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Watchmen


Schwaltzvald
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Meh, I've heard people bash on 300 lately, saying it's all flash and no substance/gimmicky. To each their own, but I thought it was still fun to watch, and despite the very 2-dimensional characters they were able to add some nice subtle character depth.

For 300, I blame the two-dimensional characters on the source material.

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yeah i've heard a lot of nonsense about how zack synder is gonna make watchmen fail...well, i disagree.

honestly what i think will make or break this movie is the editting.

why?

well, the story is told through complex cutting through time and story-lines (black freighter). If the movie can successfully transistion through time and the story-lines then i think this movie will have the potential to work, even though they changed the ending.

visually this movie i think will work no matter what happens. it was filmed only with one camera, so they could setup the shots to look just like the novel frames more often. that would've happened less with more then one camera.

and besides, the director is more known for his visual work anyways :D

i certainly have high hopes.

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yeah i've heard a lot of nonsense about how zack synder is gonna make watchmen fail...well, i disagree.

honestly what i think will make or break this movie is the editting.

why?

well, the story is told through complex cutting through time and story-lines (black freighter). If the movie can successfully transistion through time and the story-lines then i think this movie will have the potential to work, even though they changed the ending.

visually this movie i think will work no matter what happens. it was filmed only with one camera, so they could setup the shots to look just like the novel frames more often. that would've happened less with more then one camera.

and besides, the director is more known for his visual work anyways :D

i certainly have high hopes.

Two things.

First; The black freighter story has already been cut.

Second; Snyder tried to limit his cameras to as few as possible to force himself to follow the shots of the novel. But the movie was not filmed with one camera. That would be ludicrous. I'd cite my source, but I don't really want to go searching for it.

I don't have high hopes for the movie, but I expect that it will be visually stunning at the very least.

I reserve all other judgement until march.

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As for the ending, the means by which it happens is not important, what matters is the cost and how it worked.

I agree.

It might be easier for an average audience to swallow this new ending than the original. I made my room mate read Watchmen, and he said he loved everything except the ending.

I also have an open mind, because I personally thought that the V for Vendetta movie was better than the novel.

This is slightly different though.

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I read on comingsoon.net that the black frieghter will be released as a seperate animated feature on DVD/Blu-ray alongside the theatrical release in March...not sure exactly if they're going to include it in the DVD release of the movie, but i'm sure there will be some 'ultimate collectors edition dvd' or something that includes it later on.

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Stolen from the Watchmen movie's Wikipedia page to clear up a few things:

Tales of the Black Freighter, a comic within the Watchmen comic, will be adapted as a direct-to-video animated feature, which will be released on March 11, 2009.[99] It was originally included in the script,[76] but was cut due to budget restrictions,[74] because the segment would have added $20 million to the budget, as Snyder wanted to film it in a stylized manner reminiscent of 300.[99] Snyder considered including the animated film in the final cut,[9] but the film was already approaching a three hour running time.[99] Gerard Butler, who starred in 300, voices the Captain in the film, having been promised a role in the film, which never materialized.[100]

The Tales of the Black Freighter DVD will also include Under the Hood, a documentary detailing the characters' backstories, which takes its title from that of Hollis Mason's memoirs in the graphic novel.[99] The actors were allowed to improvise during filming interviews in character.[101] The film itself is scheduled to be released on DVD four months after Tales of the Black Freighter, and Warner Bros. is thought to be considering releasing an extended version, with the animated film edited back into the main picture.[99] Snyder expected this final version will be three hours and twenty-five minutes long.[102] In addition, the Watchmen: Motion Comics, which appeared the iTunes Store will also be released on DVD on March 3 and include an exclusive scene from the movie.[103]

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I'm seeing a lot of talk about the ending and I figured I'd give my two cents about it

MAJOR HARDCORE SPOILERS. Seriously:

The whole reason the comedian gets knocked off in the beginning is because he stumbles upon the plan and freaks out about it. I hear tell the new ending has something to do with Dr. Manhattan supposedly using an energy beam or blowing up or something. Unconfirmed, but sounds kinda likely, especially given that blue fireball in the trailers. Source: http://www.watchmencomicmovie.com/111008-watchmen-movie-zack-snyder-ending-changed.php. So how is the comedian going to stumble onto that? My fear is that while the ending in the comic was a bit of a stretch, the ending in the movie will break the story. I dunno. I'm hopeful but reserved. *Please note that the above link also leads to a spoiler, but that I couldn't make it white. My bad*

Also, I love that 70s news clip. So awesome.

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Black Freighter details;

http://www.watchmencomicmovie.com/013009-watchmen-black-freighter-dvd.php

I personally hope that they release this with the special edition DVD. I don't think there was enough plot to make this into much more than a short film.

And...

http://www.watchmencomicmovie.com/013009-watchmen-movie-ending-zack-snyder.php

Watchmen director discusses the film’s altered ending and the idea of a sequel
the idea of a sequel
sequel

god

damn

it

I mean, he says he'll have nothing to do with it. But...

...I prefer not to even think about it. The prequel already has me fuming.

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I picked up a copy of Watchmen on New Year's Eve, and in all honesty I could not put the book down. I started reading it at nine, and it had me through New Year's up until 6 AM when I finally finished it. It's a great copy of it too; a lovely Hardcover with absolutely nothing cut from the original.

I'm not sure how to interpret the new ending; it's essentially formulating a whole new plan on the part of the story's antagonist, and given how much of an anti-villain he was to start off with, we might even see that much outright change (which is a strict no-no, in my opinion).

I've also read V for Vendetta by Alan Moore too. I read it first and saw the movie recently too. The only thing the movie holds over the book is being easier to follow after the Vicious Caribet arc. Other than that, the respect for the source material was... hollow at best.

Then again, if it was an issue of pure adaptation, I would allow for singular changes made, provided that the overall thematic material remains the same.

Of course, I won't know until I see it. From what is there of the movie now, I can't find anything seemingly wrong with it. It all seems exactly as it was in the book.

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So nobody else really hated the Black Freighter story but me? I thought it was tedious and boring. I understand its connection to the main plot and the reverberations of the theme, but I still thought it was ultimately too wordy and I wanted to get back to the real story every time. Now I skip it when I reread Watchmen.

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well, i think those who didn't like it in amidst the watchmen, might like the rated r 30 minute stand alone of it better. i can see how the black freighter storyline can be tedious to some during the watchmen read but as a standalone, it'll probably evade that fate

that said, the story of the black freighter is best utilized alongside the watchmen... so it's hard to imagine it as an effective standalone (THEMATICALLY, at least) even if it will be a great expose in action and gore

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