WATCHMEN - Movie Discussion and Grading (SPOILERS)
- Thread starter Dream
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Well it was no.1, no.2 and no. 37(I think) at Christmas, here at least. And it's been in a lot of stuff, including Shrek.
Yeah that's mainly what I've heard of it from, the whole X-Factor or whatever it was hoo hah. But watching that to me is like water torture. I flicked it on once last series and some stupid girl was destroying Prince's classic Purple Rain, making me neary wretch
I mainly liked the use of 99 Luftballons in the Dan/Laurie restaurant scene. I love that riff
I mainly liked the use of 99 Luftballons in the Dan/Laurie restaurant scene. I love that riff
Strangely, the only context in which I've heard it is on TV shows... and it's usually during sappy love or death scenes. I think it's because of the whole HALLELUUUUUUUUJAH thing that people seem to find uplifting for some reason.
Which is bizarre, because it's actually a deeply mournful song, if you listen to the lyrics.
Most fans loved the opening. Without it there wouldn't be really anything about the history of the Minutemen in the movie. It don't think it would have worked as well with the main characters.
I read the original about fifteen years ago and so my recollections are overall impressions to compare against the film.
Overall I quite liked it. I think it caught the feel of the book well. A lot of the scenes impressed me as actual panels come to life. Rorsach rocked!
The subject matter isn't as fresh today because we've a decade or so of superhero films with more than 2D characters in them.
It did have something of a schizophrenic quality to it (like the book) of being very rooted in the superhero genre while playing it out on an adult level. I loved the visual and spoken references to people and things of times past that went right over the heads of my younger coworkers when they saw it.
Overall I quite liked it. I think it caught the feel of the book well. A lot of the scenes impressed me as actual panels come to life. Rorsach rocked!
The subject matter isn't as fresh today because we've a decade or so of superhero films with more than 2D characters in them.
It did have something of a schizophrenic quality to it (like the book) of being very rooted in the superhero genre while playing it out on an adult level. I loved the visual and spoken references to people and things of times past that went right over the heads of my younger coworkers when they saw it.
I agree that the credit sequence was one of the highlights (which is really too bad when it's true of any movie - but lots of reviews have mentioned this sequence as a highlight)
But looking back, the Minutemen had three things to do in the movie -
- the opening sequence
- provide the context for the attack on Sally
- Mason's single scene with Dreiberg
(five things, if you count-
- get mentioned in Rorschach's monolog
- satisfy fans of the original)
So why not use the opening credits to feature the heroes who figure in your story? While you're reducing the original to a cleaner through-line, why not eliminate the Minutemen? Why do the heroes from the 40's need to be part of a league for the story to work? Who cares what happened to Mothman?
I really felt that the movie lost all the history from the original - someone here missed the idea that Nite Owl II and Rorschach were partners for a while! - and the opening montage would have been an ideal place to to do some of that - "New Hero in Town?" "Ozymandias Outwits The Gangs!" "Nite Owl Saves Hospital".
This might also have given Ozy's reveal something of a surprise, instead of being the foregone conclusion it was.
Like I said, I was entertained enough watching it, but the movie invites you to examine how it was made, and what decisions were made, and I thought there were some obvious choices that were made poorly.
^Thanks!
I'm curious about JKTim's comments about the sex scene. Was the original sex scene supposed to be funny? Was the movie scene? I thought the movie ruined an interesting moment from the original - do others agree? Or did it play the way it was supposed to?
I'm curious about JKTim's comments about the sex scene. Was the original sex scene supposed to be funny? Was the movie scene? I thought the movie ruined an interesting moment from the original - do others agree? Or did it play the way it was supposed to?
Norrin Radd
Vice Admiral
I too have thought that the Minutemen didn't do much for the movie. Of course, the book was another story because Moore had much more time to develop them. But in the movie, the Minutemen only served to take crucial character development time from the Crimebusters/Watchmen.
My take: Erase the Minutemen from the movie. Make this film's "alternate history" begin when Dr. Manhattan is created in 1959. His extraordinary powers influence a "superhero craze" and a group of vigilante humans rise up. The most resourceful of these: Rorschach, Nite Owl, The Comedian, Ozymandias, Silk Spectre rise the most in prominence. The government, which basically controls Dr. Manhattan, thinks this is a great way to promote and control their new "living weapon" and sanctions this group's activities. Banding together with Manhattan, they call themselves "The Watchmen".
My take: Erase the Minutemen from the movie. Make this film's "alternate history" begin when Dr. Manhattan is created in 1959. His extraordinary powers influence a "superhero craze" and a group of vigilante humans rise up. The most resourceful of these: Rorschach, Nite Owl, The Comedian, Ozymandias, Silk Spectre rise the most in prominence. The government, which basically controls Dr. Manhattan, thinks this is a great way to promote and control their new "living weapon" and sanctions this group's activities. Banding together with Manhattan, they call themselves "The Watchmen".
I'm a Marvel... and I'm a DC (Wolverine and Dr. Manhattan) 
I didn't find the scene in the movie overly funny, but the scene in the comic wasn't exactly altogether to be taken super seriously either. I mean Laurie asks Dan, "Did the costumes make it good?" Not to mention Archie's flame "ejaculation" which happened in both the comic and the movie.
Well, I think it was meant to be ironic in this context. Although thankfully it wasn't quite as heavyhanded with the irony as using "Unforgettable" during the Comedian's murder.
Mostly, I was distracted by how much nudity it included.
And even this stuff becomes less relevant in the movie since -
- Hollis Mason is in it so little that's it's hardly worth having him at all. But really, what endeared him to me so much in the book is the excerpts from his autobiography, which are really impossible to convey in the movie format anyway.
- Laurie's character development is so gutted that the revelation that the Comedian is her father falls flat. Which means that the Comedian attempting to rape Sally doesn't carry the kind of weight that it should.
Watchmen the book has so many elements in it that only work when linked up with each other. When you streamline the story and start removing pieces, the whole thing falls apart because there's no central core to build the story around. Watchmen is a house of cards; a delicate latticework hung on dozens of tiny, indispensible plot points.
A-
Never read the comic/graphic novel either.
I thought it was excellent and really appreciated the story telling (and that the director allowed for it to happen). I wish we'd learned the new Night Owl's background as well as Ozymandius.
Never read the comic/graphic novel either.
I thought it was excellent and really appreciated the story telling (and that the director allowed for it to happen). I wish we'd learned the new Night Owl's background as well as Ozymandius.
That's true. Apparently he was an academic with his writing papers about owls and all. I remember reading the book wondering how inheriting money+writing papers about owls= successful crimefighter?
Perhaps, failing the emergence of any other info, we might assume his background closely follows that of Ted Kord (Blue Beetle) since he was somewhat patterned after him and we're likely not to learn any more about Dan since there probably won't be a Watchmen 2.
Perhaps, failing the emergence of any other info, we might assume his background closely follows that of Ted Kord (Blue Beetle) since he was somewhat patterned after him and we're likely not to learn any more about Dan since there probably won't be a Watchmen 2.
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Well, Watchmen took another 60% plunge, earning $6.7 million in its third weekend, with a grand domestic total of $98 million so far. It looks like the film will probably bow out of theaters somewhere between the range of $100-110 million, not even reaching the $130 million initial projected gross. I believe the film cost somewhere around $100-125 million to make.
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