Watchmen

[belboid]

Bloody nice having a cinema full of adults, imo.

it certainly would have been! The place was full for my showing (8pm on a saturday night) - and most of the crowd looked too young to be there. Me n Chris appeared to be the oldest in there!

If at all possible, I will never go to a showing with a bunch of kids ever again, twats just couldn't shut up, or stop giggling at the big blue penis (first time, fnie, quite understandable, but not every single time it appeared)

In no sense could it be called a sell-out, either.

It could be called shallow and a very poor representation of the politics tho

 

[andy2002]

it certainly would have been! The place was full for my showing (8pm on a saturday night) - and most of the crowd looked too young to be there. Me n Chris appeared to be the oldest in there!

I overheard someone in my local comic shop saying that there were kids in school uniforms at the screening of Watchmen they attended! I suppose they get their parents or older siblings to book online and then no one at the cinema can be arsed to sort it out when they turn up and try to get in!

 

[Idris2002]

I've seen stuff on US sites about parents irately demanding their money back when it turns out to be non-child friendly. And it's an R rated movie, FFS!

 

[Idris2002]

And here's a revised version of Watchmen as a saturday morning cartoon:

http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/485797

(click on 'watch the movie').

Only major problem is that it's not hard enough on the Comedian.

 

[Santino]

"Sub Quantum Unifying Intrinsic Device"

Good bit of geekery that.

 

[Santino]

Forgot to say how completely brilliant the casting was, for the most part. Comedian and Rorshach spot on, Nite Owl not quite the same as the book but worked very well I thought. Nixon and Kissinger were good too.

 

[DexterTCN]

Good bit of geekery that.

Another of Veidt's televisions plays "Rambo: First Blood Part II," which made us wonder: If the U.S. won Vietnam so quickly and easily in the "Watchmen" reality, would the "Rambo" movies even exist? "There might be a couple M.I.A.'s still there," Snyder said of John Rambo's mission in the sequel. "The reason I put that shot in there was that Sly [Stallone] is walking with another character from the movie — I forget the actor's name — but he has a [smiley-face] button on — only he has a frowning smiley face. I was like, 'They just totally missed the point of that,' but I thought it was really interesting that it was pop culture invading a movie that, in some ways, didn't understand it was being mocked by ['Watchmen']."

 

[Idris2002]

Forgot to say how completely brilliant the casting was, for the most part. Comedian and Rorshach spot on, Nite Owl not quite the same as the book but worked very well I thought. Nixon and Kissinger were good too.

I didn't find the aged Nixon convincing - they should have just grabbed some CGI Nixon.

 

[Santino]

I thought it was convincing enough in the context of this kind of film, i.e. enough like him so that I wasn't just thinking 'Oh, that actor's meant to be Nixon, I see.'

 

[Crispy]

Every time I saw nixon I just saw the huge rubber nose of nixon

 

[belboid]

me too.

and they completely wasted the Dr Strangelove war room scenes

 

[Jon-of-arc]

so, yes or no for a non-watchmen comic reader? seems a bit long, but the effects look pretty impressive. Surely watchmen is supposed to be more than an action film, though?

 

[Crispy]

i reckon it's probably better for having not read the book. I haven't, so I was was just watching a kickass, fairly smart action movie (with a ridiculous sex scene). I wasn't getting hung up on wether they got it right etc etc.

 

[selamlar]

Was it just me, or did Hooded Justice have an Irish accent, in the scene where he saves the Silk Sceptre from the Comedian?

Welsh, I thought.

 

[selamlar]

the violence was ramped up in a completely unnecessary way, and its far too long and superficially true to the book.

To be honest, I thought that some of the (possible psychological) violence was downplayed in the film, particularly with regards to Rorschach and the child-killer/dog bit.
Watchmen is meant to be 'ultraviolent', IMHO.

 

[belboid]

but it doesnt need to be dwelled on and loved by the camera in the way Snyder did it.

You're right about the psychological violence, but that didn't come over at all (hardly) - not as simplistically obvious and visceral as the physical violence

 

[100% masahiko]

Welsh, I thought.

