Who Watches The Watchmen?

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Offline Protoman Blues

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on: February 20, 2009, 09:48:51 AM

Normally, I would just keep this in the At The Movies thread, but I thought a movie of this grand scope deserved it's on topic.  Now, it's probably safe to say that Watchmen is my most anticipated movie of the year.  Sorry Dragonball: Evolutions & Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li, but Watchmen just beats you out.

Needless to say, my anticipation for this movie grows more and more each day.  I'm seeing more posters, I'm seeing more TV Spots, and I'm also getting feedback from places like the Comic Con ing-awesome.html]and from Wil Wheaton, that this movie is not only [tornado fang]ing awesome, but very very very true to the Graphic Novel from which the story comes from.  Not just in terms of the writing either, but also in terms of direct scenes from the novel itself.  Basically, technology has finally gotten to a point where this movie could be made.  Using the 300 style effects and such, there are literally scenes so awesome, it's just like watching the Graphic Novel itself.

For those who don't know, Watchmen is probably one of the most, if not THE most, famous Graphic Novels ever released.  Ever.  This book, as well as Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns pretty much changed comics forever.  Whether for good or for bad is a discussion that can go on for days.  However, they changed comics not because they were bad, but because they were so [tornado fang]ing good.  This movie is Rated R for a reason too.  This is not your typical Superhero story at all.  It's not Spider-Man, or Batman, or anything like that.  Do not go into this movie expecting a fuckton of action or anything like that.  It's the story itself that makes it so good.  Heh, for those MGS fans out there who did know, your boy Snake, David Hayter co-wrote the screenplay.  I'm sure that will make some people happy! 

My tickets for the IMAX showing of this movie have already been purchased, and my showing is already sold out.  LoL, I haven't set the bar as high as my friend, who literally proclaims that "If I don't walk out of there thinking that this is the best movie ever made, I'm demanding my money back.", but my bar has been set pretty damn high.  I highly recommend that people go out and purchase the graphic novel either before or after the movie.  Either way, March 6th cannot get here fast enough for me. 



Offline Quickman

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Reply #1 on: February 20, 2009, 09:56:06 AM
I had better see if I can pre-order tickets from the local theatre then, seeing as how the IMAX tickets are sold out.

After reading the comic, I'm definetly looking forward to this movie.  Doubt I'll get to see it on opening day, but dammit, nothing is keeping me from this movie!  Not even glowing blue wang!


Offline Protoman Blues

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Reply #2 on: February 20, 2009, 09:59:05 AM
What's funny is, I'm have tempted to see if I can go to the midnight release of it on Thursday, seeing as how I get out of work at 11 anyway.  So it's not like I'll be that far from a theater!    8D

Heh, I think I can talk Wil into it!  =D



Offline Quickman

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Reply #3 on: February 20, 2009, 10:03:34 AM
Considering how often comic shops close in Gettysburg (we've gone through... five comic shops so far, none lasted longer than a year), perhaps that's a good sign that tickets will be easy to get.

Also quite a sad sign, seeing as how Gettysburg has a shortage of nerds.  And insane property taxes that drive decent businesses away.


Offline The Drunken Dishwasher

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Reply #4 on: February 20, 2009, 10:13:44 AM
I also REALLY want to see this (though i've yet to read the graphic novel, but since March 6 is close to being around the corner, I better get my ass on it since I have it in my room...above that girl on girl manga I bought, not knowing it's a girl on girl manga...quite the stimulation though :) (if you're curious, it's called Maka-Maka and you can even buy it at your basic book store...or in Toronto you can...) ), but i'm not 100% sure if I should see it day 1 now that you mentioned that ticket sold-outs are now possible...so now i'm wondering...



Offline Pyro

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Reply #5 on: February 20, 2009, 10:02:43 PM
I want to see this but I don't know if I want to pay $10 to see it when I'm a poor student who can only work two shifts a week to pay for my comics fix. ;O;

Come and read some Thoughts of a Platypus


Offline Shiki Tohno

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Reply #6 on: February 21, 2009, 12:44:44 PM
Been saving since the start of the year to get my opening day ticket for this.



Offline Pringer X

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Reply #7 on: March 02, 2009, 06:43:39 AM
Can't wait. I'll admit that I haven't heard of the Watchmen up till the movie came about, but it looks [tornado fang]ing mind-blowing. I'm going into it more as a movie watcher and not a comic fan. I don't know if the theater in town still has tickets, but I'm going around there tomorrow anyway, so it doesn't matter too very much.



