Watchmen (contains spoliers)

[BlueCello]

My friend keeps bugging me to go and see it with him, but I am a little dubious- I am not a fan of 'comic book films' anyway! And this one has only had average to poor reviews so far Might go anyway...

[RDM]

I don't really "do" comic book films, Spiderman was total crap, did not really like The
Dark Knight and those X-Men films were total bilge. I did though enjoy Iron Man and really
liked the Hell-Boy films for some reason.

Is Watchmen like Spiderman/ X-men = Total Crap or is it more
HellBoy = Pretty Good.

[grumbledoak]

Hmmm. It was always going to be a brave effort; Watchmen is far too long and detailed to fit even a long movie. And, I wouldn't mind a little less money spent on the CGI if they could translate the characters well. But if it has all gone 'Kapow!' and capes, I'd be tempted to skip it.

Can anyone give us a score between 'Daredevil' and 'The Dark Knight' ?

[cottonfoo]

RDM said:

Is Watchmen like Spiderman/ X-men = Total Crap or is it more
HellBoy = Pretty Good.

More resembling Batman, vigilantes in costume to hide their identity.

[Civpilot]

I don't think it's anywhere near as "bad" or "dumbed down" as made out.

I watched it tonight and loved it. You would never get Moore's full vision on film, certain aspects just would not work at all. What snyder has done though is fantastic and bodes extremely well for the anounced 3hr 30min "directors cut" BD Disc.

To be honest it's worth going to see for rorschach alone... he is utterly magnificent and ripped straight from the pages of the novel. In fact "live" rorschach is even better than I imagined. The look is perfect, the voice is perfect, the behaviour, again, just perfect. You could have just filmed two hours of him messing up criminals and the whole cinema would have been totally happy.

Dr.Manhatten again just seems so right. His voice and movement have a kind of gentle quality that fits so well with who he is in the novel. but the movie belongs to the man in the cloth sacking mask.

One thing I will say... being as totally unspoilerish as I can be... the one change that has been complained about the most (fans will know what I'm talking about) really worked for me. It is far more shall we say "elegant" in it's execution. and doesn't stick out like a sore thumb (the thing it was changed from always clunked with me in the novel and just seemed... well, to be totally honest, stupid).

Is it a perfect film? no. Is it a great film? YES. Truely. My mate who came with me has never read the novel and didn't really know anything about it and he also loved it.

[sstein]

Was looking forward to this, kermode gave it a bit of a slating though..

[Mr Fenix]

Read the graphic novel, liked it but didn't think it would ever translate well to a film. I'll go check it out this weekend or early next week and reserve judgment until then.

[_Dan_]

RDM said:

I don't really "do" comic book films, Spiderman was total crap, did not really like The
Dark Knight and those X-Men films were total bilge. I did though enjoy Iron Man and really
liked the Hell-Boy films for some reason.

Is Watchmen like Spiderman/ X-men = Total Crap or is it more
HellBoy = Pretty Good.

What about sin city? definitely worth a watch.

[RDM]

_Dan_ said:

RDM said:

I don't really "do" comic book films, Spiderman was total crap, did not really like The
Dark Knight and those X-Men films were total bilge. I did though enjoy Iron Man and really
liked the Hell-Boy films for some reason.

Is Watchmen like Spiderman/ X-men = Total Crap or is it more
HellBoy = Pretty Good.

What about sin city? definitely worth a watch.

Yes, Enjoyed that. Not being a comic fan I don't know what are the type I'd like and
what are up-there-own-arse crap.

[Mattt]

Was looking forward to this, but I hear the censors here have absolutely ruined it

[just me]

Just saw it. Except for the initial action scene and the jail scenes, pure ste.

[just me]

Civpilot said:

To be honest it's worth going to see for rorschach alone... he is utterly magnificent and ripped straight from the pages of the novel. In fact "live" rorschach is even better than I imagined. The look is perfect, the voice is perfect, the behaviour, again, just perfect. You could have just filmed two hours of him messing up criminals and the whole cinema would have been totally happy.

Dr.Manhatten again just seems so right. His voice and movement have a kind of gentle quality that fits so well with who he is in the novel. but the movie belongs to the man in the cloth sacking mask.

Absolutely agree with this.

But I thought the movie overall was a waste of time. Poor effects, and just pointless stupidity, all in all.

