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Last night I saw Watchmen in Queens. I’m really not sure what quite happened in my theater, but there were mass walkouts. It didn’t happen all at once. People quit the film at four distinct parts. It was kind of bizarre how the crowd turned on the movie. I’ll give you the play by play because it was so fascinating to me.
Everyone got in their seats – anticipation was high – squeals of excitement – the movie starts – silence – everyone is holding their communal breath – then someone yells “this fucking sucks” – a chorus of grunts and shutup – 15 minutes later it happens again, but this time the shutups are more like harumphs – Twenty or so people walk out – Wash – Rinse – Repeat 3 more times. It was really strange how vocal the anger was. Has this happened to anyone else?
In a way I don’t even think it was the movie’s fault. I think the audience felt slighted more than they hated the movie. A few times I heard whispers, ‘This is nothing like the preview” and then, “yeah, the preview looked sick!”.
Personally, I thought it was pretty okay. It certainly was gorgeous, and the atmosphere was really well put together. The fight scenes were intricate, bloody, and Rorschach was well cast. Although the new trend towards who can have the most gravelly voice in comic book movies is getting slightly tiresome.
I also ‘got’ why they made the ‘superheroes’ have super powers. They realized that an audience who just watched the preview would have felt unbelievably cheated if these guys weren’t super strong. Now I’m not going to spoil it for those who haven’t seen it, BUT two really drawn out sex scenes within four minutes of each other… was not that appealing. Hilariously this was a big walkout moment. I think it was partially the music choices that really isolated certain audience members too. Which made me realize perhaps my music taste was impaired as well because I thought the soundtrack was completely awesome. It seemed like certain pieces must have been used as scratch track though, and someone love them so much they were just kept in. I mean if someone thought they were making their “2001: A Space Odyssey”… you never know.
Finally, Zach Snyder is a visual genius. He’s got style by the mile, but lacks the ability to direct his actors that well. It’s not that he does an absolutely terrible job, but everyone is such a caricature… Maybe this is what he is going for – When someone is crying they have to be crying out of every orifice – When someone is bleeding it is out of every limb. I find it amazing how little I care about things that cry and bleed too much. It just isn’t that realistic.
Finally, I’ve been anticipating this movie for so long, and now that it is out I don’t feel cheated. I’m not going back for more, but I think I can walk the streets knowing that it got made without anger. Thanks Zach. I had my qualms with Watchmen to be sure, but I also knew what I was getting into. This is a movie where in the end not too much happens to the main characters. They, much like the director, are trapped by their own devices. For two hours and forty minutes I realized how this book could not adapt well from a perfect graphic novel to a perfect film. Maybe good acting would have helped me believe a little more. Maybe there should have been less slow motion. Maybe there should have been less super powers.
Yeah. The acting was terrible. I imdb’d this and the only person I’ve even kind of heard of is Billy Crudup who was fantastic in “Almost Famous” but was a weird blue CGI guy in this so I’m not sure if that even counts as “acting.”
The one thing that I really did like was the music. I cherished the few 30 second spots where they played 80-s hits at an insanely loud volume. It drowned out the boos from the audience.
Yeah. The acting was terrible. I imdb’d this and the only person I’ve even kind of heard of is Billy Crudup who was fantastic in “Almost Famous” but was a weird blue CGI guy in this so I’m not sure if that even counts as “acting.”
The one thing that I really did like was the music. I cherished the few 30 second spots where they played 80-s hits at an insanely loud volume. It drowned out the boos from the audience.
I didn’t finish the novel before Friday, but I went to the movie anyway. Adaptations are tricky and I’ve never been a believer in comparing one medium to another.
But I agree. I thought it was decent, just on its own. Tonally, this seems like complicated material to begin with. But nothing was jarringly bad or offensive, though Malin Akerman tries her darndest. Man, she’s awful.
So yeah, Snyder did all right. But he does need to chill on the slow motion.
for the first hour and a half I thought Malin Akerman was Lucy Lawless.
for the first hour and a half I thought Malin Akerman was Lucy Lawless.
My big WTF was why Snyder would stick so ridiculously close to the source material (I recently re-read the book- this guy literally used the comic as his storyboards, mimicking most panels of the comic) AND YET completely change the ending?!?
