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Kevin Smith and the /Filmcast Review Watchmen
Director Kevin Smith provides an in-depth review on the cult film, Watchmen....
Watchmen: Justice is Coming Online Multiplayer Game Now Availabl...
Burbank, Calif., March 6, 2009 - Warner Bros. Digital Distribution today announced the availability of Last Legion Games' highly anticipated Watchmen: Justice is Coming online multiplayer game for the iPhone and iPod touch. For a very limited time, Watchmen: Justice is Coming is being offered at a special introductory price of $0.99 on the Apple App Store. Based on the film Watchmen, from Warner...
"Watchmen" Set For Big Opening Night
The Zack Snyder-helmed adaptation of "Watchmen" will play in an impressive 1,600 locations starting at midnight Thursday reports Reuters....
Dark Horizons Reviews Watchmen
Garth Franklin from DarkHorizons.com reviews the highly anticipated comic book film, Wathcmen....
Will anyone watch the 'Watchmen'? - CNN.com
They have come to glimpse the miracle. They have come to witness the revolution. They have come for "Watchmen" -- the allegedly unfilmable superhero movie, the long-awaited adaptation of the comic book that changed the face of comic books forever....
"Watchmen" Director's Cut Goes Theatrical?
Dark Horizons first broke the story of a three-plus hour director's cut of "Watchmen" coming to DVD back in November and now it looks like said cut may be making it to the big screen as well....
Watchmen Mobile Website
Thanks to Warner Bros., you can now have access to the "Watchmen" mobile website. Now, you can access ringtones, trailers, wallpapers, production video blogs, and more. You will also receive movie updates and trivia, sent directly to your phone.
Simply text "watchmen" to 58671.
"Watch...
'Watchmen' finally ticks toward big-screen release
A yellow smiley-face badge, smeared with blood, has become the trademark for "Watchmen," the most critically revered of all comic books -- but it could also represent its troubled journey from page to big screen....
Watchmen Movie Will Be Released As Planned
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the ongoing court dispute between Warner Bros. and 20th Century Fox has been settled. 20th Century Fox is said to have received a substantial amount of money, but the terms of the agreement have not been disclosed.
The studios will be presenting the settlement to Judge Gary Feess, who has been presiding over the case.
"Warner Bros. acknowledges that Fox...
'Watchmen' deal in works
Translation: Fox knows they'll make less money on the lawsuit if the movie bombs, so they'll help cross promote it for a large share of the profits....
Warner Bros. Wants Watchmen Call Sooner
Fox and Warner Bros. had agreed to let Judge Gary A. Feess decide whether to issue an injunction against the Watchmen. The decision was scheduled for Jan. 20, but Warners is asking that the hearing be moved up to as early as Monday because "time is critical," the studio argues in papers filed this week....
20th Century Fox Tries To Delay Watchmen Release
The "Watchmen" saga continues. The Associate Press has announced that 20th Century Fox plans on continuing their quest for a court order to delay the release of the film.
The law appears to be on the side of Fox at the moment. Last week, U.S. District Court Judge Gary Feess had agreed that Warner Bros. infringed upon Fox's copyrights by developing the film. Warner Bros. says that Fox doesn'...
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The 1986 book, published at the time in 12 separate issues, is considered by many the most acclaimed graphic novel of all time. As such, anyone attempting to adapt it to film has a daunting challenge. A lot of people (including the creator, Alan Moore) said it could never be made into a movie. They said that about Lord of the Rings, and they were right; the trilogy never was made into a movie of any merit. It was made into three movies, each about four-hours in length, that were cut down in theatrical release to about three. Don't let anyone tell you differently -- Lord of the Rings -- as a movie was probably not filmable. Watchmen represents only a slightly less herculean task.
Zack Snyder, who adapted Frank Miller's 300 for the screen, was approached in 2006 by the studio. By that time the idea of a Watchmen film-property had been in the works for years – even more than a decade. The original draft by Sam Hamm apparently featured a highly alternate ending involving the deaths of major characters that didn't die in the book, time travel, and some of the characters apparently winding up "in the real world." Although, at the time, Alan Moore gave his approval to the movie adaptation (something he withdrew completely after V for Vendetta). The film that was envisioned was a far different animal than the graphic novel.
If you plan to see it, this background is important to you only if you have not read the book itself. If you haven't read Watchmen, then you should first and foremost understand that the movie you have today is one that has gone through a lengthy, often painful development cycle, to get where it is. You should also understand that as a work, Watchmen is not only the most acclaimed graphic novel of all time, but was epochal in the comics industry and has garnered serious acclaim outside of it as well. It is a work of fiction on par with anything else from the 20th century. It is one of the things that may still be read a hundred years from now.
About Its Superheroes
What is Watchmen? The story takes place in an alternate-reality 1985, decades ago, where normal people got the ideas of dressing up in costumes and fighting crimes (for example, this may be in reaction to some criminal gangs adopting pirate or Halloween costumes to pull off flamboyant heists). These 'superheroes' were flamboyant, mortal, and usually with serious personality disorders or other issues. They led lives of bizarre celebrity and sometimes died in unpleasant ways; for example - Dollar Bill, a bit character, was shot down in a bank after his cape was caught in a revolving door.