[uriel]

LA, out of curiosity, have you read the comic?

[glazbagun]

Civpilot said:

I don't think it's anywhere near as "bad" or "dumbed down" as made out.

I watched it tonight and loved it. You would never get Moore's full vision on film, certain aspects just would not work at all. What snyder has done though is fantastic and bodes extremely well for the anounced 3hr 30min "directors cut" BD Disc.

To be honest it's worth going to see for rorschach alone... he is utterly magnificent and ripped straight from the pages of the novel. In fact "live" rorschach is even better than I imagined. The look is perfect, the voice is perfect, the behaviour, again, just perfect. You could have just filmed two hours of him messing up criminals and the whole cinema would have been totally happy.

Dr.Manhatten again just seems so right. His voice and movement have a kind of gentle quality that fits so well with who he is in the novel. but the movie belongs to the man in the cloth sacking mask.

One thing I will say... being as totally unspoilerish as I can be... the one change that has been complained about the most (fans will know what I'm talking about) really worked for me. It is far more shall we say "elegant" in it's execution. and doesn't stick out like a sore thumb (the thing it was changed from always clunked with me in the novel and just seemed... well, to be totally honest, stupid).

Is it a perfect film? no. Is it a great film? YES. Truely. My mate who came with me has never read the novel and didn't really know anything about it and he also loved it.

Yeah, the big deviation from the plot of the original wasnt as jarring as I thought it would be and actually worked well. I think it would have been hard to have added the sub-plot that led up to the Veidt secret in the movie.

Agree regarding Rorshach- I don't know who the actor is, but he was kickass, and thought that The Comedian was played really well, too. I liked Nightowls character, but felt he was a bit too Clark Kent and not washed-up or impotent enough at times, the Silk Spectre seemed a little too "pretty young thing" and seemed to lack the careworn maturity and cynicism of her comicbook self. Veidt needed a lot more fleshing out in the film.

Overall I loved it, but I think that may in no small part be due to the fact that I've read the novel, and the way the film tries its best to run with the novel means that I had the characters filled-in already. I'm not so sure I'd be so satisfied if I had never read Watchmen.

[peterpeter]

sstein said:

Was looking forward to this, kermode gave it a bit of a slating though..

maybe, but he is a total cock.

the kind of cock who actually believed the final scene in Borat (with him kidnapping Pammy) was real. And this made it sick.

[Civpilot]

Mattt said:

Was looking forward to this, but I hear the censors here have absolutely ruined it

You heard utterly and completely wrong.

This film is seriously gory at times. Slow mo close up compound fractures of arms complete with splintering noises and fountains of blood, bullets tearing through people, Dr.Manhatten "swinging free" constantly etc. If this is censored then I would love to see the unsensored version.

As for Kermode... funny how I've seen him review many really good movies like an angry kid whos just been grounded. Seem's to be his record to me, the high rated stuff always gets slagged off.

Like I said, the film does have flaws if your a big time fan of the novel, but it is still a joyous thing to watch. My mate hasn't read the book and he also loved it.

ps. The acotr playing R is Jack Earl-Hayley. And he totally rocks...

phyciatrist said:

what do you see?

- pause -

Rorschach totally deadpan said:

a butterfly

(you have to either know the book or have seen the film but that scene is fking awesome)

[Mattt]

Civpilot said:

Mattt said:

Was looking forward to this, but I hear the censors here have absolutely ruined it

You heard utterly and completely wrong.

We have censors here that take out bits of films - we don't get the proper versions. No sex or excessive violence, or lesbian/gay footage.

[Lord Pikey]

I saw it last night.

LOWBROW Film Review:

Lots and lots of gory violence and some nice tits both in and out of latex.

LP

P.s From a non comic geek person i thought the film was very good. But i think i would of enjoyed it more if i had read up on the history.

Off out to see Marley and Me now..... I think i am going to be disapointed

Edited by Lord Pikey on Saturday 7th March 11:07

[Kieran XJR]

I saw this last night too, I didn't know much about the movie or the "graphic novel" before hand. I enjoyed it, I thought the film had a nice look, it was a good spectacle.

It's a very ambitious story, there's a lot of ideas going on there, maybe too much for a single film I'd have to say.

[Civpilot]

The directors cut coming to BD disc is 45mins longer