Watchmen

[innerSpaceman]

I imagine the creepy moving inkblots on the mask was one of the movie's major advantages over the comic. It was really cool-looking, and impossible to achieve on flat-panels.

But speaking of flat ... the movie just had a certain flat dullness that I feel couldn't have been the same tone as the GN. And it's not like me reading it now could reproduce the same effect it gave fanboys 20 years ago. So even though I'll likely check it out, I'm not expecting a revelation.


So I guess I'll have to take it on faith that it was great, but that filming it practically verbatem (sans the ending and the other comic story weaved thru) does not provide the same thrill.

To me, it was a very interesting exercise ... and I liked it well enough. But it did not soar. And I was expecting better.

Sheesh, the way fan peeps creamed their pants over the trailer led me to expect fantasticness.

On the other end of the spectrum, I know people completely unfamiliar with the material who are indeed expecting X-Men.

[Bornieo: Fully Loaded]

Originally Posted by innerSpaceman

I
Sheesh, the way fan peeps creamed their pants over the trailer led me to expect fantasticness.
.

Well, we know how the trailers for films really expresess exactly what the film will be. heheh. I think most of us Fan Peeps were more excited to see the visuals come to life than anything. I think AintItCoolNews.com's review more than explaines that idea.

http://www.aintitcoolnews.com/node/40225

love that when I first discovered WATCHMEN, I had to wait between issues. That it was a part of that Sophmore High School Experience. That I got my driver’s license and had to drive 2 hours round trip to get the next issue, and that only my friends in my high school read those issues and shared that experience with me. That it wasn’t a single session. That it wasn’t a trade paperback experience, but something that I waited and wondered where it was all going. That I got aggravated that it wasn’t necessarily telling me the story I could have possibly conceived or made up at that age. That my friends and I sat around talking about it. Condemning & Condoning Ozymandias. That it introduced me to Alexander The Great.

I love that as I’ve run this site… I’ve been able to revisit the material continually and discover not only little things about that story that my brain wasn’t picking up on at the initial readings and even subsequent readings. And I love that in the future I will revisit that book, that material and discover ever more. There is a reason TIME MAGAZINE put it as one of the 100 greatest works. It is deeply textured and nuanced in a way that very few comic books have ever been.

[Alex]

Of course (to continue off topic, but when does that ever constrain me) I feel really bad for parents in the reverse situation of inappropriate trailers attached to otherwise appropriate movies.

I forget what movie it was but it was something perfectly fine for kids but independently distributed. Attached to it as trailers were several horror movies with very intense trailers (I remember The Grudge 2 was one of them). Several crying kids by the time the movie started.

[Ghoulish Delight]

Saw it. Haven't read the GN.

I enjoyed it. Quite a bit. Of course, it's easier to write about the few bits I didn't like then write a whole post about the things I did, so don't read too much into this post ending up soundling kinda negative, I really did enjoy it.

Having not read the GN, I came away feeling like it was full of holes. Not plot holes that ruined the story, just holes throughout, like swiss cheese, in character development, motivations, etc. Big gaps that were obviously covered in the GN that didn't make it into the movie.

Chief among those was Miss Jupiter. Did not get her character at all. It wasn't until she explicitly said, "I used to be a masked hero too," that I was even totally positive that she had been. Didn't really get why the daughter of a hero and someone who seemed to have been a hero was so doe-eyed about the owl's nifty hero toys. CP filled me in afterwards, so I get it now, but I think the movie really dropped the ball on that. Didn't help that her acting was weak. She managed to coast at mediocre for most of it, but a few scenes she was awful.

The scene where Dr. Manhattan regained his humanity made me want to hurl. His little "You're a miracle" solliloquy was cringe worthy, one step short of Intelligent Design claptrap. Yuck.

I was mixed on the music. Worked in some instances, glaringly out of place in others. However the use of muzak "Everybody Want to Rule the World" was pure genius.

I feel like a doofus. I spotted the guy with the "end is near" sign early on, and saw him throughout the movie. Yet I never put it together that it was Rorschack. Freaking duh.

