Watchmen: Very Brief Reactions

[andraste]

bride_of_lister and I just got back from a midnight screening of Watchmen. Very brief reactions below cut.



In short: wow! THEY ACTUALLY MADE A GREAT FILM OUT OF WATCHMEN. I was terribly worried they wouldn't be able to add anything, but they really did. More about that when it's not getting on for five o'clock in the morning. I was very pleased over all.

Also, a word of warning: this is a very violent film. No, more violent than that. No, it is VERY VERY VIOLENT. And gory. And violent. I thought it was appropriate given the subject matter and tone, but it might be a good idea to go in braced.

Comments

[selenak.livejournal.com]

ZOMG you liked it! *is relieved and dances the dance of fannish anticipation*

[andraste]

I had a few nitpicks, there were a couple of omissions that puzzled me, and missed a couple of beloved scenes. Overall, though? I was relieved and impressed. The writer of the first two X-Men films knows his adaptations and Zak Snyder can definitely work that camera. More tomorrow, when I've had some sleep!

(After the movie got out at three in the morning, my friends and I stayed up talking until five-thirty or so, and then bride_of_lister hung around with me all day so we could keep dissecting every scene and character. There was certainly no shortage of things to talk about.)

[saltedpin.livejournal.com]

Well, not that I was expecting it to not be violent, but I am slightly disappointed that it is very, very violent, seeing as I just don't handle it well and probably won't see it now :(

I'm glad it's really good and you enjoyed it, though :D AMAZING, A GOOD FILM BASED ON SOMETHING ALAN MOORE WROTE :OOOOOOOOOO NEXT, APOCALYPSE!

This is entirely just my opinion, but....

[lizamanynames.livejournal.com]

Correction: two good films based on something Alan Moore wrote; next: APOCALYPSE! (Or Promethea. Or hell, BOTH.)

Re: This is entirely just my opinion, but....

[saltedpin.livejournal.com]

Well, you're entitled to your opinion :)

Re: This is entirely just my opinion, but....

[lizamanynames.livejournal.com]

And you to yours. *tips hat* XD

Re: This is entirely just my opinion, but....

[andraste]

I liked V for Vendetta too. League of Extraordinary Gentlemen was absolutely awful, though.

[lizamanynames.livejournal.com]

I don't think LXG was awful, exactly, it just utterly failed as an adaptation. As a movie in its own right, it was quite fun.

But I am glad somebody agrees with me on V4V - that was such a deeply moving film for me.

[andraste]

Well, not that I was expecting it to not be violent, but I am slightly disappointed that it is very, very violent, seeing as I just don't handle it well and probably won't see it now :(

On the one hand, I don't want to put people off because it was a great film. On the other, I'd much rather you decided it was too much for you now than part way through a movie you've already paid for!

If you're not up to close-ups on people's knees bending in directions they ought not to bend, Doctor Manhattan dramatically exploding people all over the place and Rorschach ... being Rorschach with a machete, you may want to skip it, at least in the theatre :(.

[saltedpin.livejournal.com]

People being dramatically exploded by Doctor Manhattan I may deal with, because it kind of falls into that 'cartoon violence' category (no matter how graphic it is), but those other things... I don't know. Knees bending the wrong way is one of my major, major horrors :(

It's a shame, because I would really, really like to see it, but I just find violence fairly intolerable to sit through these days. I have no idea when I went from 'not liking it much' to 'finding it horribly, horribly upsetting' :(

[rheanna27.livejournal.com]

I haven't been as excited about a movie for quite a long time - although I don't have a particularly high violence threshold, so it sounds like I'll be closing my eyes a lot.

[andraste]

I haven't been as excited about a movie for quite a long time - although I don't have a particularly high violence threshold, so it sounds like I'll be closing my eyes a lot.

Yeah, I'm not great with gore, but for Watchmen I managed to put up with it. You can always cover you hands with your eyes like the person next to me occasionally did *g*.

[st-aurafina.livejournal.com]

Yay! I'm looking forward to seeing it, though I don't have the highest tolerance for gore and violence. Hopefully it won't be too hand-held, either, so lilacsigil can watch it from her seat, not sideways on the floor.

[andraste]

Yay! I'm looking forward to seeing it, though I don't have the highest tolerance for gore and violence. Hopefully it won't be too hand-held, either, so [info]lilacsigil can watch it from her seat, not sideways on the floor.

There are a lot of dizzying zooms, but no hand-held camera shaking that I noticed. I don't have the greatest tolerance for gore myself, but for Watchmen I will put up with Doctor Manhattan exploding people and Rorschach, uh, being Rorschach.

[lizamanynames.livejournal.com]

It's Watchmen; I'd have been dissapointed if it hadn't been gory as fuck.

[andraste]

It's Watchmen; I'd have been dissapointed if it hadn't been gory as fuck.

I found it a lot more graphic than the comic, but I can understand why they went that way - their message wouldn't have come across if people had walked out feeling like they'd just seen another Batman film. I imagine audiences were more easily shocked by comic book violence in 1986, so the film had to go further to make the same point.

[lizamanynames.livejournal.com]

*nods firmly* Yes, exactly; Husband was making this point on the drive home from the theatre.

[redfiona99.livejournal.com]

What rating is it? Because a bunch of my friends were worried that it was going to be 15-ified and not violent/sick in oh so many other way enough.

[andraste]

In America it's rated R. If it was any more violent, I'd have had to shut my eyes! As it was, I had to look away more than once.

In addition, there's plenty of swearing, a moderately graphic sex scene and Doctor Manhattan walking around with no pants through the entire film ...

[smirnoffmule.livejournal.com]

Not sure where you're at, but it has an 18 rating in the UK, which suggests it will be satisfyingly bloody (especially considering the some of the blood n guts n stuff that gets away with a 15 these days).