Offline Align

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Reply #8 on: March 02, 2009, 10:50:15 PM
Complete and utter SPOILERS for book and movie:
[spoiler]
    -A major alteration present is the more "stylized" and "outlandish" nature of the fight scenes instead of the more "gritty" and "realistic" approach taken by the novel. The costumed vigilantes more or less become "super heroes" as characters are seen punching through walls, inverting knees, jumping outlandish distances, and twisting heads backwards; to name just a few instances.

    -Rorschach's first visit to Happy Harry's has been removed from the theatrical cut. Not entirely sure if the scene will make it into the directors cut or not.

    - Rorschach's visit (warning) to Veidt has been removed and instead replaced with Dan Dreiberg visiting Viedt and warning him about the idea of a "mask killer" on the loose.

    - Rorschach's commentary on Veidt with the line "Possibly Homosexual? Must Remember To Investigate Further" was removed from the theatrical cut.

    - The two Bernie's seen on numerous occasions at the newsstand are given minimal screen time and no dialogue. Though scenes with them were shot and expect to see them restored in the directors cut.

    -Laurie does not smoke at all.

    - "The Crimebusters" are now referred to as "Watchmen."

    - Capitan Metropolis is no longer a part of The Crimebusters meeting and is instead replaced by Veidt.


    -Dreiberg's (Nite Owl II) impotency is not explicitly stated.



    -Laurie no longer throws the bottle of perfume on Mars, but instead repeatedly hits the tower structure Jon built until it crumbles.

    -Dr. Manhattan explicitly states that The Comedian is Laurie's father, rather than simply imply it like graphic novel chose to.

    -The vivarium's been removed altogether.

    -Hollis Mason's (the original Nite Owl) death was removed completely from the theatrical cut. No mention of it remains, although the scenes were shot and should be present in the directors cut.

    -The fight scene between Rorschach, Nite Owl II, and Veidt has been altered to be more outlandish and stylistic than what the graphic novel originally portrayed it as.

    - The scene where Big Figure and a fellow prisoner cut through the heavy set prisoner to get into Rorschach's cell was altered a bit to be more gruesome.

    - Rorschach's backstory remains intact, for the most part. I hear he still murders Grice's two German Shepherds and tosses them at him just like the graphic novel...



    Here's a rather length explanation of the altered ending and how it plays out...

    - Veidt and Manhattan essentially team up to create a new form of energy. Veidt then uses Manhattan's signature energy to create numerous explosions in a select amount of major cities, although only New York is shown. Shot of blue explosion is displayed and the two Bernie's embracing to form the graffiti of the two figures on the wall remains. The world then assumes that the attack was emotionally driven by Manhattan due to the numerous media attacks against him (which were originally caused by Veidt, to begin with). Manhattan then decides to depart Earth in a similar manner to the graphic novel.

    - The infamous scene in the graphic novel with numerous corpses piled throughout New York has been replaced with a landscape of rubble. Think of it as the aftermath of a large explosion, with no bodies present to provide the impact of the original scene in the novel.

    -Rorschach's death is essentially the same, although Dan Dreiberg witnesses the moment to increase the dramatic nature of the scene.



    Here's a rather rough run down of the final moments between Dreiberg and Veidt...

    - Dan Dreiberg becomes enraged after he witnesses the death of Rorschach. He rips his cowl off and rushes inside to confront Veidt and delivers numerous punches. Dan wants Veidt to be the bad guy and attempts to solve the problem through fighting as a "hero." Veidt does not fight back and Dan realizes it's pointless and him and Laurie leave Veidt to ponder his actions.

    - The sex scene between Dan and Laurie in Karnak has been completely removed.

    And now for the final shot...

    - The ending scene remains intact, with the exception of the addition of the line "Tonight, a Comedian died in New York" from Rorschach as the camera zooms in on Seymour's stained smiley face shirt. It's not explicitly shown that Seymour grabs Rorschach's journal and the open ended nature of the graphic novel's final panel still remains, albeit with the subtle nature of the reference to the Comedians stained smiley face badge ultimately being lost due to the addition of Rorschach's line.
[/spoiler]

And there was much wailing and gnashing of teeth, even though it's not even out yet.
Personally I'm not planning on watching it anyway so I'm pretty neutral...