My favorite thing was a little detail that was put in I swear just to screw with people like me. I tend to be pretty good at catching sly foreshadowing and hints in a movie like this. After Daniel's 2nd dinner with Jupiter, he's leaving the Gunga Diner (hah!). Rorschach is outside, voicing over that Daniel didn't recognize him without the mask. A truck drives by and hits its horn. I notice the Pyramid logo. "Aha!" I say to myself, having caught the Pyramid envelope in Max Hedrom's apartment. It's all about Pyramid! I felt pretty damned clever...very next scene, Rorschach's walking into a trap. He gave whatever his version of, "I fell for the oldest trick in the book." And you know what? I thought the same! Well played, film.

One final note - that's what all the blue penis hubbub was about? With all the non stop chatter I'd been hearing, I assumed it was going to be shown while he was 50 feet tall. That would have been something to talk about. That? Whatever.

[Pirate Bill]

Originally Posted by Ghoulish Delight

I feel like a doofus. I spotted the guy with the "end is near" sign early on, and saw him throughout the movie. Yet I never put it together that it was Rorschack. Freaking duh.

I didn't see that at all. I guess that makes me a bigger doofus. But I just started reading the GN and noticed him right away. Of course, in the GN you can take your time through each scene really taking it all in.

[Moonliner]

Is this thing out on DVD/Blu yet?

[innerSpaceman]

I've just started reading the comic (er, graphic novel ... whatever).

I can't comment yet, but I just have a sneaking suspicion the movie filmed the comic panel-for-panel, line-for-bubble ... but somehow got the tone all wrong.

I liked the story in the movie, but the proceedings seemed somehow so flat for what is such a pop-culture phenomenon. I'm hoping to grok the proper tone from the book.


One big difference (if that is indeed the right descriptor) is the blue penis barely appears in the comic, but is All OvER the movie.

The film has an R rating, but I still don't think you'd get away with that much penis if it weren't a CG dick.

[Cadaverous Pallor]

I'll read everyone's posts in a bit.

I thought it was great. Faithful to the book in important ways, deviated when it needed to. Visually, near perfect. I really liked nearly all the actors except for the old Silk Spectre, blech, she was awful and the old lady makeup was poor.

I was especially happy with the Nite Owl, yow! Just the perfect amount of geeky nice-guy nebbish and sexy hero emergence. LOVED the sex scene.

The flashbacks to older eras were spot on, and I think they pulled off the alternate universe very well.

The fight scenes were very, very good - none of the blurred darkness we seem to see a lot these days.

I'm glad they waited until now to do the film. Living in an era of actual attack and fear of war does wonders to breathe life into the story.

My one big quibble was with Veidt. That guy was tiny! I would say that they removed the whole Veidt weight training thing for that very reason. He's supposed to be both a genius and totally strong, but this guy seemed more on the skinny cunning side, and didn't exude the bearing I expected. He wasn't terrible, and if you hadn't read the book I guess it wouldn't hurt anything.



Of course GD didn't think the blue penis was any big deal. Hello, GIRTHY?

[blueerica]

Originally Posted by Cadaverous Pallor

I'll read everyone's posts in a bit.

I thought it was great. Faithful to the book in important ways, deviated when it needed to. Visually, near perfect. I really liked nearly all the actors except for the old Silk Spectre, blech, she was awful and the old lady makeup was poor.

I was especially happy with the Nite Owl, yow! Just the perfect amount of geeky nice-guy nebbish and sexy hero emergence. LOVED the sex scene.

The flashbacks to older eras were spot on, and I think they pulled off the alternate universe very well.

The fight scenes were very, very good - none of the blurred darkness we seem to see a lot these days.

I'm glad they waited until now to do the film. Living in an era of actual attack and fear of war does wonders to breathe life into the story.

My one big quibble was with Veidt. That guy was tiny! I would say that they removed the whole Veidt weight training thing for that very reason. He's supposed to be both a genius and totally strong, but this guy seemed more on the skinny cunning side, and didn't exude the bearing I expected. He wasn't terrible, and if you hadn't read the book I guess it wouldn't hurt anything.



Of course GD didn't think the blue penis was any big deal. Hello, GIRTHY?

Still yet to read the GN (though it's sitting on the coffee table) - but I thought Veidt seemed like a real weenie for being such a "superhero". Despite lack of story (from what I gather from CP's post), something never felt right about him. Like, how could he hang with such a crew and be such a wimpy looking dude?

[innerSpaceman]

nothing on DVD yet, but the penis is Blu




.