I was told that Ozymandias really did catch a bullet in the graphic novel, though it was more along the lines of predicting where the bullet was going to be and sticking his hands there.

They were fairly mangled afterwords from what I was told, but it still happened. I just assume his gloves were bulletproof in the movie and that's that.

I think that the "slightly" super-powered heroes made the movie a bit better, without going completely overboard and making them invincible.

 

Does Ozymandias catch or deflect a bullet in the graphic novel?

 

He catches a bullet, but it does hurt him. There's blood.

In the movie, Ozzy has a reinforced glove and the bullet is imbedded about halfway into it.

 

I've avoided putting in my two cents, hoping that someone who read the books would give a detailed review, but alas...

My rating on the movie? 4 of 5, and that's only because I thought some of the casting was a bit off. See, I've read the original series several times, and when people say it's unfilmable, they're right. Nothing short of an HBO mini-series like Band of Brothers could possibly include all the nuanced storytelling in those 12 comics.

That said, I can't really see how the movie could have been much better, and I wish it had been even longer. Yes, the ending was changed, but the comic's ending would have required more backstory on how the Comedian found out about Veidt, as well as more info on missing scientists, artists, etc. If you've read the books, you know what I mean. In light of that, I like the movie ending for what it was - a way to trim the script and have the movie more believable to more people.

I wish there'd been less of the super-slow-mo fight sequence crap, because that really detracts from the flow, in my opinion. I think the costumed heroes were a little too tough and kick-ass, but not so much as to hate it. I thought Rohrschach was not shown to be the psychopath he's shown to be in the books, and I thought Dr. Manhattan was actually shown to be less powerful than he's made out to be in the books.

@Jolly Rancher: The plot wasn't a mystery - the retired heroes are trying to live their lives under the threat of annihalation and Rohrschach is trying to find out who killed the Comedian. The ending is simply the reason behind that killing, as well as the reason for Rohrschach being set up for murder and people close to Dr. Manhattan being given cancer. What's wrong with a mystery? Hell, there are so many "WTF?" moments in Dark Knight it's not even funny, and yet everyone seems to think it was the greatest movie ever made. Don't get me wrong, I loved it and the Joker was totally badass insane, but come on, the plot was full of unbelievable coincidences. And there's no blood when he cuts people or sticks a pencil through their eye? Really?!?

The point is, if a person knew about the books prior to seeing the movie, I think an honest review would go like this: "Awesome attempt at the impossible, and I think they tried to be as true to the books as they could in less than 12 hours of screen time."

I recommend everyone see it, AFTER they've read the books, and I''m hoping to see it again in the theater, then I plan on buying the DVD and hoping for the extra footage.

 

Alright, I'm going to refrain from commenting on what anyone has said, simply because it'll get too long (Sree). Here's my opinion:

Firstly, let's go to my favourite (and probably most people's) thing about this movie - Rorschach. Jackie Earle Haley was simply amazing in my opinion. I think he captured Rorschach's personality perfectly, scenes with him were some of the few that really took you back into the comic and let you imagine that it was just the panels coming to life. The scene where he smirks at the shrink forcing him to take the Rorschach Blot test is fairly incredible. With his mask on, Haley brings to life the image of Rorschach, but it's the scenes following his arrest that really bring out the messed up mindof Kovacs. Simply amazing.

Dr. Manhattan? Not bad at all if you ask me. I thought the script managed to capture his detatchment from humanity fairly well and turn him into somewhat of an interesting character. Despite the frequent view of his dangly bits, he was impressive to look at. The full CGI choice had me a little put off at first but I think they more or less nailed it.

Silk Spectre II was easily my least favourite character in the movie. Gorgeous, yes, but she lacked the ability to bring the Silk Spectre I had always envisioned - sassy, vicious and sexy - to life. Carla Gugino has the original Silk Spectre was strange. I think she gave a fantastic potrayal of a young SS but in the scenes where she is an older woman it's flat out disgusting. Keep the same voice, maybe?

