I’ll say the only thing I really missed was that Daniel wasn’t in that great owl snow pod costume, flying around the arctic. Otherwise, it was what it was. Beware for spoilers, now…
1. Which was better, the book or the movie or the animated book/movie?
2. Do you think it would’ve been better if Snyder smoked as much opium as Alan Moore?
3. Did Patrick Wilson make the character of Daniel even better than it was in the book?
4. If you had cut the movie, how long would it be?
5. The ending didn’t really add up, did it?
6. Which movie had better characters: Slumdog Millionaire or Watchmen?
7. How great / weird is it to see Kelly “Moocher” Leak making such a strong comeback? Really, there was nothing between ‘Maniac Cop 3′ and ‘Little Children’.
8. How did you feel about the JFK bit in the credit sequence?
9. Did you find the letters from the filmmakers to be lame or spot on?
10. Lee Iacocca seriously took a bullet between the eyes, didn’t he?
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1) The book. The movie’s mostly faithful, but that’s its main fault. Case in point: the three people who saw it with me were not familiar with the book and were for the most part universally underwhelmed and a little bored by the film…
2) Hmm…Maybe? But probably not.
3) I think so. I’m on board the Wilson wagon. Really liked him in Little Children and was surprised by how well he did here.
4) Two hours. What would I cut? I have no freaking clue…
5) How so? I kind of thought it made sense, just don’t ask me to explain it.
6) Hmm. I first wrote Watchmen because it feels like those characters had more depth, but now that I think about it I’m not sure I don’t feel that way simply because those characters were older than the ones in Slumdog. The characters in Slumdog were more effortless and easy to be entertained by, but that shouldn’t be looked at as an easier feat than creating guys who dress up in costumes but still have souls…Final answer: tie.
7) He’s incredible. You can’t take your eyes off of him when he’s on screen, especially when he looks like Danny Bonaduce. He gave a really strong performance here.
9) I’ll say neither lame nor spot on. I don’t think I would feel comfortable writing such a letter, nor do I think they were necessary, but clearly these guys are passionate about their film and its within their rights to do something like this. Hayter’s letter seems to underscore the problem I have with the film though in that it seems as if it was ONLY made for the fans with the smiley face pins on their jackets. If this movie doesn’t make back its budget, it won’t be because of them but because of a general audience who feels like they just spent 2 hrs. 45 mins watching EXPOSITION: THE MOVIE.
10) He certainly did. Neat little sequence that I’m surprised I’ve never seen before in a film.
I don’t worship at the alter of this book and didn’t care for 300 at all, so I was actually pleasantly surprised by the film – even as I think it’s a more effective adaptation than it is an enjoyable time at the theater. My biggest beef with the flick? Malin Akerman sounds EXACTLY like Drew Barrymore. Drives me crazy!
Oops – that emoticon should be #8…
5. Well, it’s just that… if Dr. Manhattan is too blame, then wouldn’t the world blame America for all the destruction?
6. I’m not sure about this either.
8. Yeah, that opening sequence was great. Also overloaded with stuff that I know I missed, but something I look forward to seeing again.
Agreed about Akerman. That drove me a little crazy…
1) Hands down, the book.
2) …
3) I’m not sure about better. He was absolutely fitting. I thought he accurately embodied Dan, the ineffectual, soft liberal, to a near tee. I wished he would’ve fattened up a bit more for the role, however, to match Dan from the comics. I guess I’m a purist that way.
He was pretty damn awesome.
4) I wanted more of a faithful adaptation. I would’ve been happy if the thing was 5 1/2 hours long version that had every page and panel represented on film. That’s not the majority opinion, however, and I understand why, but there were a couple aspects of the original story I wished remained in this one.
Especially a focus on the New Frontiersman newspaper being a right wing publication, and Rorschach picking it up everyday. Rorschach was an authoritarian bigot (“Possibly homosexual. Must investigate further.”), and to some degree I wished that was played up more. Also, the Hollis Mason scene where the mob kills him on Halloween would’ve been nice, because as it is Mason is set up then simply disappears from the story altogether.
5) The ending worked well. I thought the change from squids to Dr. Manhattan was an improvement over the original comics! And that’s saying a lot. You could say people would be angry with America, but also America was attacked, so I think that’s how they avoid that.
Also, the point is to unify everyone using fear, and when the common enemy can be seen as such a awesome and unstoppable threat (such as blue dong), fear would convince you to find commonality amongst other countries real quick, I think — even the one you may blame indirectly.
6) I love the political manifestations in the characters of Watchmen. Slumdog was a good, albeit overly hyped, movie, but the characters in Watchmen are smarter.
7) Best thing about the movie. He was perfect as Rorschach! I love it.
9) Meh.
10) Yes. That scene is no where in the comics, is it? I know the assassin bit is in there, but that whole conversation with Lee Iacocca and Veidt wasn’t something I remember from the comics. Here again, I’m too lazy to look it up.
Anywho, I hear the Director’s cut may be released in theaters in July, but I think that’s not going to happen. I imagine the DVD/Bluray will come out then with an extended version. Apparently Snyder shot the whole Black Freighter sequence, too, and that is supposed to be going back into the movie.
The Dir. Cut is rumored to be 3 hours 15 minutes.
Sorry for the delay on this comment, Heath. Great thoughts. I still, though, feel like the world would say “Let’s band together and overrun America, because they do screwed up stuff like create blue guys that destroy everything.” But now maybe I’m running this idea into the ground…