My biggest problem with the movie was with how they treated Ozymandias, this video described him perfectly, a warm nice superhero, who was worn down, and decided to take the world by the reins, and steers it in the direction he sees fit because he is the smartest man alive. When I read Watchmen, I initially thought of Ozymandias as a nice warm, ex-superhero, a person everyone would look up to, which is why his twist, later on, becomes so shocking, which I felt Synder undercut, by making him look, from the get-go, as kind of an asshole, nonetheless, I really enjoyed both, the comic and the movie.
Apparently the actor who played Veidt said it was because the warm, friendly superhero turning out to be evil was a much more common trope when the film was made compared to when the comic was written, in part because of the comic. He felt that making Ozymandias into a warm and nice superhero immediately reveals the twist and therefore making him colder is an attempt to subvert it
I liked how Ozymandias was in the movie way more because he's actually unique, and it makes him the moral opposite of Rorachach. It's so unique to have an almost sociopathic superhero that thinks he's above everyone else but still makes sacrifices to help save humanity.
I liked the changes. Using Dr. Manhattan as the scapegoat instead of some weird alien cloned by Adrian, and having Nite Owl witness Rorschach's death. I thought it made Rorschach's death more personal and more depressing. I enjoyed this film not only more than any Marvel movie, but any superhero movie period.
Yeah but the point of Rorschach's death was that it was a personal moment simply for him and no one else. Manhattan doesn't count as a being anymore by that point and the whole scene was simply an illustration of Rorschach deciding to go out and stick to everything he believes in in the perfect way, a moment that no one will ever witness or ever care about that holds the weight of an entire planet within it.
+Emperor Palpatine More depressing to have a witness? That way he's remembered. In the comic, Nite Owl and his girl are busy shagging while Rorschach is killed. They're eager sellouts. Rorschach was the only true idealist, and it's like his ideals die unremembered (except by Dr. Manhattan).
As and adaptation it's good it captures the spirit of the comic in a different medium the problem people have that it didn't have the same effect on the medium
TheRonster9319 besides the problem with making the movie sexier (the suits, the violence, etc) I actually enjoyed it. It's not perfect, but it's a pretty effective adaptation given the source material. And it's Snyder's last decent film tbh.
TheRonster9319 I agree (but only with the 3 1/2 hr cut). It's probably the best adaptation we can see that would be suitable to fans of the comic AND the average theatregoer. Still absolutely love watching it.
1. I had zero problems with the portrayal of Silk Spectre. I didn't find her weak or whiny at all. 2. I saw all of the heroes as extremely vulnerable, even with their weird unexplained superpowers. I actually saw their extreme abilities as another jarring parody which ADDED to the overall genre mash of the film. 3. I see nothing wrong with the ending. You have to remember that cities all over the world were destroyed, which would bring more people together faster. And why would anyone see Manhattan as patriotically American, after his apparent cancer murders, outburst on live television, and of course his destruction of New York? I think that ending is brilliant. Hardly nonsensical.
Exactly! It's like saying the whole world would band against America after Hiroshima. People are usually spectators when the problems don't immediately affect them. It made more sense, giant squid or atomic bomb, to make a global catastrophe so that we could unite. Snyder did extremely well.
+nextpkfr I felt like Laurie in the film was almost as rounded as she was in the comic. The film's version with the cut sequences helps flesh her out a bit more. But I never once saw her as whiny in the movie. I also saw the heroes as human. I personally might have toned the increased strength down in the movie and showed them struggle a little in the alley fight but it wasn't that bad. And I agree with you Cinefix forgot all about the fact that destruction happened on a global scale in the movie too even if it was hard to notice since only New York was shown.
+nextpkfr I agree with you 100%. The CineFix guys have no fucking clue what they're talking about. The film was amazing and it portrayed the characters and the main plot perfectly. Also to the fanboys who are complaining that the graphic novel isn't EXACTLY the same as the film, please use some fucking common sense.
The changes that I found consequential are the changes with Nite owl's character development. Nite Owl was suppose to be portrayed as an anxious, nervous and uncertain man, brought on after retiring as a superhero. It's only after he dons his costume again, after years of absence, that he becomes himself again and confident. The film really didn't go into this and to me this was a key component of the character. Nite owl was friends with Rorschach but after his complete mental breakdown they began to grow apart as Rorschach became more detached from humanity going as far as to call his mask his face and kill criminals. Nite Owl holds onto the old partnership they once had but now fears him after, in his eyes, complete mental deterioration.This is why Nite owl isn't as struck by Rorschach's death in the comic because to him, his friend Rorschach metaphorically died, years prior. Another thing I find vexing is the fact that the film gives no real explanation as to how the comedian discovers Adrian's plot to end all war. I cant see how the comedian could have discovered Adrian was going to frame Dr Manhattan whereas in the comic he finds helicopters traveling to an island suspicious, goes to investigate and finds the enormous constructed squid like alien. Reversed if in the film comedian traveled to the island what would he find? Scientists using Dr Manhattan energy and then he would some how decipher that Adrian plans to frame Manhattan? That's a few things I feel could have been given more information.
TheCelticTiger32 Um, what was he supposed to do? Hold him by his hand? You gotta consider that Niteowl was still pretty much in shellshock after failing to stop the murder of millions, so I'd just write it off
RussianGuyovich Rorschach was walking out into Antarctica, Nite Owl needed to fly him home in archie, but he didn't seem bothered. See that's the one aspect the film didn't get. Nite owl doesn't particularly like Rorschach anymore and considers him a psychopath, feeling uncomfortable around him. In the comic they only spring him from prison because he had valuable information on the case that he and spectre needed and not because they wanted him free. His friend he knew died long ago in his eyes. Besides, Nite owl didn't seem too choked up about it in the end of the comic when he and spectre are together.
TheCelticTiger32 I dunno about the whole "considering his old friend dead" thing, I mean, yeah, Rorsharch did go a bit looney and Nite Owl was a tad bit wary of him, but it seemed to me as if he warmed up to him by the end, shaking hands and being all buddy-buddy, it's just that their friendship wasnt focused on much in the end, cause he had to smooch things up with Spectre
@@captainjakemerica4579 "My opinion is* jackass" fixed it for you. And Snyder isn't worth idolizing as many fanboys does but he did Watchmen right. And inb4 you're butthurt by "muh opinion" getting trashed, first, you're the one that started it by replying the contrary in a whiny manner and second, you're not talking to puppets, but other people with opinions. So suck it.
Me too man. I dont know why did it get soo much hate. I read the whole series (didnt read before watchmen and doomsday clock but these are not important for the movie). You just cant make 100% of the movie like the book. Its mine favourite commic book(graphic novel) movie and for me it was 10/10. If you liked watchmen and dark comic movies you can check out sin city movies, the crow, blade trilogy (last one didnt get good rewiews but its still good). You probably know these movies but if you didnt watch these you can because they are good. The crow and sin cities have strange effects but gives good personality to the story.
the film is the polar opposite tonally to the comic - characters such as the comedian and rorschach are portrayed far more sympathetically, most disturbingly in the scene where the comedian rapes silk spectre, with the camera pulling in uncomfortably close as she undresses, heavily eroticising her where in the book there’s nothing like that. Meanwhile Rorschach has gone from a parody of Steve Ditko’s objectivist Mr A and the Question (it should be pointed out Alan Moore is a socialist libertarian (anarchist)) to a more overtly heroic character, even with elements like his homophobic queercoding of Ozymandias being vindicated by the film itself also Queercoding Ozymandias. this is also portrayed in how every character death is made more cinematic and heroic: the comedian gets a triumphal battle against Ozymandias where in the comics he was just a sad old nihilist rapist who got thrown out a window, the OG nite owl also gets a triumphal confrontation with the men who beat him to death, reliving his glory days and getting a few good hits in and ultimately martyring himself before he’s overwhelmed, when, again, he’s an old man getting his shit kicked in (perhaps the book is trying to say something about how perpetuating a cycle of violence only leads to more violence once you’re past your prime?) and finally Rorschach gets to have nite owl scream out in anguish at his death, and his blood forms a Rorschach blot test pattern, even though his death was originally symbolic of meaninglessness, reducing him to a puddle of steaming blood and nothing more. The film looks beautiful but it completely misses the point of many of the books key messages and I get the sense watching it that Snyder merely thought the books were good for their dark and adult content, and not their adult themes. It doesn’t help that the two are on pretty much opposite ends politically so of course and adaptation of such a politically charged work is going to send conflicting messages if the guy adapting it has a fundamentally different worldview.
@@laurenbastin8849 Well said. I mean the comics doesn't have big splash page of the main character kicking ass like how superheroes or antihero usually drawn,that should tell you something.
Oddly enough I actually liked the film. Read the comic when I was 17. Of course the comic is vastly superior to the film and remains as the best of Alan Moore's work. The film is entertaining and actually the best possible adaptation that you could give the story.
