Ariel, Lei, and I watched a sneak preview of Watchmen earlier in Globe Platinum Cinema in Gateway Mall this afternoon. This Zack Snyder film is faithful to the book, so much so that I’m worried for the moviegoers who didn’t read the book first. My opinion is the movie maybe TOO faithful, a fate suffered by the earlier Harry Potter movies. I mean, really, is faithfulness to the source material important in today’s comic book movie? The biggest comic book movie to date, The Dark Knight, has a Joker sans laughing gas and gun-with-flag.
Anyway, Rorschach is still splendid in his psychosis. And there’s no question I’ll watch again. And again in the director’s cut via the small screen.
By the way, I intentionally avoided many clips and viral videos pertaining to Watchmen so I can avoid spoilers. However, some videos are recommended for viewing prior to watching the film. The following, for example, explains the Keene Act.
[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjBE8JY1on0&feature=related]
And another one on a faux-news feature about Dr. Manhattan.
[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=28FWHMUyS-Q&feature=related]
well, i can understand after watching last night why they intended the Watchmen to be R-18. It made 300’s blood bath looks like a mild Sunday morning cartoon. It’s not violent … It’s brutal to the point of disturbing… Loved every minute of it. LOL!
yeah, they don’t need to be too faithful… like shaquille oneal’s steel or that 1990’s captain america or, better yet, from hell or league of extraordinary gentlemen.
i think snyder had no other option but to be faithful as he can be to the comic. TDK is another thing. its batman and joker. their images are protean. you can cast them in a victorian setting and still recognize them.
watchmen was a self contained story set in a specific time period. marami na ngang binago sa story to give it more sense as a movie
but it would’ve been better if hollywood just left watchmen alone and came up with something else similar to it in tone. no, not heroes the movie
pero the it”s here so i’m gonna watch it 3 more times.
The first part was great. I thought it was awesome how they put so much of the comic in to it. But soon it became clear that it was gonna be too long for one movie if they kept on doing that, by the time rorschach was caught, it felt too rushed, while at the same time, taking too much time with the dialogue in mars, which felt, bland, boring, unemotional and pointless.
Would have fitted better in a TV miniseries, and the ending was a disappointment to me. I was hoping to see the “alien attack”, thus providing no explanation to bubastis, which was a the random tiger like creature, who people who didn’t read the comic would go “WTF is that?????” . But no, it was Manhattan attacks, which if you think about it, is not peace through cooperation like what happened in the comics, but peace through surrender and asking help from the Soviet, which is now the only remaining superpower in the world.
Also, they made it more obvious on who was behind all the attacks, not blatantly, but the clues and hints were bigger, while in the comics you really had no idea. Oh and Malin Ackerman should have stayed, in exposing her boob in stoner flicks or random Ben Stiller movies, she was awful as the silk spectre. Rorschach was almost like a caricature of all tough guy protagonists as opposed to a paranoid and nihilistic character in the comic, and Dr Manhattan was as impotent as he is omnipotent. The only characterization that saved the movies was the comedians.
I guess it wouldn’t have been good if I didn’t read the comic at all before watching this. But still, I’m gonna watch it again in IMAx to give it a second chance.
yeah. yun pa problem.
if i was the soviet union, i’d attack the us while they’re recuperating from the “manhattan attack”
at wala ngang explanation si bubastis without the outer limits squid.
pero a friend told me may dialogue ata si veidt about doing the same attack on other countries.
i didn’t hear it though.
can’t wait for the director’s cut
I think that a mini-series of Watchmen would be too dragging.
The movie, for the movie’s sake along, is really great. Doesn’t matter if it’s based on comics, or not. Listen to the music, the story telling, the flow of images.. it’s all carefully designed and I loved every part of it. Granted that they couldn’t follow the comics to the last letter, comma and period, but so what? The movie is still great. And to be honest, though I didn’t like the ending for both the comics and the movies (why does my favorite Rorschach have to die???), I think i like the ending of the movie better.
Soviet isn’t the only remaining superpower in the world (based on the movie), because Veidt attacked all the major cities in the world, not just US. This includes the USSR and Hong Kong. So no country can take advantage of anyone else, because everyone else was suffering too. The attacks were a worldwide phenomenon. Contrary to the comic book, where they pointed the blame to external world threat, aliens. The supposed ‘alien’ just landed on US. (Don’t they watch Dr. Who? Dr. Who can kick any aliens butt.)
I also noted some questions like the ones pointed out here, but the over all greatness of the film is more than enough for me to overlook these minor details.
Sorry to disappoint but it is not being shown at IMAX in MoA, and probably won’t be, due to it’s rating. The MTRCB cut the lovemaking scene (which was weird cause I think it would have been better if they cut out the gore and violence) and I don’t think they have the facility to make these ‘cuts’ on the IMAX version. So unless they release the uncut r18 on IMAX, it won’t be shown there.
but to the mtrcb’s credit, they didn’t cut out dr manhattan’s little manhattan.
so,osterman is uncut. hmmmm. just gave myself an aneurysm.
critics have been lambasting that love scene and the use of leonard cohen’s hallelujah (mebbe it’ve been better if it was the jeff buckley version) but i would’ve liked to have been able to judge for myself.
I’m actually here in New Zealand where it is being shown in IMAX, I’ll tell you what’s different when I see it. hehe.
Following the comic to each line would have made the movie 6 hours long. As I said, the trimming was fine until rorschach got caught, then the pacing kinda became erratic.
Anyway, Rorschach had to die because he cannot live with himself if he kept the secret, it is not in his character’s nihilistic nature, even if he knew veidt was right, that was his way of giving up his fight, otherwise he would have still put up a fight.
Speaking of fight scenes, I was kinda turned off by the 300esque fight scenes. I just don’t think it works in a movie with a setting like this, all the masks aren’t supposed to have super streght, they’re all just human, not freaking neo and trinity.
Also, soviet is the only remaining super power, as it has 50,000 nuclear warheads, while other countries has none. The US didn’t stock pile weapons as they thought Dr Manhattan would stay on their side forever.
Nonetheless, I loved how they made the comedian pop out from the comic, he was characterized spot on, and it made their point that even he, who was a psychotic bastard, can’t even stomach veidt’s plan. Hmmm… wouldn’t it be weird if The comedian was played by Tom Selleck, AKA Magnum PI. OR!!!! Val Sotto! hahahaha
I can’t wait to see the tales of the black freighter on blu-ray.
VAL SOTTO LOL!!!
Just watched the movie yesterday in Director’s Club – MOA. Oks narin kahit hndi IMAX. This 3hour movie doesnt stand a chance against the Lazy Boy seats.
I say there was not enough fight scenes, and 300 still has more blood but Watchmen has more gore (Nite Owl’s kicks on the knees, bending the whole thing backwards is still considered gore, am i rite?). Also i didnt like the scene where Rorschach was reduced to splatters of blood when i think he’s way cooler than the Comedian when it comes to violence. R is more creative, heheh.
Will definitely watch again once it gets released in ISOhunt err on DVD
val sotto? didn’t he just play bella’s dad in twilight?