Watchmen - Page 2

[journeymom]

Originally Posted by Trinitty

I thought the film was amazing.

I think the graphic novel is a work of genius, and the film was VERY true to it. They cut more than an HOUR from the theatre release, so the portions that are missing will be included in the DVD.

If one hasn't read the book and really thought about it, I can imagine how the film would seem too slow and grim.

It is not a bang-pow-zowee "super-hero" story about black and white good-guys and villains, and so it was deemed "unfilmable" by some directors for 20 years.

This is not a film or gnovel for children. There is a reason why it was released on a cold weekend in March. There is a reason why there was no fast-food-with-toys deal.

Yes, there is indeed a naked man in the story. He's also bright blue and can manipulate matter at the neutrino level.... So he obviously doesn't CARE about being naked. This is one of the POINTS of the story.

Watchmen is grinding, gritty, bleak and mature. It doesn't turn away or blink. But, even with all of this, there is a glimmer of hope for humanity at the very end of the gnovel, and that is what makes Watchmen special.

For these reasons, I would not be surprised if it doesn't do really well, but I could hardly be happier with the dedication of the film. The change at the end bothered me a bit, but I don't think it changed the spirit.

Amazing job done, and I wish I could thank the team that made it possible.

Trin.

Yup, I understand that fans of the graphic novel are very pleased with the movie. That's rare these days.

Yes, there is indeed a naked man in the story. Yeah, Kids In Mind says first thing, "In almost all of the scenes that show the blue and glowing Dr. Manhattan he is fully nude and we clearly see his penis (...)" Pretty notable.

[Trinitty]

I've stopped reading reviews of it....

They are only making me think that we are closer to that can't-see-the-forest-for-the-trees sort of world depicted in the gnovel than I would like to believe.

Yes, there is a penis in the film. You can see the penis. The penis is attached to a person. The penis is blue and so is the person attached to it.

Now, how's about we talk about what the "heroes" in the story are truly fighting?

(Not you, journeymom, I'm just using the "royal" we.)

It took real guts and determination to make the film true to the gnovel, and I fear this may be the last time that happens, because of the reaction it is getting from the non-readers (of the gnovel).

Trin.

[holyhelianthus]

Thanks for the heads up on the violence. I know not to watch while I am pregnant now! Guess it'll have to wait until after these bundles get here

[Trinitty]

I would wait, if I were you. I couldn't handle much while pregnant, and this gnovel/film is MORE than much.

[Storm Bride]

I won't watch it. I read 11/12 of the "novel" (I actually read the mini-series of comics, and had no idea it was ever published all in one until recently) and didn't like them. I get the point, but it's all just a little too grim and ugly for me. I already know that a lot of the visuals in this would bother me way too much (and I don't care a bit about Dr. Manhattan's blue CGI penis - totally irrelevant). That said, I fully expect that ds1 will get in to see it, even though he's two years under age. I don't think he'll enjoy it as much as he thinks he will, but I doubt it will bother him. He takes after his bio-dad with respect to this kind of thing, and my ex could watch anything. They're both much more able to emotionally separate fiction and reality than I am.

ETA: Reading the last couple of posts - I won't watch it at all, but I wouldn't even consider watching it while pregnant!

[*MamaJen*]

Oh. My. God. I just Netflixed Watchmen -- I didn't know much about it, thought it would be a fun pulpy superhero story.
I turned it off maybe 30 minutes in. By that point, I was so totally sickened by the violence against women.
*Triggers*
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First there was the lesbian superhero murdered for her sexuality, lying dead in bed with her lover, presumably raped by the murderer, and the words "lesbian whores" painted in blood above the bed.
In fact, I think I counted the word whore used about five times in five different contexts in the first half hour.
Then there was the incredibly, disturbing brutal attempted rape scene of another superhero. She's punched hard about six or eight times, bent bleeding over a pool table and just barely saved by a guy superhero. Then she falls in love with the attempted rapist and has his baby. Decades later, she tells her daughter, oh, it was a long time ago, these things are complicated. It's all, like, cool and morally ambiguous, you know? Very edgy. Gross.
Then the same guy shoots his hugely pregnant lover and murders her because she asks him to help her support her baby. Again, this is supposed to be cool and morally ambiguous. Ooh, he's like, such the anti-hero. Then he says, "Oh, the things I've done to women."
I was so freakin' skeeved out by the movie (which also had really bad dialogue --pretty much the only redeeming element was a cool stylistic opening montage). It was so violently misogynistic, and the only purpose to the violence against women was to enjoy women getting beaten bloody and raped.
I wish I had read A.O. Scott's review before I put that movie on my netflix cue.

