| Everybody's favorite graphic novel comes to the screen (after years of rumors and false starts), less a roaring work of adaptation than a respectful and faithful take on a radical original. Watchmen is set in the mid-1980s, a time of increased nuclear tension between the United States and the Soviet Union, as Richard Nixon is enjoying his fifth term as president and the world's superheroes have been forcibly retired. (As you can probably tell, the mix of authentic history and alternate reality is heady.) Things begin with a bang: the mysterious high-rise murder of the Comedian (Jeffrey Dean Morgan), a masked hero with a checkered past, puts the rest of the retired superhero community on alert. The credits sequence, a series of tableaux that wittily catches us up on crime-fighting backstory, actually turns out to be the high point of the movie. Thereafter we meet the other caped and hooded avengers: the furious Rorschach (Jackie Earle Haley), the inexplicably naked Dr. Manhattan (Billy Crudup, amidst much blue-skinned, genital-swinging digital work), Silk Spectre II (Malin Akerman), Nite Owl II (Patrick Wilson), and Ozymandias (Matthew Goode). The corkscrewing storytelling, which worked well in the comic book, gives the movie the strange sense of never quite getting in gear, even as some of the episodes are arresting. Director Zack Snyder (300) doesn't try to approximate the electric impact of the original (written by Alan Moore--who declined to be credited on the movie--and illustrated by Dave Gibbons) but retains careful fidelity to his source material. That doesn't feel right, even with the generally enjoyable roll-out of anecdotes. Even less forgivable is the blah acting, excepting Jeffrey Dean Morgan (lusty) and Patrick Wilson (mellow). Watchmen certainly fills the eyes, although less so the ears: the song choices are regrettable, especially during an embarrassing mid-air coupling between Nite Owl II and Silk Spectre II as they unite their--ah--Roman numerals. In the end it feels as though a huge work of transcription has been successfully completed, which isn't the same as making a full-blooded movie experience. --Robert Horton Also on the Blu-ray disc
The extended director's cut restores 24 minutes of connective tissue to the 162-minute film, most significantly the last scene of Hollis Mason, the first Nite Owl. Other elements help restore and fill in details that had been in the graphic novel. Fans of the film will be glad for the extra footage but there's nothing momentous that will change anyone's basic like or dislike of the film. By far the most interesting Blu-ray feature (in addition to the great picture and DTS-HD Master Audio sound) is the Maximum Movie Mode, which incorporates several features into the viewing experience. Director Zack Snyder periodically appears on screen in front of two large monitors, one continuing to play the movie and the other displaying special-effects shots or scenes from the graphic novel. Snyder talks about how he shot the film and points out details in a variety of scenes: the opening with the Comedian, Dr. Manhattan's lab, the Nite Owl ship, Mars, Antarctica, and the ending (and why it was changed for the movie). This feature is much more interesting than an audio commentary or a standard picture-in-picture commentary so it'd be nice if it had been done for more scenes. Also appearing in Maximum Movie Mode is a timeline contrasting events in the Watchmen world with the "real world," occasional picture-in-picture comments by cast and crew, still galleries, and a series of 11 "focus points" that allow you to exit the film to watch these three-minute featurettes (sets, costumes, the Minutemen, etc.). Worthy of mention is how easy the Maximum Movie Mode material is to find: Snyder's footage and the focus points are very visible (even in fast-forward), and you can also access the focus points directly from the main menu. The second disc has three documentaries. The first, "The Phenomenon: The Comic That Changed Comics," 29 min.), looks at the original graphic novel and its themes, and interviews artist Dave Gibbons, DC Comics executives Jenette Kahn and Paul Levitz, and cast and crew, illustrating its points with scenes from the movie, panels from the graphic novel, and parts of the motion comic. The next two are only on the Blu-ray disc but are less interesting and of varying relevance to the movie. "Real Superheroes, Real Vigilantes" (26 min.) examines real-life vigilantes including the Guardian Angels and New York subway gunman Bernard Goetz and compares them to Rorschach. "Mechanics: Technologies of a Future World" (17 min.) spotlights a physicist who served as a consultant on the movie. He talks about his experiences then discusses whether elements from the movie, such as Dr. Manhattan, the Owl Ship, and Rorschach's mask could really work. There's also My Chemical Romance's "Desolation Row" music video , and BD-Live offers even more making-of material. A third disc with a Digital Copy of the film (compatible with both iTunes and Windows Media; download code expires July 21, 2010) was included with early shipments of the Blu-ray disc but is no longer available. --David Horiuchi |
|
 Is Don. Is Good. |
| Review Date: August 21, 2010 |
| Reviewer: elsuave, |
| For less than half the cost of purchasing in store (not to mention having to find a copy somewhere since it's been deleted) i had this delivered to me in Sydney, Aus. Then there's the superior cover art. No contest. |
Fantastic
|
| Review Date: August 11, 2010 |
| Reviewer: Sylvain Montet, |
One of the Best Superheroe movie...
