Thoughts on the Watchmen movie.

[Professor Moriarty]

did there have to even be a Watchmen movie?

[Conway]

First off, anything with a soundtrack like that is good.

Second, I'm not sure what some of you were hoping for from this movie. It was about as close to a panel for panel presentation as you could get. Sure some things were never going to fit or translate to the screen well, but for the most part it's as close to the book as any adaptation I've ever seen. It is a shame that the power of the psychiatrist's chapter could never be transferred into film. Still, they managed to make the prison break much more compelling.

Third, Adrian was both good and bad. It's true nobody I've talked with was surprised about the reveal of Adrian as the true "villain", however I think that the overall goal was to display Veidt as a completely logical creature. He was portrayed as somewhat of a sociopath and I think it fit the story quite well. I think the scene of him in front of the screens forcing himself to witness the life every single person he killed was something that the book never quite pulled off.

Forth and most important, the ending was much better in the movie. The book fell flat, there was no real reason for the end of wars. In fact all it succeeded was weakening the United Sates which would have ensured that the "communist threat" launched an all out attack on America. The move on the other hand created a real enemy that attacked all of mankind across the globe and could always be expected to come back. The face of this enemy was known, and he wasn't brought here by man's mistake, he was from here. The conclusion to the book always felt wooden and like a let down to me. That final scene between Veidt and a man that had become a "god" was easily the most boring and most poorly written scene in the entire book.

[ShadowDemon]

Honestly, I enjoyed the hell out of LXG too. It's an absurdly entertaining and pulpy romp.

Which is what the producer set out to make. I LOVED the recasting of the concept as a "boy's own adventure" piece. The basic concept (sort of a literary version of the Justice League) is entertaining regardless.

It's still quite sad to me how bad League of Extraordinary Gentlemen came out. At least From Hell, while not nearly as good, and in no way loyal as an adaptation, was still intriguing and fun to watch. League is just sad. The car. The inanity. The affected cheese. And worst of all, my absolute conviction that Connery could've nailed the character as originally written, from the opium scene he first appears in through to the heights of heroism

I've read the original material...BLEH!

More "modernist", "deconstructionist" crap! Moore's slap in the face to the very CONCEPT of heroism. Watchmen, LXG (the books) and Marvel's Ultimate universe are sick, twisted, and just shouldn't be, PERIOD!

Holy ****. I've found you. The other person who admits to liking LXG.

Guess there's three of us then...

[Carabas]

First off, anything with a soundtrack like that is good.

Meh. It was okay but really, come on. It was just Tyler Bates giving us his best Hans Zimmer and Danny Elfman impressions. It didn't have any style of its own.

[PyroSikTh]

Hm, I thought you would have said Avengers. I mean you're not a Marvel fan but I thought the cosmic style would appeal to you since you loved Johns' GL run. I love Dark knight too though.

Oh I love the Marvel movie-verse. Winter Soldier and Avengers make up number 3 and 4 respectively in my personal ranking of superhero movies.

[Predator JP]

Forth and most important, the ending was much better in the movie. The book fell flat, there was no real reason for the end of wars. In fact all it succeeded was weakening the United Sates which would have ensured that the "communist threat" launched an all out attack on America. The move on the other hand created a real enemy that attacked all of mankind across the globe and could always be expected to come back. The face of this enemy was known, and he wasn't brought here by man's mistake, he was from here. The conclusion to the book always felt wooden and like a let down to me. That final scene between Veidt and a man that had become a "god" was easily the most boring and most poorly written scene in the entire book.

funny cause i thought exact opposite.

[victorxd1999]

Oh I love the Marvel movie-verse. Winter Soldier and Avengers make up number 3 and 4 respectively in my personal ranking of superhero movies.

Fingers crossed for Guardians of the Galaxy...

[SocializingMogo]

Forth and most important, the ending was much better in the movie. The book fell flat, there was no real reason for the end of wars. In fact all it succeeded was weakening the United Sates which would have ensured that the "communist threat" launched an all out attack on America. The move on the other hand created a real enemy that attacked all of mankind across the globe and could always be expected to come back. The face of this enemy was known, and he wasn't brought here by man's mistake, he was from here. The conclusion to the book always felt wooden and like a let down to me. That final scene between Veidt and a man that had become a "god" was easily the most boring and most poorly written scene in the entire book.

