Watchmen - Offical Thread - USE SPOILER TAGS!

[HSH28]

A good film.

I think it could have been better, but it would have had to deviate from the book a lot more. As it is its pretty faithful but it doesn't work as well as a film, obviously.

Still like I said, a very good film.

[JiggerJay]

A good film.

I think it could have been better, but it would have had to deviate from the book a lot more. As it is its pretty faithful but it doesn't work as well as a film, obviously.

Still like I said, a very good film.

Hugo which is better, comic or film?

[Alvin Flummux]

Neither of my two local cinemas are showing this film.

[JiggerJay]

Neither of my two local cinemas are showing this film.

Wow do you live in the countryside?
It's depressing that I can't find Anvil anywhere, as it's only on 5 strawberry floating cinemas in the country (No wonder we pirate so much!)

[Alvin Flummux]

Neither of my two local cinemas are showing this film.

Wow do you live in the countryside?

Keighley. My two nearest ones (that I know of) are Skipton and Keighley. I could go to Leeds I suppose, but it's a bit of a way...

Will cinemas show films after the release date? I think the showings change weekly so there's a chance it'll come on a bit later here.

[JiggerJay]

Neither of my two local cinemas are showing this film.

Wow do you live in the countryside?

Keighley. My two nearest ones (that I know of) are Skipton and Keighley. I could go to Leeds I suppose, but it's a bit of a way...

Will cinemas show films after the release date? I think the showings change weekly so there's a chance it'll come on a bit later here.

Yeah it should get a wider distriubtion if demand proves to be a hit.

[Irene Demova]

Jigger the killing of ror is completley justified and works excellently in book form; once I've seen the film I'll see if it has the same effect

[DrDoom]

Well, there was good and there was bad.

It's a good adaptation but I think that it suffers for it. It's a bit of a schizophrenic film. It's as if it can't decide whether it's a deconstruction of the superhero genre (like the source) or a straight up superhero movie. The slo-mo played a large part in this. I can understand why they did it in some sections due to voice-over etc but in the action set pieces it kind of played into the notion that we were just watching a run of the mill superhero movie.

Yeah they changed the ending and for the most part I think it worked. The problem came after in the coda. Nuclear destruction in New York and several months after they are rebuilding etc. It just didn't seem to tally. I can imagine the squid wouldn't play with mainstream audiences but it would make that part at the end more plausible.

Things I liked:

Dr Manhattan- I think they portrayed him fairly accurately and as he's my fave character I was glad. Billy Crudup (sp?) had that detachment down pat.

Rorschach- Another good performance. I haven't seen anyone diss the actors performance yet either.

The Comedian- I thought Morgan did well in the role. The 'confession' scene with Moloch being a highlight (I really hope he gets the main role in 'The Losers' now as is being reported)

Nite Owl- 2nd fave character and Patrick Wilson had Dan pretty much nailed.

The opening sequence- This was probably my fave part of the whole film. Seeing so many images juxtaposed with a great piece of music was awesome. Up there with the first time I saw the opening sequence of Spider-Man as 'goosebump' moments go.

Matthew Goode's performance was a little wooden in places as was Malin Akermans. But that brings me to another thing I liked.

Malin Akerman.

Hot damn. Even when she wasn't in that costume

I noticed they cut all the newsstand stuff too which makes sentence given the freighter stuff not being in the movie. I think ultimately the film would have turned out better if they had dared to venture away from the source a little more. What works in comics does not necessarily work in film. All in all though this was a commendable effort.

7/10

[Fruits Punch Samurai]

Really enjoyed this. It all went smoothly and some scenes they changed were pretty awesome and brutal. Loved the music choice to.

Though I do have some minor quibbles:

I didn't feel the plot flowed towards the end, you had all this huge build up and backstories of the Comedian and Dr.Manhatten but the part with Rorscach and Niteowl finding out it was Veidt felt a little disconnected from it all, a little loose. Thankfully it all comes together in the end.

Also while the music choices were excellent I felt they should have put another song or two in as during the part I mention above, it was devoid of anything other than a underlining soundtrack which felt a little generic.

The ending also feels like its missing a couple scenes. When Dr.Manhatten and the tiger thing are blown up, it cuts straight to Veidt in the room with everyone again and Silk Spectre shooting him, I felt a scene was missing to link it.

