I thought this sequence was hands down one of the best in the entire film.

I think Jim Jarmusch is a geeky pleasure, right?

I’m stoked to see this movie. And if you haven’t seen Down by Law, you’re in for a treat.

The first trailer didn’t sell me. But this one?

Holy shit.

Harry Partridge does a pretty kick ass Saturday Morning Cartoon Intro for the Watchmen.

As a whole (regarding the technical aspects of the film), I thought the movie was beautiful, well shot and put together well. As an adaptation, it was good but I think for those not familiar with the source material may get lost or not have as much emotional attachment as those who’ve read the book. My wife is usually my filter for things like this (as she vehemently insists she’s anti-geek, despite owning Elfquest HC Vol. #1) and when asked what she thought, she said “it was too long” (though she’s not a fan of seeing movies at theaters, as she’s spoiled by TiVo and the ability to pause whenever she wants) and she felt like stuff was missing from the film (she’s never read the book). Myself, I’d almost wished “I had not read the book going in…” so I could view it as a film rather than having my brain constantly refer tot the minutia of detail from the book while trying to watch it (as mentioned in the Geek Show Podcast Mini-Cast Watchmen review available now at Geekshowpodcast.com or for download on iTunes).

What I liked about the movie was its Rockstar-movie kind of feel, purists may not agree with it, but I loved the “glossy-pop” style from the costumes to the fights to the glamour shots. Without it I think the movie would have suffered if it was made with a more low-key gritty realism (like the book) that would not have worked in a film. Everyone was big, sexy, atomic post-human excitement, despite the lack of powers (are super-kung-fu moves a superpower?). Just like the brief Andy Warhol cameo, Watchmen the film is very much so Watchmen’s “fifteen minutes of fame” (as coined by Wharhol) blasting your senses for 163 minutes (though there is an extended version of the film its self coming out on DVD and Blue-Ray, in addition to “Tales of the Black Freighter” DVD featuring the Black Freighter comic as an animated feature in addition to the Hollis Mason/ Nite-Owl I penned “Under the Hood” Mocumentry based on the book of the same name + a supercut version with the two features edited in).

As a story, as I said prior I had both problems and enjoyment from reading the book prior to viewing Watchmen. It added to the parts missing and also distracted simultaneously. Some of the minor changes I was pleased with and enjoyed, such as the costumes (Comedians more hard-core looking military gear, Silk Spectre II’s hot and sexy latex sex suit, Nite-Owl II’s Batman-esque body armor and slick goggles, even Ozymandias’ muscle suit complete with nipples and faux-Bowie “Thin White Duke” look), the set dressing and style (hyper-realized “stagey” look) and elements of the “Psycho-Squidless” ending featuring the “Deus Ex Machina” quite literally.

The not so much so good (not flat out bad), flat acting in some parts, lines taken out of context or omissions of lines of dialogue completely (in some cases dialogue given to other characters completely, losing the impact of the lines wholesale and totally), and the 9-11 green movement liberal-democratic message delivered with the elegance and precision of that of a razor-sharp brick delivered to your head with the speed of a pro-ball pitcher (don’t get me wrong, I voted liberal across the board last election and am pro-electric-car-green-energy let’s-all-be swell-to out neighbors, foreign and domestic kind of guy). In a post 9-11 world where everything’s gone to shit thanks to republican agendas, corporate interests (or rather the bottomless greed of a bottom line never low enough) mucking about with your income and politics, and a general screw you to the American public, I’d imagine it’s hard not to try and draw parallels and drive them home when able to (just look at another Alan Moore adaptation for film, V for Vendetta where the message of “Anarchy” and individual freedom was changed to “Democracy” as freedom for the masses). I had less of a problem with the ending featuring the Dr. Manhattan energy signature neutron bomb effect (Sub Quantum Unifying Intrinsic Device or S.Q.U.I.D. for those paying attention) rather than the “Alien Psycho-Squid” (giant genetically engineered alien life-form that kills everyone with psychic- style mental powers like Professor X or Jean Grey) than the ending featuring electric cars, free power, Sally Jupiter (Silk Spectre I) living on the outskirts of New York (causing a loss of a line in the “…It rains on the just an’ the unjust alike..* early on in the film), and as stated before the liberal hammer message. Also curiously omitted it the identity changes (and “blond bleaching” of hair and newly mustached Dan) of Laurie (Silk Spectre II) and Dan Drieberg (Nite-Owl II) to Sandra and Sam Hollis (in memory of the deceased friend and mentor to Dan, Hollis Mason) as the two are assumed “Dead”. I can only assume it was missing and changed simply for running time as explanations would be needed to the uninitiated and in context of the movie was not a necessary piece of pie to complete the meal. Also, I’m being nit picky here, but the only thing I didn’t like about the sex scene was the fact that Dan was not in fact wearing his goggles while giving Laurie the “business time” sexytime explosion. It really is an important part of the character flaws of Dan and Laurie that’s not really intimately explored in the film, they get off on being superheroes. They don’t just dress up and fight crime to help people or do it to do right by people, they’re adrenaline junkies addicted to their masks and the hotness of fighting and screwing like beasts, in costumes. Other than that, I loved the sex scene and can only hope there’s an extended cut of said scene, cuz I just want’s me more of superhero sexytime!

