• We have updated the guidelines regarding posting political content: please see the stickied thread on Website Issues.

Alan Moore's Watchmen

barfing_pumpkin said:
...flaws - most notably that Alan Moore spoiled the cake a bit by being too eager to chuck in as many ingredients as he could, instead of doing the proper and writerly thing of seeing what he could take out of the nearly-finished product.
Spot on. His other problem is that he's always desperate to show off how intellectual he is. This is nicely counterbalanced by the fact that he is often successful.
 
i thought it was the biggest pile of pretentious wank i ever saw... and pretentious 80s wank at that :(

no amount of eye candy could make this film work for me. i think i see now why i never bothered with the comic book when a friend waved it at me back in the day...
:eek:
 
That's the trouble with a Watchmen film, if you haven't read the original and hate the film, you won't read it at all, and if you haven't read it and enjoyed the film... you still won't see much point in reading it.
 
BlackRiverFalls said:
i seem to recall having a flick thorugh and deciding it was too pretentious back then...

I don't know if it's pretentious, just very serious about a medium that was usually dismissed as "kids' stuff". I haven't read it in years, so I'm not sure if it stands the test of time, but in its day... wow.
 
Pietro_Mercurios said:
All I can say is that it wasn't the sex scenes, or the nudity, that had me flinching.

Absolutely. I was peeping through my fingers for most of Rorshach's interrogation of the guy in the bar :eek:
 
Spot on. His other problem is that he's always desperate to show off how intellectual he is. This is nicely counterbalanced by the fact that he is often successful.

Yeah, don't get me wrong - Alan Moore has written some fine, fine stuff, especially From Hell, which remains one of my favourite books. Regarding Watchmen, I think it was down to the fact that he was experimenting with a form that was somewhat staid and stylistically hackneyed back then, so a few mistakes along the way were inevitable. Still, better to try and (occasionally) fail, than not try at all. So kudos to him for that.
 
I liked the film, I reckon the pacing was off, the second half dragged a bit and the ending sequence was over-extended. Great fun, great eye candy. I loved the little clip of the Comedian on the grassy knoll.

The Comedian definitely came across as a Nick Fury type.

Night Owl didnt totally convince.

Loved the Moth being dragged off!
 
Last edited:
...the wonderfully named barfing_pumpkin posted:
Glad to see that the annoying and distracting Black Freighter bit was left out, just as it should have been in the book.

This sequence was made, the whole Black Freighter story/black & white guy at news stand was all shot, but dropped due to time restraints. However, the DVD release will cut this sequence back into the film, adding maybe another half hour to overall duration! Oh joy!
 
IvanVolle said:
...the wonderfully named barfing_pumpkin posted:
Glad to see that the annoying and distracting Black Freighter bit was left out, just as it should have been in the book.

This sequence was made, the whole Black Freighter story/black & white guy at news stand was all shot, but dropped due to time restraints. However, the DVD release will cut this sequence back into the film, adding maybe another half hour to overall duration! Oh joy!
I don't know what everybody is complaining about. Even with the extra stuff back in, it will still be shorter than any of the 'Lord of the Rings', films.

And, if it isn't, it will still seem shorter. ;)
 
CodenameThrow said:
Mark my words, this film will never be made..... However, I'm going to stick my neck out here - they won't make it. There is too much to lose. And the fanboys will riot.

Thursday April 29th 2004



Sorry, I couldn't resist.
 
The Black Freighter sequence is actually animated, and to be released separately.

(But the Watchman DVD will be longer...)

Tales of the Black Freighter & Under the Hood DVD Details!
January 30, 2009

Warner Home Video has released the DVD and Blu-ray Disc covers for Watchmen: Tales of the Black Freighter & Under the Hood, coming to stores on March 24. Here is how the studio describes the release:

They're in the book. And on this disc. From the director of Watchmen and 300 come two tales from the celebrated graphic novel that do not appear in the extraordinary Watchmen Theatrical Feature. Tales of the Black Freighter (featuring the voice of 300's Gerard Butler) brings to strikingly animated life the novels richly layered story-within-a-story, a daring pirate saga whose turbulent events may mirror those in the Watchmen's world. Stars from the Watchmen movie team in the amazing live-action/CGI Under the Hood, based on Nite Owl's powerful first-hand account of how the hooded adventurers came into existence. Two fan-essential stories. One place to watch the excitement. Watching the Watchmen begins here.

The DVD and Blu-ray also include the features "Story Within A Story: The Books of Watchmen" and "A First Look at Green Lantern."

http://www.comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id=52438

6th April is the UK release date.
 
what was the mothman supposed to have done to end up in the nuthouse? is that explained in the comic?
 
BlackRiverFalls said:
what was the mothman supposed to have done to end up in the nuthouse? is that explained in the comic?

Mccarthyism leading to alcoholism.

The active masks at the time were called before senatorial commitees and forced to unmask them selves. Some like Nite owl 1 and the Comedian went through fine, but the Mothman had left leaning freinds when he was younger so was dragged over the coals and ended up drinking rather to much.
 
Well I finally saw this last night (at the Imax - briliant place to see a film like this) and overall I thought it was a success.

