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Buy, Rent or Skip Watchmen?

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Author Topic: Watchmen (2009)  (Read 92 times)

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Chiprocks1

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Watchmen (2009)
« on: September 15, 2015, 09:32:58 am »
Watchmen
2-Disc Special Edition
The Director's Cut





Trailer



Watchmen is one of those books that I've known about for years and had every intention of reading, but never getting around to doing just that. I've always heard people raving about how this particular story and characters reinvented the Superhero Genre and how it turned the genre on it's head. Fast-forward to the movie getting made. Fast-forward to the DVD being released. I still haven't seen it. Just never had the time. I actually made the effort 2 years ago and put a hold at my Library for my copy, only to get a f*cked up, non playable disc. I took it back, complained and then just never bothered to get another copy since that was the only copy they had. It wasn't until I saw the Batman V Superman Comic Con Trailer did I decide to check out Watchmen. It was actually more about wanting to see Zack Snyder's other Superhero flick that isn't Man of Steel to gauge what BvS would and could be.

Having just watched Watchmen (see what I did there  ;) ), I can see what BvS could be stylistically on the visual end of things. But content-wise, it will never replicate what we get here for obvious reasons. I now understand why the comic book itself is so revered and how it completely changed what the medium was when it came out in the mid-80's. I didn't have a clue that this film would be a Hard-R. So much blood. It lives up to the name "Graphic Novel" given how bloody this is at times. Sawed-off arms, Shotgunned faces, and Axe-Splitting-heads will surely make people noticed that this isn't your Grandmother's Superhero song and dance. Throw in Sex scenes and the full monty and you've really changed the game here. I love comic book movies but in spite of being a fan of the genre, even I can admit that they are all full of the standard cliches that come with it. From Superman The Movie to The Avengers, they follow a formula for a reason.

With Watchmen, this isn't the typical Superhero flick. First off, it's a straight up murder mystery that uses the backdrop of retired Superhero's to solve said mystery. Add in the fact that these Heroes are f*cked up one way or another with the same problems that everyone else has and you've got something very unique story-wise. I was fully engaged from start to finish coming away with Rorschach as being my favorite character of the bunch because he's the most f*cked up one there is which serves up some truly memorable scenes. I've always been a fan of Jackie Earle Haley and he absolutely steals the movie. But as much as I enjoyed the movie, it's not without faults. For starters, I did have issues with the voice of Rorschach. You can't listen to him talk and not be reminded of Christian Bale's Batman voice. They are too similar to one another, intentional or not, it's distracting. The other thing I didn't like was the pacing at times. Anytime that Dr. Manhattan is on screen, it slows down dramatically. Other than those two things, I'm still a fan of Watchmen and highly recommend this as a Rent. I actually intend to see if I can find a sweet deal on eBay for the 4-Disc Special Edition. This Director's Cut that I watched clocked in at 3 hours. I can only imagine what else they have on the DVD for the 4-Disc version.
Chip's Rockin' Art
Michael Scott To Meredith: "You've slept with so many men, your starting to look like one. BOOM! Roasted! Go here.

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Chiprocks1

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Re: Watchmen (2009)
« Reply #1 on: September 15, 2015, 09:33:26 am »
Watchmen DVD Screencaps

Coming soon...
Chip's Rockin' Art
Michael Scott To Meredith: "You've slept with so many men, your starting to look like one. BOOM! Roasted! Go here.

Neumatic

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Re: Watchmen (2009)
« Reply #2 on: September 15, 2015, 10:13:23 am »
So the question is: have you read the book?

Chiprocks1

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Re: Watchmen (2009)
« Reply #3 on: September 15, 2015, 10:30:48 am »
Haven't read it, but have every intention of picking up a copy from the Library now. You?
Chip's Rockin' Art
Michael Scott To Meredith: "You've slept with so many men, your starting to look like one. BOOM! Roasted! Go here.

Neumatic

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Re: Watchmen (2009)
« Reply #4 on: September 15, 2015, 10:40:43 am »
Own it, read it several times, and while I'm not a diehard fan of either, I'm not a fan of the movie, outside of the amazing opening sequences.  It's not just that so much from the book was cut and how much that changes the context, but the flick to me was just too slick and "badass" when the book really isn't.  I felt that the style hurt the a lot of what was going on there.

Case in point is Rorschach, the scene where the cops arrest him and they pull his mask off, to me, was always supposed to be this "holy sh1t, it was HIM?"  The dude we've been seeing pop up in the background all throughout the story turns out to be a major character and we never knew.  It didn't feel like that at all.  There's another scene earlier where the voiceover says "they didn't recognize me without my face."  it's this big wide shot in the book so you're thinking "he's here, which one is him?" but the way the movie shot it, as a pan, you know where he is immediately (although he is in shadow, somehow it just feels less dangerous when he could be any person on that crowded street).

Also, even though the movie borrowed most of the visuals from the book, like Sin City, they felt real different.  The book was straightforward and intentionally unimpressive, to counter the dramatic look seen in other books.  These were regular people in silly costumes, while the movie took those same images and made them look cool.

There was also the Sucker Punch issue of airplane toilet bowl colouring and slow-motion weightlessness, I never felt that anything was real because it was so stylized.  And all that stuff is real modern, so it never felt like the 80s (contrast that with the behind the scenes photos, where it really does look and feel like you're in the 80s).

I thought the cast was fine and everyone did a fine job, but I just didn't like it.

Chiprocks1

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Re: Watchmen (2009)
« Reply #5 on: September 15, 2015, 10:44:07 am »
The very reason why I want to check out the book is to compare both mediums to see what was and wasn't in the film. While watching the flick, I knew (without any prior knowledge) that there would be chunks missing and that this in itself would most likely divide fans of the book. Looking forward to reading the book and seeing for myself, the good and bad of both.
Chip's Rockin' Art
Michael Scott To Meredith: "You've slept with so many men, your starting to look like one. BOOM! Roasted! Go here.

Neumatic

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Re: Watchmen (2009)
« Reply #6 on: September 15, 2015, 10:56:02 am »
Everyone said the only way to do the movie was to recreate the comic book, but ironically my favourite stuff was when they did original things like that opening sequence and these in-universe promo videos.









 

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