Actually Alan Moore told in an interview once that there is no possible way to depictwatchmen in the big screen so the fact that the movie has reached this close to the comic is basically a great accomplishment by itself although i still prefer the comic from the movie
@@ΤόλιςΓραμματόπουλοςyeaa but alan moore has also disowned the watchmen comic and hates anything to do with it, much like most of his work. Dude shouldnt be listened to for a legit opinion lmfao
@@cstrife420Oh, he still should. One of the objectives of the graphic novel was to show that there are things that you can do in some medium but can't in others. Snyder has no media literacy/reading comprehension and it shows in every of his works, the critical changes made (Rorschach's reply to laurie regarding comedian's rαpe case, blaming dr manhattan[who is a US weapon, yet the one to the blame on, whereas in reality, the soviet & its allies would've blamed the US even more], etc) He isn't object to all adaptations (JLU's superman: for the man who has everything as notable instance), but to some of which he is, it's because they were meant to be in the medium they were written
As others have mentioned, in all fairness, what you're describing here is the theatrical cut, and since then both a director's cut and an extended "Ultimate Cut" with much most of the extra material that was produced separately integrated into the film, making it much closer to the original graphic novel
Yeah well still I have own the director's cut the comic is still far superior it's not a masterpiece by any means Zack Synder has never made a masterpiece
I wonder which cut they dug their heels into. If it was the theatrical than sure. There is the Black Freighter cut as well. Sure it runs about 3.5 hours but well worth it. Its kinda like how BvS gets shit. I never bothered with the theatrical cut.
Xploding Piggzz This movie was awesome. People will bitch either way. If Snyder made the movie shot for shot as the comics, people would've bitched why it was a direct copy. I loved this movie, and I liked it's changes. Especially Nite Owl witnessing Rorschach's murder.
I personally hated that change, though i really like the movie, the character arc of Rorschach die-ing alone, with no witnesses. his morality remained concrete and with no witnesses- he was always who he was in the dark, the Nite owl witnessing it only really gave us a "NOOOOOOOOOO" which i think would have had more dramatic impact with no reaction.
+Kserijaro I agree, the squid thing is so stupid it sounds like a parody. It's doubtful the soviets would want a truce after something like that, if anything they would probably use it as a chance to launch a first strike and destroy an already weakened america.
+stardude692001 not if it was of extraterrestrial origin. I think it makes perfect sense to believe that the soviets would think 'it's attacked America. I see no reason why it wouldn't attack us next.' And thus, the enemy of my enemy is my friend.
LondonIrishRover Yes but the "enemy of my enemy" would be the space squid. I could even see the Soviets trying to reach out the the aliens in an attempt to combat the major advantage Dr. Manhattan gives the US in the cold war.
Doctor Manhattan as the scapegoat was an improvement. It flowed more naturally from the story to do it that way, rather than bringing in this extra element of an elaborate, fake invasion from an alien dimension, which was always just took up space in the comic without being anything special. But doing it like the movie, it ties everything together beautifully. So much more dramatic and focused.
I always felt Movie Night Owl's reaction to the climax (punching Ozymandias, etc) was more 'real'. Okay, so seeing the holocaust maybe numbed Comic Night Owl to the extent that he couldn't be angry about it, but who wouldn't wanna scream and punch someone after witnessing such senseless murder?
SuperSongbird21 what I always took from the comic was that night owl was only a super hero to satisfy his own needs/build confidence. When faced with real complex choices his mind was unable to process - his concept of a black and white good vs evil was challenged and so he just walked away.
SuperSongbird21 To me that felt like really over the top movie melodrama though. Dan’s reaction in the book felt much realer to me. Stunned, dumbfounded confusion. He says over and over again that Adrian must be joking and refuses to entertain the possibility of it being real until he sees the broadcast, and at that point he’s cold. And then, the fact that he (and everyone else) has to choose between telling people and ruining the peace that Adrian has created, or not saying anything and keeping the peace, is one of the greatest scenes in the comic. That is something that was completely gone from Snyder’s movie, the murky, terrifying ambiguity of a situation like this. As Adrian put it in the comic “checkmate”
I don’t think Nite Owl realistically would have (or even could have) punched Veidt. Veidt had already explained his reasoning behind doing it at this point, and Jon quickly backed up that there was nothing they could do that wouldn’t just make the situation worse, so I think the comic Nite Owl’s reactions make perfect sense. he misses being a hero, but is portrayed as being scared of pretty much all his fellow heroes AND already saw Veidt beat Rorschach multiple times without being touched, giving him no reason to think he would be able to land a punch on him.
@@legendofhayden In the comic yeah, but in the film Night Owl witnesses Rorschach's death and actually seemed to care about him. It was probably easier in the comic for him to reconcile with the deaths of faceless strangers, whereas in the film it's more personal. And Ozymandias wasn't all that bothered anyway (he seemed to me to be in a "Okay dude, let it out and then let's be rational again" mood) until Night Owl voices what was only implied in the comic - that while it was for the "greater good" it was still inhuman.
I finally read the full book after watching the film much earlier years ago. The book is much better because of its character depth and satirical sensibilities. The film lacks much of that but I still find it to be a fantastic watch. I would very likely still hold it within the top 10 comic book films of all time.
There are a ton of small details either in the background or in the shadows that made the comic so good compared to the movie. One of the best little detail I liked is how Rorschach still keeps the old trench-coat he wore, with the now dried blood still present on it when he and Nite-owl retrieved his spare costume in his apartment. Hell even the sugar-packets that Rorschach deliberately snatches in Dan's house came to bite Dan because the detective that visited Dan's home saw that he has the same sugarcube brand that Rorschach eats, further pushing Nite-Owl/Dan to rescue Rorschach earlier than later.
+Alexander Forsman The theatrical cut is the one that more people will have seen, so it makes sense to do that one. Besides, if you know what was cut or omitted from the theatrical cut you'll know what wasn't in the other.
Which explains why most of the people who love this movie have never seen it at the cinema, or have watched it again after the Ultimate Cut was released.
Just like people argue the ultimate cut of BvS is what Snyder should be judged on. It's a flawed argument as a film's first and best chance to make a positive impression is at the cinema.
@@GlareBoxTV I respectfully disagree. It's not that simple. Often, the version seen in theaters will reflect studio interference and not the director's vision. A couple of prime examples would be The Donner Cut of Superman II and the Special Edition of The Abyss. Especially in the case of the latter, studio interference completely undercut what the director was trying to accomplish. The climax of the movie makes NO SENSE in the theatrical version because a major plotline was completely excised from the story. I couldn't justify judging The Abyss by any version other than the Special Edition, and there are other films I would say the same about.
***** Absolutely not anything even remotely close to a masterpiece. It's a brilliant graphic novel, and a very mediocre film. In the movie, the acting is weak, the characters are terribly underdeveloped, the plot is rushed, and much of the dialogue is misplaced and poorly written. They also removed a lot of the character development and plot points to make way for extended, gratuitous action scenes and an extended sex scene.
9:01 "Hey-hey, stay with us here!" "Or don't; fuck off for a while." This is by the best moment in the whole of What's the Difference and I love it so much!
+TheoneandonlyCrowMan Agreed. At no point did I view any of the characters outside of Doc as having super powers. Physically fit, expert martial artists, sure; super-powered, no. Yes, it's a bit of hyper reality with the body throws and surviving trauma that should have shattered bone, but it's in keeping with the tone of the film. In the comic, Ozzy has reached the pinnacle of human potential; he performs acrobatics, engages in a demanding physical fitness regimen, and trains in multiple martial arts. But there's nothing super-powered about him; he's just a man in peak mental and physical condition.
+TheoneandonlyCrowMan Yeah, exactly. Their portrayal was Batman-esque: they did stuff that in real life would indeed be beyond any human, but in cinematic reality is usually the realm of simple "badass normals". Still, I guess making them badass removes a bit that feeling of vulnerability, but then again, they WERE superheroes. And not crappy ones like Kick-Ass, if we have to mention someone from that comic they'd be more like Big Daddy and Hit Girl.
She punched a guy across an alleyway, that's not artistic license so much as she has super strength. They all have oddly ridiculous abilities to fight which makes even less sense with fat, old, really out of shape owl. I personally don't really care about the change but it's pretty damn obvious to see dude.
Most of these changes relate to running time issues (partly fixed in later cuts of the film) but also direction flaws that translate into the screenplay. I believe Zack wanted to film this graphic novel due to the amount of macho and mature content is has (in many interviews, he always speaks about being inspired by mature and graphic comics rather than intriguing storylines and character development). This, in translation, strips the film from a lot of it's subtext and analysis, and focuses a lot more on superficial levels (mainly, the fight scenes's cinematography highlighting and stylizing the violence rather than making you sick of yourself, presenting the characters as larger than life even though they are supposed to be human, etc.)
iv read the comic and seen the movie. and personally i think the movie is one of the best comic to movie adaptations we've ever had,of any comic not just watchmen
I'm of the exact opposite opinion. The fact that Zach Snyder slowed down and amped up the graphic nature of the fight scenes while shortening and even speeding up many of the character scenes really highlights where Snyder's priorities were and why the movie failed as an adaptation: Style over substance. The movie LOOKS like Watchmen, but doesn't FEEL like Watchmen. When Night Owl started beating the crap out of Ozymandias, lecturing him about how evil he is, as far as I was concerned, Snyder could've died in a hole somewhere. He didn't understand the comic at all. Honestly, the comic would've been much better served as a television miniseries by a competent director.
comicbook was better than the movie, just like every comicbook adaptations. Don't get why people tell it sucks just because it didn't respect some comicbooks element.
@@nasmythra3313 well,im normally under the opinion of if it has a adaptation that is good like watchman was or like rurouni kenshin and respects the material that it is based on then any adaptation live action or animation is better than it remaining a comic or manga. b/c it being animated or live action its more likely to be seen by people who don't read manga or comic normally but might start b/c of the animation/live action adaptation. that said fuck any adaptation looking to make a quick $$$$$$$ like dragon ball evolution did
See the problem is that you have read the comic before seeing the movie. I however, didn't know it was based on a comic book until maybe a year after I'd seen the movie. So as someone that had never heard of the Watchmen before the trailers came out still think that its one of the best, if not the comic book movie I've ever seen. It's one of my favorite movies of all time. That's why I think these movie companies make these films for people who are like me. Those that are completely unfamiliar with a character, plot, history ect. enjoy these kinds of stories so much.