It was a little overlong, especially the second half, but it kept my attention all the way through. Loved the opening credits - the 40s Minutemen looked more interesting than the current bunch though! Some of the scenes, particularly those in the prison, were ludicrously violent to the point where they were hard to take seriously.

Nite Owl and Silk Spectre II being able to take out a whole bunch of thugs in the street didn't really convince either - Nite Owl in particular was quite out of shape and neither of them had their costumes/gadgets with them.

Still, these are minor gripes. It was very faithful to the original so I'm not entirely clear what Alan Moore's problem with it was this time.
 
Alan Moore's problem is with a number of things.

To start with, he's been shafted numerous times by DC, not just over movie adaptations, but that's a part of it.

His main gripe seems to be that he disapproves of adaptations in general. He wrote Watchmen (and V for Vendetta and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen) as a comic, and so it can only be a comic book. Making a film will (in his mind) always degrade the story.

Now, I don't really agree with him on this point, but he's entitled to his opinion. I think Snyder did an admirable job, although I don't like the changed ending. Not because it was changed, but because it doesn't work. (The threat really needs to be external for Veidt's plan to work. Also, The New Frontiersman should have been used more, because appearing at the end out of context lessens the effect, in my opinion.)
 
HOW YOU'LL BE WATCHING WATCHMEN AT HOME

US release on July 21st.

Watchmen Director’s Cut 2-Disc Digital Copy Special Edition DVD:

· Director’s Cut (additional 25 min.)

o Newly included footage contains more Rorschach and a scene of Hollis Mason’s death

· The Phenomenon: The Comic That Changed Comics [Learn how the subversive, thematically complex, award winning comic that changed literature, inspired analytical debate, and won countless fans, was created]

· Watchmen: Webisodes

o My Chemical Romance Desolation Row Music Video

o Digital Copy



Watchmen Director’s Cut Blu-ray Disc:

· Director’s Cut (additional 25 min.)

o Newly included footage contains more Rorschach and a scene of Hollis Mason’s death.

· Warner Bros. Maximum Movie Mode [With Watchmen Director Zack Snyder as our host, we’ll dive deep into the intricacies of the Watchmen.]

o Director walk-ons with scene analysis

o Picture-in-picture video from the cast and crew

o Side-by-side comparisons of the graphic novel and the film

o Timeline comparisons of our world events to those from Watchmen

o Photo galleries of production stills and storyboards

· The Phenomenon: The Comic That Changed Comics [Learn how the subversive, thematically complex, award winning comic that changed literature, inspired analytical debate, and won countless fans, was created]

· Real Superheroes, Real Vigilantes [Explores the fascination and psychology behind real-world vigilantes and where that behavior crosses over into actually donning the hood and behaving as superheroes.]

· Mechanics: Technologies of a Fantastic World [The creators of Watchmen had a great understanding of engineering and science, allowing for plausible mechanics in their characters tools and the world itself. This featurette will guide the viewer through the filmmakers process of turning these technologies into cinematic reality]

· My Chemical Romance Desolation Row Music Video

· BD-Live with even more content

· Digital Copy
 
Watched this a few days ago, have to admit I've never heard of the comics at all (though the name Adrain Veidt did seem a bit familiar). I thought it was a brilliant film, loved it, dark and weird. I instantly wanted to watch it again.
 
marionXXX said:
...(though the name Adrain Veidt did seem a bit familiar)...

AV used to post on here many moons ago, i think he also posted under Ozymandius nick (hence the adrian veidt ref im guessing). Maybe thats where you remember it from.

But i agree top movie, best Moore adaptation yet and with Marvel apparently sorting out the miracleman copyright saga, maybe Zak would be up to trying his hand at Kid Miracleman laying waste to London in 2014? ooh, i hope so
 
Twin_Star said:
marionXXX said:
...(though the name Adrain Veidt did seem a bit familiar)...

AV used to post on here many moons ago, i think he also posted under Ozymandius nick (hence the adrian veidt ref im guessing). Maybe thats where you remember it from.

Yes I think I remember ;)
 
Moore the bitter old man that he is is not going to like this one bit.
 
For the record, I thought it was an interesting film in terms of premise and powerful in terms of symbolism and imagery (lots to think about if you want to, but deep scrutiny not absolutely required to grasp the plot), but those strengths couldn't save it fron being a mess in terms of narrative and pacing. It was long (I think--or did it just feel long) but still too ambitious in scope; perhaps a mini-series might have been a better option in the first place.

I have to admit that I've never read Moore's books, so I can't judge how many of the strengths and weaknesses stem from that.
 
The main weakness was that the film took Moore completely seriously, didn't get his very British sense of irony at all. The heroes in the film might as well be a bunch of bully boys. No surprises Snyder is remaking The Fountainhead next.
 
I liked the film a lot - I've watched it several times enjoyed it, as @Yithian says;
lots to think about if you want to, but deep scrutiny not absolutely required to grasp the plot
Probably watch it again as well.
 
So this is a sequel to the... comic? Not the film? Kind of difficult to work out the point of this, and I bet Alan Moore is less than impressed. I'll wait for the reviews to see if it's worth a look.
 
Back
Top