I finished reading Watchmen last night

Ben Lesser · #1 08-14-2008, 09:00 AM

What an absolutely incredible novel. I picked it up after seeing the previews for it in The Dark Knight, since the trailers made absolutely no sense to me and I wanted to have some idea of what was going on.

I can't believe how in-depth the psychology of the characters were. It was really astounding, and I felt very much impacted by some of the chapters (Chapter IV, in particular, if that's the one with Jon; and of course the last chapter).

But reading it made be realize that I'm, like, 75% less excited to see the movie now because there is absolutely no way they're going to be able to recapture the impact of the novel in film format. They might get a lot of the story, and develop a couple of the characters, but I just can't see them pulling the whole thing off properly. Granted, I hope I'm very much wrong.

Anyone else want to chime in?

Barkless Dog · #2 08-14-2008, 09:49 AM

A classic Comic, graphic novel, that really took comics in a new direction for the comic industry to follow.

RED5 · #3 08-14-2008, 09:54 AM

Anyone else want to chime in?[/quote]

I read, but I've never read a story cover to cover,page after page, word for word before. I couldn't put the Watchmen book down. Read it in one day. Compelling, in a word. Made me aware of Alan Moore. I'm staying open about the movie, it won't miss due to lack of attention to detail from what I see of the website.

Barkless Dog · #4 08-14-2008, 10:02 AM

I read it when it came out, so everything is kind of foggy for me now, so I am hoping because of this, the movie will not disappoint , but bring back my memories of the book in a good way.

Thunderscreech · #5 08-14-2008, 10:06 AM

I heard about the movie, and then got the book, knowing what movies do to the story.

when i was done reading it i kinda sat there for a minute, cause it completely blew my mind with how GOOD it was.

bkbirge · #6 08-14-2008, 10:10 AM

I read it not too long ago, got all the singles in a trade. Great comic series for sure. I don't think they would have any trouble making this into a movie except for the pacing. The story itself is pretty straightforward, even with the flashbacks. A lot of the subtext will be lost I'm sure and I'm guessing they'll drop everyone's origins except for Dr. Manhattan but I don't see anything inherent to the comics that couldn't be treated well onscreen, despite what Alan Moore says. I do think there is enough material there that it could have been a series of movies and still not explored it all. I'm looking forward to see how Downey handles the Comedian character.

jazzy grille · #7 08-14-2008, 10:16 AM

I am wondering how long the film will be, then I will be able to better judge how good it will be (assuming that longer film = more in depth)..

Judging from the Preview, they managed to hit some key points.. All we can do is wait.

Barkless Dog · #8 08-14-2008, 10:18 AM

I hope they do it in a series of movies true to the book, rather than a abbreviation.

SundanceChile · #9 08-14-2008, 10:22 AM

I read the series about a year or two back. Blew my mind beyond all comprehension. When I saw that trailer at the midnight showing for Batman, I went absolutley estatic!

But seriously, Watchmen is an INCREDIBLY well written piece of literature. The characters practically leap off the pages with the detail that is presented. It's complex enough that a Philo/Psych major could get under the book's skin, but also completely accessible to the general media. Also, not to ruin the story for anyone, but Veidt quite possibly made the single greatest villain in history with this one liner,

'Do it?' Dan, I'm not a Republic serial villain. Do you seriously think I'd explain my master-stroke if there remained the slightest chance of you affecting its outcome? I did it thirty-five minutes ago.

Joey3313 · #10 08-14-2008, 10:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bkbirge

I'm looking forward to see how Downey handles the Comedian character.

Uhh, what?

SundanceChile · #11 08-14-2008, 10:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Joey3313

Uhh, what?