As I said (again), it’s a good film and I enjoyed quite a bit it for the most part, despite the small things. And I can’t really complain or fault it as it’s brilliant for what it is, a film adaptation of Watchmen. I loved Jackie Earle Haley as Rorschach (Walter Kovacs), he steals the scenes he’s in and brings a child like wonder and heart to the roll despite being a hard, republican, take no prisoners, bastard of a man. If cast wrong, the character could have been a terrible joke but JEH brings everything to the table needed to not only make Rorschach believable, but also makes you chare about him despite not being a nice person or even a decent human being.

And on that note, Jeffrey Dean Morgan as Edward Blake (the Comedian) also pulled the proper amount of sympathy out of a downright unrepentant bastard. True, the Comedian is unlikable at best in both the film and the book (well none of the characters are nearly as altruistic as your standard superhero, even in comparison to Marvel superheroes these damaged individuals go far beyond the pale), but in both mediums there’s a level of sympathy looking back at Blake and the performance of Morgan brings it shining through.

Also, the fight scenes were quite masterful and hyper-kinetic while being vulgar and brutal. From the beginning murder of the Comedian (of which my wife guessed the “murderer” early on but stated had forgotten about it at the end due to the film’s length) and it’s superhuman battle, to the alley fight with broken bodies, to the “fryer” incident in prison followed by the prison breakout, the fight scenes were over the top and glorious in their excess. Beauty in brutality, poetry in pugilism, celebration in crippling, magic in mangling and spectacular in spectacle. I however hope in one of the “missing” scenes (cut for length, featured in the DVD/ Blue-Ray) featuring the death of Hollis Mason we get to see him go old time boxing-style (like Wildcat from JSA as Jeff Vice put it) on the gang of Top-Knots who home invasion Hollis and end up crushing in his skull with his own brass statuette.

Billy Crudup as Dr. Manhattan (Jon Osterman) beams with childlike delight one moment then a complete disconnect from humanity the next. His emotional filter is cracked and comes through the combined actor/ CGI performance.

Malin Akerman as Laurie Jupiter (Silk Spectre II) was serviceable, but no where as strong as the other performances (though I wonder if it had anything to do with stripping the character of her “weight of damage” and baggage lacking in the characters story, motivation, and personality). She provided a counter point and delicious bag of eye candy but not much else, especially in her delivery of the final lines to Ozymandias (in the book, the final dialogue is between Veidt and Manhattan and is much heavier than the throw away line Laurie utters).

Matthew Goode portraying Adrian Veidt (Ozymandias) does an excellent job despite being far too sinister in moments throughout the film. He’s possibly as disconnected if not more than Manhattan when it comes to humanity, and comes off without any warmth whatsoever. I do have to say again I love the nippled-muscle suit (in a totally non-gay way, not that there’s anything wrong with it) as an almost homage to Batman Forever/ Batman and Robin as a more “Modern” look at the pervert-suit.**

For better or for worse, I don’t think a better film could be made (not counting the extended cut I’m salivating for as I was worried I would upon seeing the movie in theaters for the first time) out of the material. Zack Snyder manages to be intamatly close to the material enough (as most fans are) to respect and replicate the source as needed, but also has enough of a sensibility as a filmmaker and human being to take liberties when needed and push things forward to an audience that may not only have not read the source, or could really not care about it. Some things needed to be altered for running time, some for story compression, some just to be palatable for a mainstream audience (including comic fans and fans of the Watchmen trade-paperback/ graphic novel).

