That's the impression I've been getting from what I've read on the internet. A lot of people consider this and The Dark Knight Returns to be the best comics ever, but then on the other hand a lot of people considering The Dark Knight Returns to be the best comic ever and Watchmen to be nowhere near comparison. It's kind of interesting how one-sided it is in that regard. Your description of it sounds like what I've heard from a lot of comic vets who don't happen to be so far on the side of loving both, and I suspect that's probably where I'll fall into things as well. But I'll reserve judgment until I read it... and I'm quite sure that I'll enjoy it regardless.
I really do have to bestow more praise upon TDKR, though. It's very cool to read after seeing the Dark Knight film. Obviously the things aren't related, but you can definitely see how much inspiration was drawn from the thing in terms of tone. And if you want a literary work, you've got one there. Sure, it's still just a comic, and maybe some of the stuff is just slightly inflated for the sake of an idea or two, but it's really quite a beautiful thing that (thus far, at least) hasn't felt at all cheap or exaggerated. I'm really impressed, and I think it's definitely the kind of thing that bears several repeat readings due to its depth.
Ok, I finished this a day or so ago and to be perfectly honest I was a bit let down. It's not that it wasn't really good for a comic book, it's just that it had been built up at something more and as someone who's not a huge comic book fan (although I did purchase some Fables books on a whim at the bookstore last year) it just kind of didn't pan out into the epic literary masterpiece I was lead to believe it would.
Again, I thought it was really good, but people hyped it up way too much. It does, however, seem like it would translate into a movie well.
You know, I'm having trouble getting into the book, too. Not because I don't appreciate what's there, but because I think I'm afraid it's going to turn into a giant political rant like V for Vendetta, which I completely hated. Because I can't get behind Moore's political views even a little bit, but was led to believe that Watchmen was less political and more psychological. But after reading the first bit, I'm beginning to think I was lied to. This displeases me. Moore is a really smart guy in a lot of ways, and uniquely creative, but fuck if I know why anybody wants to listen to his views on anything that actually matters.
Kevin Smith (pictured) — who apparently was invited to see the film at Snyder’s invitation shortly after Comic-Con last month — has posted an unabashed rave for Watchmen over at MySpace: “I saw Watchmen. It’s f---ing astounding. The Non-Disclosure Agreement I signed prevents me from saying much, but I can spout the following with complete joygasmic enthusiasm: Snyder and Co. have pulled it off. Remember that feeling of watching Sin City on the big screen and being blown away by what a faithful translation of the source material it was, in terms of both content and visuals? Triple that, and you’ll come close to watching Watchmen.”
Of course, depending on how you felt about Sin City, Smith’s assessment may or may not strike you as impressive. So EW.com asked Smith — currently prepping his R-rated lewd laugher Zack and Miri Make A Porno for a Halloween premiere — to expand just a smidge: “My God, the flick is amazing.” Okay. And? “Anything more and I start getting phone calls.” Fair enough.
Smith’s gush might be encouraging for those who’ve long doubted that even a good film could be distilled out of Watchmen’s dense, complex story, let alone one that’s “f---ing astounding.” But there is still reason to worry: as EW reported in July, Snyder is currently endeavoring to trim a nearly three-hour version of Watchmen (which is believed to be the iteration Smith saw) down to two hours and 25 minutes, the studio’s desired running time, even though Snyder’s preference is that the movie be released as long as possible.
It does seem like they're trying to add a bunch of action to something that didn't really have much, but it's a movie about superheroes, what do you want? This is the same director as 300, which was a bloody fun action flick even though it tore most of the soul out of the original material, so it wouldn't surprise me to see something at least somewhat similar happen here.
Plus, it's very hard to judge a scene like that out of context with the rest of the movie. Cheesy superheroes, but that's kind of the point. Besides that, it was obviously unfinished, missing a bunch of audio, etc. I see no reason to be *that* skeptical over it.
Really? I find little to be optimistic about from that clip. The whole tone of that scene in the comic is what the fuck are we doing/we're out of our element/this is harder than we thought. It's supposed to a somewhat scary, suspenseful scene. This is a let's have one prisoner run at us one at a time while we disarm them with awful choreography and techno music.
That said, I'm not really that big of a fan of Watchmen anyways. I read the book and thought that the second half sucked compare to the first and didn't think the movie would be anything beyond average before watching that clip.
That said, I'm not really that big of a fan of Watchmen anyways. I read the book and thought that the second half sucked compare to the first and didn't think the movie would be anything beyond average before watching that clip.
I’m not sure I understood all the nuances and implications, but I am sure I had a powerful experience.
Curiouser and curiouser. If I could be bothered to go see movies, I'd probably check it out just due to curiosity, but at this point... eh. Who knows.
Wow. That movie is amazing. I mean, visually, it's breath taking. And I don't think I've seen an adaptation stay so true to the source material.
My only complaint is that the ending was slightly different, but it worked really well. And there is no black freight! But I see why they didn't add that.
So so good!
I went to the theater today and saw this. Keep in mind, guys -- I have never read the comics. I thought the film was very good.
It never felt too long or too long-winded to me -- which is a surprise, considering it is around 160 minutes. I think it probably is b/c the film took its time in explaining the origins of these characters and making you actually care about them. It didn't feel rushed -- though, since this is based on a comic series, I'm still guessing a lot of stuff was probably still left out.
The visuals were excellent and so were the action scenes.
Oh, and let me saw this now -- Rorschach was awesome.
For those who read the book and seen the movie only -- can you tell me what's the difference in the endings y'all were talking about in some spoiler tags?
Did it intersperse parts of "Tales of the Black Freighter" through the movie, as in the graphic novel? That would be a big change.
I believe the Black Freighter stuff will be added in as part of an 'Ultimate Cut' of the film that will be released in December. It will have the cartoon or something of the Black Freighter which was released separately woven into the actual film.
That aside though, it still really captures a lot of what was in the graphic novel.