Author Topic: [Movie] Watchmen  (Read 16049 times)

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Offline Perpetual Change

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[Movie] Watchmen
« on: July 23, 2009, 08:52:23 AM »
So Watchmen is out on DVD. I'm guessing people who skipped it in theaters (thanks to the critics) are going to be wondering if it's worth a rental soon. Short answer? Yes. Here's my review.

"The Dark Knight" this is not, though it's easy to understand the predicament of "Watchmen." For most movie-goers, the ultra-serious trailer that appeared before "The Dark Knight" was a first exposure. The commercials that soon hit airwaves weren't much different. What the advertising for "Watchmen" wasn't able to do was explain to people that, unlike "The Dark Knight", "Watchmen" is VERY much a comic book movie, and a parody of one at that. Understandably, many viewers left theaters that night scratching their heads, wondering what exactly it was they'd just spent the last three hours sitting through.

Snyder executes Moore's work almost flawlessly. Aside from the ending (which, BTW, is better than the comic book's disappointing one), "Watchmen" easily stands as one of the most accurately depicted comic book movies ever. The few omissions leave some viewers out in the cold- but Snyder is a genius at putting emphasis where it counts. A video that plays in the beginning under Bob Dylan's "The Times They Are A'Changing" serves as both a credit roll and a history lesson for those not already familiar with the story's alternate setting. Snyder has also put Moore's political themes at the forefront: there's more Nixon scenes, as some well as some humorous and speculative cameos from the likes of Ronald Reagan, Fidel Castro, and Pat Buchanan.

And yet, the film is almost too short- even three hour long director's cut. As the scenes of the film progresses faithfully to the chapters of the book, with the storytelling focusing on one or maybe two characters at a time and their paths intertwining closer to the end, one gets the impression that Watchmen would have done much better as an eleven or twelve episode mini-series. But then, we wouldn't have the high-budget special effects and choreography that we do now, and those are two aspects of the movie that are worth noting because they're definitely top-notch.

The liberal intellegensia hate this movie, as their press has made quite clear, but that's because they haven't done their homework. Like so many viewers, critics have not been able to pinpoint its place as a parody. Viewers who expect Watchmen is some super serious courtroom drama with masked adventurers playing polarized symbolizations of things like 'law and order' or 'chaos'- that is, people who expect they're getting something like "The Dark Knight"- should approach the movie with more of an open mind. Those who accept it for what it is- a politically fueled dark comic book 'parody' with plenty of serious points as well as laughs- will like the film quite a bit more.

Final Score: 4.5/5; A-

Offline staveoffzombies

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Re: [Movie] Watchmen
« Reply #1 on: July 23, 2009, 04:06:19 PM »
Good review.  I thought the movie was fantastically well-made, but it's not for everyone I guess.

Offline toao

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Re: [Movie] Watchmen
« Reply #2 on: July 23, 2009, 04:49:48 PM »
I thought it was well worth the watch, I really enjoyed all of it!
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Offline Dimitrius

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Re: [Movie] Watchmen
« Reply #3 on: July 24, 2009, 06:54:02 PM »
I loooooooooooveeee this movie, just as I love the graphic novel, but I don't think the ending to the novel is disappointing at all, but I like the movie one better and, honestly, doing the whole alien thing for the movie it would've just destroyed it!

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Offline orcus116

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Re: [Movie] Watchmen
« Reply #4 on: July 26, 2009, 07:15:18 PM »
The main thing that irked me was the way they handled Ozymandias. In the graphic novel he is depicted as an athlete, incredibly intelligent and essentially the ultimate male. That was a huge part of his character. He was probably the only huge miscast of the movie as he ended up very feminine and not all that menacing. Not forgivable at all considering how important a character he was to the story.

The music choices were a little strange too. "99 Red Balloons" was embarrassing to sit through and "All Along The Watchtower" was strange. They also used the wrong version of Hallelujah. Jeff Buckley's would've been 100 times more relevant.

Offline Dimitrius

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Re: [Movie] Watchmen
« Reply #5 on: July 26, 2009, 07:25:24 PM »
There was another thing about Ozymandias that irked me, in the novel you believe he's doing the right thing in his mind, without thinking he's essentially a villain. In the movie you know from the first time he appears he's a bad guy.

I mean look at his reactions after the squid explodes in the novel, he's genuinely happy, and on the movie he looks like a mad scientist.
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Offline orcus116

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Re: [Movie] Watchmen
« Reply #6 on: July 26, 2009, 07:32:34 PM »
Yes, that exactly. That first thing you mentioned is partly why the ending works so well in both the novel and the movie.