[Porcelain Interior]

I watched it because my husband wanted to watch it and I knew nothing about it except that I expected to fall asleep because I don't really do comic book super hero movies.

I can't say I'd recommend it, the violence was just brutal and sickening. The rape for me was the worst.

I was pro-penis shots though because normally it's all just women placed in the film for pervy reasons, so it was sort of even steven thing to me lol.

I can't say I liked it, the first 1/2 to 3/4 of the movie was so stunningly violent and just mentally disturbing I was reeling and couldn't develop a soft spot for any of them.

Blech.

[JessicaS]

I still haven't seen it.

[baglady]

Originally Posted by *MamaJen*

Oh. My. God. I just Netflixed Watchmen -- I didn't know much about it, thought it would be a fun pulpy superhero story.
I turned it off maybe 30 minutes in. By that point, I was so totally sickened by the violence against women.
*Triggers*
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
..
First there was the lesbian superhero murdered for her sexuality, lying dead in bed with her lover, presumably raped by the murderer, and the words "lesbian whores" painted in blood above the bed.
In fact, I think I counted the word whore used about five times in five different contexts in the first half hour.
Then there was the incredibly, disturbing brutal attempted rape scene of another superhero. She's punched hard about six or eight times, bent bleeding over a pool table and just barely saved by a guy superhero. Then she falls in love with the attempted rapist and has his baby. Decades later, she tells her daughter, oh, it was a long time ago, these things are complicated. It's all, like, cool and morally ambiguous, you know? Very edgy. Gross.
Then the same guy shoots his hugely pregnant lover and murders her because she asks him to help her support her baby. Again, this is supposed to be cool and morally ambiguous. Ooh, he's like, such the anti-hero. Then he says, "Oh, the things I've done to women."
I was so freakin' skeeved out by the movie (which also had really bad dialogue --pretty much the only redeeming element was a cool stylistic opening montage). It was so violently misogynistic, and the only purpose to the violence against women was to enjoy women getting beaten bloody and raped.
I wish I had read A.O. Scott's review before I put that movie on my netflix cue.

A lot of the violence you describe was, in fact, done by a character who is a horrible human being. I think the whole point of watchmen is the quote "who will watch the watchmen?" which opens the novel. They are people drawn to that life for different reasons and all are flawed.

The ones who are good are victim to the greater evils of society. The lesbian character you mention and the original Night Owl who gets killed at the end.

I really liked the novel but didn't like the movie at all. Even though they were exactly alike, something didn't translate. The novel presented the violence in a much different tone than the movie in my opinion. In the novel it was presented with horror and the film seemed to glorify it in some way. I don't know, the tone seemed off in the film to me, but different people read things in very different ways.

If I had only seen the film, I would feel the same way.

[journeymom]

Originally Posted by abimommy

I still haven't seen it.

You comment here sent me on an hour long investigation, yesterday, of the whole Watchmen thing: the comics, the characters, the themes, the movie, Alan Moore, etc.

So I can blame you because I never got around to sweeping.

Edited to say, I think this is one movie more movie I won't be seeing in spite of my intense curiosity.

Saw, Ring and Blair Witch Project are some others like that.

[JessicaS]

Sorry.



The Ring scared the pee out of me

I laughed all through the Blair Witch Project it was so embarassing, I saw it in the theater and people say I laugh like Paula Dean so you can only imagine how irritated the people who were in the theater with me were. :

I won't see Saw, I can't handle movies with sawing of limbs or a lot of terrible injuries.

[HappilyEvrAfter]

I love the Saw movies...not so much for the gore, though it doesn't tend to bother me.
I'm sure there people who will counter this (especially since the guy takes it out through killing...which I would never advocate, obviously), but the basic premise of "people don't appreciate what's in front of them until they're forced to lose it" really strikes me. And I enjoy how they're all constructed to connect...not just your average facotry mill gore flick.

But I like the way that movie company does their "shock" films anyhow. Didn't they release Silent Hill too? I could be wrong. **Yeah, I was wrong...went and looked it up.

Sorry for the threadjack.