I skimmed through the graphic novel but, frankly, no one needs to have read the comic to understand the film. Now, if you thought that, you would be wrong. Snyder has shamelessly pandered to geekdom's wish to see this particular work recreated page by page, line by painstaking line. That would be his working definition for 'visionary' . . . and ours for dummkopf.

Snyder likes things that move, things that can be objectified and run through his digital effects filters. Sadly for him, the technology has not yet reached the point where human emotion can be bleached down to ones and zeros. Otherwise, this sorry exercise in film art may have succeeded.

Watchmen is a dull, boring exercise in loud commercial 'MOVIE' making. Not even the pretentious ideas arrive with any subtlety. They are supposed to be the original work's chief selling point. Who knows, who cares. There is something about the medium of comics (shall we say 'arrested development' ? ) that makes a mockery of the seriousness with which it regards its mature storyline.

quote:

Originally posted by syzygy:
I skimmed through the graphic novel but, frankly, no one needs to have read the comic to understand the film.

There is something about the medium of comics (shall we say 'arrested development' ? ) that makes a mockery of the seriousness with which it regards its mature storyline.

Maybe if you actually took the effort to read the comic instead of letting pre-conceived generalizations about a medium dictate your criticism you would think otherwise. In graphic novel form, The Watchmen is one of the great artistic works of the last few decades, and I am confident that if you took the time to read it carefully, you (and anyone, for that matter) would agree. It's amazing anyone living in the post-modern era can still frown at an entire art form, and frankly is something I do not believe will continue happening once the old dinosaurs die out.

...that said, I have not yet seen the movie and do not have particularly high expectations. 3 hours seems far too little time to tell the story of The Watchmen, and the criticism I have seen so far is that the film sticks closely to the graphic novel. This contradiction troubles me.

quote:

Originally posted by theelfpat:
It's amazing anyone living in the post-modern era can still frown at an entire art form, and frankly is something I do not believe will continue happening once the old dinosaurs die out.
.

so 'living in the post modern era' requires blind conformity to the popular dictates of the day ?
how progressive of you . . . the more times change, the more they stay the same, down to their
pretensions.

while i'm certainly aware of post-modern art theory, many of its acolytes are not. they tend to
forget or dispense with the 'theory' part, preferring to feel better about themselves for being
so much flotsam in the stream.

i'm guessing here . . . but its probably more challenging to stand athwart the mindless mood of
the day. try a little contrarianism. it can be every bit as pretentious, lol. have a peek here:

Just one of countless critical appraisals of post-modern art theory

sounding like a thesaurus copywriter does not a valid opinion make. you illustrate a perfect example of the 'anti-anti,' disapproving of something just because you know it's supposed to appeal to your indie/underground/in-the-know target demographic.

if you checked your history, you would know that it's quite the accomplishment that this film was finally made in the first place. would you rather have the movie unfaithfully chopped to bits from its original form? my guess is that you'd be critical either way.

don't you think that people who have read the harry potter series get more out of the movies than casual observers? investing your time into something makes the reward sweeter, in this case, investing X amount of hours into reading the novel translates to a more satisfying movie-going experience. doesn't a good homemade meal taste better than one ordered in a restaurant?

this is a movie for the fans. this is not spider man for grandma and the kids to casually stroll into for a matinee.

if you took the time to read and appreciate the entire novel, maybe you wouldnt think that the medium of a comic book makes such a 'mockery of the seriousness with which it regards its mature storyline.'

and while you are entitled to your opinion, placing your post in the 'worst of 2009' forum simply tells me that you're trying to pick a fight to exude your 'superiority' to a bunch of 16 year olds who you want to outwit and embarass because you have nothing better to do. try again.

quote:

Originally posted by syzygy:

so 'living in the post modern era' requires blind conformity to the popular dictates of the day ?
how progressive of you . . . the more times change, the more they stay the same, down to their
pretensions.

while i'm certainly aware of post-modern art theory, many of its acolytes are not. they tend to
forget or dispense with the 'theory' part, preferring to feel better about themselves for being
so much flotsam in the stream.

i'm guessing here . . . but its probably more challenging to stand athwart the mindless mood of
the day. try a little contrarianism. it can be every bit as pretentious, lol. have a peek here:

Just one of countless critical appraisals of post-modern art theory

Um. I didn't say I liked The Watchmen because I thought it was post-modern. I just said it's amazing that people still exist today (call it the post-modern era or call it 2009) that refuse to like something because of its medium.

