Who Watches?
This is as spoiler free as I could imagine it being but since I don't particularly recommend you see it without reading the comic I don't think it matters.
I *liked* Watchmen. Well, parts of it. Some of it was awful, an obvious product of Directorial Hubris. Other parts were good for me, like the opening sequences where everyone is posed like they are in a still photo. I honestly think they could have dialed down the gore a little (yes it was in the comic, but they really went all out with it in the movie and it was more distracting than gritty sometimes). The director also fapped off (as nick would say) a lot on some scenes -- some stuff was just too long or altogether unnecessary. I like naked people as much as the next girl, but the third scene served NO purpose and was badly directed anyhow. The first two scenes at least offered meaningful (storywise) relationship insights, but they were all dragged out in a way I'm sure the director thought was visually interesting but instead was just tedious. The opening fight scene was also WAY too long and totally pointless. Yes, you maked 300. Big strong director. Make menny fighting scene. *grunt*
I don't mind a long movie if they need the time to tell the story right, but I do mind a long movie where there are scenes that the director just refused to let anyone edit down or out even when they should have been. Benjamin Button suffered from that too. Watchmen is a long story with complicated characters and he could have spent a lot of the time he wasted on slow motion fights and sex on character development.
I suspect its a movie that's just bland and long if you haven't read the comic. A lot of the character depth is stripped out -- Rorschach doesn't get nearly enough exposition.
I do think the slightly changed ending was handled really well. It integrated seamlessly into the story and allowed them to cut out a sub-thread (to make room for gratuitous violence and bad sex) that would have been dead weight.
Also I take back anything bad I said about the casting. Everyone was fine, the guy playing Nite Owl was very good at it (other than one tiny thing near the end which was again the directors fault for a bad scene). It took me a little while to decide I liked Billy Crudup as the Blue Wang but be the end I did. Also liked the effects on him better in motion than in still pictures. Laurie and Rorschach were also better than I thought they were going to be. Pretty much everyone was EXCEPT I still disliked the casting for Adrian Veidt as I think he should have been more ... just more. Bigger, more gold, brighter, sexier. Instead they picked a weird looking weasely guy. A scrawny one. Adrian was the one character that really needed to look like a super hero action figure.
Anyway it was generally LOTS of fun to see characters and plots I already knew come to life but I don't think you could call it a *good* movie. If you liked the book you'll enjoy seeing scenes played out exactly like your mind might have envisioned them. If you didn't, I doubt you're planning to see the movie anyway.
I *liked* Watchmen. Well, parts of it. Some of it was awful, an obvious product of Directorial Hubris. Other parts were good for me, like the opening sequences where everyone is posed like they are in a still photo. I honestly think they could have dialed down the gore a little (yes it was in the comic, but they really went all out with it in the movie and it was more distracting than gritty sometimes). The director also fapped off (as nick would say) a lot on some scenes -- some stuff was just too long or altogether unnecessary. I like naked people as much as the next girl, but the third scene served NO purpose and was badly directed anyhow. The first two scenes at least offered meaningful (storywise) relationship insights, but they were all dragged out in a way I'm sure the director thought was visually interesting but instead was just tedious. The opening fight scene was also WAY too long and totally pointless. Yes, you maked 300. Big strong director. Make menny fighting scene. *grunt*
I don't mind a long movie if they need the time to tell the story right, but I do mind a long movie where there are scenes that the director just refused to let anyone edit down or out even when they should have been. Benjamin Button suffered from that too. Watchmen is a long story with complicated characters and he could have spent a lot of the time he wasted on slow motion fights and sex on character development.
I suspect its a movie that's just bland and long if you haven't read the comic. A lot of the character depth is stripped out -- Rorschach doesn't get nearly enough exposition.
I do think the slightly changed ending was handled really well. It integrated seamlessly into the story and allowed them to cut out a sub-thread (to make room for gratuitous violence and bad sex) that would have been dead weight.
Also I take back anything bad I said about the casting. Everyone was fine, the guy playing Nite Owl was very good at it (other than one tiny thing near the end which was again the directors fault for a bad scene). It took me a little while to decide I liked Billy Crudup as the Blue Wang but be the end I did. Also liked the effects on him better in motion than in still pictures. Laurie and Rorschach were also better than I thought they were going to be. Pretty much everyone was EXCEPT I still disliked the casting for Adrian Veidt as I think he should have been more ... just more. Bigger, more gold, brighter, sexier. Instead they picked a weird looking weasely guy. A scrawny one. Adrian was the one character that really needed to look like a super hero action figure.
Anyway it was generally LOTS of fun to see characters and plots I already knew come to life but I don't think you could call it a *good* movie. If you liked the book you'll enjoy seeing scenes played out exactly like your mind might have envisioned them. If you didn't, I doubt you're planning to see the movie anyway.