Too bad i had to buy it from Amazon US
This version isnt available in France |
can't believe I wasted my money seeing this movie
|
| Review Date: August 9, 2010 |
| Reviewer: G. Ferguson, NC USA |
| Didn't buy wouldn't buy, dark grim movie of super heros who are not really heros or even good. The one good guy was made to look bad the entire time and killed in the end by a fellow hero/ freak. Didn't buy it, want a refund from going to see it when it came out. |
Preferable to the Ultimate Cut
|
| Review Date: August 8, 2010 |
| Reviewer: Tainted-Cell, |
| This is a work-in-progress of the finished product Zack Snyder promised fans just before the theatrical release of "Watchmen". Watchmen: The Ultimate Cut contains everything - which is to say that it features the Black Freighter comic in animated form, and a few blink-and-you'll-miss-it transitional segments with the kid who's reading it. Honestly, I never really liked the Black Freighter interludes in the book, and in the Ultimate Cut, I found that it interrupts the flow terribly. So with that said, THIS director's cut is much better in comparison, and I recommend it to anyone interested in the film. The extended scenes (described in previous reviews) are wonderful elaborations, and of course, Hollis Mason's death scene is heart-wrenching. You don't want to miss this. |
Apocalypse, or the end of music?
|
| Review Date: July 28, 2010 |
| Reviewer: Robert, Fresno, Ca. |
| Im not sure what this movie is celebrating, superheroes, murder mysteries, evil violence, or just the brand new hope for the end of music as we know it, replacing it with the whining voices that have been shunned or set aside all these years, because it is here they make their grand debut out of our consciousness. At any rate, the soundtrack sucks with over political overtones of the lost 60s, and believe me, if the soundtrack sucks (I would exit a bar that played any of this), the movie does too, cause there is no movie classic with soundtrack that sucks. Even Thank God It's Friday disco movie had an award winning song in Last Dance. Now that was a real exit. |
Visceral rather than Psychological
|
| Review Date: July 28, 2010 |
| Reviewer: John B. Ludwick, Indianapolis, IN United States |
Spoilers abound in this review. Read on if you're ready for them.
In the comic, two detectives piece together the murder of the Comedian - we see only flashes of the event, preserving the mystery of the Comedian's character and his killer. In the film, a 5-minute fight scene.
Rorshach, horrified by a killer's brutality, handcuffs the killer to a stove then burns down his house. In the film, Rorshach takes a meat cleaver and repeatedly chops on him.
The Owl and Sally Jupiter begin kissing in Archie (Owl's ship) - then, fade. In the film - a full sex scene.
Veidt kills half of New York teleporting an artificially created alien; implying that humankind has a greater threat than each other. Veidt cries over this sacrifice. In the film, Veidt kills millions upon millions all over the world and barely changes his voice. He seems more mad than calculating.
In most every scene, Director Zack Synder emphasizes the visceral thrill over the psychologically complex in Alan Moore's Hugo-winning mystery. Do yourself a favor: read the comic instead and marvel at Alan Moore's complex, layered writing where boyish, testosterone-ish thrills are tossed aside for penetrating character drama.
