Watchmen Movie, post II

[gargoylekitty]

If you somehow missed the capsladden cut, SPOILERS!SPOILERS!SPOILERS! this includes the book! *pauses and gives anyone a chance to click the arrow back* Okay.

While I can understand why they changed the giant squid/alien thing ending it bothered me that they got rid of the bodies. It took away a lot of the 'whoa...' impact for me. There was destruction and you understand people died though without the blood and mess it makes it a lot easier to accept and disconnect from. It removes the emotion.
...
Getting way ahead of myself here. The opening told you right away of the level of violence that was going to be displayed. They not only didn't hold back but got excessive. The thugs in the alley aren't just beaten up but killed. Rorshach takes a meat cleaver to the child killer rather than letting him burn. A man's arms are sawed off while he's still alive. Yet they somehow felt the need to leave out one of the more violent scenes, Hollis's death, and nix the bodies. Wtf.

Loved the sequence that followed(or was it before? my brain's already going a little fuzzy on exact order. all the more reason to see it again), was a thing of beauty telling you the history in a way that was comfortable and easy to digest. Not only that but it poked at the implication that Veidt might have been gay. :D ...though I do admit it sucked to see the Silhouette(who we never get to know in either format) making out with her nurse girlfriend one second and death not too much later.

*ponders* I'm surprised it got the rating it did. Not only did we have the super blue wang o' doom 3x bigger than the comic(I'm suddenly unsure about seeing it in IMAX later) but we also had a couple sex scenes between Dan and Laurie that might as well have been porn. Given that the comic just showed a small bit of the lead-up, cut to the outside, and then cut back to the afterglow this was just a bit longer than needed. I'm not complaining per se. Guess they figured that they already have the extreme violence so they might as well smack the sex taboo upside the head. Given the sexual vibes of the comic, well played? Maybe... meh.

As expected all the NY citizen characters were cut. Yes, they were visually there though any roles they played in giving life to the city was obliterated. I suspect that this only added to my lack of feelings over NY getting destroyed. No bodies, no blood, no side characters we've grown to know(even if only a little bit), no emotion. I knew they were very likely to be cut to make things flow well in a movie format though when you add it to the choice to change the visual destruction it was a poor move. One or the other, not both.

I guess that brings me to the destruction itself. They blamed it on Dr. Manhattan. I was wondering who was going to get the blame when I heard the alien was removed. Should have been obvious. It was an okay substitution, though I still wanted to see the motherfucking squid monster. :\


ETA: Just realised how down some of this sounds... It was still an amazing movie and I can't wait to see it again later this week. It was the motherfucking Watchmen, it rocked!

Comments

[silverdragon729.livejournal.com]

By the way, I feel the need to mention how excited I was that they kept a lot of the original dialogue, and especially my favorite quote. I absolutely thought Rorschach was going to say "The world will look up and shout 'save us'" because that's what he says in the trailers. Man, I'm still stoked about it.

[spankingfemme.livejournal.com]

I loved it!
Okay, now on to the discussion parts of your post!

I agree with you on being okay with the alien/squid switched to Dr Manhattan as it worked well, and I also like d that they made it a global event verses just NY (makes it 'felt' around the world more) As for the bodies in the street, since they went with using the reactor to evaporate everyone like it had Dr Manhattan, it would have hiccuped the story line they had already laid out, so I guess I'm okay with it, but I do see your point on taking a bit of the 'umph' out of the tragedy)

The violence and sex scenes were pushed a lot further than the book, but it's the director that did 300, so I didn't expect much less (BTW, did you catch that the smashed coffee cup at the beginning where Comedian throws the cup at the door reads '3001' and when it breaks against the door it reads '300' :P Nice little Easter egg XD)

The Minute Men scenes rocked! It did a great job showing how vigilantes went from being beloved to hated! Also, great show of humanity throughout the stills! Loved the one with the cop looking down Jupiter's costume! XD

"super blue wang o' doom" LOL! <-- One of the many reasons I have love for you my dear :P

As for the character cuts, the movie was 2.45 hours long as is, and it sucks, but time is such a factor. It really is amazing what he pulled off in that amount of time. It would have been better set as a 12 part mini series, but then the graphics and casting would have suffered which would have also kicked the book in the balls :/ I'm just happy for what we did get because it is made of awesome! XD

Squid monster would have ruled! :P

And you forgot to mention the animated pirate comic trailer! XD I can't wait! *squee!*