I know Watchmen is old news now. Anyone upset at how different it ended up being from the Graphic Novel should listen to the Creative Screenwriting Magazine Podcast with the writers and hear what the movie could have been. After listening to the past I am thankful of what we ended up getting, it could have been a lot worse

i just got back from watching Watchmen; in retrospect, the style and feel of it is haunting -- though in a good way

Here's what I don't understand...why didn't Dr. Manhatten simply remove all of the radioactive elements from earth while they are sitting dormant in the bombs days and weeks before they are ever launched? He could have quietly taken out all the Uranium and Plutonium and all that making the nuclear weapons ineffective!

watchmen was awesome they did a great job bringing the comic to life all the characters where brought too life in a way that was just great go dee this movie!

You guys are fucking retarted Watchmen was a good damn movie and I'm a big fan of the novel and the movie is the best adaptation of a comic ever. Zach Synder did a great job. it did really good at the box office and its a kick ass movie you say it sucks because you didnt pay attention to the movie you were to busy staring at Dr.Manhattan's penis the whole time!

Ok, I'm going to give my two cents here... Let me start by saying that, although I have read some, i'm not a huge fan of comic books, I love the comic book movies tho. I have never read Watchmen nor have I heard about them until the trailer for the movie came out.

Honestly... I hated the movie. It had its good parts, but overall I thought it was too long... There were so many scenes that could've been shorter, but they were dragged and dragged for what I thought was a long time.

I have read and heard so much about the Watchmen, how it is supposed to be one of the greatest books of our time, and how the story is supposed to be very dense. I did not get it from this movie. I thought there were so much dialogue, but no point whatsoever, it reminded me a little bit as someone that is trying to look very smart by saying a bunch of "intellectual" words but in reality have no idea what he's talking about.

Please don't start insulting me. As I said, I have never read the comic novel, and I am just giving my point of view based on THE MOVIE (not the source material). The graphics were really good, but the story was a snoozefest!

After watching the ‘Watchmen’ film I was left with a profound sense of enjoyment and satisfaction. Of course this wasn’t perfection in the art film-making, the film had its visible flaws which is inevitable for any film of such a large-scale magnitude, however these were unnoticeable when I was drawn into the story, the lives of the characters on-screen. I had only previously read about the characters and their motivations in the dystopian world in which the Watchmen film is set, but to see them alive in such a visual spectacle, roaming, fighting, embracing, engaging, was nothing short of a joy to watch. And for those that have not read the graphic novel, and have reservations about seeing and ultimately being able to ‘understand’ and take pleasure in Alan Moore’s Watchmen universe in two hours and forty minutes, I say this; just give the film a chance, and I guarantee you will enjoy it in one aspect or another at least, because today a Comedian died...[LAST PARAGRAGH, Sorry for all the replies, only way I could post it]

[CONT]The sexy ‘Silk Spectre II’ (also known as Laurie Jupiter) is portrayed by Malin Ackerman, the latex-costumed female of the group who took over from her mother who was in the first generation ‘Minutemen’ (Sally Jupiter played by Carla Gugino) and despite her relatively large role in the sub-plot with ‘Nite Owl II/Dan Dreiberg’ (Patrick Wilson), her performance at many times falls flat emotionally and she is weakest character in film full of strong, male performances. Jeffrey Dean Morgan is ‘The Comedian’, a twisted individual murdered at the beginning of the film, a man with a mutated conscience and morals who strives on the ability to get a job done at any cost.

[CONT]While Patrick Wilson as the second ‘Nite Owl’ and Jackie Earle Haley as ‘Rorschach’ give the most vivid performances as two complex characters, one a man fighting to find his identity beyond his persona as a crime-fighting vigilante dressed as an Owl and another without an identity, a hollow-shell of a human being who has lost faith in humanity and the emotions and logical conventions which make us human beings. ‘Rorschach’ is the closest towards a protagonist we are shown in the film and the graphic novel, because in this mutilated society, there are no heroes left.