Well I did read it after the movie. I've known about the book for a long time, and I was always like "meh" because I don't usually like that kind of art style, and it has soooo much text on it, so I avoided it, until I saw the movie and got curious.
I read the comics religiously, and repeatedly over the years. I was a comic illustrator when the books came out and it was earth shattering for people like me. And I was disappointed when I heard that Snyder was directing. What a horrible choice! It turned out to be one of my favorite movies of the last decade.
One thing I do have to say for the movie is it was very well cast. Rorschach, Nite Owl, Comedian, and Dr. Manhattan were all excellently captured by their actors. Rorschach especially!
It didn't HAVE to be a big psychic squid, but the point was that it had to be something completely ALIEN and having no origin to Earth. That's why humanity would put aside their petty differences to unite against a fully extraterrestrial problem, its the only way to shock the world into putting down their guns at each other. I still think Watchmen is unfilmable, its just too dense. The Motion Comic was a much better direct translation and it ended up being TWELVE HOURS. It also used an original score over a soundtrack and had a much better sense of timing and emotional impact (its version of Rorschach's journal entry about The Comedian and his death is stunning in its emotional crescendo.) Good for Snyder to try and obviously a lot of people liked it but I think he totally missed the overarching criticism of masked superheroes in a real world with real world problems Moore was making. Great video Cinefix!
WittyDroog The Dr.Manhattan ending is still makes sense, because he could destroy the entire world if he wanted to meaning that once he turned against humanity the whole world was at stake, putting aside their differences to unite and stop the seemingly all powerful Dr. Manhattan.
CineFix But the threat of him coming back is always there. They would most likely see him as a Zeus figure of greek mythology who's elevated himself so far above humans they become toys to amuse himself with, he even says, maybe I'll create life. Basically showing how little he thinks of life as it is an afterthought or a hobby to him. BTW Love this series!
The problem is that Russia would NEVER buy it. They would always be skeptical and go 'but the US created him and used him in the war.' Oxy's plan had to leave absolutely no room for Russia or any other country to suspect a nation of being in cahoots . The Earth unites against an enemy that comes from outside the Earth. The Manhattan plot technically works but its a lot weaker of a solution.
WittyDroog But to the public the last they've seen of Manhattan was the revelation that he causes cancer, him get angry on tv glow and put a network out of commission, leave the planet, and then destroy a major city. There is no reason for them to believe anyone is in cahoots with anyone. All they see is an angry thing who has just realized he's a walking plague that can no longer have any contact with humans unless he's willing to kill them in the process, and what does he do after gaining this knowledge? He says fuck it humans aren't worth saving and kills thousands of people as easy as someone raises their finger. Seems like a threat that the world should be wary of.
the Ultimate Cut is the best one. it's weird how theres the theatrical cut, the director's cut, and ALSO the Ultimate cut, but the Ultimate cut is by far the best way to watch it.
@@redhoodie4111 Directors cut is the directors prefered version, the ultimate cut includes the black fraighter comic, but zack didnt feel it fits properly because it was never designed with the black fraighter to begin with. but i havent watched it yet. seen the directors cut once over 10 years ago. might check it out.
HEY GUYS! This was one where we HAD to separate these big differences from all the little stuff or risk going INSANE!... so if you want the Details of the Details in PART 2 on Watchmen about all the smaller differences we usually pack in, like this video and let us know in the comments that you want UNA SEGUNDA SECCION!
CineFix You should really try to do this in a "better" way: Compare the Graphic Novel to the Ultimate Cut of Watchmen en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watchmen_(film)#Ultimate_cut Anyway, thank you for bringing this piece of work to more people's eyes and ears. Well deserved in my opinion :-)
I think we can all agree on one thing about the movie, though; Its cinematography and visual design is fucking *amazing*. Snyder, as polarizing as a director he may be, always goes above and beyond when it comes to visual presentation in his films.
2:14 "Losing all this material is not very major." Um, yeah it is. To paraphrase Red from Overly Sarcastic Productions, these scenes with the kid Bernie and the old man Bernie are meant to show that basic human kindness exists in this dark world that Alan Moore made and that the superheroes are failing to notice it.
"How are we going to fight a giant alien squid?" "Too bad we don't have a super being who can tear atoms apart with his mind. Let's try diplomacy instead." More fitting ending, my ass.
***** Seems a little more ambiguous. The rest of the world might still think the USA has him in their back pocket. If anything that would make an alliance less likely.
_The Watchmen_ is not simply a commentary on superheros. The changes made in the movie improve the storytelling as an apt indictment of Americana. _The Watchmen_ was written as an exaggeration of the truth of reality, that _The United States of America_ collectively suffers from a form of _Affluenza_. In this continuity, as shown in the opening credits of the film, the existence of Dr. Manhattan allows the USA to win confrontations that, in reality, they lost for good reasons. So, they never learned those lessons. In the real world American's have historically had very little accountability to the outside world, in _The Watchmen_ they have *_no_* accountability because they have Dr. Manhatten. That world is not simply an alternate reality... it is a _PERVERSION_. _The Watchmen_ is thoroughly steeped in irony. This is what The Comedian means when he says "It's all a joke", and is the reason behind his violence: he has so little accountability that it is ridiculous. This is also why he is brought to tears when he figures out Ozymandias' plan because he is suddenly forced to imagine a world without his scapegoat, considering all the horrible things he's done. Ever notice how most of the main characters, politically speaking, are almost scary with how conservative they are? The things coming out of their mouths are atrocious... and this is why it is ironic when Night Owl discovers Ozymandias' plan and says "You haven't idealized mankind, you've…you've deformed it!". ...the fact that, when American audiences watch this movie or read the book, and this aspect of the story is almost completely lost on them *IS THE POINT*.
Well, I've read the actual Graphic Novel, written in 1985, and I can tell you that all of the stuff he's talking about was not intentional. I believe he should interpret art however he likes, but insulting other readers because they can't see some delusional nonsense that he sees because they are rational human beings, or because they have their own interpretation is utter nonsense and makes him look like a pompous douchebag. Oh look, I made a run on. Oh well. Anyhow, "Ever notice how most of the main characters, politically speaking, are almost scary with how conservative they are?" Well that's because the novel was written in 1985! That's not clever writing, that's how people freaking talked! Can we stop pretending that modern judgment and culture is law and is how it's always been and will be? Anyway, my point is don't be a jerk and act like Americans are morons because they don't believe your twisted and moronic world view. Have a nice day.
The comic was so in depth its very difficult to adapt, causing the movie and comic to be quite different from each other. Nonetheless though, the movie was still fantastic, it was enjoyable to see how similar some scenes were to the comic, many parts of the movie was basically animated versions of frames in the comic. So for me the movie was visually great, but very lacking in the plot when compared to the comic. Still high ranking tho
+KoOkiEzRoCkz The Ultimate Cut is ok. Not as good as the comic since it still focuses too much on the action and leaves out several background elements that actually were extremely interesting and important to character development, but it's not as bare bones as the theatrical cut was.
The movie was an insult to the graphic novel I only read the first 2 chapters and my opinion on the film has changed drastically the color degradation was stupid and how Synder tried to emulate the style of the comic was dumb and the changes he made were a huge middle finger the movie isn't good no matter the cut
One of my favorite movies. I like a lot of the films based on graphic novels and comic books, but at the same time, I hate it when the stories are changed, and that happens a lot.
One of the things I thought worked the best with the change at the ending is that it gives Dr. Manhattan a reason to leave earth. In the comic it's more or less "I'm bored now, bye" while in the movie he's the fall guy
I think the opening fight scene between Comedian and Ozymandias sums up the problem with Snyder's take on Watchmen. Instead of a broken, old man being overpowered by a physically and mentally superior opponent, Snyder is going "Check out how awesome this is!"
I love this series (What's The Difference) and while I enjoy both the comic and the movie for their own reasons, I couldn't help but notice a LACK of bias from Cinefix on this one. Usually they stay impartial, but it's clear from this video...they just don't like the movie. Which is fine, a lot of people don't...I just expected impartiality given the other episodes in this series.
***** I was referring to the theatrical cut. I haven't seen any other versions, and while they might be better they can't address fundamental flaws. The two best examples were how the heroes were portrayed as almost superhuman in the gratuitous fight scenes and how Adrian's plan was terrible since Dr. Manhattan was known to be American. Don't get me wrong, for an adaptation of a graphic novel long considered to be unadaptable, it's great. It's a good movie, and they made a lot of good decisions making it (notable examples: the montage at the beginning and taking out the pirate comic), but at other times they really missed the point of the source material or made bad decisions. Watchmen is one of the greatest graphic novels of all time, but it is certainly not one of the greatest films of all time.
+Thutil I don't see how the plan doesn't work, Dr. Manhattan turns on america and the rest of the world in response to the nuclear war bullshit everyone is trying to pull. Maybe world peace is a bit of a stretch but it is also a stretch with a giant squid. But it is likely that they would call a truce to deal with the bigger threat, humans are kinda know for banding together against a greater enemy, regardless of origin.
Never read the comic, but I definitely still felt Ozymandias's regret for the deaths he'd caused; I don't feel it rang false at all. His coldness doesn't detract from it, not if you're willing to accept what he says. Such coldness would be one way for a person to cope with the remorse.