Offline Perpetual Change

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Re: [Movie] Watchmen
« Reply #7 on: July 26, 2009, 07:44:42 PM »
I didn't make note of this in my review, but I found the music transitions as well as the dialogue a lot less jarring at home than in the Theaters. Probably because no one in my house was laughing, unlike the theater crowd.

Offline Dimitrius

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Re: [Movie] Watchmen
« Reply #8 on: July 26, 2009, 07:47:54 PM »
I actually thought some of the music selections was spot on, like The Sound of Silence in the cemetery scene and Hallelujah in Archie scene. A lot of people were laughing at that in the theaters, but it goes perfect with what Dan was going through.


And the opening credits are easily the best opening credits to a movie I've ever seen.
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Offline ReaPsTA

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Re: [Movie] Watchmen
« Reply #9 on: July 26, 2009, 09:59:36 PM »
I actually thought some of the music selections was spot on, like The Sound of Silence in the cemetery scene and Hallelujah in Archie scene. A lot of people were laughing at that in the theaters, but it goes perfect with what Dan was going through.

And the opening credits are easily the best opening credits to a movie I've ever seen.

Sound of Silence was an odd choice but I kind of liked it. Everything about the Owl Ship sex scene was awful, especially relative to how well it was done in the comic. Dave Gibbons did it with taste and a sense of humor while still being sexy. The movie version is really intense soft-core porn.

Watchtower makes sense because Moore quoted it at the end of the chapter where Night Owl and Rorschach approach Ozy's fortress. The lyrics are perfect, but your mileage might vary when it comes to the music. As a song it's great, but I dunno how well it fits into that scene.
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Offline Scurvy!Dreams

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Re: [Movie] Watchmen
« Reply #10 on: July 27, 2009, 01:57:30 AM »
I don't know, I think the movie sex scene was pretty humorous too.

And what's wrong with 99 Red Balloons? That's a fantastic song.

Offline XJDenton

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Re: [Movie] Watchmen
« Reply #11 on: July 27, 2009, 06:25:46 AM »
I agree that Ozymandias was probably the weakest part of the movie. The music choices didnt irk me too much but sometimes they felt as if they'd just been laid on top rather than mixed in if that makes sense.
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Offline orcus116

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Re: [Movie] Watchmen
« Reply #12 on: July 27, 2009, 09:31:09 AM »
I don't know, I think the movie sex scene was pretty humorous too.

And what's wrong with 99 Red Balloons? That's a fantastic song.

Didn't fit the scene at all and the fact that they played through the entire song made the whole scene very distracting. I might need to check the comic again but I'm pretty sure that wasn't one of the musical cues like Watchtower was.

Offline RandalGraves

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Re: [Movie] Watchmen
« Reply #13 on: July 27, 2009, 09:56:48 AM »
This may be blasphemy, but I prefer the version of Watchtower created for Battlestar . . .

Offline ariich

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Re: [Movie] Watchmen
« Reply #14 on: July 30, 2009, 04:51:23 PM »
Really good review PC, I agree with pretty much everything.

I also agree with orcus that Ozy was not cast well. He just wasn't nearly charming enough and always seemed creepy, so it didn't seem a shock when he turned out to be the villain (well, villain-ish!)

However, I thought the soundtrack was awesome. The choice of Hallelujah was pretty hilarious, but apart from that everything was 1) a good choice of song, and 2) fit well with what was happening.

I can't wait to see the director's cut, but I have no idea when or even if it's coming out in the UK, which is really lame.

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Offline AcidLameLTE

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Re: [Movie] Watchmen
« Reply #15 on: July 30, 2009, 04:54:06 PM »
I can't wait to see the director's cut, but I have no idea when or even if it's coming out in the UK, which is really lame.
I just ordered it on blu-ray from America. What confuses me most is that it's region free SO WHY ISN'T IT OUT IN THE UK YET?

Offline Dimitrius

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Re: [Movie] Watchmen
« Reply #16 on: July 30, 2009, 07:16:16 PM »
Because you're silly Brits.
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Offline antigoon

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Re: [Movie] Watchmen
« Reply #17 on: July 31, 2009, 12:39:39 AM »
and you don't brush your teeth enough

:neverusethis:

Offline AcidLameLTE

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Re: [Movie] Watchmen
« Reply #18 on: July 31, 2009, 01:54:59 AM »
AT LEAST WE'RE NOT OBESE

Offline Dimitrius

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Re: [Movie] Watchmen
« Reply #19 on: July 31, 2009, 10:43:04 AM »
But you're closer to the French and me or the Americans, instant fail!
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Offline AcidLameLTE

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Re: [Movie] Watchmen
« Reply #20 on: July 31, 2009, 10:43:49 AM »
But you're closer to Canada than me...and Nick.

