Watchmen - Offical Thread - USE SPOILER TAGS!

[JK]

There's a bit where one of the police detectives mishears Rorscharch as 'raw shark'. Which not only tells you how to pronounce his name, but also gives you a little parallel with the Black Freighter story.

[Skarjo]

watch this, it is hilarious:

Massive book spoiler in there, please spoiler it

In fairness, it's quite cleverly done in that you'd only notice the spoilers if you knew they were spoilers already. I don't think even the most obvious spoiler would be desperately obvious if you'd not seen the film.

[FatDaz]

watch this, it is hilarious:

Massive book spoiler in there, please spoiler it

In fairness, it's quite cleverly done in that you'd only notice the spoilers if you knew they were spoilers already. I don't think even the most obvious spoiler would be desperately obvious if you'd not seen the film.

I had to watch that 5 times to spot the spoiler.

Its Comedian falling out window and ozzy being there isnt it?

[Irene Demova]

watch this, it is hilarious:

Massive book spoiler in there, please spoiler it

In fairness, it's quite cleverly done in that you'd only notice the spoilers if you knew they were spoilers already. I don't think even the most obvious spoiler would be desperately obvious if you'd not seen the film.

bubastis is a minor one but all the others only make sense in context

[Skarjo]

watch this, it is hilarious:

Massive book spoiler in there, please spoiler it

In fairness, it's quite cleverly done in that you'd only notice the spoilers if you knew they were spoilers already. I don't think even the most obvious spoiler would be desperately obvious if you'd not seen the film.

bubastis is a minor one but all the others only make sense in context

What do you mean 'only make sense in context'? In the context of the cartoon or the comic?

[JK]

Is it the John will give you cancer line?

I like this game.

[Skarjo]

Is it the John will give you cancer line?

I like this game.

Yea, I suppose that's a pretty unsubtle spoiler. Could be worse.

[Banjo]

Ok, maybe this isn't a proper review, more my musings on the odd part that really stuck out for me (for better or worse). Spoilers lie ahead. By the way, I give the film a 4/10

The Good.

Pretty much the first hour. I went in with phenomenally low expectations so was bloody pleased to see how good Jeffrey Dean Morgan was as The Comedian and how most of those opening scenes were done, particulary Dr Manhattan's soliloquy on Mars. That was my biggest fear as I really couldn't picture them working so I was surprised but not amazed, they were competent but far from astounding. Also, I did like Crudup as Manhattan, thought his voice was perfectly suited and actually managed to convey some emotion, although it started getting massively irritating in the final scenes.

Of course, the opening credits were great, though I think they were too glossy (this will be expanded on in my Bad and Ugly parts). I prefered This Is England's approach, using documentary footage to set the scene of society at the time. True, that would've been difficult seeing as it's set in a timeline different to our own but it would've made it more immersive and involving. I really wish there was more of The Comedian (or casting as good as that) as after his funeral it all started slipping away ever so slightly.

The Bad.

Veidt/Ozymandias, Dreiberg/Nite Owl, Juspeczyk/Silk Spectre. All were strawberry floating awful. Seriously, whenever Sally was on screen I sighed, whenever Veidt appeared I laughed (is it just me or did he decide to put on a comical German accent in the end scenes?) and whenever Dreiberg was featured all I could think was it would've been much better if Bruce Campbell or Kyle MacLachlan had been cast in the role. They were just so hokey, I really wished the story would cut back to either Doc Manhattan or another flashback of The Comedian. Hell, I would've even prefered to see Rorschach.

Which leads me onto Rorschach, it just felt like someone desperately trying to be cool (which is the summary I'd give to the entire film). The voice was either a poor man's Clint Eastwood or a failed Bale Batman, the general character felt underdeveloped and at times I just found myself going "just get vaporised already!" which I never thought once during the book or re-reading it. It wasn't that bad, just a tad pointless, it felt like the film could've been exactly the same without him, he wasn't needed. A shame really as the actor had the look and mannerisms down to a tee, if only he could deliver lines.

The Ugly.

