Watchmen

[Laurie]

Just wanted to say if you haven't read the comics I don't think you'll enjoy the movie. I went with Stewart, my nephew Eric and sister Lisa and I was hoping for an X-Men type movie, this was not the case at all. The so called super heroes weren't--in fact Comedian was a jerk and pretty much deserved what he got.

It definitely had a message and was rife with irony. Stewart has read all the comics and absolutely loved the movie. Eric also enjoyed it, but Lisa and I didn't.

There was quite a bit of talk of cancer and it was uncomfortable sitting next to my sister who has terminal breast cancer.

Just wanted to share my thoughts with you all concerning the movie.

I'm anxiously waiting Wolverine!

 

[tunes]

Wktam told me that in chat Laurie - that if you don't read the comic book, you will never understand (or enjoy) the movie. I did find a place on line that explains a bit, but I'm not sure if it's enough to help or not. We tried to find the comic book on line to buy it and read it before we saw the movie, but everywhere we looked it was outrageously expensive.

http://www.ehow.com/how_4831886_watch-the-watchmen.html

I was listening to the radio on the way to take the kids to school yesterday and most people who saw it already didn't like it. I think they made a huge mistake in how they approached this, because it isn't the hit they thought it was going to be. Most people said by half way through they were ready to leave.

 

[AlbertaGirl]

Bear in mind that the original graphic novel is an inch thick and takes several hours to read. Most people (myself included) need to read it two or three times to really take in everything that is going on. It was on Time Magazine's list of the top 100 novels of all time, up there with To Kill a Mockingbird. So this isn't just another issue of The Amazing Spiderman that you can read while waiting in line for the movie!

One of the questions Alan Moore asked in the graphic novel was, what would people who decided to dress up and fight crime REALLY be like? And the answer is in the Watchmen. They would be emotionally disturbed, power hungry, egocentric, and even mentally ill. A lot of them would be doing it for the wrong reasons. These are definitely not the X-Men!

As a devotee of the graphic novel, I went into the movie with mixed feelings. I knew they had changed the ending and I was worried about that. However, without giving anything away, I can say that the ending that was in the movie didn't change the spirit or the feel of the original material and I was quite pleased with it. I know there are lots of fans who disagree with me though.

You can watch the movie without having read the graphic novel. Some foreknowledge of the material will let you pick up on some of the little details here and there, but you definitely don't need to have read it first to understand and enjoy the movie.

It's too bad that they are sort of marketing it as an X-Men rip off, because that is obviously going to lead to some disappointed movie goers. This material is a lot more complex than your average superhero comic (and when I say that, bear in mind that I LOVE superhero comics).

As a fan of the original novel, I would recommend the movie, but go in knowing that it's a lot darker and a lot different than anything Marvel or DC has done.

 

[wktam]

Huge comic book fan and old enough to have Watchmen when it was first released one issue at a time in comic book stores. I saw the movie last week and loved it but then I'm sure I was suffering from a major "geek-out". Very dark and violent movie but I'm still of the opinion that foreknowledge of the marterial is important or the plot just takes too long to develelop.

My girlfriend is also fond of comics and I suggested that she read the comics before seeing the movie. Her verdict was that the comic was incredibly complex and that the movie makers were going to have their hands full trying to capture all the subplots and details in the comics.

There were chunks of the comics that had to be cut out just to make the movie fit and I have a feeling that when the DVD comes out with the "extended version" I will much prefer the extended version.

 

[Spoof]

I've never read the comic (none of my group of 5 had) and we thought it was ok. Lots of blood, gore, some sex, man-arss and some full frontal shots we didn't expect.

Probably would have made more sense had we read the comics - the beginning felt like it went on forever... wait, it did. At 2 hours 40 minutes it was quite long.

There were several babies in the audience, and quite a few under the age of 10. That is not a movie I'd take a kid to see, holy crap.

 

[sunshine]

My fiance had me read the graphic this winter while he was waiting for the movie to come out. I very much enjoyed it. Rorshach is my favorite character, and the movie made him perfectly. I was SO glad that the movie was as faithful to the original work as it was.

2 things I didn't like:
1) Mr. Manhattan and the full frontal... come on... Doesn't need to be nekkie ALL the time. Give him the undies back. It was distracting.
2) Silk Spectre II's boots. In Archie, she had stilleto heels, when she jumped out onto the roof they were thick heels, when she is kicking butt they were wedges. That broke the "wall" for me and took me out of the movie.

