hahaha, nice 300 pick-ups. Any dawn of the dead ones as well? Yeah, i really enjoyed it on IMAX as well last night. with the exception of the aformentioned gratuitous blue dong three stories wide shaking in my face, and the use of some highly innapporiate music that took me and some of my friends out of the film, i thought Snyder did an admirable job of converting this to the screen. Nice addition of some action scenes and fleshing out the most important bits. A few spots left me cold in terms of character development, or a part of the book that meant so much more and felt so much more awesome (like my favorite chapter of it, dr manhattan going to mars, they kind of rushed it too much in the movie and didn't really translate his concept of time happening all at once to the screen better, i thought they could have done something cooler with that). But besides that, the shots were beautiful and lots of really cool moments and the ending was actually better, a tad uplifting and Roshach's death was way more dramatic and heartfelt than in the book. Overall, nice work...it's not Lord of the Rings awesome, but admirable.

rorschach's death was pretty amazing.



They also left out Hollis's death, which was one of the sadder parts ( for me) in the comic.

FRICKINAWESOME on Mar 07 '09 at 10:07pm

with the exception of the aformentioned gratuitous blue dong three stories wide shaking in my face



lol 3d shiny blue dong

I freaking loved the Bob Dylan opening.

I didn't mind the blue dong, actually.



i didn't even really notice blue dong in the first appearance of it.



The sex scene with night owl and silk spectre was kind of like "woah" in that, it was pretty lengthy feeling, and it was like a softcore porn.

yeah the intro gave so much info in it's briefness, which was great

lol @ close up of buttflex in the soft core pron scene

both Dr. Manhattan and Rorschach were played perfectly, I think.

it was kinda awkward zooming out from blue guy's crack in one of the mars scene

I like rorschach's mask btw

yeah, rorschach was the most BA out of any of them

iPear on Mar 07 '09 at 10:08pm rorschach's death was pretty amazing.



They also left out Hollis's death, which was one of the sadder parts ( for me) in the comic.



Dude, i totally forgot about that death! Yeah! Maybe the director's cut?



lol 3d shiny blue dong



hahahaha, you should have heard the teenage girl's squeal when you first say Manhattan's blue man member, she made a sound of shock, revulsion and amazment. It was a pretty amazing sound and had a bunch of people cracking up.



westicles on Mar 07 '09 at 10:12pm I freaking loved the Bob Dylan opening.



dude, that mighta been my favorite part of the movie. Such a nice summary of many of the plot points too small or not enough time for in the main movie, some really nice mood-setting pieces, and i liked how some people in the shots were like still photographs and others in the scene were moving around it.



yeah omair, that was an intense and full-bang sex scene!



The jmi hendrix and especially the sound of silence during the cemetary was pretty horrid, i thought it clashed pretty damned big with the scene and the smotion displayed. also, the scene where veiht was almost gunned down even though he set it all up was sooo much cooler in the movie, plus i loved the muzak "everyone wants to rule the world" in the background of that.

I loved the opening too, and the sex scene did take a bit of forever. mostly I noticed the blue dong because there was quiet giggling in the front rows every time there was dong or boob or butt on screen. Bubastis seemed a bit of an afterthought -- one of our friends who went with us who hadn't read the comic was like "what was with the weird CG tiger they threw in?"



I kind of missed all the everyman chatter at the newsstand too, but I understand that cuts have to be made somewhere.

Jackie Earle Haley was perfect for Rorschach he was also great in Little Children - definitely an underrated actor.

I don't think I've ever loved the casting of any movie as much as I love this one.



And the Veidt assassination attempt scene really was great.

Billy Crudup was as also really good at being distant and showing emotion at the same time.

Bubastis seemed a bit of an afterthought -- one of our friends who went with us who hadn't read the comic was like "what was with the weird CG tiger they threw in?"



Ahahah yeah, some of my friends who hadn't read the book were a bit lost at parts. I really don't think the movie is made for people who hadn't read it before hand - you need that extra background knowledge of what's really going on to have gotten the film as a whole.

I liked that taking out the Squid took out a whole D story of exposition with the "missing" people who constructed it, and the multiple cities hit (rather than just New York).



