I finally watched it. Really good film. I don't know if I would like it as much if I didn't read the book beforehand. With the constant flashbacks and getting accustomed to the alternate world, it takes some getting used to. The story was somewhat confusing and not concrete in my mind the first time around. But watching the movie and knowing the ending, you see all the little things that support the ending and it all comes together nicely. BTW, anyone noticed how they played a muzak version of Tears For Fears 'Everybody Wants to Rule the World' in the background when Veidt was talking to the 'captains of industry?' I also cannot wait to see a director's cut.
Couldn't agree more. She was HORRIBLE. About the only thing she was good for was having some nice legs. Even when she took her clothes off, she was a disappointment. Fortunately, Kelly Leak showed up and saved the movie.
Oh yes, ditto the Malin Ackermann actingfail. I couldn't help but think 'she must have slept w/ someone to get this part' in the middle of the movie. And I've never had that thought occur to me watching any other movie.
Finally saw it Friday. I haven't read through this entire thread so some of my comments/problems with the film might have already been discussed. I liked it. Borderline loved it. But I had read the comic beforehand so I didn't have to struggle to keep up with what was going on. That makes it somewhat difficult to look at this objectively, from the perspective of the average movie goer. I will say this, for years and years this comic book was deemed unfilmable. However, Snyder stuck to the comic book really well and seemed to go out of his way at times to duplicate shots exactly as they appeared in the graphic novel. And it all came off pretty well and did seem much like your standard movie, even if the themes and ending were very different from your typical superhero movie. So I'm a little confused now why people thought for so long that this would be a really difficult project to pull off. Maybe it was more about convincing the studios to pay for it than to putting a faithful version of the GN up on the screen. Oh well. Loved Rorschach, as I'm sure most did. Loved pretty much all the characters, really. I'm not quite as down on Malin Ackerman as many here and other places I have seen. I didn't think she did anything special with her role. Many of her lines and dialogue were some of the more emotional throughout the whole graphic novel, but they also the least subtle and most over the top. That made her job a lot harder than Rorschach's. One odd complaint that I never would have expected to have is the blue penis. I didn't have issue with it in the comics, and I knew it was going to be in the movie and didn't think I would have a problem. And for the most part, I didn't have a problem. But I think overall putting that one codpiece on Dr. Manhattan for the entire movie (when not fully clothed) would have gone a long way to helping the average, non-Watchmen-familiar moviegoer be more at ease with the serious aspects of the story. I mean, there are some awesome questions raised about sacrifice and the meaning of good and evil, but it can be difficult to take all that seriously when there is frequent blue dong being presented to your eyes. If they were going to change the squid ending, I think eliminating the blue penis would have been orders of magnitude less severe a change and would have gone further to endearing the product to the public. But that's a general, box-office take kind of opinion. For my part I enjoyed seeing the movie almost completely faithful. My wife went and saw it with me. She swears that she detects a hint of a smile on Carla Gugino's lips just after the brutal rape attempt is interrupted. Did anyone else see this? I think she was imagining it because she is in love with Jeffrey Dean Morgan and would probably have somewhat enjoyed being in her place (I know that's crazy but that's what she thinks...she's a little freaky). Did anyone else get this vibe from Gugino?
Too much talking. Not enough punching. There are a million different ways to do Watchmen, and while this was nowhere near the worst. It certainly wasn't the best, either.
I picked up the Watchmen motion comic Bluray yesterday and watched about half of it. For one, my wife who'd never read the book commented on how close the movie stayed to the book and as i was watching it, it really is impressive as to how close they stayed to the source material. For those of you who haven't read the book and just want a more visual way to experience it I'd recommend the motion comic bluray, very well done aside from the fact that all the voice are done by 1 guy, even the female parts.
they cheaped out on that part. else everything was pretty good. how much does it cost to hire a girl to do the girl parts?
I also finally saw in on Friday and overall I thought it was OK not great but not terrible. I didn't think Malin Ackerman was terrible. She wasn't good but didn't ruin the movie. The guy I thought wasn't very good was Ozzy Mandius. He seemed the least developed character and the actor playing him was very wooden. Plus the batsuit wth nipples was annoying. The changed ending didn't bother me too much but I'm glad they kept Dr. Manhattan naked. I wasn't distracted by the blue penis and felt it would've been much more of a copout too have him wearing his briefs. Even his briefs wasn't his full costume and I'm dissapointed they had him wearing that when he first became Dr. Manhattan as it made people think that was his costume. He actually starts out with a full black body suit but starts doing away with it since he lose touch with human convention. I do find it interesting that he is still polite enough to wear a three piece suit to an interview and funeral. Spoiler my biggest beef with the movie though is the last 15 minutes where they do the feel good wrap up with Silk Spectre, her mom and Nite Owl back at home as a happy family. That just had too much of sappy tacked on feeling.
Think about the true end though. After all that happy stuff. It makes the true end that much more scary no?
NSFW Why no one wants to fight Dr. Manhattan http://www.toplessrobot.com/2009/03/this_is_why_no_one_wants_to_fight_dr_manhattan.php
Saw the movie today. Was equally awesome and terrible. Spoiler I enjoyed myself overall, but the sex scene's music was... pretty bad. I was honestly surprised I didn't hear laughter in the theater at that crap. I was too shocked to laugh. (jaw droppingly bad) Nothing wrong w/ the song, just the placement of the song and the lame flamethrower. It all seemed too campy. I loved the music throughout the movie. Especially the introductory montage. Actor wise: Add my name to the list of pro-Rorschach and anti-Silk Spectre II. But, I was also pro-Comdian and anti-Night Owl II. (Further confirming that sequels generally suck by default? Maybe, maybe no.) umm... Penis didn't bother me. Seriously, some of you act like you've never been to a locker room. One thing that confused me: Why did the bad actress burst into tears after finding out who her father was? It would be one thing if she was the product of a rape, but her mom 'made a mistake' later with the dude, so... what the hell was all the emotion? My mom was a slut! boo hoo! My dad came onto me... booo hooo! ???? Was the mom raped in that scene in the comic book? (Movie certainly made it seem like he was interrupted, but that they later went to town with mutual consent... am I imagining this?) Last complaint... how the hell was that the plan of the most brilliant person in the past 300 years? I mean, really? REALLY? Jesus...
Flamethrower was in the book. The Original Silk Spectre wasn't actually raped. In both the book and the movie, the attempted rape was broken up by Hooded Justice. At some point later, Silk Spectre did hook up with Blake. Laurie knew that the Comedian had tried to rape her mother (but not what happened later) and hated him for it. And now she realizes that the man she's despised for most of her life is actually her father. Imagine you just found out Jerry Sloan or Karl Malone was your father. Ozymandias wasn't really the smartest man in the world, he even says so (I'm pretty sure that part made it into the film). It's just a label that got applied to him and stuck.
ROFL! I was also puzzled why she SSII was so upset. While watching the movie though, it never occurred to me that she hated the Comedian, but now that you explain it, it makes sense.
I guess I don't need to worry about a spoiler tag Skywalker's crying over 'Luke, I am your father.' was a scene I hated too and that had frickin' James Earl Jones. It wasn't like she was told who her father, making whole life is a big lie. /shrug To me, it would cause confusion and surprise, not the giant tear cryfest/tantrum. I missed him saying that some how. I remember saying he was dumb, but then followed it up with the B.S. about being dumb, because he can't associate with people. Only other smart people from the past. The Oxygen to Gold bit was also bad.