+Buffoon1980 Compared to the comic, yes, it was cold. In the comic, he asked if it was over, only for Dr. Manhattan to tell him "It's never over" making him realize he had only killed millions of people to provided a temporary solution.
I might be wrong (it's been ages since I read it and I don't have a copy to hand), but I don't think the team of Dr Manhattan, Ozymandias, Rorschach, The Comedian, Nite Owl and Silk Spectre II are ever called "The Watchmen" in the comic, or even specifically referred to as such. The name Captain Metropolis calls the new team is "Crimebusters" and I think the only time the term "watchmen" is used in the story is a bit of graffiti; the old phrase, "who watches the watchmen?", referring to vigilantes in general, rather than any actual group.
+Jack Woodgate Yeah, the only superhero team with a legit name was the Minutemen. Crimebusters WOULD have been the team-name had Metropolis been able to rally a team, but it failed. Rorsach and Niteowl II were the ONLY heroes in an actual team (with no name), and they eventually split ways after Rorsach started killing criminals.
+Jack Woodgate Yeah, the only superhero team with a legit name was the Minutemen. Crimebusters WOULD have been the team-name had Metropolis been able to rally a team, but it failed. Rorsach and Niteowl II were the ONLY heroes in an actual team (with no name), and they eventually split ways after Rorsach started killing criminals.
10:30 - 10:36 What was even sillier was the insertion of "The Outer Limits" tag into the film. In the comic, Ozymandias' scheme was identical to the Outer Limits' episode "The Architects of Fear," which was announced in the original story as an obviously inside joke on Moore's part! Why did Snyder feel the need to put it in when he eliminated the original twist?
t3x77 I read the series over the summer and it was really good. It just sucks they had to cut so much from the books due to time constraints (and the fact that the final book wasn't published at the time of release.)
I think the movie is bad on it's own merits. A lot of very very very bad acting, silly over the top fight scenes, terrible use of music, way too fucking much slow motion, ending makes no sense, lack of color, goofy rubber costumes, etc.
Mily Wolfheart The movie isn't awful on it's own, it has some serious pacing issues, and a SERIOUS problem with tonal whiplash. What really gets me though is Zack Snyders complete misunderstanding and removal of a lot of clever and intelligent details in favor of stuff he thought was 'cool.' A good microchasm of this is Ozymandias' suit. In the comic his wardrobe shows his borderline obsession with Egyptian culture, while giving him a regal and powerful appearance, posing him as a more intimidating and intellectually superior to his other watchmen team members. In the movie Snyder forgoes this intelligent character design for what is essentially an inside joke. Basically every detail of the movie suffers from this. The biggest problem is the complete ruining of the book's tone and message. The whole point of the final encounter is how morally grey it is, it's thought provoking. Snyder clearly sides with Rorschach, showcasing Ozymandias as a mustache twirling villain, even unambiguously giving Rorschach the last laugh. That really defeats the punch of the book's ending.
Alan Moore is not psychotic he is one of the best writers in comic book history next to Stan Lee and Mark Millar and 80s and 90s Frank Miller he is one of the best
Probably one of the most faithful comic book movie adaptions. The problems with the film are just regular problems when adapting a full-scale story to a 2 and a half hour film. Character development suffers and plenty of stuff needs to be changed or taken out. Overall, Watchmen is both my favorite comic book and one of my favorite movies.
The characters being op both sucks and doesn't. It sucks because as you pointed out the whole point of the Watchmen is that they are ordinary people with a PhD in ass kicking but that's it. They're not super humans who can punch through concrete and rip someone's arm off. But it also makes for badass fight scenes which is nice;
@@akshaybhatia8971 Exactly. What made _Watchment_ an excellent comic book story made it an excellent COMIC BOOK story. It was not written cinematically, as, say, _300_ was. All the changes that gut the theme to make it a more passable flick just go to prove that the original work was, in fact, unfilmable, like some fans always claimed.
This is coming from somebody who read and loved the graphic novel before watching the movie; the movie ending was WAY better. Im sorry, but the squid always felt random and out of place for me. I know that Moore was going for a "common enemy" deal, but it just kind of felt out of place. Not only that, but the whole common enemy motif still works with Manhattan being framed. In the movie, I think framing Manhattan was a better way to go. Its much more believable that Manhattan might go rogue, rather than some random squid teleporting from nowhere and killing people. It is constantly brought up how Manhattan is drifting, and how he doesn't really care about human beings anymore, and when he freaks out at the press on live tv, and teleports to mars, I think it was a lot more believable that the public would think Manhattan just snapped. Just saying, if I was watching Dr Manhattan on television saying that "A live human and a dead human have the same number of particles. Structurally there is no difference", then was told that guy snapped and nuked several cities, I'd totally believe it. I love the graphic novel, but the squid was retarded. I'm sorry, it just was.
Random? There are hints all throughout the entire novel that something big and bad is developing somewhere in a private island, and that by the end of the story is gonna burst. The missing artists, the robbery of Robert's Brain, the way the Comedian breaks after seeing whats happening in the island, how the artists think they are working for special effects and are killed right after, it is nowhere near random, it is a basic part of the damn plot. The fact that only the threat of an Alien invasion could chill out the Nuclear War tension is actually very logical. It also reflects a very common fear that normal people have, ''how can we be sure that this or that menace is not something staged by rich or powerful ruthless people''? Something very Moore that gets lost in the movie. The city of New York reduced to debris and covered with blood is so shocking and makes the ending so poignant. In the movie, on the other hand, Manhattan going mental and causing the destruction seems rushed and like plucked out of thin air to spare details and force it to fit in 120 minutes of movie.
You’re not a fucking fan of the comic so don’t say you are because if you were you’d know that it was already foreshadowed and hinted at many times and is far superior to the embarrassing movies version
Hewylewis we know, but that's kind of going down the path of "this scene that was different from the book was included in the special features on the DVD" - it's cool that it's out there, but it's not part of the movie that most people saw. We compare the theatrical version to the source, that's the show, if not we'd go bananas lol
CineFix But the Ultimate Cut (or the Director's Cut and Tales of the Black Freighter) with the Under the Red Hood documentary is the full film. Plus, no one saw this movie in theaters, so you might as well go with the home video version.
Richard At The Movies We really want to, but we want to wait a little bit more for people to check it out... unless you're all saying it's been long enough?!
Same here, I thought the story was, although nonsensical at times, still very gripping and well done. I do want to get around to reading the graphic novel though, as it is considered one of the best books of all time
+Internet Dinosaur No. Despite abandoning the original draft of the script which would've been a PERFECT adaption, Iron Man 1 remains the BEST comic book anything adapted at this time, though Deadpool is a VERY close 2nd and only because they couldn't use Thanos necessitating some changes.
i feel like the movie ending makes more sense. Blaming Doctor Manhattan (a literal walking nuclear weapon) or a giant convoluted space squid that just shows up out of nowhere and only attacks New York compared to major cities around the world being "destroyed by Manhattan" giving the entire world a reason to freak out and come together against him? I thought the squid idea was stupid cause come on wtf.
Bishoujo A Gogo It doesn't just show up out of nowhere. There are intra-dimensional scientific establishments in the comic which are partly responsible. Manhattan's scientific advancements are partly responsible for these establishments.
But still, it only attacks New York, and no one else. If we're talking about a realistic scenario, the Russians, seeing as none of their cities were attacked, wouldn't really care enough to put aside their differences and unite with the Americans. Most likely, the war would only get worse, as the USSR would seize this opportunity to strike down a weakened America after the squid attack. Having Manhattan destroy EVERYONE in the world makes more sense in the terms of uniting everyone against a common threat.
flaggerify Why would he do that? Well, maybe because, after the nationally broadcast emotional breakdown on that interview show, he just didn't give a shit anymore. Maybe he just felt like it. I don't think any of the world's nations would be rationalizing this too much.
To be honest, first time I watched this film I didn’t like it. I was distracted by all the little details such as the heroes being completely normal yet also being really tough, strong and fast. Rorschachs mask was another detail that kept distracting me “how is it doing that?” All in all this meant that I missed the bigger picture so when I eventually rewatched it, it was like seeing a completely different movie. One that was immeasurably better. I had just come to accept the little details for what they were and didn’t let them bother me. Thanks to that I finally could focus on the characters and there motives and/or morals that drive them. I finally understood the deal with the comedian and came to appreciate the characters arcs and development. I hadn’t seen the comic which probably meant that I enjoyed the film more, instead of spending you time comparing the differences or listing what was changed and cut whilst your watching it, to jut get to appreciate what’s happening in front of you. I think all super hero films should probably be watched for this reason. I adored the film V for Vendetta so much that I bought the entire comic for it. I cannot begin to say how bored I got of it. Film adaptations have to be different in order for them to work, and in my personal opinion are as a result better, with irrelevant stuff cut or succinctly said I think makes them in all actuality better. A less is more situation.
In the comics Rorschach explains that is mask is made from a synthetic material engineered by Viedts companies. It was a dress with ink in between two layers of this special fabric is was sealed in that responds to heat. that's how the ink moves freely around the mask.
If you have time to read the book in one setting and then watch film straight after it is remarkable the similarities between the two scene for scene and a testament of Snyder's love and appreciation of the source material.
