Watchmen movie

[batass4880]

I haven?t seen this and am curious as to what it is like. Is it dark, cool, bad, pretentious?

Another reason why I ask is because I heard that this film was supposed to be made at Pinewood sometime after ?89 was shot there with a script written by Sam Hamm. Was now the right time to make the movie or would it have been better if it were made 20 years ago?

[Dark Knight Detective]

Sadly, I haven't been able to see the film yet due to practical difficulties, but I think that the timing for its release is great b/c graphic comic book films are accepted more in the modern world rather than a time before Batman Returns.

[BatmAngelus]

I loved it for the most part.
Not sure if I'd recommend it to people who haven't read the comic, though.  The story structure was tailor-made for a 12-issue comic rather than a film, so the result is somewhat episodic and disjointing.  Plus Watchmen is an epic spanning from the 1930s to 1985 with several characters, so some of the peripheral characters may cause some confusion since their roles are not as big as in the comic.  Plus the Director's Cut/original cut will have much more footage that fleshes out the story and the characters (though it's not like the film suffers from lack of story or characters, in my opinion.  I think there's enough of the scenes to give everyone enough to understand who these people are and the story involved).

Watchmen is pretty much the ultimate deconstruction of the superhero mythology that really asks, "Can a superhero really save the world?" with the inevitable answer: No.

As for timing, I think it definitely needed time for someone to get it right.  Terry Gilliam went through drafts and didn't think it was possible to be put on film.  Producer Joel Silver wanted Arnold Schwarzenneggar for Dr. Manhattan.  I haven't read Sam Hamm's draft, but I do know that it was quite different from the comic and fans of the source material weren't too happy with it.
Adapting the comic also requires a lot of special effects that I'm not sure they could've pulled off as well in the 1980s-early 1990s.

[Sandman]

I saw it 4 days and i enjoyed it. I never read the comic but was still able to keep up and understand the movie very easily, while its not really a "Dark" movie i still wouldn't recomened taking kids to see it, what with all the sex and violence in it.

[thecolorsblend]

I really enjoyed it.  I'm not a huge fan of the comics but I enjoy them and, in ways, enjoy the film even more.  I think the altered ending in some ways actually works better than Moore's ending (although I can appreciate that maybe not everyone feels the same way).

If you haven't seen it, I can't more highly recommend that you do so.

[Azrael]

Despite Moore's comments, I loved the film version of V for Vendetta, so I'll give it a chance. Then there was 300, a film that already feels a bit dated.

[Batmoney]

Watchmen was great!

[Sandman]

Lets face it Jackie Earle Haley made the movie.

[thecolorsblend]

Lets face it Jackie Earle Haley made the movie.

You're crazy.  His was a worthy contribution but this was an ensemble piece from start to finish, and every single participant brought home the bacon.  I don't care how much money this flick does or doesn't make, it is what a comics adaptation should be.

[The Dark Knight]

I haven't read the comic and I'm not a fan. I found the movie slow, boring, lacking flow and overly violent.