Watchmen |
Phenomenal piece of work.
|
| Review Date: July 10, 2010 |
| Reviewer: L. dunn, |
Only time will tell, but the Watchmen will probably turn out to be one of the
finest films ever made, up there with Citizen kane.
When I first saw the Watchmen at the theater, although I enjoyed it, I just didn't get it, finally when I read the trade paperback, and then watched the directors cut of the movie, it all came together.
The watchmen isn't a Super Hero story in the traditional sense, its essentially a science fiction murder mystery based in a parallel Universe. with some Super heroes thrown into the mix.
If you are looking for the usual Super hero fare, then the Watchmen isn't for you.
|
Abortive at best...
|
| Review Date: July 5, 2010 |
| Reviewer: Willie Sanford, |
| Rubbish. Trite. Alan Moore's genius laid to pathetic money grubbing attempts at entertainment. Is there no shame? I sit here and wish ill will to the creators of this film. Download the itunes motion comic book version if you haven't already. I am going to watch parts of it now to wash my soul of this supposed film. Ugh. |
"Pios tha filatei tus filakes?" ("Who watches the watchmen?")
|
| Review Date: July 3, 2010 |
| Reviewer: C. CRADDOCK, Bakersfield |
Watchmen, the graphic novel by Alan Moore upon which Watchmen, the film, was based has a huge cult following. From the DC Comics Vertigo line, it is a comic book for adults. Not just because of the graphic violence, and graphic, if not quite pornographic, sex, but also because of the philosophical, psychological, and the historical content. Allusions to Aristotle and Allen Ginsberg's Howl are mixed with cultural references to Lee Iacocca, JFK, and Richard Milhous Nixon. Laced with post-modern irony throughout, we have a comedian with a very perverse sense of humor; a sociopath vigilante whose face is an ever shifting Rorschach pattern; a physicist endowed with strange powers after a tragic accident and ominously named Dr. Manhattan; and another who takes his name from the famous sonnet Ozymandias by Percy Bysshe Shelley.
-------------------
Adrian Veidt / Ozymandias: I don't mind being the smartest man in the world; I just wish it wasn't this one.
==========
The climactic scenes of Watchmen take place in 1985, but it is a parallel universe to our reality with a few interesting twists: Masked and caped super heroes are a part of everyday life, and have been since before WWII. Nixon doesn't resign in disgrace after Watergate, but serves for three terms. Nixon uses Dr. Manhattan as a secret weapon to win the war in Viet Nam, and Viet Nam becomes the 51st state of the U.S. The U.S. is on the brink of nuclear war with Russia, and the tension is higher than it was at the height of The Cold War.
--------------
Dan Dreiberg / Nite Owl II: What happened to us? What happened to the American Dream?
Edward Blake / Comedian: "What happened to the American Dream?" It came true! You're lookin' at it...
==========
Though Alan Moore preemptively disowns all filmed adaptations of his work, I can't imagine a more faithful adaptation. I admit that I haven't read the graphic novel, but that will soon change. Meanwhile, you can see that a lot of the storyboard shots were taken from the comic's panels, and not only the story, but the original artwork was respected. I love the look of the film, a kind of gritty realism that wove the superheroes seamlessly into the tapestry of their times. The 40's era scenes were true to their period, and likewise, the scenes in the 80's also captured the 80's zeitgeist. I love Nite Owl II's Owl Craft, the way it looked as it cruised over the city, those big round windows like the owl's eyes. The only false note for me was Dr. Manhattan sometimes looked like an animation superimposed over live action--which I suppose he was. Still you could tell that they used some very sophisticated special effects, trying some new things that almost worked, but most worked spectacularly well. And Dr. Manhattan, put on some pants!
-------------------
Laurie Juspeczyk / Silk Spectre II: The most powerful thing in the universe... still just a puppet.
Jon Osterman / Dr. Manhattan: We are all puppets, Laurie. I'm just the puppet who can see the strings.