For the record, I think the soundtrack sucked, but nothing sucked worse that Malin Akerman. They should’ve pulled an Aragorn on her, and pulled her out after realizing she was a suckfest.
Rorschach was impressive, though, as was freaking WILLOW as a gangster!
My big WTF was why Snyder would stick so ridiculously close to the source material (I recently re-read the book- this guy literally used the comic as his storyboards, mimicking most panels of the comic) AND YET completely change the ending?!?
For the record, I think the soundtrack sucked, but nothing sucked worse that Malin Akerman. They should’ve pulled an Aragorn on her, and pulled her out after realizing she was a suckfest.
Rorschach was impressive, though, as was freaking WILLOW as a gangster!
….Or maybe the job should have been given to us so we could put our rings together and (with a hefty Matrix-like budget) made a better film.
I haven’t seen this yet and I guess my ambition to see it has decreased, but I haven’t read the g.novel yet either. I can say one thing, I’ve played the Watchmen demo and….it’s pretty damn fun, and I’m pretty sure it’s only $20 if you buy it online!
This was a visual treat, an almost fascist story where the end justifies the means and some good, and some very bad acting. There are lots of reasons to pan the film but it is hard to get past just how beautiful the thing is.
This was a visual treat, an almost fascist story where the end justifies the means and some good, and some very bad acting. There are lots of reasons to pan the film but it is hard to get past just how beautiful the thing is.
Juan, I think your fabricating stuff. I attended the movie and there were no walk outs. For all you know, fans knew when to take a restroom break, but to proclaim a mass exodus is absurd.
Juan, I think your fabricating stuff. I attended the movie and there were no walk outs. For all you know, fans knew when to take a restroom break, but to proclaim a mass exodus is absurd.
I followed the link from the Chicago Tribune here- I agree with most of your gripes.
Also, I’m going to call CORPORATE COMMENT on Drew and possibly Chris Reed- I smell a PR firm!
I followed the link from the Chicago Tribune here- I agree with most of your gripes.
Also, I’m going to call CORPORATE COMMENT on Drew and possibly Chris Reed- I smell a PR firm!
weighing in a bit late here, but there were no walk-outs at a saturday afternoon showing i attended. there was plenty of vocal disapproval though. i’d guess that something near half the audience i saw it with dis-liked the film and let the rest of us know it. i haven’t read the original graphic novel, but the film feels incomplete and lacking a fully realized context. that said, it certainly wasn’t boring in spite of its length and i’ll certainly see the longer version that’s been promised for dvd, if only to find out what snyder decided to cut and whether it really hurt the film.
weighing in a bit late here, but there were no walk-outs at a saturday afternoon showing i attended. there was plenty of vocal disapproval though. i’d guess that something near half the audience i saw it with dis-liked the film and let the rest of us know it. i haven’t read the original graphic novel, but the film feels incomplete and lacking a fully realized context. that said, it certainly wasn’t boring in spite of its length and i’ll certainly see the longer version that’s been promised for dvd, if only to find out what snyder decided to cut and whether it really hurt the film.
If you loved the source material, stop the bitching, he Zack did great for hat time he had to use. the ending was better than the book. Had he made all the changes to “modernize” the story, then everyone would bitch he didn’t do it like the book. Bottom line is like Zack himself would say, he made it to please “Fanboy” and also hope to draw in new fans. Watchmen never was Spiderman or Batman people…get a clue.
I read the comic book the week before the movie and i don’t know why everyone is bitching so much. The comic book is impossible to translate well into a movie, which is why is took so long to be made in the first place. The viewer is missing all the insight offered by things like “under the hood,” Silk Specters scrap book, and the parallel story “The Curse of the Black Freighter.” The acting was good enough and the visuals were at times stunning. People who were expecting the best graphic novel to translate into the best comic book movie should ave realized that was never going to happen.
I read the comic book the week before the movie and i don’t know why everyone is bitching so much. The comic book is impossible to translate well into a movie, which is why is took so long to be made in the first place. The viewer is missing all the insight offered by things like “under the hood,” Silk Specters scrap book, and the parallel story “The Curse of the Black Freighter.” The acting was good enough and the visuals were at times stunning. People who were expecting the best graphic novel to translate into the best comic book movie should ave realized that was never going to happen.