The heroes of the 40's inspired a second group of crime-fighters in the 60's and 70's. They were a bit darker and more serious, but a physics-lab accident created a single actual superhuman who changed everything. Dr. Manhattan (named by the government he served) was created in a scientific mishap which resulted in a single being with near godlike power. Dr. Manhattan was able to change the world, advance science, and even for a brief time (as a publicity exercise) fought crime with some of the newer heroes.
That is all over today. In 1985 a government act shut down the costumed heroes, moved Dr. Manhattan from a public celebrity to a walking nuclear deterrent, and left the world a little less flamboyant and a good deal darker. When the movie opens an older man is surprised in his apartment by an intruder who has come to kill him; it turns out that some of these "retired" costumed vigilantes apparently still have enemies.
This sets off a detective story that takes us into the bizarre world of the retired costumed avengers -- the crazy, violent Rorschach who is still "active"; he still hunts and kills criminals -- the smart, shy, retired Nite Owl (who follows in the footsteps of the original 1940's Nite Owl -- a two-fisted brawler crime-fighter, and the second Silk Specter, who's mother was the first. She is a brunette bombshell that was raised to continue the family tradition of being a vigilante and is now Dr. Manhattan's latest girlfriend. There is Adrian Videt, who was known as Ozymandias -- the "smartest guy in the world" and is now a corporate mogul; however, was originally one of the team.
Rorschach thinks that the death of the character in the beginning might be related to his previous activities as one of the team and sets about investigating. What unfolds is a story that has cataclysmic impact for the world and the fraternity of its former defenders. This story is pretty darn close to the one that was told in Alan Moore's work; and it comes to the screen with enough F/x fire-power to render it with just about the best visuals anyone could hope for.
If you read and liked the novel as you go into Watchmen, you will see one movie; if you haven't read it, you may, very well, find something "completely different." I have comments to say to both sets of people -- but they are different comments.
I Read Watchmen
Zack Snyder is, if anything, "too close" to the text. Yes, he changes things; he changes the ending in some ways. He changes how some of the characters inter-relate. He moves some dialog around. He adds a few scenes and removes one. His addition of an 80's Crossfire TV show (with Pat Buchannan weighing in on Dr. Manhattan), and the president's command center moved from the novel's underground mountain to the Dr. Strangelove's war-room, feel right at home. His extended fight scenes are just as kinetic as 300's (especially the death of the Comedian -- something that gave us more of a feel for his prowess than the novel's short snap-shots).
He adds gratuitous gore. He removes some of Rorschach's psychiatric evaluation and skips over some of the more subtle symbolism (the fat man and the little boy are gone from the recollection of the fair where Dr. Osterman breaks his watch). However, he keeps most of the key elements (the sign about specializing in obsolete models is kept outside the elder Nite Owl's garage). Patrick Wilson, who plays Dreiberg (Nite Owl) apparently, did gain weight for the part, but is not the pudgy ex-crime fighter the novel makes him out to be.
Did Zack Snyder get everything right? No one can say -- each fan will feel things are different. However, I think that any sober assessment will have to conclude that he did a formidable job. Whether he hewed too closely, the movie's by-the-book pacing feels a little overly long, or diverged too much (some of the added drama, such as Nite Owl's "Noooo" scene feel highly artificial) will be up to the individual watcher.
What I can say is this -- the movie does something that I think, regardless of anything else, a triumph -- it gives us a dark, long, dense movie with characters that, if not totally true to the source, are close enough analogs to make it surprising, and has made at all. It tells a story that is recognizably Watchmen. It shows us things, like the crystal palace and Dr. Manhattan's penis, that we would not have seen at all a decade earlier. Remember the Judge Dredd movie where they removed his helmet so we could see Stallone's face…
I Did Not Read The Book
If you didn't read the book, you should know going in that Watchmen is a demanding story with multiple main characters all of whom are flawed; it is hard to find "a hero." In a sense, the most sympathetic characters accomplish almost nothing. The characters who drive the action are often anti-heroes. The camera asks you to get close to some characters that you won't like.
Also know that it's a complex story, and you may wind up wondering where it is going. There are some parts that do not make a lot of sense -- the smartest man in the world has an easily guessable password? Well, that is how Alan Moore, one of the smartest comic-writers in the world wrote it. The movie sometimes goes from the rollicking to the shocking without much warning. It isn't, at all, a traditional superhero story. If you like your heroes clean or heroic, Watchmen are not for you.
Malin Åkerman, playing Silk Specter II, is a bit wooden as the female lead. Yes, she is playing a single heroine amongst an otherwise all-boy's club; but if you are looking for inter-personal drama, you may be disappointed. The pacing, as I have noted, is also "draggy" with long asides and flash-backs that may cause some viewers to lose momentum. On the other hand, Watchmen is a spectacle that is on-par with any other big-budget superhero movie that I've ever seen. Where it fails in the specifics, it is powerful in the broad strokes.