This is an alternative, dystopian future and thus deserves characters with such ominous flaws and attributes that would accompany such a rich, illustrated world. The United States of America and the Soviet Union are at the heights of Cold War tension, with doomsday on an ever gloomy horizon, despite the emergence of the one, true superhero among the ranks of the Watchmen members. Doctor Manhattan (Billy Crudup), a blue, shimmering being of infinite power, who can distort the rules of nature i.e. large-scale teleportation and who also single-handedly, won the United States the war in Vietnam (which allowed Nixon a third term in office). Behind the glistening body of Dr Manhattan, you have Adrian Veidt (Matthew Goode), a billionaire entrepreneur and self-proclaimed ‘smartest man in the world’, who is one of the few Watchmen members to release their identity after the Keene Act and build an empire upon this image...[CONT]

The film conveys a linear narrative which in-turn and in due course examines the backgrounds and motivations behind the ‘main’ characters allowing those with no knowledge of the alternative period in which the novel is set to become acquainted, to an extent (which is down to how much the audience is willing to hand the film and receive back), with the new world in-front of them. That is not to say the film is perfectly paced and layered, at times the action is split between two contrasting events which can send the viewer from solemn conversation to vicious, blood and guts violence in a matter of seconds creating a complex structure which may have certain viewers scratching their heads slightly. However, this is one of those inevitable problems that come with trying to reproduce the source material as naturally as possible.

Even the most stubborn admirer of cinema and the world around the medium must recognize the beautifully stylised scenery of the near-apocalyptic society in which the film is set. Pop-culture references abound, the streets lined with disgust, animosity and the raving magnitude of the conflicting personalities of the Watchmen members. While the sets, props and costumes draw you into a world of awe and astonishment, the brutality of the choreographed violence on-screen almost throws the audience off-balance and takes the viewer even closer into a world they may or may not have been familiar with. With the use of slow-motion in the various critical action sequences, Snyder allows the audience to take in every detail of every punch, of every strike and of every grimace of pain. Even those with the iron-clad stomachs may feel the need to turn and shudder as a meat clever is dropped into the suspecting skull of a local criminal. This is the Watchmen after-all, and they don’t do things by half.

[CONT]...The ‘Watchmen’ set in an alternative 1985, follows a group of second-generation (first generation were called the ‘Minutemen’) vigilante’s who prowl the streets to keep society in order, however after the 1977 Keene Act was passed (it prohibited vigilantism), some members decided to retire and ‘live normal lives’, others built empires upon their fame, while the film’s main protagonist (to an extent) Rorschach has decided to disobey the law and continue his acts of vigilantism against the evils in society. However, the group is drawn back together when one of the members known as ‘The Comedian’ is murdered in cold blood. Is someone or something hunting down the masked-avengers? Or is something more sinister afoot? And so the Watchmen experience begins.

Decades in movie purgatory. Years in production. Months of anticipation. Zack Snyder’s film adaption of the graphic novel ‘Watchmen’, once deemed ‘unfilmable’ by Terry Gilliam, has finally hit theatres across the globe, and its hit them like a sucker-punch to Alan Moore’s groin. With the most important question at the forefront of proceedings being, not who would be watching the Watchmen, but who would enjoy the Watchmen. Would the source material be sacrificed for a larger potential general audience, or would they be alienated due to the faithfulness of the adaption? I myself would say the latter, to an extent...

Zack Snyder’s biggest achievement of the ‘Watchmen’ project has been his ability to replicate Alan Moore’s source material as close-as-humanly possible. He has shown that while the project was clearly not ‘unfilmable’, it was, and always will be impossible to replicate a motion-picture clone of the graphic novel to an idealised reader’s perception of perfection. However this did not stop Snyder from creating a film as faithful to the novel as we are most likely ever to see. It also did not stop him from alienating the potential move-going public outside of the Watchmen universe...[

anyone who counts 'too much penis" as one of their reasons for not liking the film is protesting a little too hard if you know what i mean.

