Watchmen
 

Watchmen came out in the US this weekend, and I am sure will put up big numbers, besides being rated R and well over two hours long.

Anyone see it? Opinions?

Haven't seen it.

Some people are raving on about how it's supposed to be some excellent graphic novel and if it's anything like that then it should be one of the movies of the year.

As someone who has never heard of Watchmen before though... It just looks like X-men meets Sin City meets The Dark Knight.

I'll give it a chance if I have the time and if other friends drag me along... but otherwise not interested.

A bunch of my upperclassmen want me to read it. But I don't have time for it.

Time Magazine has rated Watchmen as one of the top 100 pieces of fiction ever (not sure if that was limited to American fiction). I have read the book, and its reputation is well-deserved. It is a very intelligent look at superheroes as real people. People who are political, and have serious psychological issues.
It is also a look at the world through Cold War eyes, which may be hard for younger readers to grasp.

In the Watchmen, a group of superheroes basically wins the Vietnam War for America, allowing Pres. Nixon's popularity to go so high he is elected for five terms. He thanks them by making masked heroes illegal, leading to a breakdown far beyond anything in The Incredibles.

I liked the movie a lot. It is very violent, but also very talky (and long) so if you are looking for The X-men, Watchmen is probably not a good pick. However if you like adult themes and thinky movies, you will probably enjoy it.

Oh wow... that sounds like a really cool story.

You've made me interested MMM...

I hope that the deepness of the movie's themes doesn't get lost in the camp superhero costumes though (I'm sure I'll be able to look past it if it's any good). I liked how in the TV series "Heroes" the characters never really dressed like bats etc.

Ok, the movie has brilliant cinematography, so for that it's brilliant. But it's a frame for frame of the comic which drags it on for 3 hours and bores you sometimes....that's where it loses it's points. I saw it opening day, wish I didn't...

It is a very close adaptation of a 12 issue comic series. The director is the same director as 300, which is probably a more obvious comic to make into a movie, especially for this director (Zach Snyder) but I think he did a fine job of keeping it going at a fast clip, but not cutting out too much.

A big theme is generations, so we bounce around from superheroes from the 40s to superheroes of the 80s (and in between) Some are ageless, and some age not so gracefully. There is a lot going on, and readers of the book will look for and see things that non-readers won't (like any adaptation).

It is NOT non-stop action. There is a lot of talking, but the action is incredibly violent and well done, especially for a "comic book movie" and the themes are pretty well preserved. Again, I don't know that people under 20 will appreciate the idea of an extended Cold War and don't remember "The Day After" and the real fear of nuclear holocaust that at least Americans dealt with daily during this time, which is such a major part of the movie, but for me that struck an old-forgotten chord.

I saw it on opening day, and I enjoyed it :p . It was a frame by frame adaptation of the novel, with some very minor changes and more cussing. Just like The Dark Knight, I was waiting for the credits to roll before I could jet off to the nearby restroom because of the large soda I bought.

A family brought an 8-year-old to the theater I saw it in today. I couldn't believe it. The mom spent half the time covering her eyes with her jacket.



The Japanese trailer

YouTube - WATCHMEN Japanese Trailer (ウォッチメン予告編)

Damn... I wish I didn't watch the Japanese trailer... It revealed so much more than the British trailer... I personally don't know anything about the comic/novel etc, but I want to watch this. I've wanted to since the first day I saw the trailer a couple of months ago... It looks really interesting.

lol There were some babies screaming their heads off during the trailers when I went to see it. I did see some little kids walk in with their parents. I bet their eyes were covered too, especially when certain scenes involving Dr. Manhattan came up. Speaking of which, I didn't think they were going to show that part in the movie lol. They did show it in the comic. :eek:

I don't know that you are shown too much in that trailer (there are dream sequences) Personally, I would recommend reading the graphic novel first...but if you can't read it afterward. Just know there is a lot of stuff going on, and about six or seven main characters.

I read an interview with Billy Crudup, and he said his, ahem, package appears prominently, though I wonder if that isn't a CG thing, as he basically wore neon lights all over his body during filming.

Have the compiled comic. Saw the movie on Friday. loved it...otherwise my almost-hero Rorschach wouldnt be my avator & sig pic, right??? lol
but it seems to me that it interests those who have heard about it...like Ronin & my cousin they compare it to the X-men...which pales in comparison to what the Watchmen are really about...& yes they did seem to get Doc Manhattans package rig-i mean the movie seems pretty close to the comic..

& awaiting the release if the Black Freighter on DVD since anymore addition to the movie probably would have made the running time to 4 hours...

I thought Black Freighter was already out...I did see a "video comic" which is basically the comic with voice actors. That might be interesting...

Yeah, you see his wang quite a lot during the film. And there's a sex scene that felt like it was 10 min long...they just kept going at it. Haha
I thought the movie as too slow for my taste, didn't bring me in enough.

For not reading the comic I found it interesting...
Couldn't believe parents brought their children to see it...
Also, found the whole sex scene playing to "Hallelujah" funny... ><

Yeah, the soundtrack was good....but didn't go with a lot of the scenes in my opinion.
And it would've been a lot better if it was Jeff Buckley's Hallelujah...