Offline Dimitrius

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Re: [Movie] Watchmen
« Reply #21 on: July 31, 2009, 10:46:28 AM »
But you're closer to Canada than me...and Nick.
Nick is closer to Canada than me, Nick does not fail as hard as the French, though.
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Offline AcidLameLTE

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Re: [Movie] Watchmen
« Reply #22 on: July 31, 2009, 10:48:05 AM »
Hef and bosk own France though so it must be better now.

Offline Dimitrius

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Re: [Movie] Watchmen
« Reply #23 on: July 31, 2009, 10:49:01 AM »
I heard it still doesn't have military victory.
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Offline AcidLameLTE

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Re: [Movie] Watchmen
« Reply #24 on: July 31, 2009, 10:49:32 AM »
Yeah because all the French are dead.

Offline ariich

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Re: [Movie] Watchmen
« Reply #25 on: July 31, 2009, 05:08:57 PM »
I can't wait to see the director's cut, but I have no idea when or even if it's coming out in the UK, which is really lame.
I just ordered it on blu-ray from America. What confuses me most is that it's region free SO WHY ISN'T IT OUT IN THE UK YET?
Ahhhh, is Bluray entirely region free?! We only got a player recently and I only have one disc so far, so am not really up to date with all this stuff.

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Offline AcidLameLTE

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Re: [Movie] Watchmen
« Reply #26 on: July 31, 2009, 06:03:13 PM »
Not entirely but most blu-rays are (there's only 3 regions with blu-ray: A, B and C, instead of 4 trillion ones with DVD).

This site is good for checking:

https://www.blu-ray.com/

It's just a lot easier to make blu-rays region free now that everyone uses the same amount of lines per screen (720/1080i/1080p).

Offline Ouda

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Re: [Movie] Watchmen
« Reply #27 on: August 01, 2009, 03:55:40 PM »
But you're closer to Canada than me...and Nick.

Being closer to Canada is the best thing you can do, next to being closer to Poland. FRENCH SUCKS!!!! ENGLISH ENGLISH ENGLISH!!!

Offline ariich

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Re: [Movie] Watchmen
« Reply #28 on: August 02, 2009, 05:41:28 AM »
Not entirely but most blu-rays are (there's only 3 regions with blu-ray: A, B and C, instead of 4 trillion ones with DVD).

This site is good for checking:

https://www.blu-ray.com/

It's just a lot easier to make blu-rays region free now that everyone uses the same amount of lines per screen (720/1080i/1080p).
Yeah found another site that tests them all, looks like it's pretty easy to find anything with a simple google search.

Ordered Watchmen :D

Did you use amazon? I ordered it through the US amazon, and even with the middle shipping option (8-16 days rather than 18-32 days) it comes to under £20, which is how much the regular version costs in stores, and much cheaper than ordering the import through amazon UK, which was £27 I think.

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Offline AcidLameLTE

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Re: [Movie] Watchmen
« Reply #29 on: August 02, 2009, 05:42:42 AM »
I got it on Ebay for £17 (including postage).

Offline Dimitrius

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Re: [Movie] Watchmen
« Reply #30 on: August 02, 2009, 11:48:52 AM »
Arrich just got pwned.
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Offline ariich

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Re: [Movie] Watchmen
« Reply #31 on: August 02, 2009, 12:09:57 PM »
Arrich just got pwned.
Meh, £2 difference. And I could have got it for less and waited longer, but I want it sooner :P

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Offline Dimitrius

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Re: [Movie] Watchmen
« Reply #32 on: August 02, 2009, 12:58:36 PM »
Arrich just got pwned.
Meh, £2 difference. And I could have got it for less and waited longer, but I want it sooner :P
Ariich didn't get that pwned.
« Last Edit: August 02, 2009, 01:17:47 PM by Dimitrius »
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Offline ariich

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Re: [Movie] Watchmen
« Reply #33 on: August 02, 2009, 01:08:10 PM »
:lol :tup

Although at least I know how to spell my username :P

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Offline Dimitrius

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Re: [Movie] Watchmen
« Reply #34 on: August 02, 2009, 01:18:10 PM »
For some reason I've always write a double "r" instead of "i".

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