You guys nailed this, but left out one detail that always infuriated me about the movie. In the comic book, Veidt talks to Dr. Manhattan and asks him to confirm that everything worked out in the end. Dr. Manhattan simply says, "In the end? Nothing ends, Adrian. Nothing ever ends." This line absolutely shatters Veidt, destroying forever his sense of victory. It's the perfect conclusion of Veidt's arc. But instead, in the movie, they give that line to Laurie, just tossing it off weightlessly. Gah. It's terrible.
Idk the name of the actress for silk spectre ii but her whole performance was absolutely atrocious, I mean just 0 emotion, every scene no matter what was happening she had the same expression and tone of voice, not to mention the fake crying during the mars scene… The acting in general was pretty bad for the whole movie, although some of that may not have been the actors fault directly but more how rushed everything felt. Although the writing is technically good (mainly because most of it is ripped directly from the comic, which is actually a good choice) the dialogue just felt so unnatural and falls flat. None of the emotional moments hit because we have no time to sit with the characters and form a connection like we do in the comic.
The only thing that bothered me about the movie was that they cut out Rorshach's monologue after he burns the killers house down. That speech was amazing!
All the good things in this movie are only down to the source material being the best story ever told (except for the intro sequence, even I have to admit that was pretty well done
I’ve rewatched this movie many times and was so confused when I watched the directors cut with the pirate scenes. Thought I was watching a pirated version no pun intended
I really love the changes they made for the film. Especially the ending and nite owl watching rorschach died. I mean like, how could someone possibly had sex after finding out that 3 million people died?
it's more like they're having control over each other after failing to save millions of people so they can at least save each other from their despair but I see what you mean.
The thing is that rorschach is a fascist miserable killer, he didn't deserve someone yelling "no" at their death , that is the point of killing him in two panels in the comic, he is the bad guy after all
I also liked that you are left with Rorschach's black and white reasoning for trying to reveal the perpetrator, Ozymandias'/Dr Manhattan's conclusion that it was worth sacrificing the few for the many, and Night Owl's issue with having to deceive humanity to keep it from destroying itself is not natural or right. It really leaves you having to decide who has the best point.
@@floweylaflower4824 Rorschach being called a fascist or being the straight bad guy misses the point of the comic too. Rorschach isn't a fascist, he's insane. There are no good or bad guys in the comics, just morally grey people who believe they know how best to save the world.
People who say "in the comics none of them except Manhattan were actual super heroes" seem to forget that Rorschach had a fucking magic face mask and a grappling hook he used to climb skyscrapers. He was a crazy version of Batman
Kadin Grayson Yep, long time ago. Remember something about a dress with ink but to me it doesn't make sense that it would be symmetrical and change to suit his expressions.
+BenRangel It wasn't really explained. I think that it's just boring for the artist to keep drawing the same mask over and over and wanted to make it unique.
*Reasons why the movie is hated:* A) The movie didn´t get watchmen intentions. Watchmen treats his characters as decadents, the movie treats them as heroes. Moore wanted them to be disgusting, repulsive, close minded with mental issues. The movie adores them by showing how cool it´d be to be them. It´s more focused into action than the critique to the superhero genre. The action scenes in the comics shows them as regular to trained people, whereas in the movies they´re on john wick levels of combat on steroids. Kicking, punching people, and jumping as if they had superpowers (inhumanly enhanced reflexes, strength, agility). The comic says if you were a dressed as a superhero you would be a decadent idiot, the movie said that you would rock. Completely different message. Despite some fantastic elements visually the comic went for plausibility, the movie went for spectacularity. When silk spectre is about to be r*ped, the movie shows her like super sexy, in the comic she´s casually changing her clothes to make the act more disgusting. B) The characters weren´t adapted well: 1) _Nite owl_: in the comics is a parody of Batman, a guy who inherited lots of money and didn´t know what to do with it, so started to fight crime. He is an overweight guy, that even has problems when getting laid with Silk spectre (look up in the comics when comentators describe ozymandias gymnastics routine on TV, they are describing the opposite of Dan´s movements). He uses a ladder when coming out of archymedes (his aircraft) not gliding with his cape batman-style. He´s supposed to be pathetic. 2)_Silk spectre_: only ended hooking up with nite owl because she felt alone after manhattan left her, they movie tries to show like she starts getting in love with him. 3)_Ozymandias_:confident charismatic, charming, magnetic and adorable looking guy in the comics. In the movie he looks like a creep (the actor always act horribly as if he is up to something). Both his suit and his facial expressions stinks of evil. One of the worst actors in the movie. He was supposed to be the really nice guy who wouldn´t kill a fly that turns out to be f*cking mad in his pursuit for peace, having such a superiority complex that can only relate to dead emperors and has a plan that is so bad that depended on Dr manhattan´s will (who didn`t care about humanity by that point) or the rest of the crimebusters to not tell people about it. 4)_The comedian_: in both is shown as a bad guy, but where in the comics is implied that he dies beaten and humilliated like the dog he is, in the movie he puts up a well coreographied fight even PUNCHING HOLES THROUGH WALLS, making us root for him. 5)_Rorscharch_: asocial and unstable right wing violent, who we´re supposed to despise (stated by Moore himself), the movie instead turns him into a misunderstood martyr that dies heroically defending his principles. Moore made him die alone, with no much detail because that´s how he deserved to die. In the Movie they got Manhattan putting in sad faces and Dan screaming Noooo!!!!!!! (That´s snyder screaming in reality). C) New york destruction: The squid vs Manhattan´s explosion. 1) _Squid_: It was made by Moore because he didn´t want the comic`s main catastrophe to be some random explosion. It had to be something unknown and feared from outer space that could join the world against it (an alien invasion). Alan moore had seen lot of comics showing a generic explosion, doomsday device, death rays that didn´t involve you with the catastrophe and chaos for more than 2-3 panels. So he decided to show lots of citizens`lifes so you get to know them and get shocked when they die. The image of the newspaper stand owner running to protect the child (way younger in the comic) is more powerful than the one in the movie where they just hug each other. Every single panel in the comic after that incident shows dead people you got know. They even show the man and the child both dead. Way more impact. 2)_Manhatan´s explosion_: And... the movie made just that, some random generic explosion. The fact that the movie makes Dr. Manhattan take the blame is silly because: not only he was american and fought for the amercican army but he was THE ULTIMATE AMERICAN. The russians would be even angrier with USA if Manhattan went rogue. An american weapon out of control, they´re to blame. They shouldn´t have got Zack Snyder to direct watchmen: He is really good with making some good visual movies (300) but watchmen as a comic had more to show than nice drawings and fights. So his team totally missed the point and focused in making the movie look cool. I wish a more capable director could have taken it.
YES. THANK YOU. Finally someone making good arguments instead of yous saying "but...I liked the movie !". Yes you liked the movie, It's a "good" movie if you want, but it's a very bad adaptation.
Stumbled across this vid and just wanted to add one thing: The reason that Snyder probably changed the Rorschach scene with the child killer is because that ending with the handcuffs, saw and fire was actually taken from the ending of original Mad Max film.
That scene with the axe was good, very violent and dark. You don't need to burn a house with a man inside it to become a violent psycopath without mercy for criminals, you can just frantically plant an axe into his head
Both the graphic novel and the movie are great projects that work great on their own media, there’s no way a 12 issue storyline fits in 1 movie (without sequels) and Snyder cared to make an entertaining movie full of details
Not to mention the part during the jailbreak where in the book Rorschach is in his prison outfit the whole time, and after they escape he returns to his apartment and gets a backup outfit he made, yet in the film adaptation he finds his gear in his psychologists room (which contradicts how Rorschach 2--the psychologists son--finds Rorschach 1's original gear in the Doomsday Clock "sequel" to the Watchmen series). The film adaptation also cut the whole backstory of him being a clothier and how he made his gear. Another thing is that in the comics ending, Nite Owl 2 and Silk Spectre 2 go into hiding, changing their names/looks/what not. Its not until years later that the original Silk Spectre learns Laurie is not dead, but in the film it happens shortly after things go back to normal, and they have not changed their appearances/names/etc. Lots of inconsistencies between the two. I could go on.
I really liked the movie & didn.t mind the changes. Was delighted at how the show tied into the comic & kept the original ending while being a wonderful sequel to the comic.
I suspect the squid monster in the comic was sort of a weird nod/reflection of the first JLA comic appearance from the Silver Age, where the heroes banded together to deal with a telepathic, giant starfish from outer space. That said, it was a needlessly complex plot... And the Comedian stumbling upon it was far too unlikely for the more grounded reality of the Watchmen concept. Also, the single-target event was problematic... The Americans might have perceived it as some crazy Soviet secret weapon and retaliated! The Soviets might have seen their enemy stunned from the event and opted to strike while the US was at a disadvantage! Adrian's plot in the movie made better sense. Making it appear that Angry God Manhattan had spanked the whole world... Unlike the Squid, which might be ultimately be written-off as a once every billion years freak accident, Doctor Manhattan would be presumed to be watching, ready to act again if Mankind got back on the path to Nuclear War. Of course, the movie plot required DM to either be destroyed or agree to play-along... The latter of which Adrien predicted well.
+rajvader Kind of strange that something intended as one of the grand masterpieces of comics would use a parody of such a such a random little thing as it's finale.