==========
I have to hand it to Director Zack Snyder and the cast. Especially Malin Åkerman as Laurie Jupiter / Silk Spectre II and Patrick Wilson as Dan Dreiberg / Nite Owl II. The scenes where they suit up in their superhero costumes and cruise the night in the Owl Craft, which was for them a kind of aphrodisiac, were excellent. It brought to mind a similar scene in The Losers, also highly recommended, where Jeffery Dean Morgan (who plays The Comedian in Watchmen) and Zoë Saldana also use fighting as foreplay. Patrick Wilson not only captures the heat, he also portrays Dan Dreiberg as a stodgy middle aged fuddy duddy when he is not in his Nite Owl II costume. Malin Åkerman is excellent both here and in scenes with Billy Crudup's Dr. Manhattan, who is growing increasingly distracted by the threat of a nuclear Armageddon, and more and more detached from any human connections. Laurie is a complicated woman, who also has major issues with her mother, Sally Jupiter / Silk Spectre, played by Carla Gugino. Don't even get me started on her Daddy issues.
Still, when it comes to major issues, no one tops Jackie Earle Haley as Walter Kovacs / Rorschach. His name refers to the Rorschach inkblot test used in psychotherapy, and he wears a mask with an ever shifting Rorschach pattern on it. He doesn't call it a mask. He calls it his face. Rorschach channels his sociopathic urges into vigilante actions, like Travis Bickle in Taxi Driver. Like Travis Bickle, he waits for that Someday. "Someday a real rain will come and wash all this scum off the streets."
-------------------
Walter Kovacs / Rorschach: The streets are extended gutters and the gutters are full of blood and when the drains finally scab over, all the vermin will drown. The accumulated filth of all their sex and murder will foam up about their waists and all the whores and politicians will look up and shout "Save us!"... and I'll whisper "no."
==========
Jeffrey Dean Morgan as The Comedian and Matthew Goode as Ozymandias round out the band of Watchmen, and Alan Moore, though he has vowed never to watch the film, couldn't ask for a better portrayal of his characters. I was ready to write off Jeffrey Dean Morgan after first seeing him on Grey's Anatomy, especially when his character came back as a ghost, but thankfully I gave him a chance here. He was excellent as The Comedian, though he never told a single joke. Maybe that was the punch line. He is also a winner in The Losers.
-------------------
Edward Blake / Comedian: Once you realize what a joke everything is, being the Comedian is the only thing that makes sense.
==========
Director Zack Snyder made excellent choices in music, using several iconic songs that could almost be too powerful and distract or overwhelm the narrative were they not placed in exactly the right time and place. Three Dylan songs: Blowin' In The Wind done by Dylan, but All Along The Watchtower in the famous Jimi Hendrix version and Desolation Row done by My Chemical Romance. Hallelujah by Leonard Cohen has been used in countless films, but nowhere as appropriate as here. We also get 99 Luftballoons by Nena, The Sounds of Silence by Simon and Garfunkle, and Boogie Man by K.C. and the Sunshine Band! Get down tonight!
-------------------
Walter Kovacs / Rorschach: Man bursts into tears. Says, "But doctor... I am Pagliacci." Good joke. Everybody laugh. Roll on snare drum. Curtains.
==========
The bottom line is Watchmen is a very watchable movie that combines comic book action with deeper, more adult themes. In a perfect world it would be watched by more people, but it appeals strongly to its cult audience, kids who have grown up on comic books, and who still enjoy reading comic books, but demand a more sophisticated, grown up story.
-------------------
Jon Osterman / Dr. Manhattan: They claim their labors are to build a heaven, yet their heaven is populated by horrors. Perhaps the world is not made. Perhaps nothing is made. A clock without a craftsman. It's too late. Always has been, always will be. Too late.
==========
Los Links:
Shutter Island (2010) Jackie Earle Haley was George Noyce
The Losers (2010) Jeffrey Dean Morgan was Clay
300 (Widescreen Edition) (2006) Directed by Zack Snyder
V for Vendetta (Widescreen Edition) (2005) (based on the graphic novel by Alan Moore)
Match Point (2005) Matthew Goode was Tom Hewett
Sin City (2005) Carla Gugino was Lucille
Death to Smoochy (Widescreen Edition) (2002) Danny Woodburn was Angelo Pike
Spy Kids (2001) Carla Gugino was Ingrid Cortez
Almost Famous (2000) Billy Crudup was Russell Hammond
The Day of the Locust (1975) Jackie Earle Haley was Adore
-------------------
Aristotle: "Pios tha filatei tus filakes?" ("Who watches the watchmen?")