Offline Quickman

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Reply #9 on: March 04, 2009, 08:00:53 AM
Yeah, the altered stuff does drive me nuts, though I've come to expect that from comic movies.  No comic story, it seems, can make the transition to the big screen without being altered in some way, either due to format, budget, time constraints, the director being a pompous show-off, whatever. 


Offline Protodude

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Reply #10 on: March 05, 2009, 07:34:12 PM
Definetly checking out the midnight showing, I can hardly wait!

Oh, and would anyone mind confirming this tidbit:

[spoiler]Rumors has it the slaughtering of the German Shepherds was toned down, it doesn't show the split heads", rather implies it.[/spoiler]


Offline The Drunken Dishwasher

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Reply #11 on: March 07, 2009, 12:57:09 AM
not sure when i'll be seeing it thanks to work schedules amongst the group of friends >.>'

BUT there is this

http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/485797

great lols abound~



Offline Protodude

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Reply #12 on: March 07, 2009, 08:14:05 PM
Saw it last night, loved it. Not as good as the book of course, but still very impressive. Snyder did a fine job.

Anybody get goose bumps during the opening credits? Beautiful.


Offline Quickman

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Reply #13 on: March 09, 2009, 04:20:02 AM
Just saw it.  Loved it.  The movie did stay relatively true to the book, aside from cut content, costume designs, and the other changes that were mentioned.  As far as the cut content, like the Tale of the Black Freighter story, I remember reading that it's gonna be added to the extended DVD, so that's a definite buy.   Overall, though, the movie was great.  Snyder did a good job.

The opening credits were great indeed.  And I like how they handled the effects on Rorschach's mask.   


Offline Protoman Blues

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Reply #14 on: March 09, 2009, 05:31:00 AM
Heh, okay I've been lazy long enough in writing my review of Watchmen, so here goes nothing.

Simply put, the movie is incredible.  I went to the Midnight release of the film on Thursday, and was pretty much blown away by it, so much so that I actually couldn't formulate a review of it, because what I watched was so incredible.  It was literally watching a Comic Book come to life, much like 300 was.  Not just any comic, mind you, but the Comic some consider to be the best ever written.  This is the story, along with The Dark Knight Returns, that changed Comic Books forever.  Like how when Marvel Comics first started, it carried Comic Books out of it's infancy, this story carried Comic Books out of their teenage years and brought them to adult hood.

Mind you, this is only a Film adaptation of the Comic Book, but it's almost as close as you can get to the original story.  I say almost, because this film isn't even the final version of it.  Much like Lord of the Rings, this film has an extended version coming out later on this year.  First, you have the Animated "Tales of the Black Freighter" DVD coming out soon, which I will simply rent.  Then, you have the Extended Directors Cut coming out in July, which adds in the scenes that Zack Snyder had to take out in order to keep this film at 3 hours length.  The extended version is said to have 30-60 minutes of extra footage put into it.  THEN, around X-Mas time, you have the Final Cut DVD, which is the Extended Version with the animated "Tales of the Black Freighter" tale put into the movie just like how it is in the Comic Book.  So, as awesome as the film was, it's not the final version of it.

However, for what it was, it was fantastic.  As mentioned up above, the opening credits Montage was simple beautiful.  It shows scenes that were only talked about in the comic book, and they were simply beautiful to see brought to life, especially to the Bob Dylan song they played for it.  Jackie Earle Haley completely stole the show as Rorschach.  Quite frankly, he was perfect.  In terms of performance, his was the best.  Also, Jeffrey Dean Morgan was also fantastic as The Comedian.  Actually, I'll just say it now, everyone played their part extremely well.  The worst acting out of everyone came from Malin Ackerman who played Silk Spectre II.  Mind you, she was definitely hot eye candy, but her acting was sub-par.  Her mother wasn't much better either.  Overall though, fantastic casting.

The movie is not without it's faults, but IMO, those faults do not take away from the enjoyment of the film, especially if you are a fan of the Comic Book.  I can see how people who have not read the comic might not like the movie, but that's all a matter of opinion.  Honestly, after seeing this, I really really hope that the Green Lantern movie in the works in done in this format.  I'd really love to see a GL movie done like this.  My high expectations for this film were met with flying blue glowing [ray splasher]!  If you are a fan of the book, definitely see this movie.  If you've never read the book, Read It then see the movie, or visa versa.  If you wanna see blue glowing [ray splasher], DEFINITELY see this movie!   8D



Offline Solar

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Reply #15 on: March 09, 2009, 05:34:55 AM
Heh heh, is there really that much [ray splasher]? XD