Regarding what I’m sure will in fact be a backlash of translation to film (IE minute details and including everything from the book, hell I’ve nit-picked parts of the film and haven’t given every single nit) the reality of a direct translation of every inch of material to that of a film in wholly impossible in the fact Watchmen is a deconstructionist comic while maintaining trappings of the genre and celebrating it all at the same time! From romance to horror, superheroes to war comics, hell even pirate/ adventure comics it’s all in the Watchmen! Watchmen is comics, its something very few have come close to replicating (the only thing that springs to mind even remotely comparable is the magnificent Planetary by Warren Ellis published by Wildstorm DC, fingers crossed that the final issue comes out this year!), as its density is immense and has many of the last words on comics. As an adaptation, even if spun into a TV mini-series on HBO or Showtime (as it would be needed with all the cussin’, smokin’ and sexin’), you’d still be missing parts of the story as the book is truly interactive fiction. Barring those comparisons, I’m curious to see and hear what mainstream audiences think of the film version of Watchmen, in addition to those unfamiliar with the works of Moore.

As a final note, I’m probably speaking heresy here, but I could in fact go for a prequel or prequels of Watchmen if everyone involved returned (though the actors have already said they wouldn’t return). Don’t get me wrong, they covered the majority of material, but I’d really like to see a Minutemen movie with the original heroes as I think there’s material in the book and film that could still be mined for a prequel (though I may change my mind once viewing Under the Hood). Plus, who wouldn’t want to see a solo Rorschach movie (featuring Nite-Owl and cameos by others) as he descends into the grimy depths of humanity, perhaps even leading up to the incident with the murdered girl? Honestly, the farther out from the viewing of the movie the more I like it and want more since it did in fact evoke the spirit of the book while making a film that is extremely watchable.

Who watches the Watchmen? We do, for better or for worse.

* The full line in the book is “Yeah? Well, things are tough all over, cupcake, An’ it rains on the just and unjust alike… except in California.” As Sally lives in a retirement home somewhere in the mythical sunny southern California (or is alluded to rather), not unlike an aging starlet put out to pasture in her twilight years, reflecting upon the golden years of youth and stardom long gone.

** Pervert-Suit is a term coined by Warren Ellis (of Planetary, Transmetropolitan, and recently Astonishing X-Men fame) referencing the superhero’s penchant for tight spandex (or latex, or leather, or whatever). As superheroes have an underling theme of adolescent power fantasy, heightened by another underling layer of beautiful people wearing “supertight” leotards in a sexually charged “fantasy” underneath the “union suits” worn in the name of disguise.

Pencilbot: I could name about 4 things that pulled me out in the movie;

1. Silk Spectre I as an old bitch talking about the past being better than the future + Carla Gugino’s bad acting = I remember I’m watching a movie

2. Dr. Manhattan coming back from his memories on Mars and it’s absolutely silent for only a second, then the Phillip Glass track comes in. I think it came in a second too early.

3. “Hallelujah” in the sex scene. I’m sorry, but if I’m going to hear some Leonard Cohen during two people fucking, it better be “Suzanne”.

4. I forget. I think it might have been that all the superheroes kinda fight the same way.

Other than that, my belief is that this movie was a flawless depiction of how you can make a Watchmen movie work in a mainstream media form. There was tits and penis, how many mainstream ‘adult’ movies are rated R but shy away from showing some male genitals like it’s some big taboo? I was so glad that approached things with a more mature and developed nature than more mainstream movies, from the lesbians in the opening sequence (which I think grabbed me by the nuts in a second and never let go… though that might have also been the person next to me) to having hot sex in Niteowls whip. I think one of the more erotic things was Silk Spectre II sucking on Manhattan’s thumb while they’re knockin’ boots; that’s very realistic but I had yet to see it in movies till then.

Moving off the sexual tip, the movie as a whole was fantastic; it dealt with great questions that were in the source from what I remember and even put some more in it. Of course it didn’t go in as deep as the graphic novel that takes close to a month to read and fully digest, anyone who would compare the two as equals are retarded purists. *looks at Dr. Cyborg*

If you haven’t read Watchmen, you will thoroughly enjoy this movie, though in some parts, particularly in the funeral flashbacks, I can see some new peeps getting confused.

