-
Website
http://www.slashfilm.com/ -
Original page
http://www.slashfilm.com/2009/03/12/kevin-smith-and-the-filmcast-review-watchmen-filmcast-ep-41/ -
Subscribe
All Comments -
Community
-
-
Top Commenters
-
Popular Threads
- Iron Man 2 Movie Trailer
- FBI Finally Make An Arrest in the Wolverine Piracy Case
- The Inception Poster: A Couple Things You Might Not Have Noticed
- Bryan Singer: “I Just Signed a Deal to Do an X-Men First Class Origins Picture”
- Family Guy Moving From Star Wars Spoofs To… Indiana Jones, Back to the Future and Star Trek?
Just received /Filmcast ep 41 so gonna listen to it very soon.
no matter what Snyder did, people would hate it. it really was a no-win scenario.
It's not structured like a movie at all. Um first half of it is almost entirely flashbacks. That alone just doesn't work for film. So when people review the film, and say the pacing is all over the place- I'm thiiiinking, 'Of course it is, that's what you get when you take the graphic novel, and translate it basically scene for scene to an almost 3 hour film.'
And then obviously with that, you start getting into like the limitations of an absolutely faithful adaptation of the source material. We can get more into that later- but basically as a fan of the graphic novel, who is also completely aware of the problems that would come with making a film adaptation, and was also willing to forgive those problems, I absolutely loved the movie. For me it was just an awesome experience to see the graphic novel presented in this whole new way-"
Mr. Quigley spits truth too. And they SHOULD make this a poster
Adam Quigley spits truth too. :D
It's not structured like a movie at all. Um first half of it is almost entirely flashbacks. That alone just doesn't work for film. So when people review the film, and say the pacing is all over the place- I'm thiiiinking, 'Of course it is, that's what you get when you take the graphic novel, and translate it basically scene for scene to an almost 3 hour film.'
And then obviously with that, you start getting into like the limitations of an absolutely faithful adaptation of the source material. We can get more into that later- but basically as a fan of the graphic novel, who is also completely aware of the problems that would come with making a film adaptation, and was also willing to forgive those problems, I absolutely loved the movie. For me it was just an awesome experience to see the graphic novel presented in this whole new way-"
Mr. Quigley spits truth too. And they SHOULD make this a poster. :D
you're welcome.
it seems the only person who cares about the 84p is you.
sock-puppetry? tracking? get a life bro. i come here to read up on the news, see what peple are thinking, and leave my 2 cents.
You guys really have top notch podcast going.
Could Kevin Smith be a recurring guest on the Slashfilmcast? =O
My interpretation of the ending in the book: Ozymandius teleports a giant "alien" squid, knowing that it will basically "explode upon arrival" has been embedded with the psychic's powers, so that anyone not in the immediate vicinity of the blast (note that most of the book's action takes place at a single intersection in New York, where the alien was manifested) nevertheless dies as a result of basically "going crazy."
Zack Snyder obviously had to update the ending for a post 9/11 world (where nobody would buy the idea of New York's devastation as a basis for world peace) And yes, Bubastis had to be included because the fanboys would have missed him if he weren't there.
...still listening
i would have enjoyed the podcast more if kevin had someone to debate with.
Also this podcast kind of made me feel tons better about being a fan of both the Watchmen graphic novel and the Watchmen movie. Most fans of the novel I know completely hated the movie in every way possible, so I was starting to think I was the only one! :D
Rorschach gay though? That just puts him in a whole different light. It kind of makes sense in a warped kind of way. He would be someone to repress himself.
It's nothing newly discovered.
Um, wtf movie were you watching dude. It's totally there. only way you would have missed it is if you never saw the movie.
Love, D.
People are so so desperate to try to grant legitimacy to this franchise because apparently they are incredibly insecure about the term "comic book".
News flash, there is nothing wrong with being a "comic book", there is nothing in that term that precludes something from being a great literary work and you are actually doing the literary work a great injustice by needlessly applying a made up label.
I had to stop halfway through this review because all the desperation masked as pretentiousness was giving me a headache.
It went from annoying to sickening.
Oh and BTW I don't think it's genuine pretentiousness by users of that term, though I think that's what it's supposed to come off as. The use of that term belies the insecurity and desperation of the user.
I didn't read the novel. I am reading the novel now and its so much better in my opinion to have done it this way because, I was genuinely shocked by the story in this film and the ending was my favorite movie ending for this genre ever made! I know if I read the novel first I would not have been watching the movie as a whole but just watching how similar it is to the novel and what parts were left out or put in and how cool that is or isn't. Plus all the extras in the novel are like watching deleted scenes right after watching the movie.