Ultimately, I think that change made it more conceivable that the superpowers would opt for peace. If we feared an alien invasion, like the squid would be the catalyst for, I think the stockpiling of nukes would only increase. But each nation knows they have no chance against Dr. Manhattan, so they opt to give up instead.

It's also a notable change because, in my mind, this is the first time Hollywood has fucked with the source material and actually IMPROVED the story.



That's right. I said it!

I agree papa, it wasa much better ending i thought as well. I just wish they went more into Veiht's empire and followed through on the "unforgettable" tv campaign they alluded to a bunch of times. Also, I was glad the movie paid due to the newspaper dude and the kid reading the comic next to him a few times and obviously at the end when new york was blown to smithereens. Man, that was an intense moment when everyone was levitating. I did miss their chatter a bit, and the black freighter NEEDS to be made in cgi or something and come with the Watchmen dvd.



Also, Veight's arctic, egyptian lair was a bit rushed i thought. They could have built it up as the mystical and completely alien wonderlab it seemed to mei nthe book, and of course Veiht sitting there dictating once would have been nice to see to give his character a bit more oomph. I didn't mind them crash landing so close to the base tho...good choice on doing that.



Also, i don't like how they spelled out in the movie that the comedian was sally's father, it was just something that dawned on you slowly in the comic.

nobody really reacted to dr. manhattan's privates in my theater... maybe that's because I wasn't in IMAX. The line was much shorter for the non-IMAX.

I saw it in IMAX today and I didn't hear many reactions besides my own to the blue dong. I've never read the graphic novels (I want to now!) so things like the blue cg kitty were kinda like "Huh?".

FRICKIN!



You're in luck!



The Black Freighter dvd is coming out at the end of the month, it's fully animated, voiced by Gerard Butler (from 300)



AND!



It will be interspersed where it belongs in the longer director's cut (that will most likely flesh out the psychologists home life as well as the newstand cast)



AND!



The director's cut MIGHT get a theatrical release!

Oh, I also hope they add Hollis' death in the director's cut, that was what I believed to be the real reason Dan jumped back into the suit so quickly when Jupiter asked.

Wait who was Hollis? *feels stupid for asking* I never read it.

Nite Owl 1.

The top-knot gang thugs Kill Hollis, Dan learns about it while Rorschach is questioning low-lifes in a bar, Dan becomes enraged and brutally beats a Top-Knot member in the bar. Losing his usually adept sense of right and wrong in a rage.



(I earlier noted that the death happened earlier chronologically. I remembered wrong)

i didnt read any of this log cause im too drink



but i concur



watchmen was amazing

Oh the old guy he was talking to when we first saw him?

my sister saw it last night and says it was "gruesome and disturbing". i'm looking forward to it more now.

I thought it was fantastic as well, and what they did change they changed in a good way / they had to, and what they left out they at least made nods to visually throughout the film.



Only certain things felt a bit rushed to me, like Evan mentioned, and the way Veidts unveil felt rushed, my friend who went with me who never read Watchmen got confused as to what was going on.



I also agree that Billy Crudup and Jackie Earle Haley were fantastic, and I can't wait for the director's cut.

Papaprime on Mar 08 '09 at 1:11am FRICKIN!



You're in luck!



The Black Freighter dvd is coming out at the end of the month, it's fully animated, voiced by Gerard Butler (from 300)



AND!



It will be interspersed where it belongs in the longer director's cut (that will most likely flesh out the psychologists home life as well as the newstand cast)



AND!



The director's cut MIGHT get a theatrical release!



Dude, seriously, how many times in your life do you wish for something to happen that seems like a good idea and know it's not going to happen, and then immediately following that impossible wish you find out that pretty much the exact thing you want is a reality?????? THANKS MAN, THIS IS GREAT NEWS! I can't wait to watch that preview when im on a computer that won't buffer it every two seconds. I hope you aren't fucking with me man, that would break my soul!!!!



d3d on Mar 08 '09 at 1:30am my sister saw it last night and says it was "gruesome and disturbing". i'm looking forward to it more now.



DUDE, it is waaaay more violent than the comic, which i didn't think was possible. lol. Not as disturbing emotionally and the impact of the finale isn't as shocking as they copuld have made it like the book did, but still, holy shit man, major amounts of tits, ass and carnage...plus the thinking man's comments on the nature of the human race. It's kinda got everything that makes the perfect movie in it.