+BenRangel it wasn't intended as such. it was a bunch of characters the publishing house had recently acquired when they bought the original house. they got moore to write something out of it, and he went and changed the characters and even designs a lot. The pirate story was a nod to the original comics before superheroes took over in the 50s/60s. Manhattan was a superman, ozymandias was an actually smart lex luthor, night owl was an everyman's batman, silk spectre was a wonderwoman type. comedian was a captain america, in that oh so popular at the time way that vietnam vets were thought of. It was a as a whole a parody of the modern comic book, with the villain portrayed as the usual cookie cutter comic book villain while in reality being a hero themselves. Ozymandias was the inspiration for how nuts batman gets in other stuff like kingdom come. the graphic novel was rushed week to week, moore had to fight to write what he wanted, it was delayed, and it was bringing reality to comic books. that requires parody in its essence.
+rajvader In the comic book Ozymandias' trick was to convince the world that Earth was under attack by an alien species. The giant octopus destroying New York was not supposed to be just a random event but the first of many to come. The world becomes united in order to fight the "alien invasion".
Pavel Lujardo One event doesn't establish a pattern. Especially when the "alien" basically arrived, exploded, and expired. Not much of an invasion plan. Especially since Ozzy didn't have a second squid to throw out there. The shock that there *were* (apparently) aliens, and that things like this could happen, might be enough to shake the world leaders from focusing on their mundane "enemies"... But the squid might also raise a lot of questions, and some of the theoretical answers might not lead to peace.
+rajvader Everyone forgets that the squid didn't just APPEAR and die (and it DID NOT explode), it broadcast a massive psychic wave with visions of the aliens world, choreographed by one of the best horror writers of the day and with designs with some of the most talented artists of it's time, that Ozy said people would be seeing nightmares of for decades to come across the whole world. That's why the resolution was instant, almost everyone on earth felt it and saw it, with those already psychically sensitive having their brains fried or going completely insane, with the people directly in new york killed by the mental trauma even without any psychic sensitivity due to the close proximity. There was no chain of command to have to deliver news and make snap decisions on whether it was the end-game by one side or another, they all knew instantly what had happened (or at least what Ozy wanted them to know had happened).
I think Snyders changes made the story better. Excellent film. it was before it’s time and if it was released today it would be critically acclaimed. No other adult super hero film has had the balls to hit the points that watchmen hit
I deem Watchmen as one of the best superhero movies ever made, it is surely in my personal top 5 (with The Dark Knight, V for Vendetta, Guardians of the Galaxy and Spiderman: Into the Spider-Verse)
@@jalenjohnson1662 Generally speaking with their videos, these guys have a tendency to pick whichever one has a bigger fanbase and vaguely bias towards it, the only exception that I've personally seen being their V for Vendetta video. I'm not saying this as a bad thing! Totally okay to have biases. Just something I've observed
Well, the movie is quite alright, but Watchmen is probably The best comic book, and the movie fails to capture a lot of what makes it great. The guy who quit the second time was right, it needed to be mini series, not a movie.
@@tasosalexiadis7748 why is being an adaptation necessarily a bad thing in most people's vocabulary? Snyder did one hell of a job, and I'd argue things like the changed ending (Manhattan instead of "Alien" Squid) brings better thematics. Look at both works separately and not one as a copy paste of the other
y'all forgot that in the comic, they go back to Rorscach's apartment to get his spare mask and suit while in the movie, he got it back from the prison office, and the moment when he died was the first time Daniel saw who his identity in the movie
Other than changing the ending, I think this is a pretty fantastic adaptation. This is especially true if you watch the nearly 4 hours long Ultimate Cut which restores much of the deleted material including intercut segments from Tales of the Black Freighter. It is really the only way anyone should watch this film.
I don't know if i'm crazy or something but mostly everything this video tells was omitted from the movie i remember being there, except giant squid. even the pirate cartoon, but it was animated.
Casey Redmon The ultimate cut is amazing. I don't think it adds much that a non-comic fan would appreciate, but what it does add pretty much bumps it up to being the best comic movie adaption ever made.
Never read the comic but fully enjoyed the film. No book or comic has ever been successfully adapted to film BUT most do produce a good stand alone film.
I wish they would've just kept to the graphic novel's story. My 2 favorite scenes, Dr Manhattan's chapter "Watchmaker" where they show how Manhattan sees time in one of the most thought provoking moments in literature was cut down SO much. But they made Nite Owl and Silk Spectre's sex scene fucking 4 minutes long?! My other favorite thing about Watchmen was "The Abyss Gazes Also" because of how the psychologist slowly became like Rorschach.
It’s funny…studios see an acclaimed story and try to turn it into a movie to make money, forgetting why it was told as a comic/novel in the first place.
The only thing I would have changed from the film is get Kevin Spacey to play Richard Nixon and possibly get a better make-up artist to age the older characters/Nixon, other than that the movie is pretty flawless.
My biggest problem with the movie was with how they treated Ozymandias, this video described him perfectly, a warm nice superhero, who was worn down, and decided to take the world by the reins, and steers it in the direction he sees fit because he is the smartest man alive. When I read Watchmen, I initially thought of Ozymandias as a nice warm, ex-superhero, a person everyone would look up to, which is why his twist, later on, becomes so shocking, which I felt Synder undercut, by making him look, from the get-go, as kind of an asshole, nonetheless, I really enjoyed both, the comic and the movie.
Apparently the actor who played Veidt said it was because the warm, friendly superhero turning out to be evil was a much more common trope when the film was made compared to when the comic was written, in part because of the comic. He felt that making Ozymandias into a warm and nice superhero immediately reveals the twist and therefore making him colder is an attempt to subvert it
Love your pfp
I liked how Ozymandias was in the movie way more because he's actually unique, and it makes him the moral opposite of Rorachach. It's so unique to have an almost sociopathic superhero that thinks he's above everyone else but still makes sacrifices to help save humanity.
I liked the changes. Using Dr. Manhattan as the scapegoat instead of some weird alien cloned by Adrian, and having Nite Owl witness Rorschach's death. I thought it made Rorschach's death more personal and more depressing. I enjoyed this film not only more than any Marvel movie, but any superhero movie period.
Yeah but the point of Rorschach's death was that it was a personal moment simply for him and no one else.
Manhattan doesn't count as a being anymore by that point and the whole scene was simply an illustration of Rorschach deciding to go out and stick to everything he believes in in the perfect way, a moment that no one will ever witness or ever care about that holds the weight of an entire planet within it.
+justin canu True. Nite Owl was never really Rorschach's friend since he snapped. "He works mostly on his own, these days"
+Emperor Palpatine How about after Deadpool movie this past week? :D
I'd prolly have to put either this or Deadpool at the top for my comic movie.
The God Emperor It was definitely funnier, that's for sure.
+Emperor Palpatine More depressing to have a witness? That way he's remembered. In the comic, Nite Owl and his girl are busy shagging while Rorschach is killed. They're eager sellouts. Rorschach was the only true idealist, and it's like his ideals die unremembered (except by Dr. Manhattan).
Fun Fact: Christopher Nolan himself stated that he thought Watchmen movie was ahead of its time.
Because it was and still is. Not just a superhero movie. It's a Movie on Superhero movies. Truly a masterpiece
Tyler D Fun fact: At the end of Doomsday Clock issue 9, Dr Manhattan actually stated “I’m making a movie”.
@@kingofthedarknessbelow9833 Holy shit.
Do you know where I can watch it for free?
@@hood6089 thop TV app
I actually really liked the movie
***** and no one acknowledge that
As and adaptation it's good it captures the spirit of the comic in a different medium the problem people have that it didn't have the same effect on the medium
TheRonster9319 besides the problem with making the movie sexier (the suits, the violence, etc) I actually enjoyed it. It's not perfect, but it's a pretty effective adaptation given the source material. And it's Snyder's last decent film tbh.
TheRonster9319 I agree (but only with the 3 1/2 hr cut). It's probably the best adaptation we can see that would be suitable to fans of the comic AND the average theatregoer. Still absolutely love watching it.
h3rshel
you didn't like the extended cut?
1. I had zero problems with the portrayal of Silk Spectre. I didn't find her weak or whiny at all.
2. I saw all of the heroes as extremely vulnerable, even with their weird unexplained superpowers. I actually saw their extreme abilities as another jarring parody which ADDED to the overall genre mash of the film.
3. I see nothing wrong with the ending. You have to remember that cities all over the world were destroyed, which would bring more people together faster. And why would anyone see Manhattan as patriotically American, after his apparent cancer murders, outburst on live television, and of course his destruction of New York? I think that ending is brilliant. Hardly nonsensical.
Exactly! It's like saying the whole world would band against America after Hiroshima. People are usually spectators when the problems don't immediately affect them. It made more sense, giant squid or atomic bomb, to make a global catastrophe so that we could unite. Snyder did extremely well.
+nextpkfr Seriously, this video sucks but that part, that "analysis" about the ending is incredibly stupid.
+nextpkfr I felt like Laurie in the film was almost as rounded as she was in the comic. The film's version with the cut sequences helps flesh her out a bit more. But I never once saw her as whiny in the movie.
I also saw the heroes as human. I personally might have toned the increased strength down in the movie and showed them struggle a little in the alley fight but it wasn't that bad.
And I agree with you Cinefix forgot all about the fact that destruction happened on a global scale in the movie too even if it was hard to notice since only New York was shown.
+nextpkfr I agree with you 100%. The CineFix guys have no fucking clue what they're talking about. The film was amazing and it portrayed the characters and the main plot perfectly. Also to the fanboys who are complaining that the graphic novel isn't EXACTLY the same as the film, please use some fucking common sense.
I agree with all of you it's weird that everyone in comment section agrees with eachother it's scary
I only watched the ultimate cut so I was lost when you talked about the black freighter story not being there
@@tatian1547 lol
@@tatian1547 they released this video before the ultimate cut was released doe
@@tatian1547 LOL shut up, it's NOT a "rEtaRdeD cHaNnEl" at all you fool, it's a great one! piss off.
