakeview terrace  .....anyways..i enjoyed this so much!  this is one that stuck with me and i enjoyed that...i thought the look was incredible and very cool..the opening credits deserve all the praise they are getting..and the song choice was so out of place-spot on....and the Rorschach solo scenes are the film's highlist...i thought the story was interesting and i was completely SPOILERS>>>>>>>caught of guard by the ending, i was thinking of the typical hero saves the day<<<<<<<<<<<END SPOILERS...............from reading the posts here it seems to be  a very negative view on the film...i guess its because all you can/could never translate something of this cult status onto the screen and please the majority...i guess i might feel the dame as you guys if the john woo metroid film ever sees the light of day.....but then i read comments where the film was very faithfully translated from novel to screen...i cant wait for the triple dip on blu-ray

[SiliasRuby]

i cant wait for the triple dip on blu-ray

You and me both buddy, you and me both.

[Sleepless]

There's a very interesting article in the current issue of Creative Screenwriting looking at how they went about adapting Watchmen for the screen, and it seems a lot of the changes made do make sense from a screenwriting perspective. I have yet to see the film, so I can't give a personal opinion yet. To be honest, I've been put off by the reviews on here. I'd like to see it soon though, just to look at how they managed to translate it from the novel. Btw, for those really unhappy with the translation, it could have been a lot worse: one executive wanted it to become a buddy movie between Dreilberg and Rorschach. On the whole, it seems everyone involved in crafting the screenplay was a fan of the source material first, and wanted to be as faithful as possible to the source, whilst trying to make it effective as a film. As for the new ending, after reading how they came to that point it makes total sense from a theoretical perspective.

[picolas]

spoils!

it's not the theory behind the new ending that's fucked up. it's the incredibly sloppy execution. you never really get the sense MILLIONS of people have died. they go back into a crazy slo-mo fight after. no overwhelming sense of shock like in the book. just another opening for a fight. it's incredibly bad taste. yes it could've been worse, and some parts i loved. but the ending is a piece of shit. aside from rorshach's last lines. and the big 'splosion.

[polkablues]

Yeah, Rorschach's reaction was the only sign that the filmmakers even gave a thought to the actual implications of the ending.  I liked the movie all in all, but Jackie Earl Haley really had to carry a lot of the thing on his back.

[Sleepless]

Personally, I thought that despite all they had cut out, there was nothing substantially missing. If anything, I thought the film could have been much leaner. There is so much going on, whilst other might consider it sacrilege to suggest further cutting, I think it would have been possible. The many, oh so many, transitions into various characters' backstories, flashbacks to the 40's, to Vietnam, inevitably slowed the film down. So much so, that by the time were done with them, it feels like we're just about getting going, whereas in fact the climax is upon us. I understand that much of the information garnered from those flashbacks is essential to inform us of things we need to know to understand the larger mechanics of the story.

But adaptation is not that simple. It's not an easy task, I know that. But just because you're adapting from a medium that looks like a movie storyboard doesn't mean that you can just follow that exactly. Cuts that will anger the fans of the source material have to be main in order to preserve the integrity of the story so that it works in this new medium of film. As it is, you have to strain to pay attention and understand how all the pieces fit together. Lots of the pieces shown are largely irrelevant. There are multiple ways of showing character. We don't need to see one of Rorschach's previous investigations, or - hell - even his childhood, to understand that he has a rigid moral code which he will live by until his death. No matter what. Yes, it might help the audience sympathize with him to learn of details from when he was growing up, but do we really benefit from any of those visions? Could the same effect of sympathy not have been created by some other means for the sake of it working better within the medium of film? I propose that it could have been far more efficient to show the adult Walter Kovacs before we know that he is Rorschach, as we do in the novel. A pathetic doom-obsessed loner. The revelation then, that he is Rorschach resonates far more effectively in the book because we have seen his existence outside of the mask. That is what makes us feel empathy for him most greatly. Yes, the glimpses of his childhood are informative, but we don't need to know. They don't add anything. I'm just using the Rorschach elements here as an example. There are many more characters and flashback elements which could have been handled far more succinctly for Watchmen to work better as a film.

The problem is one that we come across time and again. Look at the Harry Potter movies. You can just take an article from one medium and transplant it into another. It doesn't work that way. It's not that simple. The result, as with Watchmen, is that it is a disappointment. Of course, I completely understand, having read the graphic novel, that Watchmen is a particularly difficult article to adapt to the screen. And as with any beloved book (or cartoon, or TV show) you're gonna anger some fans by the changes you make. But the final product will be all the better for it. As it is, although it had its faults, I didn't hate Watchmen the movie, but I doubt I'll ever watch it again in my life.

One aspect of the film, though, I feel I must champion is the change made to the ending. Without spoiling anything, let's just say in the book the climax pivots on an alien element which is introduced only within the final pages of the story. In the film they've done away with that concept completely, and instead reframed the denouement on an element already firmly established within the world of the Watchmen. It works. It covers all the bases, leaves the larger framework intact, and satisfies the movie audience far more successfully than introducing a brand new thing right at the end of the movie. In a recent interview for Creative Screenwriting magazine, the two writers defended the change for the film version. "It was a solution that happened to fit in perfectly with the puzzle pieces that had to be there," Hayter said. "The result is the same, which is important," said Tse. "I can defend it a million different ways as to why it still accomplishes exactly the same thing."

It's a shame neither extended that attitude to the rest of the picture.