This all ties in to Zach Snyder as a director really. Every little thing I hated about it was down to his style. To give an accurate description of how I view Snyder's direction, it would be an eager teenager with a budget. He just seems obsessed with making everything look "cool", and it jarrs enormously for me. Firstly, the music, or rather the selection of popular songs. Aside from The Comedian's death and the opening credits they were all awful, it was over-saturating the screen, with very few of them serving little purpose than to stop a scene from having silence. And the use of Ride Of The Valkyries in the Vietnam segment was -worthy. Then there's the effects and gore. I was told that it was gory and was thinking "christ, they must have really ramped up those few gory scenes" but instead it was all the scenes where I didn't expect gore that it was delivered. It was the inner 300 escaping. And some uses being completely unnecessary, like the sawing off of the dude's arms and the repeatedly hacking into the child killer's head. Pointless.

I just don't think Snyder has any interesting original ideas, whenever the story deviates from the template of the book is when it really starts to fall apart, though it was continually losing momentum after the first Mars segment. I find that all the best literary adaptions are those that take some kind of creative control over them, adding something a little different that can offer wholly different interpretations (see Stanley Kubrick's catalogue as the best example, plus a few Kurosawa films). Whenever this deviates it turns humdrum and predictable, the one point I'll mainly bring up is having Nite Owl see Rorschach's death, stupid decision, laughable really. I would've loved to have seen Terry Gilliam's version come to fruition, that I could picture offering something different while still keeping with the book's spirit. Instead we get this lump off a fan who does an good job at the best of times whenever he's not being asked to do something of his own.

I missed the Squid. There, I said it. Frankly, the new ending brought up one big plothole for me, how did Rorchach's journal survive? The New Frontiersman wasn't that far from the blast site (in fact, going by the view of it's radius it should've been decimated) yet it was all intact.

Thing is, the film did have potential and a few damn good scenes, Snyder just needs to really mature and stop trying to make everything look cool. Those were just things off the top of my head, if I planned out my review it would be a hell of a lot longer.

[Agent47]

I must admit, I don't remember seeing this level of division over a film in quite some time.

[gaminglegend]

I'm in two minds, I've never read the comic, yet I really enjoyed watching the movie, it felt like a movie I'd only watch once, yet at the same time, thought it was real gooseberry fool as well

[Banjo]

I must admit, I don't remember seeing this level of division over a film in quite some time.

I thought The Dark Knight had some really split opinions. And Forrest Gump. And I've been told varying things about Benjamin Button. I guess it hasn't been convered that much on this forum.

[Jax]

Is it the John will give you cancer line?

I like this game.

Yea, I suppose that's a pretty unsubtle spoiler. Could be worse.

Could be that Ozymandias saves the Comedian from falling out the window. But to be honest you'd only really consider that a spoiler if you already knew the story.

[Skarjo]

Is it the John will give you cancer line?

I like this game.

Yea, I suppose that's a pretty unsubtle spoiler. Could be worse.

Could be that Ozymandias saves the Comedian from falling out the window. But to be honest you'd only really consider that a spoiler if you already knew the story.

That was admittedly what I was referring to with my 'one big spoiler' comment, but as I said I agree with you in that it's a little bit of a paradox in that it's only a spoiler if you know it's a spoiler and so it's not really a spoiler at all.

[DrDoom]

I completely missed the Thomas and Martha Wayne cameo in the opening credits. Too busy looking at those "everything is kind of static but the bullets are moving" effects.

[Powers]

I completely agree with you Banjo. It was like a small child had read the book and had tried to recreate it with his toys.

So yeah, this totally cool guy with the mask on is all BURN, and the chick is all like STAB, while the owl guy is all SNAP. Awesome!

[DrDoom]

Literally the first shot of the opening credits. There are even Batman posters on the wall in the background. The opera bills read 'The Bat' too.

[DrDoom]

[Alvin Flummux]

If someone could remove the text there, there's potential for a good "GTFO", "STFU", "WRONG!" or similar caption.

[Tafdolphin]

I completely missed the Thomas and Martha Wayne cameo in the opening credits. Too busy looking at those "everything is kind of static but the bullets are moving" effects.

Yeah I noticed that. There's also a sign saying "Gotham" behind Hollis.

[TheTurnipKing]

If someone could remove the text there, there's potential for a good "GTFO", "STFU", "WRONG!" or similar caption.

I'm not sure that removal is actually nessecary, if you use same the font.

That's actually pretty cool though. The existence of the first Night Owl hypothetically prevents the creation of Batman in that universe?