The movie was average. It wasn't good and it wasn't too bad. I feel like people are loving it right now, cause they just got done watching it, but give it a few days and glance at the book again and you realize how the movie miss the tone of the book completely.

[seesmic i6m78fk7ee|9juQfRiwqa_th1.jpg http://www.seesmic.com/video/i6m78fk7ee seesmic]

Watchmen was amazing.

It is not as good as the comic book. But it has it´s own feel. The weakest thing in the movie are some scenes where the actors did not know how to nail them. Like the scene where Blake shoots the girl in Vietnam. That´s very dark and disturbing in the book. Here it´s easily forgotten. Oh, and Veidt please. Show some motivation. Look at Veidt at the movie and in the comic. In the comic you see a better performance.

Rorschach rocked and stole the movie!!!!

the Watchmen movie deserves an ovation because, even with it´s flaws, it´s a great adaptation and has a lot of ideas cinemagoers are not used to.

Thank you Snyder. Thank you Moore.

8.1/ 10
The longer the film, the better. Looking forward to an extended REAL version. M Ore jail scense for sure.[polldaddy 1441513 http://answers.polldaddy.com/poll/1441513/ polldaddy]

Wow what a great movie..... *sigh* Felt like i was watching some super hero porno flick. ALL the action was in the trailers, I mean i had more fun downloading daredevil and forcing to watch it. I mean don't get me wrong I think Watchmen would be a great comic book, but the movie did NOT do it justice... Maybe if it was longer, explain what they needed to explain, and make a 2nd one w/ all the action.

Again don't flame me, but just wasn't what I was expecting. I mean come on how many times do we need to see Dr. Manhatton's manhood? I understand he's detached from humanity, but geez. Maybe I need to watch it again, but I don't know.

First of all let me say that I am seeing the movie Tuesday. I read the graphic novel a long time ago and was totally blown away. From the trailers my expectations of this movie are very high. That being said, The Watchmen video game is HORRIBLE! I've had an Xbox 360 for over a year and never felt the need to hook up to Xbox Live. Until it was announced that the new Watchmen game was downloadable only. So I bought all the cables and crap and went through the long process of creating an Xbox Live account. I downloaded the demo of the game and please for the love of God don't take my word for it, download the free demo yourself and see if you want to pay $20 or 1600 credits or whatever for the full "2-hour" version. As far as I could tell this game consists solely of punching and kicking bad guys. I get the strong impression that about 6 months ago some people sat around a table and said "You know, maybe we should make a video game for this Watchmen movie." "But since the release date is fastly approaching let's make it really short, not put too much effort into it, and instead of releasing actual copies of the game that people can buy in the store we'll make it to where they have to download the game (1.35GB) and charge them for it." If you like plain old button mashing and doing the same thing over and over again this game is for you. If you like a little more complexity and depth to your video games stay away from this one.

im a huge watchmen fan, loved the comic book. i wish i could underline comic book. with that said i loved the movie. if i wanted to read the comic, id read the comic. Snyder did a great job with it.

It was glossy, it was stylish, the editing outstanding, and THE SOUNDTRACK SOOO GOOD! thats an element i really loved. having sound made it so much more involving. this was my first movie experience at an IMAX and its my new addiction.
Seeing and hearing the Transformers trailer was worth the ticket price alone but that nuclear explosion on mars wasnt too shabby either.

this movie was great, dont knock it, you can go read the comic if you didnt like it. Remember, just because the masses are seeing the movie and experiencing watchmen in a different way shouldnt taint it for you.

Great movie, sick art art direction.

veidt, out.

I agree in everything you said.