If you don’t watch or like this movie because of how holy you take the source material, you need a life or a new religion. In other words go fuck yourself.

Mandroid: Well, Punk bands emerged out of the late seventies/ early eighties singing songs about death, destruction, and bad government. Alan Moore was a part of the birth of punk in the UK, he grew up in Northampton (where he still lives) with the likes of David J (of Bauhaus) and Collaborates with him on music/ spoken word projects. Is it any wonder Thatchers regime would end up resulting in works pitching that message? They’re from the same time, place, and society, that’s why they have mutual themes.

True, rarely an individual stands up not only for himself but for the well being of others as well, but often we pint at him with distrust and disdain for being different and having radical ideas. Most people keep their heads down and try to stay out of trouble, those that do not end up finding trouble and do not end up alive long enough to see their society changing ideals come to fruition.

I find irony in your comments (as do I in the general public), as I had mentioned in the What is Watchmen article (https://www.bigshinyrobot.com/reviews/archives/2799) I wrote on the site a while back. It seems that the book has become over-hyped and overblown to the masses as it trickled into the mainstream consciousness. Watchmen is touted as the greatest graphic novel ever (despite being a trade-paperback), but really can such a thing live up to the hype? Not only that is it really a book for everyone?

Watchmen is the best comic ever written because it was done in a time where it was perfect for creating a beast of this nature. innovations had happened for years moving towards the compilation of the efforts of Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons collaboration that is a magical homonuclious of all that came before it cast in a new light. Stemming from the modern age of comics ushered in by people like Denny O’Neil and Neil Adams (who in the 70’s revitalized DC with collaborations on Green Lantern/ Green Arrow and Batman) with socially conscious superheroes not only trying to punch out their respective arch-foes, also trying to better mankind through reaching out to the fellow man and trying to change society for the better. As stated before, Watchmen is more about comics than the surface story about a murder investigation involving a bunch of masked vigilantes. Also, it’s deconstruction of the medium and genre while putting it back together again, the latter a factor often missed by not only arm-chair readers but those creative types attempting to recreate through the filter of “grim and gritty”. Without Watchmen many modern comics would not in fact exist and the medium could still be languishing in the gutter like a used condom or cigarette butt.

Watchmen was the game changer for comics, true you can look at it’s simplistic story in a quaint fashion, but it’s so much more. Layer upon layer it’s not only a brilliant comic, it’s thee brilliant comic! It’s a delivery system for metaphor, morality, society, and humanity in it’s beauty and brilliance and ugly darkness as well. I personally think Dick Nixon broke America’s heart and made us all jaded, distrustful, grim bastards that sometimes can’t accept the beauty of things as we stare down the abyss of a toilet full of shit. We like to complain and judge before we even possess all factors involved, don’t let yourself be deprived of what could be possibly joyous or magical due to “hype”.

Back to the subject at hand, I’d say try and rid yourself of any pre-conceived notions or hype or general baggage and just take a day to sit down and read the book. Only then can you really judge the material on it’s own merits, hopefully. And even if you don’t enjoy it, at least it’s an adventure!

Dr. Cyborg: Well since this is already a twenty-two page post about a movie that wasn’t really that good I figure there is approximately 0 readers for my paragraph, which is okay by me. (I don’t fuckin care.) I wish I could have watched it and not compared it to the book, but I did, every time something happened I immediately filed it as A) Same as the book, or B) Not the same as the book. There were some really great moments, and it wasn’t boring to me. So in some regards it was a success, but I am also about to let loose a few things that bothered me about the film. First off I think this movie felt like sand slipping through your fingers. It tries to do a little bit of everything and give a thousand nods to the reader, but with out any sort of pay off or justification. The reason “it was in the book” is a poor excuse. This is poor cinema. For example when Rorschach was being interviewed by the psychiatrist, they gave the nod to the comic book by having Rorschach tell him lies about what he is seeing in the Rorschach test. In the comic book there was a reason he was lying to him, and he eventually after a while tells him about himself because he knows he isn’t going to give up. In the movie they use the same scene to give the nod, then have the doctor ask him another question and this changes his mind for the simple reason that he was asked. “Okay I’ll tell you about Rorschach” I think this describes the lack of heart in the depiction. They didn’t have a purpose other then to copy the comic. This is barbaric screen writing at best. The next thing I will complain about is from the following scene. Rorschach breaks into telling about Rorschach for no reason and he tells the story of what actually turned him into Rorschach instead of a man dressed as Rorschach. (Which was poorly explained because they were so focused on giving nods to the comic book.) A little girl is butchered and fed to the killers dogs. Rorschach shows up sees the evidence of this man’s brutal killing and waits for a confession to axe him in the head. In the comic he sees the evidence and gives him an ironic slaying where he would have to cut himself up like he must have done to the little girl or else burn to death. Rorschach does not wait for him to confess, Rorschach knows, and that’s good enough. Trading away a scene of sharp poetic justice for a few seconds of gore. This movie surgically removed the heart from Watchmen in it’s souless tracing.  Also the bite baby Rorschach gave to the other kid was almost sensual.