Nite Owl was pretty well done. He was kinda what I imagined though I never really enjoyed his character anyway. His costume and ship were really welld one though, I loved it.

The Comedian was perfect. I'll agree that the puns got annoying, but I think the actor did pretty well with the character. The riot scene with Comedian pumping shtgun shells into the crowd? I don't think you could potray him any better.

Ozymandias was... bland. For a great mastermind he had very little character in the film. I felt particularly annoyed when at the end of the movie with his one on one confrontation with Dr. Manhattan he basically drops his supervillain/hero persona and asks him if he's doing the right thing. It just didn't work here.

The costumes, set designs and cinematography were fucking amazing. I think it was probably the second best thing about the movie, simply because it actually managed to bring the comic to life. The pull-back from the smiley face button to the Comedian's window? Done perfectly as in the comics. The only problem I really had with it was the lack of that massive, several page spread of the slaughtered people folloing the dropping of the squid. Instad we got a few second shot of a big neat crater. It just didn't capture the intensity of the evetn, which was what the entire idea was about.

In terms of the 300 style fighting, I actually really liked it though for different reasons than 300. In 300 it was all about the awesome blood sprays and stuff, but here in Watchmen it reminds me of reading the comic, when you pause and linger overthat one incredibly gorgeous panel. /shrug

All in all, I really liked it. Nothing in comparison to the comic, but it's not the comic. It was a gret movie that held some of the delights I got from the novel (Rorschach's blood and guts snow angel, anyone?) and did a good job of bringing an astouningly complicated and epic graphic novel to life.

4/5

 

This is not an adequate plot, and it took up ~2/3 of the movie.

This, while being an adequate plot, took up ~1/3 of the movie.

Yes, it was well choreographed, filmed, acted (with some exceptions), but to me, as someone who hasn't read the comics, it was just boring.

 

I've already said my piece, but I'm watching the movie online again right now.

Again, Rorschach made the movie, and I liked his characterization the best.

I even agree to a point. World peace built in the bodies of millions won't last forever. And making Dr. Manhattan the final threat instead of the squid on final approach seems weird to me.

Dr. Manhattan has powers far and above ordinary mortals. He is a scientifically made deity. Now that the plan of making him the enemy is in effect, how would that work? Dr. Manhattan is far from feeble flesh and blood and bone. He can't be killed or even destroyed.

And besides, wouldn't the Russians be more pissed, as well as others around the world? America made Dr. Manhattan and then used him as the biggest stick. Would they not blame America for Dr. Manhattan going apeshit?

Thinking about it, having the squid would have been a better choice.

All that said, Rorschach and the fight scenes made the movie.

 

The way you folks are riding this movie's cock, I may as well not even bother, I know I'll hate it now =(

But... hell just to piss the rest of you off, the comic.wasnt.any.good. It was boring, and Dr. Manhattan was the only redeeming part. I liked the portrayal of him as realistic, why would a being with godlike power give two shits about saving the world? He'd grow more detatched an eventually warped.

Rorschach had some funny lines and the Comedian seemed interesting, a hero who saw too much and his mind broke, blurring the line between right and wrong, but... it wasn't that interesting in the comic book to make it the end all be all book you guys make it out to be, shit Knightfall was much better.

But hey I'll get this tonight and give it a review this weekend maybe

 

THANK YOU. For the love of god, thank you.

 

I hate you so fucking much.

 

Saw it earlier today. Easily the best movie I've seen since the Dark Knight.

I haven't read the comics and avoided pretty much all discussion about it for fear of spoilers so I didn't know too much about the story.

Anyway, I can see how some didn't like it, with it's absurd length, odd music choice, and the many flashbacks, but it entertained the shit out of me, even in the slow parts.

The action was one of the best parts for me. I'm a big fan of gore and over the top action scenes, so I pretty much had an orgasm during all the fight scenes.

