Watchmen

[JasonI]

So who is seeing watchmen tonight at midnight or any time this weekend? I'm super excited to see this film, I'm a huge fan of the graphic novel. Hopefully I can get a review done sometime after I see it tomorrow night.

[michael88n]

Jason,
I, too, am a huge fan. I should be in line to see it at midnight; but unfortunately I am stuck here. The previews and vignettes on you tube look absolutely amazing and true (kinda) to the g.n. You'll have to tell us all about it.

Cheers,
Michael

[cle_smoker]

I'm planning on going to watch it this weekend. I never read the graphic novel, but the previews for the movie looked great.

[PeteSB75]

I'll be seeing it this weekend, probably Saturday as I'm herfing on Friday. Gotta keep my priorities straight...:ss

[ActionAndy]

I'll be seeing it tomorrow. Hate Alan Moore, thought the graphic novel was way overrated (and yet important), but really like the looks of the movie.

I think the graphic novel is important yet overrated the same way I think about Nirvana: changed the way people considered the artform and approached it, yet on its own (out of context) just not that interesting.

[WildBlueSooner]

I might see it. But I think I will wait for you all to review it!

[jquirit]

My friends and I are going to try to watch it tonight. We're hoping we can get tickets for it before it sells out.

Here's to hoping! :tu

[LasciviousXXX]

I got a screener of this last week and watched it this past weekend. I must say that the film is beautiful... really! Aesthetically its just as visually pleasing as 300 was, even more so I'd say.

However, while this movie was highly entertaining and fun it wasn't as good as I wanted it be. I've never read the graphic novel so I had no idea of how it was going into the film however the overall feel coming out of watching it was that it could have been done better. Its a good film with lots of good scenes... but it could have been great. The story is convoluted and some of the lines aren't fully explored that should have been.

However, overall it was really entertaining and I enjoyed it very much.

[hotreds]

I'd like to see it- but I'm worried about the nudity and graphic language. My wife will get up and walk out of a theater if the film has too much T&A or f-bombs. Can anyone who has seen it advise....? TIA!

[themoneycollector]

Can someone give me a non-spoiler synopsis of what Watchmen is about? I've never read the GN.

I assume it's a hero/villain story. If so, the previews looked so-so good (can't remember if I first saw them while watching Wanted). But I remember my wifey and I both looked at each other and both got a feeling in our gut that the 30 sec. preview was going to be more exciting than the actual movie.

[ActionAndy]

Can someone give me a non-spoiler synopsis of what Watchmen is about? I've never read the GN.

I assume it's a hero/villain story. If so, the previews looked so-so good (can't remember if I first saw them while watching Wanted). But I remember my wifey and I both looked at each other and both got a feeling in our gut that the 30 sec. preview was going to be more exciting than the actual movie.

It takes place in an alternate 1985. A member of an outlawed vigilante group (a superhero group a lot like the league of justice, except not endorsed) is murdered. This brings the old team back together to figure out who did it and why. A lot of flashbacks, violence, cold-war style end-of-the-world doomsday scenarios, etc.

[hoax]

I'd like to see it- but I'm worried about the nudity and graphic language. My wife will get up and walk out of a theater if the film has too much T&A or f-bombs. Can anyone who has seen it advise....? TIA!

Really? Wow.

I believe there will be full male nudity. In the comic there was a threesome scene and an attempted rape. Not to mention lots of killing. So you may be out of luck.

Can you leave her at home?

[blugill]

The graphic novel was just amazing when I read it in 1993. I was floored by it. It was every bit as moving to me as The Dark Knight Returns storyline.

The story does move back and forth in time and I can see how it would be extremely confusing for someone not familiar with the GN. From the scenes I've seen it is faithful to the GN. There will also be a three hour and ten minute director's cut on DVD which will likely fill out much of the storyline.

[BORIStheBLADE]

I really want to watch this movie even though I didn't read the graphic novel.

[blugill]

Ok, if you are planning on seeing the movie, you will do yourself a massive favor if you first read the GN. It is a great story and has so many layers and such complexity that you will be astounded.

[jquirit]

Currently waiting in line for the movie. T minus hour fifteen till it starts.
Posted via Mobile Device

[scoot]

I got back not that long ago, overall it was a terrific, well executed, and faithful translation of the novel. The color and camera work are both spot on. There are points where you catch snapshots that are directly off the pages. That said, I think the change to the end was unnecessary. The new ending worked really well, maybe even better than the original, and didn't really change anything as far as the resolution of the story, but I would have rather seen it the way Moore had written it. Other than that there were a few things I would have like to see included that weren't but those are just small things like lines that were omitted or small details that were changed.

[JasonI]

Saw it last night and all I can say is WOW. The movie is beautiful, the beginning credits did an amazing job of explain this alternate universe to the people who have not read the GN. There was a large chunk of the movie that you could have turned page by page the GN and matched it up exactly. The cast was very good, when they first announced who was playing Dan/Nighthawk 2 I was worried because he didn't look like the pudgy middle aged whiner that Dan did in the GN but man did he pull it off. Speaking of pulling it off holy crap, Jackie Earle Haley IS Rorschach. He finds a way to take the strange sentence structure that Rorschach used in the GN and make it work in spoken word. He was my favorite character in the GN and he lived up to it on the big screen. For the person who asked about the violence and the T&A your wife would probably walk out of this. This movie is a hard "R". Attempted rape, topless woman, insane violence, full frontal male nudity for large parts of the movie (lol no pun intended). I don't consider this a good one for the younger kids who can normally handle some of the other mild "R" movies.

