Film Watchmen...

[mycenae]

oooo, harsh! Tongues in the ear are horrible.....gives me the heebie jeebies

 

[Scouse]

Gonna watch it tonight with the missus.

More than that, going specifically to a small independent cinema and going on "orange wednesday" so we have to shell out less cash - thus "doffing our caps" to Mr Alan Moore, who I'm sure would say "don't bother"

Will report back....

 

[SheepCow]

Saw it, read it, thought it was great.

 

[Garaen]

Am I the one of the few who thought it was rubbish? I've never read the comics but was expecting something different, more superheroie (yes, i just made up a word). I watched the film and wasn't entirely sure what happened in it, I still can't work out whether the watchmen (except Mr Manhatten) actually had any super powers or were just standard people in costumes.

 

[mr.Blacky]

Am I the one of the few who thought it was rubbish? I've never read the comics but was expecting something different, more superheroie (yes, i just made up a word). I watched the film and wasn't entirely sure what happened in it, I still can't work out whether the watchmen (except Mr Manhatten) actually had any super powers or were just standard people in costumes.

Almost the same feeling, I think they had some powers as Ozywhatever could catch a bullet though I am not sure.

a movie I did enjoy was Gran Torino.

 

[SheepCow]

The only one with powers is Dr Manhatton

 

[old.Tohtori]

Am I the one of the few who thought it was rubbish? I've never read the comics but was expecting something different, more superheroie (yes, i just made up a word). I watched the film and wasn't entirely sure what happened in it, I still can't work out whether the watchmen (except Mr Manhatten) actually had any super powers or were just standard people in costumes.

This is due to the PR. The trailer, sadly, was too much towards the comic book fans. To others, it looks like a superduper big screen mega action thing, when infact it's more of a psyhological movie with superhero theme.

They do punch through walls, move faster etc, so they do have some ounce of superpower. Also Ocztydocty is the smartest man in the world so, well.

 

[DaGaffer]

They do punch through walls, move faster etc, so they do have some ounce of superpower. Also Ocztydocty is the smartest man in the world so, well.

*sigh* No they don't. Doc Manhatten is the only character with real powers; the others are just rich/clever/motivated/trained. This is covered in the film, but admittedly skimmed over because so much backstory for each character has had to be culled. The Ozymandeus bullet-catching thing isn't dealt with very well in the film, its supposed to be down to his supreme athleticism but none of the other heroes really believe he can do it until he actually does it to them.

The original planning for Watchmen involved a different bunch of comic characters that DC inherited when they took over Charlton comics and had been unused for a while; Captain Atom, Blue Beetle etc. When DC saw what Moore and Gibbons wanted to do with the characters they balked at effectively trashing their properties and suggested an all-new mythology be used.

 

[old.Tohtori]

*sigh*

No need for that, haven't read the comic, basing on what i saw and punching through walls, catching bullets, being the smartest man in world are quite well included in "super" powers.

Sure they don't shoot fire from their arse, but neither does batman and he's a superhero.

 

[TdC]

just came back from watching it, and I thought it was great.

 

[nath]

just came back from watching it, and I thought it was great.

I've not seen it yet so I'm a little apprehensive. Just out of interest - have you seen 300, and if so what did you think of it?

 

[TdC]

I have seen it, and thought it was ok. could have been better.

in comparison (imo) Watchmen is more a Sin City meets Fantastic Four spin, with the cartoony touchy feely left out. Like Toht says above "it's more of a psychological movie with superhero theme". They also work pretty heavy on the sympathy and the fighting scenes -when they actually occur- are awesome.

Like mentioned above there is only one person with super powers along the line as you may have been conditioned to expect from say...Superman, and you completely get his personal set of problems, along with all the other people. That actually gets worked on -people's problems- slightly too much imo. I'm looking forward to hear what you think of it once you've seen it

 

[nath]

I've got halfway through the com...graphic novel. It's not really grabbing me so far, but maybe that medium just isn't for me. I'll probably check the film out this weekend and let you know. I've got quite high hopes now given that you don't seem to be a massive 300 fan.

 

[TdC]

I felt that 300 cheated inasmuch as they made things too easy on themselves. there is more action than they could fit into the story if you will. Watchmen (imo) doesn't do that....in fact you get the idea they're really trying hard to get the concept across, and why the different heroes are the way they are, and behave in certain ways in certain situations almost to a point where I was wishing for a fight or sex scene because I got it already

 

[Scouse]

I've got halfway through the com...graphic novel. It's not really grabbing me so far, but maybe that medium just isn't for me. I'll probably check the film out this weekend and let you know. I've got quite high hopes now given that you don't seem to be a massive 300 fan.

The comic is a hard read - unless you're very used to the medium. When it comes to stuff like that you have to "know how to read" 'em

It's probably the best one I've ever read tho. If you're struggling then leave out reading the tales from the crypt bit (or whatever it's called) - and go back and read it later. It's a great story in itself.

I watched the film last night. There were a couple of *significant* changes so I understand why Mr Moore would have disowned it. It's, at best, *Watchmen Lite*, but still enjoyable in its own way.

Stick with the comic m8.

 

[Rulke]

So is Rorshach's mask magic or something?

 

[old.Tohtori]

So is Rorshach's mask magic or something?

They evidentally made it a bit silly in the movie.

If i remember, waht i was told, correctly, the real mask is two pieces of plastic or such with liquid flowing there.

 

[Bahumat]

I read the graphic novel and watched the film. Did not really like it that much.