@@tatian1547 And the Channel IS credible with their sources. Your ignorance is outstanding. Puss off with your nonsense.
The changes that I found consequential are the changes with Nite owl's character development. Nite Owl was suppose to be portrayed as an anxious, nervous and uncertain man, brought on after retiring as a superhero.
It's only after he dons his costume again, after years of absence, that he becomes himself again and confident. The film really didn't go into this and to me this was a key component of the character.
Nite owl was friends with Rorschach but after his complete mental breakdown they began to grow apart as Rorschach became more detached from humanity going as far as to call his mask his face and kill criminals. Nite Owl holds onto the old partnership they once had but now fears him after, in his eyes, complete mental deterioration.This is why Nite owl isn't as struck by Rorschach's death in the comic because to him, his friend Rorschach metaphorically died, years prior.
Another thing I find vexing is the fact that the film gives no real explanation as to how the comedian discovers Adrian's plot to end all war. I cant see how the comedian could have discovered Adrian was going to frame Dr Manhattan whereas in the comic he finds helicopters traveling to an island suspicious, goes to investigate and finds the enormous constructed squid like alien. Reversed if in the film comedian traveled to the island what would he find? Scientists using Dr Manhattan energy and then he would some how decipher that Adrian plans to frame Manhattan? That's a few things I feel could have been given more information.
Actually I dont think Niteowl ever found out in the comic that Rorsharc died
RussianGuyovich that is true, but when Rorschach left karnak, Nite Owl wasn't too concerned whether he would be ok or not.
TheCelticTiger32
Um, what was he supposed to do? Hold him by his hand? You gotta consider that Niteowl was still pretty much in shellshock after failing to stop the murder of millions, so I'd just write it off
RussianGuyovich Rorschach was walking out into Antarctica, Nite Owl needed to fly him home in archie, but he didn't seem bothered.
See that's the one aspect the film didn't get. Nite owl doesn't particularly like Rorschach anymore and considers him a psychopath, feeling uncomfortable around him. In the comic they only spring him from prison because he had valuable information on the case that he and spectre needed and not because they wanted him free. His friend he knew died long ago in his eyes.
Besides, Nite owl didn't seem too choked up about it in the end of the comic when he and spectre are together.
TheCelticTiger32
I dunno about the whole "considering his old friend dead" thing, I mean, yeah, Rorsharch did go a bit looney and Nite Owl was a tad bit wary of him, but it seemed to me as if he warmed up to him by the end, shaking hands and being all buddy-buddy, it's just that their friendship wasnt focused on much in the end, cause he had to smooch things up with Spectre
I was hoping you guys would be using the ultimate cut version of the film. Now THAT is the Watchmen movie.
No it's not Watchmen it's a problem with all Hack Snyder movies
Captain Jakemerica Are you going around everywhere and saying "Watchmen bad and Hack Snyder bad"? Sad.
@@superdrinkingpepsi My opinion jackass and many others
@@captainjakemerica4579 "My opinion is* jackass" fixed it for you. And Snyder isn't worth idolizing as many fanboys does but he did Watchmen right.
And inb4 you're butthurt by "muh opinion" getting trashed, first, you're the one that started it by replying the contrary in a whiny manner and second, you're not talking to puppets, but other people with opinions. So suck it.
@@sharilshahed6106 destruction 100, Speech 101
This movie gets soooooo much hate. I personally love Watchmen. Such a great film.
Me too man. I dont know why did it get soo much hate. I read the whole series (didnt read before watchmen and doomsday clock but these are not important for the movie). You just cant make 100% of the movie like the book. Its mine favourite commic book(graphic novel) movie and for me it was 10/10.
If you liked watchmen and dark comic movies you can check out sin city movies, the crow, blade trilogy (last one didnt get good rewiews but its still good). You probably know these movies but if you didnt watch these you can because they are good. The crow and sin cities have strange effects but gives good personality to the story.
the film is the polar opposite tonally to the comic - characters such as the comedian and rorschach are portrayed far more sympathetically, most disturbingly in the scene where the comedian rapes silk spectre, with the camera pulling in uncomfortably close as she undresses, heavily eroticising her where in the book there’s nothing like that. Meanwhile Rorschach has gone from a parody of Steve Ditko’s objectivist Mr A and the Question (it should be pointed out Alan Moore is a socialist libertarian (anarchist)) to a more overtly heroic character, even with elements like his homophobic queercoding of Ozymandias being vindicated by the film itself also Queercoding Ozymandias. this is also portrayed in how every character death is made more cinematic and heroic: the comedian gets a triumphal battle against Ozymandias where in the comics he was just a sad old nihilist rapist who got thrown out a window, the OG nite owl also gets a triumphal confrontation with the men who beat him to death, reliving his glory days and getting a few good hits in and ultimately martyring himself before he’s overwhelmed, when, again, he’s an old man getting his shit kicked in (perhaps the book is trying to say something about how perpetuating a cycle of violence only leads to more violence once you’re past your prime?) and finally Rorschach gets to have nite owl scream out in anguish at his death, and his blood forms a Rorschach blot test pattern, even though his death was originally symbolic of meaninglessness, reducing him to a puddle of steaming blood and nothing more. The film looks beautiful but it completely misses the point of many of the books key messages and I get the sense watching it that Snyder merely thought the books were good for their dark and adult content, and not their adult themes. It doesn’t help that the two are on pretty much opposite ends politically so of course and adaptation of such a politically charged work is going to send conflicting messages if the guy adapting it has a fundamentally different worldview.
For me it's a masterpiece . Absolutely amazing . I don't care what others says .
I , for one, like the soundtrack!
@@laurenbastin8849 Well said.
I mean the comics doesn't have big splash page of the main character kicking ass like how superheroes or antihero usually drawn,that should tell you something.
Oddly enough I actually liked the film. Read the comic when I was 17. Of course the comic is vastly superior to the film and remains as the best of Alan Moore's work. The film is entertaining and actually the best possible adaptation that you could give the story.
Actually Alan Moore told in an interview once that there is no possible way to depictwatchmen in the big screen so the fact that the movie has reached this close to the comic is basically a great accomplishment by itself although i still prefer the comic from the movie
@@ΤόλιςΓραμματόπουλος Same here buddy.
@@ΤόλιςΓραμματόπουλοςyeaa but alan moore has also disowned the watchmen comic and hates anything to do with it, much like most of his work. Dude shouldnt be listened to for a legit opinion lmfao
I agree. It’s hard to adapt the book to a movie, and the movie did pretty well all things considered.
@@cstrife420Oh, he still should. One of the objectives of the graphic novel was to show that there are things that you can do in some medium but can't in others. Snyder has no media literacy/reading comprehension and it shows in every of his works, the critical changes made (Rorschach's reply to laurie regarding comedian's rαpe case, blaming dr manhattan[who is a US weapon, yet the one to the blame on, whereas in reality, the soviet & its allies would've blamed the US even more], etc)
He isn't object to all adaptations (JLU's superman: for the man who has everything as notable instance), but to some of which he is, it's because they were meant to be in the medium they were written
As others have mentioned, in all fairness, what you're describing here is the theatrical cut, and since then both a director's cut and an extended "Ultimate Cut" with much most of the extra material that was produced separately integrated into the film, making it much closer to the original graphic novel
Yeah well still I have own the director's cut the comic is still far superior it's not a masterpiece by any means Zack Synder has never made a masterpiece
I was really looking for this
"300" is certainly a masterpiece.
Not really, it's just visually good. A great movie but by no means a masterpiece.
Look no farther then BvS
The movie is actually really good, it's probably one of the best super hero movies ever
This movie gets so much shit. It's amazing.
Not like it has that many movies to compare itself to in the comic to movie world. So yeah it is by far one of the best in that genre.
I wonder which cut they dug their heels into. If it was the theatrical than sure. There is the Black Freighter cut as well. Sure it runs about 3.5 hours but well worth it. Its kinda like how BvS gets shit. I never bothered with the theatrical cut.
Xploding Piggzz This movie was awesome. People will bitch either way. If Snyder made the movie shot for shot as the comics, people would've bitched why it was a direct copy. I loved this movie, and I liked it's changes. Especially Nite Owl witnessing Rorschach's murder.
I personally hated that change, though i really like the movie, the character arc of Rorschach die-ing alone, with no witnesses. his morality remained concrete and with no witnesses- he was always who he was in the dark, the Nite owl witnessing it only really gave us a "NOOOOOOOOOO" which i think would have had more dramatic impact with no reaction.
It's from one of the most beloved source materials of all time, people where going to find a reason to be pissed off regardless.
The casting Dr. Manhattan out was a better solution then a random fucking squid.
Kserijaro GIANT SQUID!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
CineFix
Giant Fucking squid :D
+Kserijaro I agree, the squid thing is so stupid it sounds like a parody. It's doubtful the soviets would want a truce after something like that, if anything they would probably use it as a chance to launch a first strike and destroy an already weakened america.
+stardude692001 not if it was of extraterrestrial origin. I think it makes perfect sense to believe that the soviets would think 'it's attacked America. I see no reason why it wouldn't attack us next.' And thus, the enemy of my enemy is my friend.
LondonIrishRover Yes but the "enemy of my enemy" would be the space squid. I could even see the Soviets trying to reach out the the aliens in an attempt to combat the major advantage Dr. Manhattan gives the US in the cold war.