The only downsides for me was it ran a bit long, or it felt like it at points and the guy who played Nixon was a way over the top characture of him. It made me take the scenes with him and Kissinger a lot less seriously.


The End is Nigh... so go grab your tickets and enjoy.

[hotreds]

Thanks, Jason! I guess this one I'll hafta see with my male buddies, not my wife!

[Starscream]

The commercials make me want to read the graphic novel. They do not make me want to see the film. The previews look like it's going to be a movie about a bunch of superheroes who whine all the time. Tell me this is not the case.

[ActionAndy]

The commercials make me want to read the graphic novel. They do not make me want to see the film. The previews look like it's going to be a movie about a bunch of superheroes who whine all the time. Tell me this is not the case.


There's not much whining, it's pretty pessimistic though.

[jquirit]

After having a few hours to sit around and process the movie, I have to say this:

I believe the movie did a good job in attempting to bring the comics to the screen.

I found it odd yet understandable that the main characters that would seen to be the most insane are the ones I empathize with the most since they see the world for what it is, not what they want it to be. It may been how the movie was directed, the current world situation, or my own personal situation (or a combination of all the above) but that's just how I felt.

My only gripes with the movie is the pacing in a few scenes as well. When you hear nervous laughter in the theater, you know a scene has gone on for too long. Also, I will not fault Snyder for changing the ending (it does make it a bit cleaner) as it still achieves the same goal in the end. Purists will gripe, and I can see their point of view as well.

I'll need to get the DVD of it when it comes out to catch all the little details in the movie that you only notice on subsequent play-through (like all of the murals, billboards, etc). However, with all said and done, I enjoyed myself watching the movie. It's definitely something I am glad I spent staying up all night long to watching it and not getting home till 4AM.

[blugill]

I got back not that long ago, overall it was a terrific, well executed, and faithful translation of the novel. The color and camera work are both spot on. There are points where you catch snapshots that are directly off the pages. That said, I think the change to the end was unnecessary. The new ending worked really well, maybe even better than the original, and didn't really change anything as far as the resolution of the story, but I would have rather seen it the way Moore had written it. Other than that there were a few things I would have like to see included that weren't but those are just small things like lines that were omitted or small details that were changed.

I read an interview with Snyder on why the ending was changed.

Spoiler Alert!!!!


The studio execs thought that in a post 9-11 world that the GN ending was way too graphic and had reservations spending 100 million on it.

Snyder agreed and honestly the GN ending is what I really wanted to see but I can understand the alternative point of view.

[AndyMadera]

I have not seen the final cut of the movie but i did see one of the prescreens months ago to help them cut the stuff out that wasnt as good or what not... I hated the comedians as a person but damn he was good at it!!! Ill have to see it again. This is defenatly not a normal rated R as mentioned above. It took me out of the movie a few times not because i wasnt happy about what i saw but that i didnt expect to see it. Did i say I hate the comedian??? Im surprised the other heroes let him get away with that stuff... what a Douchebag...

[Darrell]

Good flick. I loved it.

However, I loved the GN more.

[foomanto]

loved the movie. i guess i don't remember the original ending its been so long since i read the books or the GN. i guess ill have to dig them out and reread them.

[NCRadioMan]

Watched it earlier today and liked it very much. There are supposed to be different cuts released later this year and one is supposed to be about 3 and a half hours.

[scoot]

Watched it earlier today and liked it very much. There are supposed to be different cuts released later this year and one is supposed to be about 3 and a half hours.

Yeah, I heard that they'll be including the Tales of the Black Freighter in the DVD version.

[SmokeyJoe]

Thanks, Jason! I guess this one I'll hafta see with my male buddies, not my wife!

Sounds like a guys night out... :tu

If only you could smoke stogies in a theater. :ss

[thebiglebowski]

being a comic book collector for most of my life and having waited about 20 years for this movie to get made, i have to say i was pretty impressed with the film. the change to the ending notwithstanding, it was one of the most faithful comic book adaptations ever made. and i have to say, i liked the 'new' ending better than the comic. i always thought the 'event' that brought resolution to the conflict was a little forced and rather silly.

at any rate - it was a bit long, but very well executed i thought. although, now that i think about it, the change made to the scene that 'created' rorshach (the kidnapper of the little girl) was unnecessary and a bit gratuitous. and yeah, jackie earl haley absolutely nailed the rorschach character.

[Starscream]

I went and bought the Graphic Novel (outstanding work by Moore and Gibbons) and I had only read about 50 pages before going to see the film with my wife. My wife is not a superhero movie fan, but she loved this. I enjoyed this film too, not as much as the gn, but enjoyed it very much. I am now about halfway through the gn and am loving every page of it.

[Skywalker]

Great special effects... Great cinematography... Bla bla bla...

This movie is disturbing on so many levels!!!:2

PS - Don't take young children (or me) to see this movie!!! It is very graphic and gratuitous in both violence and sexual content!!!

[Starscream]

Great special effects... Great cinematography... Bla bla bla...

This movie is disturbing on so many levels!!!:2

PS - Don't take young children (or me) to see this movie!!! It is very graphic and gratuitous in both violence and sexual content!!!

The graphic novel is even more disturbing. Awesome read.:tu