Spoiler

It's kinda like noah's ark in what Ozymandias was trying to achieve. Also the missing alien was something i was suprised they left out.

 

[Bahumat]

They evidentally made it a bit silly in the movie.

If i remember, waht i was told, correctly, the real mask is two pieces of plastic or such with liquid flowing there.

in the novel isn't it just a piece of material from a dress and he cut part out and formed the mask.

 

[haarewin]

They evidentally made it a bit silly in the movie.

If i remember, waht i was told, correctly, the real mask is two pieces of plastic or such with liquid flowing there.

His mask is made from a fabric made by Dr Manhattan that was originally a dress made for Kitty Genovese - the girl who got murdered and watched by the apartment blocks all around her and noone called the cops.

After leaving school, Kovacs took a job as an unskilled tailor. The prospect of handling women's clothing caused him discomfort, and he later commented that the job was "bearable but unpleasant". A few weeks before her murder in front of an apartment, Kitty Genovese ordered a dress from him, made of a fabric created by Doctor Manhattan that used two pressure and heat-sensitive liquids suspended between a layer of latex to create black-on-white shifting color patterns, "always changing, never mixing into grey". When the dress was completed, Genovese was unsatisfied with the design, and she refused to pay for it. Kovacs took it home for himself, fascinated with the fabric. Upon reading of Kitty's murder in the newspaper, he became disgusted with the amount of crime in New York City and, creating a mask from her dress, became the vigilante Rorschach.

 

[Scouse]

Just goes to show you the depths that Mr Moore went to when planning his opus...

 

[nath]

Finished the book yesterday, caught the film today. I was surprised at how faithful it was to the novel with the obvious exception. However most of my enjoyment sprang from the familiarity rather than the film itself. Fight scenes were entertaining enough - they could have massively fucked up Dr Manhattan but I don't feel they did.

However, I felt the acting was sloppy to absolute shite for the most part. Silk Spectre 2 - daughter Jupiter, forgot her first name, was lousy.

Spoiler

The main bit that I really did like was the end of Rorschach - you could see that he was so devastated by human nature and when Jon kills him it was quite moving.

Other than that, I thought it was a bit... naff :\.

 

[PLightstar]

I thought his mask had ink blots and its your mind that makes it move through your perception of what you make the ink blots out to be.

Looks like I was way off.

 

[TdC]

I loved Rorschach, he was my fave char tbh.

 

[russell]

Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant

Superb film, beautifully shot, well rounded characterisation, engaging story.

Go see it.

 

[Zenith.UK]

While the cinematography was lovely, I found Watchmen to be an average film that was too long. I looked at my watch almost exactly halfway through and thought "What? I've watched a film's worth already".

So Rorshach and Dr Manhatten had an interesting backstory, but all I was thinking all the way through was "Odd John" by Olaf Stapledon. The aloof indifference to humanity that Dr Manhatten shows is almost exactly the same as John's...

I was most damnably lonely. I was living in a world of phantoms, or animated masks. No one seemed really alive. I had a queer notion that if I pricked any of you, there would be no bleeding, but only a gush of wind. And I couldn’t make out why you were like that, what it was that I missed in you. The trouble really was that I didn’t clearly know what it was in myself that made me different from you.

 

[Overdriven]

I've still yet to see this =< Probs gonna next week when I get home. Not doing a near 3h cinema session in Stafford cinema.

 

[russell]

I usually like to read the book before the film as I too like the feeling of familiarity and when bits of the film are true to my own imagining of them.

I havent read Watchmen, I will do now.

I found the character of Rorschach very gritty and moving. I didn't know about the changes and the story ran true to me.

The film engaged me (even with a splitting headache). I didn't look at my watch once. I found it to be a very political, real life angle on what it means to be one of these people. I like the dark side (but I did shut my eyes in the really violent bits). I liked it better than any other 'super hero' film I have seen- maybe because it isn't really a 'super hero' film- it unpicks all that.

It's one of those 'you either love it or hate it' scenarios.

(And yes, wtf was with Ozymandia's cat? Is it like the daemons in 'His Dark Materials?')

 

[DaGaffer]

I usually like to read the book before the film as I too like the feeling of familiarity and when bits of the film are true to my own imagining of them.

I havent read Watchmen, I will do now.

I found the character of Rorschach very gritty and moving. I didn't know about the changes and the story ran true to me.

The film engaged me (even with a splitting headache). I didn't look at my watch once. I found it to be a very political, real life angle on what it means to be one of these people. I like the dark side (but I did shut my eyes in the really violent bits). I liked it better than any other 'super hero' film I have seen- maybe because it isn't really a 'super hero' film- it unpicks all that.

It's one of those 'you either love it or hate it' scenarios.

Did you get the whole Mars bit? I was sat there thinking "you wouldn't understand this without reading the comic"

(And yes, wtf was with Ozymandia's cat? Is it like the daemons in 'His Dark Materials?')

Bubastis (the cat) is a genetically engineered lynx. In the comic it has a peripheral connection the squid.

 

[russell]

The Mars bit.


I saw it as his escape as he had lost connection with Earth and humans, and couldn't bear humanity anymore, he had a more god-like/ alien -like understanding. He wanted peace and a retreat.

The buildings were just because he could -he created them with his mind, the architecture was beautiful and intricate and absolutely magnificent.

I dont know if that is at all right? Just the impression that I got from the narrative? Im sure I missed loads.