So I am not saying it was bad because it wasn’t as good as the book. On the other hand, there was a problem that it didn’t understand why and what it should take from the book and how to make it work. It was entertaining though, and it ranks above LXG.

Pencilbot: Go fuck yourself.

Citizen-Bot: Well, I think i said pretty much everything I wanted to say before: (https://www.bigshinyrobot.com/reviews/archives/4257) I liked the movie, and also, the two Watchmen virgins I went with also really enjoyed it. Let me put it this way: I went to see this with another Watchmen nerd who really loved the source material. We both loved the movie, warts and all, the way I love my wife and she loves me: we know each others faults but are willing to look past them because of how much good and right there is and we don’t want to pick at nits. The Watchmen virgins I went with loved it like you love a new girlfriend in that pure “I”ve Just Seen a Face” sort of way. Which is better? You decide.

It’s been more than a week since I saw Watchmen, and the more I think about it, the more I want to see it again. That’s a good sign, in my opinion. As I said in my review, my main criteria was “Did they tame the beast? Was this Watchmen?” On the whole, yes it was. I felt it was a faithful adaptation.

I think the comparisons to Sin City aren’t quite apt. I see this more like, well… 300, also from Snyder. The violence was more brutal, the sex was overstated, but the themes were left intact. Ditto with Snyder’s “Dawn of the Dead” remake. Ok, maybe I just really like Zach Snyder’s movies.

Now I’m going to be the first person to defend the sex in Watchmen (amazing for anyone who knows me). Was it pornographic? Well, I don’t know any porno whose soundtrack is Leonard Cohen, but, well…. as I said in my review, it probably was a bit much. However, the issue of Dreiberg’s impotency unless he’s in the suit was really never explicitly mentioned, although alluded to. The elongated sex scene where he is obviously anything but impotent and where Laurie is able to feel pleasure in a way that the most powerful man on earth could never give here was, well… nice. I think it worked to theme, and worked to character development. So, suck it, boobie haters! The porno has artistic merit!

Ultimately, I think you need to think about this movie for what it is, and not what it isn’t. No Watchmen adaptation could ever fully satisfy everyone in the same way a Star Wars prequel couldn’t. We need to appreciate this for how much right they got, not what they didn’t get right.

Nuf said. Hrmf…..

Kill-tacular-tron: Citizen-Bot, I think you make some strong arguments. I want everyone to know that I love titties and sex with women. You and I have read the book and see the ties to his suit giving him more of a sexual drive, I just worry to a Watchmen virgin that it might seem excessive. I just want to close with saying I like seeing naked boobs. Breasts are great, wonderful and awe-some.

Citizen-bot: Oops! Didn’t mean to cause a ruckus or question anyone’s sexuality/manhood/robothood! Let it be stated that Citizen-bot accepts robots of all kinds, be they homobots, heterobots, or chastitybots. (Prudebots or Buttars-bots accepted only with redeemable coupon)…

Clang! Boom! Steam!: Geeks are a hard lot to please no matter what. I’m a geek and a huge fan of Watchmen and I had a great time watching some of my favorite comic characters on the big screen and so did my date, who was a virgin to the material.

For those who lose sleep at night nitpicking and trying to take the joy of any movie going experience – fuck you – stay home. Sure this movie, like all movies, had flaws – so did the book if you really want to get down to it, I just hope I don’t have to listen to a bunch of ass-holes bitch about “how they should have done it.” I love how every geek in the world thinks they hold the magical cure to any ailing plot or character in their mushy video game addled brain just because they happened to read a comic book or two in their lives.

