Watchmen

[Mikey]

Good to hear it's worth a trip to the cinema for; I know initial reviews etc were positive, but fan boys giving the thumbs up? Thass a spicy meatball!

IMHO Watchmen isn't Alan Moores best work ducks. There! I said it!

OK, I'll say it's not my favourite. I much prefer League.

M.

[Eric Plumrose]

Nope, it doesn't even come close to the flawed brilliance of the comic.

A few of the scene payoffs work but probably only because I'm already familiar with 'em. And when they don't work, they're shite.

Kovac's rebirth as Rorschach should have been dropped for the film. It's one of the comic's most powerful scenes but it isn't vital to the plot. Yet, here it is, needlessly ballsed-up, as are all the truly horrific moments from the comic. There's no horror as the dead dogs are thrown through the windows because you can't tell what they are. Even when they've landed, there's only a brief glimpse of the child-chomping chiens. The similarity between the kidnapper's demise with that of Johnny the Boy's in Mad Max should have necessitated only a slight change. Instead we get frantic brain cleaving.

Unlike the comic, it's very superficial. The characterizations, especially. Patrick Wilson's quite likeable as Dan Dreiberg but the only convincing performance is that by Carla Gugino as Sally Jupiter. And she's only in the film for something like ten seconds.

[Roger Godpleton]

Some of the workarounds were ingenious, and there are flashes of brilliance, but overall I found it pretty flat. At times the soundtrack was clunkingly literal and obtrusive. The fight scenes are excellent, but end up soured somewhat by the [spoiler]quasi slow-mo attempted rape scene. Yeah.[/spoiler]

One bit really hacked me off. [spoiler]How the FUCK does Janey Slater get into the Manhattan interview?[/spoiler]

[Eric Plumrose]

And throughout I was constantly being reminded of Blade Runner.

[Roger Godpleton]

Also Dr Manhattan was Michael Jackson.

[Eric Plumrose]

I think the problem is it's not a proper adaptation of the comic. Instead, we get a live version of the comic cobbled together from the those scenes that convey the plot with a few of the film makers' personal favourites. Hence, the pacing doesn't work, making the whole thing rather flat (as Godpleton said). Even the action sequences.

[Mardroid]

I haven't seen it yet, but I wonder if those of you who disliked it will find the longer version an improvement.

Probably not as a lot of the issues seem to  be a translation rather than content thing.

I'm looking forward to it anyway. A friend and I are hoping to catch it on Imax. I wouldn't normally go there (local cinema is usually fine for me, and it's cheaper!) but as our birthdays are soon, we figured, why not?

[Grant Goggans]

Well, I thought it was completely terrific.  Definitely go with a friend who has not read it, and see how the plot revelations go over with them.

[Roger Godpleton]

I think I would have enjoyed it a lot more and it would have seemed less obviously truncated had I not left my obligatory refreser course until earlier this week.

[M.I.K.]

//http://malcolmkirk.deviantart.com/art/STICKMEN-115047634

[satchmo]

awesome.

[Roger Godpleton]

Wow, it's the third item on Newsnight Review tonight behind that shitty looking Victoria flick.

[mogzilla]

Not seen it yet, but judging from the feedback here i'll enjoy it.

as it not being like the comic exactly...so?

i approached it with an open mind having only given the comic another go on the strength of what i'd seen as i did with hellboy...never read that til i saw the film then the floodgates opened!

Hellboy was,in essence, the seed of destruction...but not. it didnt hamper m enjoyment of it in the slightest.

also if you havnt played the demo for the beat em up on xbox live get it if only to check out rorschach's mask....i changes shape constantly in game. creeepy!

[Hoagy]

I think its too cool to have a game based on it. But what are you going to do, eh?

[Eric Plumrose]

I haven't seen it yet, but I wonder if those of you who disliked it will find the longer version an improvement.

I did wonder that whilst sitting through it. I seem to remember there being a couple of inverse non sequiturs, although the only one I can think of is Dr. Manhattan inscribing the hyrdogen symbol on his forehead.

as it not being like the comic exactly...so?

My problem with the film is that it's exactly like the comic. It's far too reverential to be a proper adaptation. None of it looks real: stylistically, it's as if the filmmakers felt it necessary to inform the audience that THIS IS BASED ON A COMIC, by way of apology or, more likely, a justification of their reading habits.

Kovac's rebirth as Rorschach has been changed but that's not the problem. It's that it's done badly, culminating in some hilarious brain cleaving. Rorschach's monologue from the comic about the randomness of existence is then simply cut and pasted on screen, thus lacking any emotional impact, except for familiarity with it from the comic. As I've said already, it's not even vital to the plot so its inclusion wasn't necessary.

And that's another point. The violence is gratuitous, thus completely missing the point of the comic. That's why the BBFC granted Watchmen an 18 Certificate, not for adult themes. If anything, the film exemplifies the Watchmen Effect on (superhero) comics: in that other comic book creators took from it only the sex and violence but none of the depth and insight.

The biggest change is the ending which, although an improvement on the comic, again lacks any real impact. Sure, I had a lump in my throat when the two Bernards cop it but that's again due to my emotional attachment with them from the comic, not what's appearing on screen.

If the only the filmmakers had the balls to ditch the latex and armoured long-johns . . .