Also I feel the tiger should have been removed, he looked fake and didn't add anything seeing as the whole creating a monster plotline was out. Maybe a real tiger would have done?

The explosion was good but would have liked to see more destruction, felt a little rushed on the impact.

But they aren't film ruining just little things I felt they could have changed up, I like the changes they did make overall and the biggest omissions are probably going to be in the director's cut anyway. I also felt they did the ending scenes better than the comic as in :

Niteowl lashing out on Veidt after Rorscach dies. It felt like he still had hate for it all rather than just sleeping with Silk Spectre again. It all just flowed a little better and I loved the Rorscach scene though maybe the film didn't quite carry his point of justice across, I wanted to see him change the guy trying to help him in prison like in the comic.

[YouSmellOfWee]

Seriously dude. Underwear... F**king wear some!

[tomvek]

Watchmen - 9/10

Excellent film, this really had everything. It was nice going into it not knowing very much about the graphic novel, I'm now left wanting more and to actually get myself a copy. I loved the rich variety of themes that ran through the film and the characters were just so good. Rorschach is just such an awesome character, Haley played him so well. Alan Moore really did create an interesting world which is a throwback to older superhero comics but with a darker and more human side to it.

Best comic book film I've seen since Hellboy 2 and better overall than The Dark Knight although it will in know way be as successful which is a pity.

[Phatman]

6/10

Liked:

* The majority of the character portrayals. Rorshach, Dr Manhattan, Nite Owl and The Comedien were for the most part extremely well acted.

* The dialouge - lifted mostly from the book of course, which is why it succeeded.

* Pacing - they managed to flashback very well without spoiling the narrative, something of an achievement I feel.


Disliked:

* All the action scenes. They were overly flashy, tacky and unnecessarily violent. Some of my favourite films are gratuituously violent, but this didn't work for me and didn't capture the spirit of the novel.

* The Silk Spectre and Adrian Veidt. Both were wooden and struggled next to the rest of the cast.

* The direction on occasions. I'm never a fan of direction that seeks attention for itself and Snyder really is an attention seeker with some of his shot choices. The best direction isn't noticed till afterwards.

* The sex scene. What were they thinking? The music just made it comical. I was reminded of Team America.


Could have been a lot worse and I thought it was a decent adaptation. Could have been much better though. I still say that it would have worked best as a television series, not that it was ever possible.

[Tragic Magic]

My girlfriend wants to see this but I haven't read the comic. If I went to see it with her, would I lose anything by not having read it first?

[Jingle Ord The Way]

I saw this last night and I loved it! I found it a surprisingly faithful adaptation to the graphic novel and whenever the movie deviated from the graphic novel I found that the film actually improved upon the original source material. Sure there are some niggles. The slow-mo shots a too much and the acting from Malin Akerman and Matthew Goode is poor.
Jackie Earle Haley as Rorschach really was excellent though.

So it's an 8/10 for the cinema release.
If they manage to incorporate the Black Freighter stuff into the Blu-Ray then for me personally this will easily become a 10/10 and probably the finest superhero movie out there.

[Tafdolphin]

Off to see it this arvo...on my own.

[Alvin Flummux]

I noticed they cut all the newsstand stuff too which makes sentence given the freighter stuff not being in the movie. I think ultimately the film would have turned out better if they had dared to venture away from the source a little more. What works in comics does not necessarily work in film. All in all though this was a commendable effort.

The edition of the film with the Black Freighter animation entwined into it will include all the news stand scenes, they've all been filmed.

[DrDoom]

I knew they had been filmed because we saw them momentarily at a few points. They just had no dialogue etc.

There were at least two references to '300' in that film. Yes we know Zack, you directed '300', well done.

[Something Fishy]

I agree with a lot of the comments above. I love the comic book and reckon they've done as good a job as you could with such a complex work.

The wife had never read it a probably enjoyed it more as she didn't know what was going to happen and didn't sit there analysing it as I did.

[JiggerJay]

My girlfriend wants to see this but I haven't read the comic. If I went to see it with her, would I lose anything by not having read it first?

I have not read the comic T-Mag, but I enjoyed it.

[JiggerJay]

Seriously dude. Underwear... F**king wear some!

This! (Thinks Zack Snider has a thing about male genitalia.)