Conclusion
Watchmen is a powerful example of how the studios are taking written properties seriously today. As I understand it, the former script would have thrown out much of what made the book special and spindled and mutilated what was left. It would have been another case where the "studio got it wrong." Today, we have a far, far braver picture -- one that shows us a story that is a thoughtful adaptation -- one that earns every inch of its R-rating and has the guts to show us an often naked, often-from-the-waist-down super-human who has become so inhuman in his psychology that he doesn't really see the need for clothes. It takes a lengthy 2 hours and 50 minutes to tell the story it wants to, and the director's cut will be even longer.
If adapting Watchmen to the screen is a Gordian Knot of a problem, I think it is safe to say that Zack Snyder is "Alexander's Sword." Whichever group you fall into, if you can handle the length, the moral ambiguity, the dense, somewhat philosophical asides, the large, sprawling cast, and some unneeded drama, you have got a brave movie for a visionary novel. I cannot ask for any more.--Marco Chacon
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I know what you are thinking -- you are thinking, ' Gee, I really liked Watchmen; as FlickDirect.com said, it is probably a better Watchmen than we deserve -- and definitely the best one we were going to get; but do I really want 24 more minutes of it?'
And then you think -- 'Hey -- shouldn't I wait for that five-disc edition to come out? I bought something like three copies of The Fellowship of the Rings ..." I am going to sort all of that out for you.
The Watchmen Director's Cut comes with two discs. On disc 1 (the cut itself): 24 extra minutes of Nite Owl, Dr. Manhattan, the Comedian, the Silk Specter II, and Rorschach. What is in that 24 minutes? Well, a lot of stuff. Mostly just extensions; but there is the Nite Owl 1 beat-down scene -- somehow I felt the movie was probably improved by for not showing me.
There is an unnecessary, and wisely cut, scene of the cops finding Rorschach in the Comedian's apartment. He knocks one out, and the other takes a bunch of shots at him -- which, due to camera focus, is not clear how he survives. If I didn't know better, I would think he was bullet proof from that scene. We see some "Rorschach wanted footage" in the old Nite Owl talks to the new one scene, so we get a description of the Keene Act.
There is a Rorschach walking down the street scene with more Rorschach monologue that underscores he will never, ever surrender. Well, not even in the face of anything. There is a government agent's question, the Silk Specter II, and some more Eddie Blake flash-back. There is some "we found Dr. Manhattan on Mars" stuff from science geeks. There is an absolutely unnecessary extra clip of Videt's secretary getting her fingers shot off in the assassination scene.
There is more, and it is definitely unnecessary. While I consider Watchmen a triumph of filmmaking and turning the book into a movie, I truly do not believe we were going to get a better shot at it); it is clear that editing was kind to the movie. Being it is already long, it is not improved by the additional material -- much of which does not appear in the books, and some of which is simply gratuitous.
It is also missing the all-important Director's Commentary, which is at least half of what I would want from a "Director's Cut".
The second disc contains a MCR video for the show, 'webisodes' (available, as you would guess, from the web), and a documentary which has interviews with people from DC comics about how revolutionary Watchmen (the book) was. This is actually good -- although it is hurt seriously by the lack of Alan Moore who does not cooperate with studios after a falling out with DC Comics.
However, what is interesting and good about this, is not the discussion -- which is okay, although does not get high marks -- but the animated video shorts, which take Dave Gibbon's (the Watchmen artist's) work, and well, "animate it". This gives us a tantalizing and brilliant look at what a straight-out-of-the-novel (and I mean straight-out- of-the-novel) cartoon would look like.
The second disc is worth it just for that.
But here's the real problem. Inside the box is a note for 10 bucks off the ultimate edition. This is interesting; they presume that (a) you have bought this, so you are a Watchmen fan, and (b) you will (maybe) buy the 5-disc edition with director's commentary, the rest of the motion comics, and a bunch of other stuff. So really what they are saying is, "Thanks for this --and, we know you are going to get the big enchilada when that comes out."
Well, if you're a fan, you probably should, but I would pass on this one. The extras (especially without Director's Commentary) just aren't compelling enough in the face of a really deluxe set that will have that stuff.
If I showed this to someone for the first time, I would rather show them the theatrical release than the Director's Cut, which doesn't bode well for selling this edition. --Marco Chacon
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Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian.
A complex, multi-layered mystery adventure, the film is set in an alternate 1985 America in which costumed superheroes are part of the fabric of everyday society, and the “Doomsday Clock” – which charts the USA’s tension with the Soviet Union – is permanently set at five minutes to midnight. When one of his former colleagues is murdered, the washed-up but no less determined masked vigilante Rorschach sets out to uncover a plot to kill and discredit all past and present superheroes. As he reconnects with his former crime-fighting legion – a ragtag group of retired superheroes, only one of whom has true powers – Rorschach glimpses a wide-ranging and disturbing conspiracy with links to their shared past and catastrophic consequences for the future. Their mission is to watch over humanity…but who is watching the Watchmen?