I like The Watchmen because it's a brilliant, timeless story, not because it deconstructs super-heros.

That is an interesting link, however.

i like this film. you dont????



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I thought the movie was an extemely faithful adaptation of the graphic novel. I think soo many people are looking at it in disgust do its its mature style and un child oriented super hero story. Most people when they look at super heroes they HAVE to be good nice guys, but when they are all in between and some dont care people hate it. Its not a movie for children and as soon as some guy said the movie was going to suck, some idiot rights a post about a movie that he knew nothing about and judges it off because of some reviewers opinions.

Huge fan of the graphic novel....loved the movie. I thought it was fantastic! Yes, very faithful to the book; cutting out the pirate story accounts for a lot of the time that was saved being only a three hour movie (although I hear it is going to be put on the DVD - sweet!)...quicker back stories of our heroes.....simultaneously progressing different parts of the story at the the same time helped....I thought it was brilliantly done....I can't think of how Zack Snyder could have done it any differently really. The only thing I wasn't a huge fan of was the choice for Ozymandias. I think they could have picked someone better, but....this is all about opinions right? And my opinion is....worst movie of 2009??? No way!! Friday the 13th? Maybe.....Pink Panther 2, quite possibly....but definitely not this. Out.

quote:

Originally posted by youmustlearn

. . . while you are entitled to your opinion, placing your post in the 'worst of 2009' forum simply tells me that you're trying to pick a fight to exude your 'superiority' to a bunch of 16 year olds who you want to outwit and embarass because you have nothing better to do. try again.

Try again ? Why .. . did i miss my mark ? Pity you are so self-conscious.
Didn't mean to provoke such a bitchy response from anyone, least of all someone so
in the know.

The film only rates a 56 on Metacritic, a little better on Rotten Tomatoes. There is
clearly a large number of people who just don't buy all the intellectual pretension
that comes with this overbaked comic story. On a more basic level, people found nothing
'visionary' about a film that stands like a mindless slave to the silly comic book.
Sort of undercuts all the supernatural smarts the director, producers, and writers
say is in the film.

Oh by the way, worst of all, it fails as basic entertainment because its self-absorbed.
I mean so what if I or any other plebeian dislike this tripe, its our loss. Mad Moore
wins either way.

quote:

Originally posted by mariusfeneru:
i like this film. you dont????

Why . . . no. Sorry.

Do say . . why did you like this 'film' ?

I am a huge fan of the Graphic Novel, and believe me, I was one of the first people in line on its release day. I was so excited, I even stopped hating on Zack Snyder for directing it, because from all the hype, I actually believed he was capable of making this.

I was wrong.

While over-enthusiastic fanboys dressed in Rorschach masks and overweight women wearing Silk Spectre's latex costume step out of the cinema and glorified the movie to its extinction, I was one of the few serious fans there dressed like a human. I hated it. The screenplay was crap, didn't at all intruige me like the GN did, most of the characters were bland, even Adrien who in the comic I saw as this scheming mastermind, like The Joker. I'm glad Snyder stuck so close to the GN that the sex scenes were included, but went overboard with the slow motion effects again. The action scenes were almost entirely left out of the story and about 85% of the movie was babbling on, and never get to the point like the GN did.(I bet the public would not understand a word if they haven't read the novel).

This is just my opinion. I'm not trolling or starting a war against the angry waves of fans and/or "smart" people who haven't read the novel, but claimed the movie as good. Each for their own word.

no one is self-concious. i was simply trying to state that your overall analysis of this movie, and subsequent posting under "worst of 2009" is rather ridiculous.

there are many other movies quite deserving of the title. don't make a decision based on personal feelings towards the film. you obviously thought about it enough to make 2 convoluted posts telling readers how unintellectual and pedestrian you think the film is.

mediocre? sure. worst? no.

I thought it was a decent stab considering the graphic novel was once considered unfilmable.I had serious resevations as synder is a bit of a hack who's main talent is an eye for highly stlyized special effects. However, the source material is so strong thats all he needed. My partner hadn't read the book and doesn't have an interest in comics at all, she managed to follow and enjoy it.