Other than those things, I thought the movie was very well done. I thought the ending was a better choice than the original for the mainstream public. Keeping Tale of the Black Freighter out and making it a movie on its own was a great choice (direct to DVD). And now they are doing an Under the Hood documentary as well.

 

[EveningChin]

I agree with almost everything said above. Especially about having to see so much of Manhattan's genitals. You don't have to dress him (as he is hardly ever dressed in the comic) But they could have used more artfull shooting. Its really not so hard to frame your shot better. The amount his peice was on screen in such detail was really ditracting and I just didn't want to see it. A few shots I expected but..... Maybe it was just that it was on a twenty foot screen.

The sex scene was excessive, in the comic (I own and love) it was artfully done, in the movie I felt like I was watching softcore porn and was uncomfortable.

Appart from that it was wonderful!!! I love the comic and read it atleast once a year, the movie was a very good adaptation. This is not the x-men or spiderman its much much darker. I really recommend people read it, infact I had to read it in a class in college.

People to chilren to that? Did they not notice they rating? Where there goes s bunch of childrens innocents. Oi!

 

[Laurie]

Funny I didn't mind Dr Manhattan's man parts showing but I had a huge issue with the beating and near rape scene. There were lots of children in the audience and violence towards women should be something a young boy never sees (they don't need to get any ideas upon growing up). I guess since I read so much erotica the male nakedness didn't phaze me--but the super hero nearly raping a woman did.
I did love Rohrshach though--Jackie Earle Haley still doing it after all these years--he was great as Kelly Leach in Bad New Bears.

The cinematography was incredible--the irony in the movie was blunt and it did cause a lot of room for pause.

Just not what I expected to see. I'm sure I'll enjoy Wolverine more--even though I'm sure there will be no manly parts naked to see on him--dang it!

 

[wktam]

I'm going to ask the stupid question I'm sure I know the answer to. What was the movie rated in the US? I know in the UK nobody under 18 was allowed in and there was a similar rating in Singapore.

I would guess the rating in the US was probably "R" which should have been plenty of indicator that it was not child appropriate.

My point is that the issue should be with the parents who allowed children into a movie when they should have known that it was inappropriate for children rather than with the movie itself.

 

[mishalaa]

Watchmen is rated R, which means anyone 17 and under must be accompanied by an adult, which as far as theatres police pretty much means anyone over 18.
NC-17 means no one under 17 is admitted, regardless if an adult is with them or not. But, again, I'm not sure how well these ratings are enforced. I've never been carded to get into a movie, although I was carded once by a very old scowly lady at Wal-mart when I bought an R-rated movie.

 

[AlbertaGirl]

I can't believe people would take their kids to see the Watchmen. 30 seconds of research on the Internet would tell you that it's not appropriate... that and the 'R' rating. :no: We went to see it again yesterday and I was just as impressed. I noticed a bunch of details that I missed the first time. I'm re-reading the graphic novel as well.

 

[Parka]

Sorry this is old and I'm posting to it, but I haven't been here and wanted to toss out my thoughts about this movie.

I think the director did a good job in staying true to the comic, and I think agree with his material cuts. I liked how a lot of the scenes were basically just like the panels in the comic. However, I think they did a really poor job with the music choice, and the director has a penchant for sex and violence and I think he went a little overboard. Adding "Hallelujah" to the sex scene, especially the version they chose, totally cheapened it and it was almost painful to watch. They chose period pieces, but they let them run way too long. I understand that "Ride of the Valkyries" was a throwback to Apocalypse Now, but I didn't like it either. They chose period pieces and let them run too long, but I did like how they summed up their predecessors' backstory in the intro.

Dr. Manhattan being nude is a reflection of how out of touch he is with humankind, but a lot of people just giggled about it. I also think the director went a little overboard there, too, but that's just me.

A friend of mine took her son to see the movie because he told her it was a superhero movie and she didn't bother to research it. He's 9. Ended up coloring himself blue one day while he was supposed to be taking a bath. I don't even know what to say to that one..

Overall, I think the movie did a pretty good job considering the depth of the material, but the music was the one thing that bugged me. I read the book a long time ago and didn't really remember much of the material. I think it's one of those movies you can watch repeatedly and still pick up something new each time. When you consider the limitations of film as a media and put aside the director's tendency toward sex and violence, I think it's a pretty good adaptation.