See that's where you're wrong. If it's just Doctor Manhattan being the threat, then Russia has no reason to think the USA wouldn't attack at any time because he's one of them. In fact, Russia might just simply attack because they see no other option for survival.
The ending of the book brought an outside threat that only one united earth could repell. The ending in the book made it a necessity to put all fighting aside and unite against the common enemy that could just wipe out all life on earth.

And Snyder really didn't understand this part.

[Predator JP]

See that's where you're wrong. If it's just Doctor Manhattan being the threat, then Russia has no reason to think the USA wouldn't attack at any time because he's one of them. In fact, Russia might just simply attack because they see no other option for survival.
The ending of the book brought an outside threat that only one united earth could repell. The ending in the book made it a necessity to put all fighting aside and unite against the common enemy that could just wipe out all life on earth.

And Snyder really didn't understand this part.

yep, pretty much this.

[Darrell D.]

I think that rarely has there been a movie where the director misunderstood his subject matter that badly.

It was so intent on slavishly reproducing the book panel by panel, that the point was completely missed. It was an interesting, albeit hilarious, failure.

[dancj]

Unnecessary violence and scene alteration. And it was an example of why I hate Snyder's overuse of slo-mo. The ridiculous almost Matrix-style fight scenes took away from the "real world" aspects that made the book so amazing.

I do wish Snyder hadn't done that, but I do understand why he did it. He wanted to make the film reflect superhero films the way the comic reflected superhero comics.

did there have to even be a Watchmen movie?

Did there have to not be one?

[SocializingMogo]

I do wish Snyder hadn't done that, but I do understand why he did it. He wanted to make the film reflect superhero films the way the comic reflected superhero comics.

I agree, this wasn't really a problem I had with the movie.

[lancerman]

See that's where you're wrong. If it's just Doctor Manhattan being the threat, then Russia has no reason to think the USA wouldn't attack at any time because he's one of them. In fact, Russia might just simply attack because they see no other option for survival.
The ending of the book brought an outside threat that only one united earth could repell. The ending in the book made it a necessity to put all fighting aside and unite against the common enemy that could just wipe out all life on earth.

And Snyder really didn't understand this part.

The U.S. having it's most important city getting annihilated alleviates that problem. Nobody is going to think America would sacrifice it's own country. I mean sure Russia could get in a pissing match with everyone over whose at fault, but ultimately they will be too terrified of this near god who could blow all of them up with a blink of their finger. Survival will ultimately mean mutual cooperation if the threat is to be believed.

The whole notion that everyone would still blame the U.S. and think they are the threat hinges on everyone else being closed mind, ignoring what actually happened, and ultimately not caring about their survival because they would need the U.S. possibly more than any other nation (the one who was in the most contact with Manhattan) to build a suitable defense.

The real flaw in the plan is the same one as the original flaw. The threat was never real and they will never find proof of it ever again, and there is still evidence in the world that can trace it back to being Adrian. If Comedian can figure it out, Rorschach and Owlman can figure it out, all before it ever even happened, so can the rest of the world. Because every government agency in the world would be investigating it.

[lancerman]

It was so intent on slavishly reproducing the book panel by panel, that the point was completely missed. It was an interesting, albeit hilarious, failure.

People keep saying this, but never bring up the point that was missed.

[SocializingMogo]

The U.S. having it's most important city getting annihilated alleviates that problem. Nobody is going to think America would sacrifice it's own country. I mean sure Russia could get in a pissing match with everyone over whose at fault, but ultimately they will be too terrified of this near god who could blow all of them up with a blink of their finger. Survival will ultimately mean mutual cooperation if the threat is to be believed.

The whole notion that everyone would still blame the U.S. and think they are the threat hinges on everyone else being closed mind, ignoring what actually happened, and ultimately not caring about their survival because they would need the U.S. possibly more than any other nation (the one who was in the most contact with Manhattan) to build a suitable defense.

The real flaw in the plan is the same one as the original flaw. The threat was never real and they will never find proof of it ever again, and there is still evidence in the world that can trace it back to being Adrian. If Comedian can figure it out, Rorschach and Owlman can figure it out, all before it ever even happened, so can the rest of the world. Because every government agency in the world would be investigating it.

They'd never believe it. Manhattan is the american hero, they'll call it a fake. Look at all those 9/11 conspiracy nutjobs out there. Rorschach was only able to see through the scheme because he knew all of them, because he made connections where nobody else was looking, because Rorschach is a misable paranoid prick.