I thought the same about the burning guy. That was a BIG error

I know its Dr. Manhattan. Didn't you read that MY SISTER SAID that?

this Movie was Absolutely epic, anyone who calls it horrible either doesn't like comic book movies or is just bitching way too much, i read the Novel and i think it's as close as where gona get to it and it was bloody close, i rank it as the greatest comic book movie of all time.

Wednesday can't come soon enough. I know nothing of the book, though.

My bro said a primer might be a good idea before going in...

I though 3/4 of the movie was amazing and faithful to the book but than it was thrown out the window to make it pretty for the masses. Very unsatisfied with the ending of the movie, why go almost all the way page for shot and than poof no more coherate story 2 of 5 stars due to making me sit on the edge of my seat and than hide my face from the horror at the end.

I saw Watchmen last night at the IMAX. I must say this film was simply put BEAUTIFUL!!! If you did not like it, it was not made for you. I did not even read the graphic novel just because I wanted to see the movie and not judge it based on a book. Die hard fans of the book are probally mad that alot of stuff was left out but come on be realistic how much stuff from a book can you put into a two & a half hour movie. I thought the film hit on all levels. Thank you Zack Snyder for being the visionary director that you are and not being afraid to make movies the way you want to make them. After watching Watchmen (Lol) I can say you are going to be one of the major directors of the present and the future. I can't wait until the director's cut comes out. For everybody that thinks the movie was not good do not ever watch another film again. You are banned from /Film.

One thing is pissing me off is that people are grading the movie by the comic book or graphic novels for you nerds and its pissing me off. You do not grade a dish by how much the chef followed the recipe, you rate the dish by the f*cken dish. As a movie, it is nicely shot, cool effects, visually stunning but that is about it. The movie is all over the place, there wasn't really a main story being told, there is a good hour you can easily cut. The movie was paying too much attention following the book, that they forgot to make a good movie. The concept of the Watchman is a great idea for a movie but Zach Snyder failed at telling that story.

the film was overwhelmingly average.

Rorschach's Journal March 10, 2009

Don't know why some fans of novel dislike film. Film 95% accurate to novel. No cigarette in bully's eye, no bbq of murderer, Daniel warns Veidt instead of me. No squid. If penis distracted you... you might want to investigate yourself further. No bad taste in mouth.

In a society where Madea Goes to Jail topped the box office for weeks, I can't take anyone seriously..... obvious really..

Ireally liked the movie but...the sound was really bad!!! the music was really bad!

I enjoy going to films on the same day/weekend as they open. The audience tends to be the cognoscenti rather that someone who thinks it's cool to see the film. My favorite moment was when I went to see "Two Lane Blacktop" on the night that it opened. If you don't know the back story of that wretched movie, look it up. As the screen went dark in the packed theater, one guy popped up "well, that proves that there are idiots at Esquire". The best part of the movie.

I went to a sold-out movie at an IMAX theater on the first weekend. People wanted to be there. When "Watchmen" ended, no response. No applause, no nothing. The film had no emotional impact other than the gore. I noticed that the audience was silent throughout - no laughs, no tears, no cheers, nothing.

And "Apocalypse Now"? Really? I know AFI has it as Number 30 on their list but... isn't that recalled more for the parodies of its scenes? Like the one in "Watchmen". Which is still "meh". And why only 43% of the top critics on RT recommended the flick.

Well, I really really liked it. For me, it started exciting and remained that way until the very end. I thought it was visually stimulating and engaging, loved the script. Loved all about it.

Jackie Earle Haley was definitely the best of them all. He was amazing. But I really enjoyed the whole film. From start to end. Can't wait to see it again and own the DVD.

I finally saw it.
Loved it.
Too long, but still, was fantastic.

I went to see the movie with my girlfriend and I thought she was getting bored with the story but she actually enjoyed it.

I liked the movie but I thought the movie was way more violent that I remember the novel being. The cinematography was beautiful (the scene were they celebrate Japan’s surrender) and I liked the use of the “sounds of silence” in the cemetery scene.