One question Blues, how is the violence? I want to watch it, but I need to know because I'm a weak and coward person XD


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Offline Protoman Blues

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Reply #16 on: March 09, 2009, 05:38:50 AM
Heh heh, is there really that much [ray splasher]? XD

One question Blues, how is the violence? I want to watch it, but I need to know because I'm a weak and coward person XD

There's quite a bit of it, I won't lie!   8)

There's violence, but really not that much of it.  The scenes that do have it are pretty hardcore violence too, which I loved as it fits the comic.  However, this comic book was never about the action or fights.  It's the story that holds so much merit.  It's the philosophical question and the moral ambiguity behind it which make the story so good.



Offline Quickman

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Reply #17 on: March 09, 2009, 05:40:28 AM
The violence, I felt, was your standard action, with blood and dismemberments thrown in.  It was what I expected in an action movie.


Offline Solar

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Reply #18 on: March 09, 2009, 05:43:45 AM
There's quite a bit of it, I won't lie!   8)

There's violence, but really not that much of it.  The scenes that do have it are pretty hardcore violence too, which I loved as it fits the comic.  However, this comic book was never about the action or fights.  It's the story that holds so much merit.  It's the philosophical question and the moral ambiguity behind it which make the story so good.

Thank you (both), the bolded is the answer I was looking for. I know there's not much violence (in quantity), but I heard it was quite strong or something. Now my question will be complete if you can give me an example 8)


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Offline Protoman Blues

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Reply #19 on: March 09, 2009, 05:47:45 AM
Thank you (both) the bolded is the answer I was looking for. I know there's not much violence (in quantity), but I heard it was quite strong or something. Now my question will be complete if you can give me an example 8)

Very well then!

[spoiler]There is one flashback scene where the Comedian tries to [twin slasher] the original Silk Spectre.  It's in the comic, and the actor playing the Comedian even said it was the hardest scene he's ever had to film in his entire life.

During one fight scene, Nite Owl & Silk Spectre defend themselves against a gang in an alleyway.  They show bones being broken, amongst other things

One scene shows Rorschach splitting a man's skull open with a Butcher's Knife.[/spoiler]

How's that?



Offline Solar

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Reply #20 on: March 09, 2009, 05:52:01 AM
[spoiler]First one is not much of a problem. Second one sounds more brutal than anything unless you mean you can clearly see their bones wihtout x-ray vision stuff. Third one does sound bad, depending on how graphic it actually is.[/spoiler]

In any case, I'll have to man up a bit XD

The only problem now will be how it's classified over here. A B-15 is fine, but a C would make it impossible to watch for me.


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Offline Protoman Blues

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Reply #21 on: March 09, 2009, 05:59:50 AM
[spoiler]First one is not much of a problem. Second one sounds more brutal than anything unless you mean you can clearly see their bones wihtout x-ray vision stuff. Third one does sound bad, depending on how graphic it actually is.[/spoiler]

In any case, I'll have to man up a bit XD

The only problem now will be how it's classified over here. A B-15 is fine, but a C would make it impossible to watch for me.

[spoiler]Oh, you can CLEARLY see bone in the 2nd scene.  And the 3rd one I mentioned is VERY graphic.  You see the Butcher Knife enter the skull, the blood splatter, and then watch him repeatedly do it a few times more from the side!  XD[/spoiler]

LoL, yeah, Man Up!  I hope you can see it though.



Offline Solar

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Reply #22 on: March 09, 2009, 06:01:56 AM
[spoiler]So in the second one the bone pierces the skin? Eww XD
But in the third one it is not bad enough that you can see their brains or is it? It doesn't sound THAT bad otherwise.[/spoiler]


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Offline Protoman Blues

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Reply #23 on: March 09, 2009, 06:04:15 AM
[spoiler]So in the second one the bone pierces the skin? Eww XD
But in the third one it is not bad enough that you can see their brains or is it? It doesn't sound THAT bad otherwise.[/spoiler]

[spoiler]Yes, it does pierce the skin.  You only see something like that once or twice though.  And no, you can't actually see the brain or anything like that.  LoL, still, MAN UP!  XD[/spoiler]



Offline Quickman

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Reply #24 on: March 09, 2009, 06:05:51 AM
[spoiler]The butcher knife scene, I felt, actually wasn't that gory.  Blood splatters, yes.  But it wasn't unlike stuff I see on CSI and the like.[/spoiler]