Well they did the best they could with a difficult story. Watchmen is such a profound piece of fiction that i knew it was going to be difficult to do but wow they pulled it off and quite well in fact. The graphic novel when i read it years ago make such an emotional impact on me to this day it still touches me. The film did wonderful job portraying the Super Heroes as real people with feelings and their own sense of justice of whats right and whats wrong. Its a very violent film with some nudity too but the story goes so deep that the ending will have thinking for weeks on end. I have been asked by several people already to borrow the graphic novel some litertrue classes at University require the students to read Watchmen which i think speaks vol to the story.

There is a lot of dialog and the fighting is far and in between. This is not Xmen or Hulk the dialog is very important and many of themes has to do with humanity itself. But when the action comes oh its good its bloody its what violence should be so we wont forget it. Even after nearly 3 hours they just could not fit all the info in but they did one hell of a job and the movie will be going on top 100 movies. To do such a wonderful job by portraying the time periods showed great direction it is not easy to do time jumps and keep the audience emotional invested.

I agree pretty much with everything you said, Sinestra. The violence was very striking and had a strong impact.

that & Patrick Wilson is a very sexy nerd!!!!

What?

It needed to be said!

I just came from seeing the movie. It was great!! They let Dr. Manhattan hang out if you know what i mean. Of course I wasn't objecting. :p

And getting JF shut down for posting stupid links to illegal DL sites sucks even more.

My fault brahhhhhhhhhhhhh.


I sorry:( :( :( :(


(But it wasn't a dl.....it was a stream)

MMM how do you feel about they portrayed Dr Manhattan? I thought they got his character dead on they superbly showed him leaving him humanity behind in the most subtle be effective of ways. There have been debates over weather Dr Manhattan lost his humanity or transcended it. I actually thought it was fusion of the two and he actually realized what humanity was in the truer since of the word therefore he actually transcended it.

"It wasn't cocaine, Officer. It was heroin."

Again, I think you nailed it. Although Dr. Manhattan transcended humanity, he was still a human, and was not omnipotent. He could see HIS past, present and future, but not that of all mankind. Dr. Manhattan had flaws, just as all the other Watchmen did. I don't think he lost his humanity as much as HE thought he lost his humanity. We find out that isn't entirely true.

Here's a funny (but hope that WB exec. don't get any ideas from) news article about a sequel or prequel to the "Watchmen" film. Seriously agree with what Zack Snyder and Jeffrey Dean Morgan said about it. :D

A superhero movie without a sequel? That could be the destiny of 'Watchmen'

I watched this on Friday, have to say it was well made, and alot was being made out of the different ending, but if anything i think i prefered the ending in the movie. I still prefered the comic book but this was a good adaptation.

Have to mention how the sex scene was awkward and their was no need for it to drag out (slow motion, why?), he also managed to ruin that song for me. It started off great and finished good.

Also Synder is going to release a directors cut with an extra 30-40 mins, for those who wanted a little more of the comic which was cut out.

That's the one i'm looking forward too.

yeah it was awesome

I preferred the book ending over the movie but I'm glad that the movie ending still makes sense and you still come away with the same general feeling as you do from the book. I will say that I'm glad I read the book first and then saw the movie simply because I could appreciate more of the details in the movie.

I personally would have done with out all the "junk" and over laid some pants or something, though I know that would take away some of the character of him. That and the sex scene that seemed to go forever, in the book it was like 4 frames, I don't know why it needed to be like 5 minutes. It was about as necessary as the sex scene in Matrix:Reloaded.

I also want to shoot the soundtrack person because it made absolutely no sense as it ruined the mood for the scenes.

A final note, the movie did not pull any punches what-so-ever, I was surprised they showed the Vietnam woman get shot and not just turn the camera to the comedian, pull trigger, then show her on the floor. Any-who, that's my take.

I have seen it not too long ago, it was a decent movie, I gave it a 6.5 out of 10
only because there are tons of unneccessary scenes on there (which explains the 2 hours + of film time)
other than that it had quite a few artistic takes
this is the first film that has more nude males than nude females..
what in the world is up with Mr. Manhattan's blue whale! put something on!
my favorite is Rorschach, he stood for justice regardless of what happened
he proves that you don't need to be super smart like Adrian to eventually out smart him
i disliked Adrian
Jon needs to stop being depress and disregard human life just because he became something beyond the human world, he assumes he knows the future but is proven wrong all the time
Nite Owl II is a complete Batman/Owlman rip off literally, but atleast we got a Batman in this film, the comic series is part of DC actually
no comment about Silk or whatever

The film was great... Rorschach was chaotically beautiful, and for me, he was on par with V for Vendetta. Not suprisingely also an Alan Moor Comic...

A lot of people didn't like the soundtrack, but I absolutely loved it. I really thought it made the scenes more real, and it brought back some classic songs. lol

Don't forget Dr. Manhatten's wang perscription. Make sure to take it 6 times in 3 hours, every 3 hours.

Haven't seen the movie yet, but I plan to later this week.

The book, on the other hand, was breathtaking. Experimental writing, even as far as a comic book are concerned, intertextuality with a self created story, motifs that still strike today's cords, a satire on the idea of "saving the/a world", interiority, juxtaposition of good and evil.

Sweet Jesus, it's rare that a novel like Watchman comes around, and I'm glad that it did.

I would see it, but I have no money right now... and I don't really want to see a naked blue (glowing) blue man strut his package all over a giant screen... But I'll consider it... even if Dr. Manhattan is stark naked.