I think he got Robert Downey Jr. confused with Jeffrey Dean Morgan.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watchmen_(film)

jazzy grille · #12 08-14-2008, 10:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SundanceChile

I think he got Robert Downey Jr. confused with Jeffrey Dean Morgan.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watchmen_(film)

In his defense, I thought the exact same thing when they showed the Comedian with the flame-thrower in the preview.. He looks exactly like Downey in that scene.

bkbirge · #13 08-14-2008, 12:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jazzy grille

In his defense, I thought the exact same thing when they showed the Comedian with the flame-thrower in the preview.. He looks exactly like Downey in that scene.

Oops. LOL.

RED5 · #14 08-14-2008, 12:48 PM

Does anyone else see Dennis Farina as a good fit playing the older Comedian?

Hoover · #15 08-14-2008, 01:05 PM

Wow, I had no idea a movie version was even in production. I read the graphic novel when it first came out (1987? '88?) and my first thought was "This would make an awesome movie!" but I never expected it to have enough mass appeal to get past the Hollywood machine.

Brad Barker · #16 08-14-2008, 03:12 PM

the movie's not getting serialized, and there is one actor per character.

when i finished reading the watchmen (two years ago), it took a lot out of me. definitely not a typical super hero narrative!

**john turner** · #17 08-14-2008, 05:06 PM

the one recurring problem i have with the watchmen is ozy's abilities. don't care how fast your brain is, or your regular human body, you are not going to be able to decelerate a bullet in your hand. ozy was too uber, and it emasculated in a large part the backstories of the rest of the characters - who cares how complex rorshach or niteowl were if, in the end, they were like little league taking on the yankees. i think this element of the story is going to be the biggest flaw in the movie - hollywood, doing what it does best, will play up veidt's abilities to the point that he's gonna be even more superman/neo. -sad-.

the whole final chapter was too deus ex machina for me. the only flaw in his plan, the fact that doc manhattan can reconstruct faster than veidt expected, seemed to me to have been a realization too late, by alan moore, that he overdid it with ozy, and placed that only as a poor attempt to balance the whole imbalance of ozy's abilities. there's no way ozy could be that tough and not be an augmented human, and yet from what i remember he was supposed to be purely human.

in other words he was lex luthor, pulling superman stunts. fail. the only thing i hated about it.

Brad Barker · #18 08-14-2008, 07:17 PM

otoh, ozymandias being able to do whatever he wants is pretty vital to the plot. the guy has a god complex and the some of the abilities to back it up, which makes the world a pretty scary place, even though the general population doesn't realize it.

Hoover · #19 08-15-2008, 07:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by john turner

there's no way ozy could be that tough and not be an augmented human, and yet from what i remember he was supposed to be purely human.

But (and admittedly it's been 20 years since I read the novel, so I could be completely off base here) I thought that was the point: you've been reading along all this time assuming that Ozy is "purely human" and then when he opens his hand to reveal the bullet you're forced to rethink all your assumptions.

**john turner** · #20 08-15-2008, 08:06 AM

but if he's not, then where's -his- backstory? and furthermore, what's the point? why set up a bunch of complex, flawed characters who need to somehow rise above their imperfections to save the world if in the end, Deus Ex Mach is gonna come in and invalidate everything.

that kind of conflict structure in fiction went out with homer.

i just reread it last night. don't get me wrong, i really like the work, but ozy being so badass was a major cop out, not to mention an oversimplification. even superman, in dc's candy-coated world, can't do what ozy did. i know that moore was partially trying to apply real world socio-political mechanics to the world of superheros and see what happened, and in general i think he really succeeded, but the veidt's superhuman abilities and stats conveniently coming to light right when they are needed violates Comic Law 1, imo.

and it can't be explained away just as an ability - it's physically impossible for human skin to withstand the forces of a bullet in flight. it's physically impossible for human muscles to respond fast enough, regardless of how much warning they have. the most capable martial artist who had ever lived could not close their hand fast enough to slow a bullet in flight, regardless of timing.

if a hero is going to be non-super, then he needs to be humanly believable. if batman caught a bullet, we'd not believe it. ozy's chestplate could have just as easily been bulletproof.