Bottom line, I was really impressed with the execution of something that was considered (and rightly so) unfilmable for so many years.

The opening credits sequence was down right breath-taking. The amount of information that is flying at you, the bizarre history lesson, the unapologetically ballsy use of Bob Dylan – it’s all such a beautiful and stylish introduction to a strange and exciting world of masked adventurers.

The music was particularly impressive – and since sound is the most notable difference between comics and movies, I’ll concentrate on that.

Again, opening with Dylan, ballsy, brash and perfect. Loved the sex scene in the for a number of reasons,(Citizen-Bot defended it perfectly) but Leonard Cohen was one of the major ones. Who can deny the impact of Doctor Manhattan’s origin – my single favorite issue of the comic which only got better with Billy Crudup’s perfectly understated performance and Philip Glass’ haunting organ music. Simon and Gafunkel at the funeral, Hendrix in Antarctica, all risky because of their iconic status in Rock n’ Roll history which brings it’s own baggage, but never did I feel the characters or story crumble under the weight of the epic soundtrack – A ballancing act that is often not given enough credit in my opinion since it is so rare that it is pulled off so well. The bigger the song, the more daunting the task in my estimation, but I think Snyder pulled it off brilliantly and right out of the gates – never overstating the 80’s vibe but also never neglecting it, or any other time period/mood associated with the far reaching origins of the masked adventurers.

I can’t end without asking what the Hell is up with Budget-trons “teen angst” comment? I’ve heard some dumb ass reviews and comment’s and I’m sure I’ll hear more, but that one takes the dumb ass cake.

Clang, Boom, Steam speaks – and it is so!

Budgetron: Clang, all I’m trying to say is that everyone puts the story of Watchmen on a pedestal when all it seems to say is the same thing we’ve been hearing for years from teenage punk bands, “The government sucks and is tearing the country apart, people who have the power to make change don’t do it, people will always find a way to destroy each other despite the few who just want peace, people always want to blame someone for their problems instead of taking a stand…etc, etc, etc.” Also, it’s just a movie.

Clang! Boom! Steam!:Whatever dumb ass. Minor threat can suck it!

Kill-tacular-tron: I’m going to have to agree with Clang, I think that the music was a nice touch. It set the tone and feel for a lot of the characters.

Swank-mo-tron: I think the music was the best choice Snyder made. Directing is about choices and that’s about the only thing (other than the change in the ending) that he actually made a choice about. Everything else was just filming what was in the book. And Budgetron, the book gets a lot deeper than the angsty “We Hate the Government!” thing… There’s a lot about the characters and their motivations and there’s Ozy’s plan that didn’t get explained very well in the film. The book did have a much wider scope to the overall story that I think the film missed.

You’d be well served to read the book.

And it’s not just nerds that revere this book, either. I mean, TIME Magazine put it on their list of 100 greatest NOVELS of all time along with real books. There’s a literary quality to it that moves beyond the angst and idiocy of comic nerds.

Citizen-bot: Budget-tron, I think the story is iconic NOT because of the teen angst and anti-authoritarianism. That’s the backdrop of the story– the chords of the song, not the story of the lyrics. You can read Watchmen that way, but, in my mind, that’s like watching The Simpsons to see Homer get hit on the head or in the groin, thus missing the underlying satire.

Watchmen is about morality. Ozymandius’s plan is one that asks the ultimate moral question: do the ends justify the means? We have Rorschach who chooses to not compromise because morality is black and white and willingly dies because he would rather die than compromise. We have Nite Owl and Silk Spectre, who are impotent to do anything and so accede because they are simply beaten, mere mortals in a world of supermen, and, to an extent, they accept the morality of the immorality. We have Manhattan, whose detachment from life makes it easy to make a “rational” decision (kill a million people to save a billion), and defend it, even by murder, to cover up the deeds.

Which one are we? Do we submit to authority, do we play the authority, can any of us be trusted with that authority? If I ask myself honestly, I am a Dan Dreiberg. I would do what he did, and then have major guilt the rest of my life.

And, finally, was Veidt RIGHT? Could you murder a baby if you knew that doing so would cure cancer? How about 100? Is mass genocide justifiable if it would keep the extinction of the species from occuring?

And what if you were wrong? (Cue the “Tales of the Black Freighter” side story) What if you actions unwittingly made the situation worse? So who do we trust to make these decisions?