========== |
a piece of religion-inflicted political bull*****
|
| Review Date: June 30, 2010 |
| Reviewer: Annie Feng, Pleasanton, CA |
I went into Watchmen with high expectations because I know that it's suppose to be like the best graphic novel ever. but I was not only horribly disappointed, but utterly disgusted.
Watchmen is a film filled with over the top preachy narration and lines with little storyline advancement because of all the flashbacks and tries to make you understand the alternate history, that the first 3/4 of the film you have absolute no idea what it's trying to get at (unless, of course you are familiar with the graphic novel it's based upon). Then at the end you realize that it's the same old same old (though only universaly WESTERN idealism):
* human beings are inheritantely corrupt (thanks alot)
* peace can only be achieved through catastrophe, in other words, without apocalyse or apocalyptical events, there can only be war (which I only agree to the degree that if you kept trying to convince people this, the religious fundies ought to be VERY HAPPY when they see this film)
* There has to be a god-like scapegoat for it to be happen, and it's gonna be American (sorry Jesus Christ), and he will not actually be responsible for the apocalypse, only scapegoating it (ergo: if some God-like creature destroyed the entire human race, it's probably not his fault but corrupt human beings')
last but not least that made me most angry:
*women: if you got pregnant from rape, you should ALWAYS have the kid, because the kid will always turn out to be the best thing that ever happen to you.
I have to admit that Watchmen hides its clichedness well, it wasn't until the very end did I actually realize all this. But there was a point in which I thought it might head into a though-provoking direction, that it might actually get at a point that makes you go "hmm... interesting," and that's when Dr. Manhattan raise the conscience: what is so special about the lives of human beings, or lives in general, most part of galaxy (or universe if you'll make that assumption that earth is unique with life) get along just fine without life.
Interestingly good point, cool, that made me think for a moment
then it got destroyed by the bottom-of-the barrel foolish "epiphany" of Dr. Manhattan that he should save human race because of Silk Spectral number two, because she is something good that came out of chaos. Therefore life must be special if "good life" can come out of chaos.
If you just sit there and think this though for a moment you'll see that this logic makes absolutely NO SENSE WHATSOEVER. Why? because if you already take the assumption that all lives (and non-lives) are equal, as Dr. M suggests because he's so high and mighty and all that, then how would "rape" be catagorized as "chaos?" Rape and rape-like things happen often in the animal and, some would argue, plant and bacterial kingdom. It's only the fact that rape brings suffering to human beings, and we, the human beings, must PERCEIVE it as chaos because it brings suffering to us (mostly the women), will makes it "chaos." So you must assume that:
1. there's something special and non-chaotic (good) about human lives
2. Rape brings suffering/chaos
therefore conclusion:
3. rape is chaotic.
So this sudden "epiphany" of Dr. M basically just came out of nowhere, maybe it's because he does believe that human lives are special but just doesn't wanna show it since he's god and all that and it's just too humiliating and difficult to suffer in love in his condition. Not to mention after all the talk of anti-life, he's actually pro-life (not even pro-choice)!!
A friend suggested to me that (he has read the graphic novel) the point is the irony: corrupted human beings (the watchmen) are the ones to rise above to save the human race.
interesting but whether or not the graphic novel perserves this idea, the movie certainly does not. Why? because the watchmen (in the movie) who actually fought the crimes either did it to appease their own vanity (to be like pharohs, to bring divine justice) or did it for thrills (which is like most of them). Hey apocalypse is coming, what better way to spend your Last Days then to have sex and kick some butt? Dude I would totally go for it.
Overall this film is painful to watch, especially for humanists/feminists like me. The only thing I learned from this film is that kept getting people paranoid about world-ending does it's self-fufilling prophecy thing. Sadly I already knew that since I have a B.A. in Psychology. |
|
No details are available for this product
No product accessories were found for this product. 
