Watchmen

[StormyNite]

So I'm probably gonna go see it anyway, but is it any good? Who's seen it and what did you think of it?

[serendipityxo]

It's OK. As someone who had no previous knowledge of the comic before hearing about the film, I'd say it's just your average superhero movie with a darker edge. Visually, it's great, and I'd recommend seeing it at an IMAX theatre if you can.

[PhonyMcRingRing]

Liked it. Thought it was prettymuch a panel-by-panel movie of the comic (with the exception of skipping the whole "fake alien attack" ending in favor of something more 'we're all trapped in new media hell'-ish). It's not an average superhero movie. It's a satire of superhero movies. Nothing is solved, nothing is saved, and everyone is tragically flawed.

[The_Almighty_Stan]

Phony hit it right on the head
Though the exclusion of the squid was disappointing..

[serendipityxo]

PhonyMcRingRing said:

Liked it. Thought it was prettymuch a panel-by-panel movie of the comic (with the exception of skipping the whole "fake alien attack" ending in favor of something more 'we're all trapped in new media hell'-ish). It's not an average superhero movie. It's a satire of superhero movies. Nothing is solved, nothing is saved, and everyone is tragically flawed.

i meant that the movie itself flows like your average superhero movie. typical ridiculous costumes, cheesy dialogue, and chock full of special fx. and i kind of disagree with the whole "nothing was solved" idea. technically, the comic's version of the cold war was solved, albeit in a morally ambiguous way. and you'd be hard pressed to find any comic book superhero that doesn't have some sort of tragic flaw, so in that sense it's really not much different from your average superhero flick. but i think my biggest gripe with this film was the acting. malin ackerman has virtually no range whatsoever, and patrick wilson was stifled. he's usually very good but i felt next to nothing for his character. at least billy crudup and jackie earle haley were there to make up for it. and the score was absolutely dreadful, almost as if zack snyder was aiming more toward creating a parody than anything else. wow. at first, i thought this movie was ok, but the more i think about it, the more i really just dislike it.
sorry phony. didn't mean this as the start of an argument with you (though it certainly seems like i'm trying to start one, i know! haha).

[PhonyMcRingRing]

The following post contains spoilers.






What about Rorschach diary? it explains everything. as soon as it gets published everyone'll be right back at eachother's throats. Yeah, i guess spiderman has his dead uncle or whatever, and batman his dead parents...superman has nothing (unless you count his dead planet, which doesn't really come up much). wolverine has his dark history with weapon X, but the rest of the xmen are more or less fine. the fantastic 4 sometimes have some arguments and personality clashes, but on the whole, life as a superhero is great. none of these flaws are on par with being a *rapist*. It doesn't come up in the movie, but Rorschach considers homosexuals to be "evil doers". no other hero is a full fledged alcoholic, or has a full fledged mental breakdown.
but yeah, i see what you mean re: the costumes and pacing.
(this whole comment reads better if you switch your inner mental voice over to comic-book-guy from the simpsons)

[serendipityxo]

i think if snyder put for focus on rorschach the film would've been ten times better. he is, by far, the most interesting character as far as i could tell. and yeah, i did kind of forget about the diary... but who knows for sure whether or not the two countries would've ended their new alliance. it makes you wonder a bit, which was a pretty good way of ending the film.
if you think about the xmen, they've all got their own issues too. rogue can't touch people without killing them - that would give me some pretty big emotional problems if i were her. angel has the family problems, and jean grey is beyond screwed up. maybe not as bad as being a rapist, but still flaws nonetheless. i just know more about xmen than i do about watchmen. lol. i think i should read the comic to get a better understand of the story. seems like the film may not have done it justice, especially since i'm extremely nitpicky about movies (especially superhero movies).

[PhonyMcRingRing]

Man, i don't know about you, but i've got the biggest hardon for the upcoming wolverine movie. i loved gambit, and was constantly frustrated that they never put him in the 3 earlier xmen movies.

[serendipityxo]

me tooooo! gambit has always been my favourite, along with rogue. i was a little worried about how wolverine would turn out, since the last xmen movie was a little disappointing. but the trailer looks really great. i'd love it if they continued on past the origins series too, focusing just on wolverine. i think seeing magneto remove the adamantium from his body would be amaaaazing to see on film. and then later on bringing in apocalypse and showing wolverine become death! aahhh i'm getting excited just thinking about it and who knows if it'll ever even happen...
do you know if they're including daken and romulus in origins?

[PhonyMcRingRing]

I would have liked to see apocalypse, but i thought we where still at too early a stage in the storyline for him, so thats understandable. And the story gets really fucking weird the further you get into it. i don't know how well regular non-comic-reading cinema-goers would receive the story arc about magneto building a space-station for mutants. they certainly took all the weird shit about aliens and the encron crystal out of the phoenix storyline. And then there's that whole business with the future, and time travel and bishop...i just don't see that selling well if they make it into a movie. Its looking like a good year for nerd-cinema. we've got a new xmen, a new terminator, and a new startrek (an origins story with kirk noless. he'd better act like his life depended on it, or we shall all destroy him in the online forums)

[StormyNite]

So, I finally got to see this. I quite liked it, though I thought it was a bit long and dragged in a few places. But mainly it was okay.

[SirReal Killer]

im waiting for a better version than a cam to hit the net....

[Jayne]

I loved it but Silk Spectre II was severely miscast. That 'actress' was atrocious.
The graphic novel is obviously better but I'm glad the movie changed the ending - tons better.