Put all THAT in a minor threat song!!! (Although, I think I heard Henry Rollins talk about this one time…..)

That being said, I respect Budget-tron’s opinion. I just think he’s wrong.

Look for part three shortly…

Part one is presented below, part two will be available later.

Swank-mo-tron: Welcome, fellow robots, to the first roundtable we’ve had in a while (perhaps the first of 2009?) and to celebrate this occasion, we’re round-tabling the new film adaptation of The Watchmen, which comes to theatres on Friday. Let us begin by saying that we’d like to thank Zack at the Geekshow Podcast for the heads up about the screening.

Having said that, it’s still a few hours since I’ve seen the film and I’m still conflicted about how I feel about it. Honestly and truly. I’m trying so hard to not be the guy who’s like, “The book was better.” But that is obvious. There’s no way the movie could have been better than the book. And there were moments in the movie that were utterly brilliant. The opening with The Comedian, the business on Mars, the prison sequences, the death of Rorschach, etc… But other times I was thinking to myself, “I’d rather be reading the book.” I mean, there were a couple of times were shivers registered on the tingle-o-meter on my back unit, and other times when my optics teared up, I have to admit that right now.

I enjoyed this film. But it felt like it lacked the poignance and greatness of the graphic novel. Again, I’m trying to separate the book from the movie, but it was baggage that I brought with me from the book that helped propped the film up for me. I think the use of music was fantastic, the production and art design was great, the attention to detail was astounding. But there were weak links. Malin Akerman (Laurie) was stunning to look at but was a terrible actress (and trying to give her Dr. Manhattans best lines about endings in the end was perhaps the biggest misstep in the adaptation), Nixon wasn’t the best (seriously, we all just got done watching Frank Langella and this guy was all make-up), and they tried a little too hard to wink at me for having read the book.

So, what did everyone else think?

Kill-tacular-tron: I really really enjoyed the movie. It definitely drifted away from the source material towards the end of the movie. I felt that Zack did a good job of cutting out the extra scenes that weren’t necessary, but still nodding at the geeks that were looking for the scene.

For instance, I really like in the book when the fire breaks out and they use Archie to save the tenants. And while they’re being transported to a safer area they are given some coffee. In the movie there isn’t time for coffee, but as Silk Spectre is cleaning up after everyone gets off the ship she puts some coffee cups away in the dash. A polite nod while not taking up too much of our time.

I agree with Swank, we shouldn’t compare the movie and the book because they are different animals. But the movie certainly didn’t pack the same punch the book did. I feel like I might have enjoyed it so much because I was filling in the gaps with previous knowledge I had gained from the book. The general public may not have such a good time with this movie. It may just turn into another Sin City. For some reason I highily doubt hearing a lot of people not famiar with the source material enjoying this movie.

Proletaria-Tron: Well I waited until the morning after to really think about the movie, last night I just wanted to take it in. But so far I’m going to have to agree with Swank and Kill. Good movie, but if you haven’t read the book you really might not like it.

It was a brutal and violent and sexy movie, and it might be a little over the top for the movie going public. There were a lot of little nods to the book and I enjoyed that just because I could fill in the blanks and finish the story for myself. I think the new ending works well especially considering how much extra time would have been needed for books ending. Most of the acting was good, I think Dr. Manhattan (Billy Crudup) was done perfectly. He had a sadness and kind of boredom to him the entire time. The Comedian (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) was awesome, he was a brutal asshole and it was perfect. However, Silk Spectre (Malin Akerman) as sexy as she was just paled in comparison to the people she shared the screen with. I’m waiting to see if everyone bitches about Rorschach’s voice as much as they did Christian Bale’s Batman because to me they sounded exactly the same.

Kill-tacular-tron: On the subject of Rorschach… best character in the movie. Hands down.

Proletaria-Tron:Rorschach was awesome, especially in prison. But I dug the Comedian. Hard to choose the best.

Swank-mo-tron: I guess I could agree to that, too.

Budgetron: For years I avoided reading this comic; when I was very young it was because it was the early Image days and the art sucked, and then as I got older, it was because I’d been told so many times how brilliant and earth shattering the story and the message was and I just didn’t care. Well, now that I’ve seen the movie, I can say I wasn’t blown away like many of you out there. Now, let me start out by saying that I love comics. I really do, I love all of them, not just super heroes and not just mange, but all comics. I guess thats why the story of Watchmen didn’t blow my robot ass off its hinges.