I'm definitely going to go back and read the comics when I have the time.

4/5

 

What? Batman was out of it for awhile, there was real worry over if he was going to come back, and if so, he'd be in one hell of a fight, etc.

More suspense. More interest. Watchmen was just edgy when not a lot of other folks were being edgy. Ohhhhhhh, ahhhhh, it's dark. Doesn't mean it's good.

 

It was just a lame attempt to recreate the success of the "Death of Superman" event and boost sales. No one actually expected Bruce Wayne to go away forever.

Quote pretty much sums up Knightfall. Typical GRIMDARK and XTREEEEEEME bullshit that made the nineties such a fail decade for superhero comics. All it needed was Liefeld doing the art and it would have the trifecta of shitiness.

I don't know why you would rather jerk off to Azrael than enjoy one of the most sophisticated graphic novels ever written, but just know that you're wrong. Very wrong. You think Knightfall is better than Watchmen. That's how wrong you are.

 

I didn't say I'd rather jerk off to it. I said it was better quality wise. Jean Paul's SYSTEM or whatever the fuck it was moments with him being angsty were stupid. Bad, really bad to read through.

The bits with him being the REAL dark knight and going and beating the shit shit out of the baddies Wayne couldn't handle killing or seriously hurting was what made it so much better then the normal series.

And besides, I didn't say Knightfall was the "BEST GRAPHIC NOVEL OF ALL TIME" I just said it was better. Watchmen claims to be the best fucking comic ever made. And folks treat it like it is. It's not. All I'm saying.

Ahahahahaha. Yeah. Rape is sophisticated. Ohhhh a character is dark because he's a hero but he rapes a heroine. That's not sophisticated. Oh a former hero turns into a baddie, over done.

Like I said though, Dr. M is awesome, and I loved what they did with him in the book. Blot was amusing, but the rest. I'll be honest, it wasn't BAD, it just wasn't the "BEST GRAPHIC NOVEL OF ALL TIME"

 

I've not seen the film, but I enjoyed the graphic novel. As a fan of graphic novels, I'm curious what you would rank as your best (or even top three) graphic novels of all time.

Watchmen certainly falls among my top three; I'd love to find out other great works would supplant it (more good reading for me).

 

If you thought the Comedian was a hero, you obviously didn't read the same version of the graphic novel I did. You probably also missed the point that the Comedian was trying to make, since Hooded Justice was an S&M homosexual and Blake was alluding to that with his "is this what gets you hot?" line.

Edward Blake was an asshole. He was a two-bit thug with a chip on his shoulder and a black sense of humor. He took up "crimefighting" mostly to keep his ass out of jail. If he's one of the good guys, he can't be imprisoned, right? Especially if he's now working for the government. He can do whatever the fuck he likes. He didn't give a shit who he hurt, who he killed, or what he did, so long as he got his.

That isn't a hero. That isn't even an anti-hero. That, my friend, is a brutal, violent asshole with an ego problem and a get out of jail free card.

 

Or, you know... Wolverine. Sabertooth when he was going soft with the Xmen, Cable, the list goes on and on, hell I can think of at least 10 DC comic "heroes" who fit that bill. The guy was still considered a "hero" by the public.

 

Please list the DC ones, because your Marvel examples certainly fail to "fit that bill." Wolverine may be a brutal, violent asshole but he still has a sense of right and wrong. He's still got morals. He would never murder a pregnant woman just because she cut his face.

 

meh, I'm not going to waste time on this dumb shit. Jerk off to your book for all I care, I'm just saying it's not the best thing since sliced bread that so many make it out to be.

I just read Welcome to the Jungle, and Wanted, and I think they were both better then this drawn out book. Wanted could of been a dozen times better, but still, action, good quips, etc.

I got the movie tonight, at 2 and a half hours, it's a bit crazy. I'll watch it when I can, the bits I scanned didn't seem horrible.