I thought he was German?

http://watchmen.wikia.com/wiki/Hooded_Justice

 

[kyser_soze]

but it doesnt need to be dwelled on and loved by the camera in the way Snyder did it.

Yes it did. Someone elsewhere in the thread mentions Snyder slow/speed technique for emphasising/detailing specific sequences, and how it's generally used in fights, which IMV is a brilliant way of bringing over the idea of individual comic frames within a film (Ang Lee in Hulk literally used them which also works well, but Snyder's continual tribute to John Woo edges it for me), but the violence in the film is no more or less lingered over than in the comic - the difference being that you clearly read through the action frames, as opposed to lingering over them...

 

[selamlar]

I thought he was German?

http://watchmen.wikia.com/wiki/Hooded_Justice

He's (allegedly) meant to be German. I just thought he sounded Welsh.

 

[ATOMIC SUPLEX]

Just watched it.

I think it may have been unfilmable.

Dr Manhatans voice - Jesus wept how irritating
Nixons face - WTF? Easy on the rubber.
Soundtrack - Shut the fuck up.

Bit boring to watch having read the comic a few times. I just don't think I got any feeling of cold war doom on the horizon, and the added nixon bits just seemed so separate, like it was something else.

The non squid end was maybe the only way they could have done it without it being a miniseries. Sort of made sense too but distorted other plot points a little.

 

[mrsfran]

so, yes or no for a non-watchmen comic reader? seems a bit long, but the effects look pretty impressive. Surely watchmen is supposed to be more than an action film, though?

It's a yes from this non-comic reader. I loved it.

 

[Kid_Eternity]

Just watched it.

I think it may have been unfilmable.

Dr Manhatans voice - Jesus wept how irritating
Nixons face - WTF? Easy on the rubber.
Soundtrack - Shut the fuck up.

Bit boring to watch having read the comic a few times. I just don't think I got any feeling of cold war doom on the horizon, and the added nixon bits just seemed so separate, like it was something else.

The non squid end was maybe the only way they could have done it without it being a miniseries. Sort of made sense too but distorted other plot points a little.

I've always thought it should have never been just one film, it should have been a trilogy or better yet a tv mini series...

 

[100% masahiko]

It should had been at least two films...

unsure with TV cos of the censors and it'd look too cheap.

 

[Balbi]

Crudups Dr Manhattan voice is a dead ringer for Data in Star Trek: TNG.



Except a bit whinier.

 

[ATOMIC SUPLEX]

I've always thought it should have never been just one film, it should have been a trilogy or better yet a tv mini series...

I don't think it could have sustained enough interest over three movies. I just don't think it works as a film at all. The slightly ramped up action jarred for me a little but that's what films are about these days.

 

[Augie March]

Well, I liked it. They actually managed to make most of the story actually work in the film, which I didn't think would work with the neccesary amount of flashbacks there needed to be for it to work. Snyder stayed true to the story and the characters, which is all you could ask for really.

A few quibbles though I thought came with some of the fight scenes that sometimes felt like they were in the wrong film, like a sub-standard Matrix knock-off. The other disappointing factor was the lack of the Black Frieghter comic and the conversations between the news vendor and the kid. I felt losing that (although I undestand the reasons why) meant that the story lacked a human element to it. It all become a self-contained bubble with the heroes story and little outside interest, meaning the ending lacked an emotional impact, that the book certainly had.

Still, all in all, I left the cinema pleased with the results.

 

[Dillinger4]

Augie, is your tagline from Harvey Birdman?

 

[Augie March]

Why yes. Yes it is.

 

[Dillinger4]

I love Harvey Birdman.

 

[ATOMIC SUPLEX]

The other disappointing factor was the lack of the Black Frieghter comic and the conversations between the news vendor and the kid. I felt losing that (although I undestand the reasons why) meant that the story lacked a human element to it. It all become a self-contained bubble with the heroes story and little outside interest, meaning the ending lacked an emotional impact, that the book certainly had.

Yes I thought this too. There was heros off somewhere else and there was some nixon chat, but no link the people of NY.

I wonder what it is going to look like with all the vendor and comic book stuff put back in for the extended DVD?