We as a comics community have a tendency to rant and rave about a comic when an author or artist goes out of their way to say anything smart in them. Why? Well, it’s because I think we are, as a comics community (primarily the superhero reading community perhaps?), embarassed of our little four color worlds we hide within every Wednesday. So when a “smart comic” comes around, everyone gets excited and proud of the “little medium that could”. But in my opinion, Watchmen is nothing more than teenage angst wrapped in metaphor. I mean, there were no new ideas explored or dissected, and no weighty themes that haven’t been shouted through the mic at a Minor Threat show 29 years ago…so what’s the big deal?

The world sucks and is full of power hungry assholes that can’t be stopped even by the few who have the power (or will) to do so? The American dream is to rip America apart from the inside out, sparing the few at the expense of the whole? Humankind is most likely NOT worth saving because we don’t care to save ourselves? Are these the weighty concepts everyone is so in awe of? I think this shit everyday.

But I digress, I’m here to tell you what I thought of the film, and I enjoyed it. I felt our heroes spent a little too much time wondering aloud, “What’s going on?” when we could have been learning who they were (esp the old Night Owl, Rorschach, and The Comedian), but I did feel it was a very well made film, and although not exactly the kind of movie an average super hero flick attending audience migh twant or expect, it was an overall good time.

I felt the first half of the film was breathtaking, the structure of story and characters were great (although I didn’t feel the “mystery” was really all that intriguing) and I very much enjoyed the most effed up character (Rorschach) in the film, being the biggest seeker of justice. Very interesting. The acting was bad in part, but overall great. The production design was impeccable, and although at times the music was a bit jarring, I felt that overall, the choices for music in the film were very good.

I liked it. I wasn’t blown away by the story, or the movie, but I liked it. This is a very hastily written, yet long, review, so I will not go back and rethink things. Screw you guys if you think I’m blabbering on too much.

Kill-tacular-tron:I feel like you make an interesting point. While I don’t agree that the story is over hyped (because I thought the same thing before I read it), I feel like the movie might be over hyped. The whole point of the story as I saw it (in the book) was the characters. And their relationships and the way they saw and interacted with the world. A lot of that had to be cut for the movie. Rorschach’s “origin story” in prison was neutered.

Also, a lot of the character development was beefed up for the Hollywood movie. The scene with the fire (which I had discussed with Dr. Cyborg) was a big exciting event climaxing with an explosion chasing Silk Specter out of the building. The sex scene that followed was just short of pornographic, while in the book it was much more subtle and romantic. I would be interested to see what you would think of the story after reading the book and comparing the two…

Budgetron: On the subject of Rorschach, I could have watched him all day, and I understand there’s more psychiatry scenes in the book? That makes me happy, it was one of my favorite bits in the movie, also, his martyrdom was pretty awesome. But really, the best character was Dr. Manhattan. Like Nick said, the boredom and separation from reality that Billy Crudup (or the effects team that completely CG’d his performance) was able to convey was pretty brilliant. When I first heard his voice I knew, even without having read the book, “Ok, this guy doesn’t give a crap about anything, he’s detached as hell”. I mean, shit, what says, “I don’t care” more than being naked all the time?

You see, it wasn’t the sex scene that bothered me so much as the fact that they spent 3 minutes on something like that when they could have better utilized it elsewhere, because obviously there was a lot to say that wasn’t said at all.

So check back in a little while for part two, where we hear from Citizen-bot, Clang! Boom! Steam!, Pencil-bot, Mandroid and others!

(UPDATE: Part Two!)

The first trailer (not teaser) for Terminator: Salvation is online on Yahoo. It looks nothing short of amazing. Totally flips the glimpses of the Skynet War seen in the first three Terminator movies on it’s ear.

Cinema Blend posted an update about the Ghostbusters 3 news:

Judd Apatow’s name has been attached the rumors about Ghostbusters 3 since they first began, with all reports saying he would be the producer for the film written by The Office writers Lee Eisenberg and Greg Stupnitsky. Now the production has gotten so close to actually happening that Production Weekly is listing it– and wouldn’t you know, Apatow Productions is right there in charge.

I know some of you don’t care for or have faith in Judd Apatow, but I do. Judd brought back good rated R raunchy comedies and got rid of their sissy PG-13 cousins.