Oh and yeah, they kinda short-changed the first Nite Owl, and i wish they had shown more of sally jupiter feeling pressured into the "family superhero business" of her mothers. Hopefully that'll be in the director's cut as well. Yeah, that would b awesome if they released the director's cut in the theater after the grosses had died down, I'd love to see that on the big screen as well!



I love that they kept in her general amusement of the mexican sex comic one of her fans sent her of herself back in the day. I always loved that.

I went to the midnight show. a couple nights ago I thought it was a disaster.



The simple fact is, The Watchmen was a comic book about comic books. It should have never been made into a movie, because so much got lost in translation.



Zach Snyder did not do a very good job. He took the same approach to The Watchmen as he took to 300. The type of aestheticized violence that is perfect for frank miller's stuff goes against everything alan moore was trying to say with the watchmen.



Also, the actors who played Nite Owl and Silk Spectre were really bad.

I realol'd.

Blame, i don't agree, but hey, i hear you. I think it did a fine job as a movie version of a complicated comic book translation, and as Zak Snyder said, "i'm not trying to make the comic book of Watchmen irrelevant. The movie is a seperate entity, just like the comic book is a separate entity and the added on parts of the story created for the video game. If anything, if people watch this film and then pick up the comic book, my work is done." So i think for what he was trying to do, Snyder did it very well. I really really like 300, actually i like it more the more times i see it, so i guess it's .

Silk Spectre wasn't the best actress, but i thought Wilson as Nite owl did a really decent job. Also, i didn't mind that Snyder pumped up the violence for the movie, it's something that makes a decent transition to the big screen i feel, but obviously doesn't work the other way around. And I like the squid not being at the end as other people have raised, even though that is also more comic book lore the movie passed on, which is fine because it's trying to tell the story in a different way which works thematically better for a movie. Plus, i liked the slightly more upbeat ending, it felt a little more appropriate than the downer after downer of the comic book.



But like i said, i hear ya. lol.



hahahaha@blue manhattan group!

i want to put in my two cents before i read anyone else's, so sorry if i'm repeating what's said.



for me, the worst part of the movie was the ending. not the story ending, that i liked. i mean the part where My Chemical Romance butchered "Desolation Row." "The intro made up for that, though.



Rorschach was everything I thought he would be. Right down to the voice and the way he moved. The way he rushed and worried that his identity would be comprimised after he fell for the bait. His constant stoicism broke by "NO,NO,NO,NO,NO!" in that one moment. He was amazing. Nite Owl/Dan as well. I didn't have a specific voice for Dan, but Patrick Wilson was a smart choice. Billy Crudup was a pleasant surprise. In reading the book, I always imagined him with a God-like tone of voice., not really Zeus, but just a bit deep. Crudup's voice put me off a bit when I first heard it, but I realized its brilliance in that it helped retain that human and imperfect aspect of Dr. Manhattan.



Nothing else can be said about the music. Hit-and-miss, but mostly miss. They should've had more scoring. The music playing behind Dr. Manhattan's back story was brilliant and fitting. I just wished everything else followed suit.



I knew that going into it even with a 2h 40min length, Snyder wouldn't be able to fit everything. But overall it seemed to work and didn't feel like a Harry Potter movie. I was worried that too much slow-motion would take away time that could be used for story-telling or plot advancement, but it wasn't much a problem. My only gripe as that the plot seemed to rush or slow down at times. Like how there didn't seem to be much of a transition between solving the mystery behind The Comedian's death and saving the world from destruction. And a lot more time with some key characters would've helped in developing empathy or some kind of care for them. This is specifically for The Comedian. I felt that his whole reason for being was rushed. The truth behind it all, how he was a caricature of human society, it didn't resonate in me in the film as much as the comic. Hopefully that 3 hour directors cut will be released in theaters like Snyder said.



I can't think of anything else at the moment.

Read everyone's and back with responses.



FA, I'd have to disagree with you on the violence. The nature of 300 hundred seemed to justify it's "glorification" of its violence. I never saw it as glorification as much as I saw it as how battle actually went down at the time. But with Watchmen, it didn't have to go the same way, as it did feel a bit on the excessive side. Watchmen was more for thinking than it was for action. I wanted to come out of it discussing its issues and observations it brought up, not talk about that one time that one guy blew up.