P.S I think the CG animators exaggerated some “attributes” in Dr. Manhattan if you know what I mean, they should have been faithful to the novel in that area also haha.
Maybe it was a gift for the ladies.

What did I think of the local <font style="color: #006400 !important; font-family:&quot;Lucida Grande&quot;;font-weight:normal;font-size:13px;position:static;" color="#006400">midnight screening</font> selling out days in advance and the theatre not opening other screens like the manager told me they would multiple times?

Not very highly...

EDIT: Movies are always awesome if you have little expectations going in.

Will be going to the IMAX version tonight! Really exited!

in the words of Johnny Utah.................Amazing, fucking amazing! I really dont card what anybody else thinks, im very happy with the way this turned out, all the most important elements of the book are in there as well as snyders personal touch! Can't wait to see the 3 hour + cut!

Finally will see it tonight so will post my findings soon after

Loved it even without knowing its history. so i cant confirm nor deny whether the film was true to the graphic novel. Just want to say Snyder knows his stuff with regard to the gorgeous cinematography!

No offense taken, VegaBro. And yes, my name is Warren.

I love the questions you raise and they do deserve discussion. I posted three different videos and with this one, just wished to poke fun at Jackie Earle while praising him. It really was a strong performance.

In regards to the nonsensical special effects, here's what I don't get: What I find compelling about these masked heros is that they are HUMAN, not "superheros." Thus, while I think the fight scenes were well-choreographed, I have no idea how anyone could survive their head being driven thru a granite counter-top or thrown thru a wall. Also, can't figure why Dr. Manhattan sometimes hangs loose and sometimes wears a gargantuan speedo. Why the intermittent humility? The climactic destruction of the city is cool, but final shots of the wreckage seem incongruous with the damage previously shown.... Does that make any sense?

Please know I appreciate your feedback, will do my best to improve future video posts by being more substantive in my commentary and, of course, will obey the Golden Rule.

Take luck,
Warren

lol. you're aaaaaaalright, Warren

haha, nice dude

The movie was flat. It felt like the Star Wars prequels in that the acting was poor due to detached and distracted directing, especially the acting of Night Owl and Silk Spectre. Snyder may have been overwhelmed with fitting so much together, being "true" to the source, and creating Dr. Manhattan's wang. One scene in particular shows this, the prison riot scene. A man is set on fire on the left side, but the shot is clearly started before the actor is in character--he's not reacting at all even though his body is engulfed. Then, all of a sudden, he starts wailing about and running. How was this not caught?

Some strange changes made by Zack Snyder:

1) The film is purposely more violent than the source material. Comedian's burn victim in Vietman was off-frame in the graphic novel, as were other victims. The fat jailbird didn't have his arms sawed off. And Rorschach didn't cleave the head of the child murderer.

2) Some odd, laughable penis agenda. Dr. Manhattan's package has far fewer frames in the graphic novel, and there are many examples where Mr. Gibbons covered this area deliberately, so it wasn't distracting. In the source material, Dr. Manhattan is clothed in scenes he's not in the movie. Plus, in the movie Snyder has made the shaft three times longer, as though being on the big screen wasn't enough. The original illustrations of Dr. Manhattan are much like DaVinci's sterile anatomy illustration. There's even a page at the end of one chapter where that illustration is replaced by that of Manhattan. And this fits the sterile and detached, non-sexual, thinking Dr. Manhattan is adopting. And Snyder has promised there will be more of the package in the director's cut. This fits Alan Moore's argument that underneath it all, Hollywood has nothing but disdain for source material.

so many terrible opinions

These comments are an abattoir full of retarded children?

I think the Warren Report is an appropriate name. you're boring and you're wrong

Well, tell me why, VegaBro... While I'd rather not be boring, I have no problem being wrong. Hell, it's just my opinion. But correct me. I'd like to read/hear your take. Did you love the entire cast? Do you think there are other standouts? Or, do you object to my aesthetic critique of Jackie Earle?