I just came back from watching this movie. First and foremost, I need to let you know that I've not read the comic book it is based on, so I had no point of reference when watching the movie.

I got to say, I'm highly impressed. And appereantly, so are a lot of other people, considering its #216 on IMDBs top 250. Zack Snyder really outdid himself here, as did screenwriters David Hayter and Alex Ste.

The Watchmen is the perfect example of style AND substance merged into a single, powerful piece of cinema. The movie runs at a whopping 3 hours, and a lot of scenes could've been trimmed or deleted; but the characters are engaging enough and decently developed to keep you interested until the plot starts to unfold.

I won't go into much detail -- the only thing I will say is that this film is certainly better than ANY other superhero movie to come out in the past decade, including The Dark Knight. There is a nice amount of comedy, gore, action, and satire -- all blended smoothly into a cohesive masterpiece.

The direction and editing in the film are stupendous, as is the acting and the special effects.

Go watch it now -- and don't go in expecting another brainless blockbuster -- go in expecting a moderately-paced, excellent story put on celluloid.

9/10

  

I liked this movie, I have never even heard of it till the trailers came out so i know nothing of the source material, but from my stand point this is a stand out super hero film, not as strong as the dark knight, but nothing is so i can't hold that against this film.  The action scenes are cool, the sex is hot and the characters are interesting. i liked how we get back stories on all these different characters, my fav has gotta be Rorschach, the scenes with him as a kid are great.  I could have done  with out the giant blue penis through out the film, but other than that it was a lot of fun, plus the sound track is killer, some great tunes in it.  This is the fun Hollywood blockbuster you want, lots of action, great special effects and some hot sex scenes, an all around fun flick.

I've read the graphic novel and I loved the movie. The novel is better but that's to be suspected.

My only qualm was Ozymandias. While not horrible casting choice, he came off as a bit cold.

However, other then that, I loved the movie and can't wait for the extended DVD directors cut.

I've just got to say I LOVE THIS MOVIE! I flew up to New York just to watch this thing, (seeing as where I live it doesn't come out until the 12 of March) and spend some time with my father, but we were able to catch a midnight screening and I was blown away. Everything in this movie is like WOW. The special effects, acting, editing, directing, cinematography, it was all excellent.

Now I've only read a small bit of the comic seeing as I don't own a copy, yet. But with the little that I read I could see that the film was faithful to the comic, almost every frame is the same. just like what Zack Snyder did with Frank Miller's 300. So all those fans of the comics who haven't seen it yet go watch it!!!

All of you out there spend you money on this thing, don't buy a crappy pirated DVD I mean it cost the same as going to the movies and plus on a DVD the movie looks crappy and you wont be able to see what everyone is so wowed about.

So go watch it!!!

How much of 300 has crossed over into this one? I despised 300 to no end. The reviews say it's pretty to the book, both tonally and storywise (I haven't read it but this certainly helps), but if I have to put up with 3 hours of the same slo-mo/CGI bullshit... Also, was anyone who DIDN'T read the book lost or confused at any point? I was pretty set on not seeing this but I don't think I've ever heard of a film that's had such mixed responses from everybody.

Phil, you haven't seen this yet, have you?

300 was just one huge fighting sequence. Entertaining, though horribly-written with characters as flat as door-mats.

In Watchmen, you can actually tell the characters apart. It is an entirely different animal. The quality doesn't even compare.

Watchmen is NOT a fast-paced Action movie -- a lot of people think it is and that's why they come out disappointed. The film is more of a Noir-ish character piece with superheroes (? ), really. It sounds weird. It *is* weird. But I really enjoyed it.

--Julio

Watchmen RULED! Not to much slow mo, in fact, a little underused, it was mind blowing

So is reading the comics before seeing the movie vital in understanding it fully?

There was only one thing which I did not understand, and it is nothing major --

***VERY MINOR SPOILERS AHEAD***


There is a horned, blue tiger late into the film.  The prescence of that weird animal threw me off a bit when watching it. She is only in a couple of scenes for very little time though.

Apparently, the blue tiger's role has been cut from the finished film.  Fans told me that it's a very popular character in the comics, so they kept it in as a sort of easter-egg to the fans even though the tiger has no tie to the plot in the film whatsoever.


***END SPOILERS***

That's about it. I understood everything else.

--Julio

Ah it was just a pet of Adrian's, that's all.

Just watched the Watchmen at the Imax last night and it rocks.

It's been a while since I read the comic and I was sort of thinking about reading it again before watching the movie but ultimately decided against it - I wanted to see if the movie could hold it's own.

And it could.

I liked it. I wasn't blown away by it but it was definitely entertaining. I think it's as faithful an adaptation as could have been made while still being sellable. Obviously certain things have been cut - as they should - but it never really took away from the overall impression that I was watching Watchmen.

Does it run too long. I don't really think so, I could have gone for an hour or so more easily (okay, I might have needed a toilet break somewhere into hour 4).

People unfamiliar with the base material - who based their expectations off the trailer - would probably be disappointed with how little action there really is in this movie. I thought it was just the right amount.

All in all, solid and faithful.

My wife and I just came back from seeing this movie.  And, while I thought it was a very good movie, it missed some elements of the mini-series.  There were also changes in the story.  These changes stuck in me like a claw hammer from the ex-wife.

The best part of the movie, IMHO, was Rorschach.  Jackie Earl Haley was incredible in the role.  Unfortunately, the movie did not show nearly as much of the character as the comic book did.  Only a part of his origin was shown; I was surprised by what wasn't shown.  The prison psychiatrist was barely used when, in the comic book, he had a very significant role in the story

The worst part of the movie was Malin Akerman's portrayal of Sally Jupiter.  Half the time it felt as though she was reading the script for the first time.

The ending was very different and that was something I didn't understand at all.  I won't go into it now--hate to ruin things for people--but they easily could've stuck with Alan Moore's ending.  It would've been better.

Hopefully, the DVD will include the fifteen hours of bonus footage needed to complete the story.  Much like V for Vendetta, this movie--while good--is only a watered down version of the original work.


Phil

Could you PM me about how it ends in the comic book? I'd really like to know, but I don't have the money to buy it right now.

~Zack~

Quoted from Zack Could you PM me about how it ends in the comic book? I'd really like to know, but I don't have the money to buy it right now.

You might check your local library.  If you live in a decent sized town (at least 50,000 or so) it's likely they might have it.  I checked it out from the city library when I was in college, and they actually had several copies.