In my opinion it had the best ending for the type of story it was. In a world with superheros with GOD like powers and ingenuity what could possibly be a worthy adversary. Then you realize at the end it could only be themselves, which is a message I think. Mankind fears what it doesn't trust and that will cause its undoing so how could superheros possibly stop this. A task I think the main villain who just happens to be the smartest man alive solves by coming up with the most shocking answer to the unsolvable question, how do you stop 1985 US and Russia from nuclear war(which if you think about it, he is the ultimate hero making the ultimate sacrifice in a sick twisted world by becoming the only reason enemies would unite). The doomsday clock was in everyones living room and everyone was watching and waiting and fearing the worst. This plan is so evil that even his friends have to be dealt with in different ways which cause a lot of death and sacrifice that is ultimately necessary for mankind to survive. The fact that one of them turned out to be the bad guy isn't what shocks me, how perfectly executed his plan is and anti cliche a villain he is by telling his plan only after its been done, how all the death everyone feared happening is actually coming into fruition. No. The most shocking is the fact that it was what they had to do to save the world! Its the only reason that mankind didn't destroy each other by making themselves the ultimate enemy for all sides. It was the only ending I wasn't expecting!
So hate it or love it, we all have opinions we all need to voice but I want people to understand why its the best movie of its genre in MY opinion. But if your opinion is based on the fact there was a shiny blue cock in the movie then grow up because if Heavens real your probably not gonna wear cloths either. There's a lot more reasons I loved it but I don't want to type any more. Except to say I hate you Kevin Smith! You say all the best jokes I could use on you before I get the chance! Damn your impenetrable defense mechanisms!
Yeah actually there is blood when Manhattan vaporizes people in the book (i.e. Rorschach's death). He does vaporize a man's head in Moloch's den (that scene actually exists as a brief flashback in one big panel), but the way the explosion is illustrated doesn't show enough information on whether it its gory or not. In Vietnam he's blowing up huge tracts of forest and not just individual soldiers (makes more sense in the graphic novel).
As for Rorschach's transformation scene with the meat cleaver, it just epitomized everything that went wrong in Snyder's adaptation. The unsophisticated blunt way of conveying Rorschach's insanity and letal force had more impact in Alan Moore's book just by having him walk out of a building and watch it burn in the glow of the night. That scene in the book somehow came cross as incredibly disturbing by seeing panels of a stuffed clothes manequin turn black and melt and having all the true violence occur off screen. It just goes to show how amazing the book was able to convey such horror and how hamfisted Snyder presented that scene. When I knew Snyder was making this film, I immediately thought of how he was going to handle the death of the two dogs (if included at all which I'm glad they were). In the comic, all we need to see is the clever raised in the air and the single panel earlier of the dog's head split open to be completely horrified. I felt an emotional impact when reading that moment in the book. The nastiest act of violence is never shown and yet all the important emotional and narrative information gets across clear as day. But when I saw the movie and the clever goes into the man's head repeatedly and not the dogs like I originally feared, I knew that the film had essentially done the same thing; taking a cheaper, less sophisticated path that was ultimately a disgusting filmmaking technique and not a horrifying element of the story. It was empty, shocking because of sheer gore, but empty.
So I think this time around not many people outside the comic fans circles will go to watch the movie outside USA, whats your take on it?
Kevin Smith is awesome!
i kinda liked the ending in the movie better. people are so pissed that the squid isn't there but its like they don't really know what /how the squid killed everyone. smith had it right in the podcast the rest of the casters did not. its an alienesque squid that was created with the brain of a psychic and it died once it teleported to manhattan. teh monster dying and the fact that it had a psychic's brain created a shockwave that hit everyone in the vicinity and massacred them.
I then told her about Watchmen, set in an alternate time line, The Cold War still imminent, and supers were outcast, and 'moody'. "Is it like that stupid X-Men, no not the cartoon, that silly film" she said, when a women says that you no somethings wrong lol (Points at Brett Ratner)
Anyway the film was awesome, as fan of the novel I was sceptical, but I wanted to see the awesomeness of Manhattan and Rorschach, I did not let me down, Snyder needs a medal, for this, yes the ending was different but it would have added another 30 minutes and percieved most people as to 'out there' hence the outer limits.
None the less my wife who likes to talk through films when something puzzles sat the whole way through no expression or emotion she was mesmorized.
If this film can have that effect on a person that mocks me for being 'nerdy' what can it do for others, it is a must see!
"Possibly Homosexual, must investigate further."
"Does it work out, in the end?"-"End? Nothing ends. Nothing ever ends."
Lines I was looking forward to hearing.