Granted, it was in the comic, but there were no need for all those "money shots." It attracted a portion of an audience I didn't want to be around. But I guess Snyder had to cater to the people whose only appeal to the trailer was when it said "from the director of 300."

I guess I'm just a little pissed that I had to sit in front of a guy who had to awe, laugh and comment at everyone of those scenes like he was John Madden.

"Did you see that?"

This is f*cking IMAX, EVERYONE saw it.

Dude, he kept the thinking parts and that main part of the story intact or as intact as he could in such a short time, and amping up the violence and beefing up the action scenes was something, yes, he probably KNEW he had to do to appeal to a somewhat bigger audience, but i WANTED more action in the movie, but not neccassarily more violence, that shit was intense and a bit disconcerting i'll give you that. I love smart movies, i can watch a three hour movie with two people talking in a room with no furniture if the performances and plot is good enough, but fuck man, I want some bad-ass superhero ass-kicking too along with my extra helping of multi-layered context. I mean, the movie is barely an action movie and even barely a superhero movie, it just so happens that most of these characters chose to puyt on a cape and try to control their own human desires and channel what they wanted from the world through masks and fancy outfits, but the movie is about so much more, and I was talking about the concepts behind the movie moreso than the action and violence with people, so i think the john madden guy tainted you a bit too much to those aspects of the movie. Without those extended action bits, I think the movie WOULD have felt a bit too sluggish and dragged out. What works for a comic book and a movie are different things, ask Frank Miller and The Spirit.

i know the action kept everything up, it was necessary for balancing out the movie and to appeal to a major audience. what I meant with the action/violence was that there was no need for those "money shots". Jon blows a guy up, but i didn't need that second or two to stare at a close up shot of the guy's goo on the ceiling when that second could've been used on something else. those kinds of things are acceptable and i like them when they are, but for a movie like Watchmen, it needs all the time it could have for something a bit more important. i know it might not seem like much, but with Snyder's artistic habits, it adds up to be quite a lot. that's what i meant. it could've been used to further develop its themes and give some stuff time to breathe out. it just felt like so much happened and then they crammed all of this social commentary in the last act. but "crammed" is a bit harsh for the movie, like you said, there's only so much you could do with Watchmen, even with 3 hours.

but don't get me wrong, i love action. the jail scene was the best. i'd condone more of it if it meant i could see Rorschach kick more ass.

and that guy DID piss me off. i just wanted the experience and he had to go and provide commentary. and he brought his kid too! where's that shooter in the Benjamin Button screening when you need him? i just hate it when that happens, you know? i paid money for the movie, not other people's opinions during said movie.

I loved it so so much! I can't wait to go back. in the meantime, I'll be gargling kerosene and practicing for my one man show.



Rorschach: (gruffly) Rorschach's diary, Octobe-



Batman: (more gruffly) Gotham needs a white kni-



Rorschach: (also gruffly) Can I finish my voice over here?



Batman: (gruffliest) Sorry, man, my mistake.

rghhhhhhhhhhrhbrrrrwwwwwwwwwwharveydentdrmanhattan

Yesterday my girlfriend wanted to go to Marley & Me.

I wanted to see Watchman.

She won...



I'm weak

(back to the comic I guess)

Actually everytime I saw silk spectre/note owl I was like "gtfo"

I didn't mind any of the performances, but in retrospect, Ozy and both Silk Spectres left no impression upon me, they didn't seem to have a fleshed out character like I remembered from the book. And that was wholly because of the acting, not the writing or direction.



Hell, Hollis Masons single scene had more character in the acting than Malin Akerman's entire performance.

The strongest parts of the movie were those involving Rorschach. Jackie Earle Haley was good as Rorschach. And I agree with everyone else, dropping the squid was a prudent move. That sort of alan moore weirdness would not have transferred to film well.



One the violence note: Have you guys seen children of men? That's the sort of action the watchmen could have used. Really real and really brutal, but in a completely different way.

The motorcycle scene in Children of Men remains one of the most fantastically shot things I remember to this day.