Doctor Manhattan as the scapegoat was an improvement. It flowed more naturally from the story to do it that way, rather than bringing in this extra element of an elaborate, fake invasion from an alien dimension, which was always just took up space in the comic without being anything special. But doing it like the movie, it ties everything together beautifully. So much more dramatic and focused.
It completed Manhattans story beautifully
Comics are made for reading. Movies are made for watching.
And these boots are made for walking
Holy shit it's Creepy, what are you doing here?? Now that I know you're a Watchmen fan I like you even more
Holy shit it's Creepy, what are you doing here?? Now that I know you're a Watchmen fan I like you even more
@@antman491 hello?
And sweet dream are made of this
I always felt Movie Night Owl's reaction to the climax (punching Ozymandias, etc) was more 'real'. Okay, so seeing the holocaust maybe numbed Comic Night Owl to the extent that he couldn't be angry about it, but who wouldn't wanna scream and punch someone after witnessing such senseless murder?
SuperSongbird21 what I always took from the comic was that night owl was only a super hero to satisfy his own needs/build confidence. When faced with real complex choices his mind was unable to process - his concept of a black and white good vs evil was challenged and so he just walked away.
Senseless is not really the word here though, since they were absolutely done for a purpose. ;)
SuperSongbird21 To me that felt like really over the top movie melodrama though. Dan’s reaction in the book felt much realer to me. Stunned, dumbfounded confusion. He says over and over again that Adrian must be joking and refuses to entertain the possibility of it being real until he sees the broadcast, and at that point he’s cold. And then, the fact that he (and everyone else) has to choose between telling people and ruining the peace that Adrian has created, or not saying anything and keeping the peace, is one of the greatest scenes in the comic. That is something that was completely gone from Snyder’s movie, the murky, terrifying ambiguity of a situation like this. As Adrian put it in the comic “checkmate”
I don’t think Nite Owl realistically would have (or even could have) punched Veidt. Veidt had already explained his reasoning behind doing it at this point, and Jon quickly backed up that there was nothing they could do that wouldn’t just make the situation worse, so I think the comic Nite Owl’s reactions make perfect sense. he misses being a hero, but is portrayed as being scared of pretty much all his fellow heroes AND already saw Veidt beat Rorschach multiple times without being touched, giving him no reason to think he would be able to land a punch on him.
@@legendofhayden In the comic yeah, but in the film Night Owl witnesses Rorschach's death and actually seemed to care about him. It was probably easier in the comic for him to reconcile with the deaths of faceless strangers, whereas in the film it's more personal. And Ozymandias wasn't all that bothered anyway (he seemed to me to be in a "Okay dude, let it out and then let's be rational again" mood) until Night Owl voices what was only implied in the comic - that while it was for the "greater good" it was still inhuman.
I finally read the full book after watching the film much earlier years ago. The book is much better because of its character depth and satirical sensibilities. The film lacks much of that but I still find it to be a fantastic watch. I would very likely still hold it within the top 10 comic book films of all time.
There are a ton of small details either in the background or in the shadows that made the comic so good compared to the movie. One of the best little detail I liked is how Rorschach still keeps the old trench-coat he wore, with the now dried blood still present on it when he and Nite-owl retrieved his spare costume in his apartment. Hell even the sugar-packets that Rorschach deliberately snatches in Dan's house came to bite Dan because the detective that visited Dan's home saw that he has the same sugarcube brand that Rorschach eats, further pushing Nite-Owl/Dan to rescue Rorschach earlier than later.
Shouldn't you look at the ultimate cut of the movie when comparing?
+Alexander Forsman The theatrical cut is the one that more people will have seen, so it makes sense to do that one. Besides, if you know what was cut or omitted from the theatrical cut you'll know what wasn't in the other.
Watchmen failed at cinemas, so its possible that extended versions were seen by more people then theatrical one.
Which explains why most of the people who love this movie have never seen it at the cinema, or have watched it again after the Ultimate Cut was released.
Just like people argue the ultimate cut of BvS is what Snyder should be judged on. It's a flawed argument as a film's first and best chance to make a positive impression is at the cinema.
@@GlareBoxTV I respectfully disagree. It's not that simple. Often, the version seen in theaters will reflect studio interference and not the director's vision. A couple of prime examples would be The Donner Cut of Superman II and the Special Edition of The Abyss. Especially in the case of the latter, studio interference completely undercut what the director was trying to accomplish. The climax of the movie makes NO SENSE in the theatrical version because a major plotline was completely excised from the story. I couldn't justify judging The Abyss by any version other than the Special Edition, and there are other films I would say the same about.
At the end of the day... The *Watchmen* movie is a *_MASTERPIECE_*
***** What's your 1 and 2 ?
***** Only because the graphic novel was a masterpiece. The things Snyder added, not so much.
***** Fuck no it's not. The movie sucked ass, a lot of ass.
***** Absolutely not anything even remotely close to a masterpiece. It's a brilliant graphic novel, and a very mediocre film. In the movie, the acting is weak, the characters are terribly underdeveloped, the plot is rushed, and much of the dialogue is misplaced and poorly written. They also removed a lot of the character development and plot points to make way for extended, gratuitous action scenes and an extended sex scene.
***** Fuck you.
9:01
"Hey-hey, stay with us here!"
"Or don't; fuck off for a while."
This is by the best moment in the whole of What's the Difference and I love it so much!
I never took the characters to have superpowers. Just a bit of artistic license.
+TheoneandonlyCrowMan Right!! Just Osterman. And the music is great.
+TheoneandonlyCrowMan Agreed. At no point did I view any of the characters outside of Doc as having super powers. Physically fit, expert martial artists, sure; super-powered, no. Yes, it's a bit of hyper reality with the body throws and surviving trauma that should have shattered bone, but it's in keeping with the tone of the film.
In the comic, Ozzy has reached the pinnacle of human potential; he performs acrobatics, engages in a demanding physical fitness regimen, and trains in multiple martial arts. But there's nothing super-powered about him; he's just a man in peak mental and physical condition.
+TheoneandonlyCrowMan Yeah, exactly. Their portrayal was Batman-esque: they did stuff that in real life would indeed be beyond any human, but in cinematic reality is usually the realm of simple "badass normals". Still, I guess making them badass removes a bit that feeling of vulnerability, but then again, they WERE superheroes. And not crappy ones like Kick-Ass, if we have to mention someone from that comic they'd be more like Big Daddy and Hit Girl.
She punched a guy across an alleyway, that's not artistic license so much as she has super strength.
They all have oddly ridiculous abilities to fight which makes even less sense with fat, old, really out of shape owl.
I personally don't really care about the change but it's pretty damn obvious to see dude.
+justin canu Knowing how to fight isn't super. I can do that.
The Black Freighter storyline was put in the ultimate cut. :)
Most of these changes relate to running time issues (partly fixed in later cuts of the film) but also direction flaws that translate into the screenplay. I believe Zack wanted to film this graphic novel due to the amount of macho and mature content is has (in many interviews, he always speaks about being inspired by mature and graphic comics rather than intriguing storylines and character development). This, in translation, strips the film from a lot of it's subtext and analysis, and focuses a lot more on superficial levels (mainly, the fight scenes's cinematography highlighting and stylizing the violence rather than making you sick of yourself, presenting the characters as larger than life even though they are supposed to be human, etc.)
iv read the comic and seen the movie.
and personally i think the movie is one of the best comic to movie adaptations we've ever had,of any comic not just watchmen
I'm of the exact opposite opinion. The fact that Zach Snyder slowed down and amped up the graphic nature of the fight scenes while shortening and even speeding up many of the character scenes really highlights where Snyder's priorities were and why the movie failed as an adaptation: Style over substance. The movie LOOKS like Watchmen, but doesn't FEEL like Watchmen. When Night Owl started beating the crap out of Ozymandias, lecturing him about how evil he is, as far as I was concerned, Snyder could've died in a hole somewhere. He didn't understand the comic at all.
Honestly, the comic would've been much better served as a television miniseries by a competent director.
***** ya out of the current hollywood directors.
but if you look at none Hollywood guys alot of them would
Mediaslave he is son "close" he missed completely the essence of the comic.
comicbook was better than the movie, just like every comicbook adaptations. Don't get why people tell it sucks just because it didn't respect some comicbooks element.
@@nasmythra3313 well,im normally under the opinion of if it has a adaptation that is good like watchman was or like rurouni kenshin and respects the material that it is based on then any adaptation live action or animation is better than it remaining a comic or manga.
b/c it being animated or live action its more likely to be seen by people who don't read manga or comic normally but might start b/c of the animation/live action adaptation.
that said fuck any adaptation looking to make a quick $$$$$$$ like dragon ball evolution did
See the problem is that you have read the comic before seeing the movie. I however, didn't know it was based on a comic book until maybe a year after I'd seen the movie. So as someone that had never heard of the Watchmen before the trailers came out still think that its one of the best, if not the comic book movie I've ever seen. It's one of my favorite movies of all time. That's why I think these movie companies make these films for people who are like me. Those that are completely unfamiliar with a character, plot, history ect. enjoy these kinds of stories so much.
That is actually true, Snyder has said that if he even got a few people to read the book because of this movie he would have succeeded in his own mind
Well I did read it after the movie. I've known about the book for a long time, and I was always like "meh" because I don't usually like that kind of art style, and it has soooo much text on it, so I avoided it, until I saw the movie and got curious.
I was introduced to the story through the movie and the movie made perfect sense.
Same here. Watchmen is my second favourite movie. The end is perfect for the rest of the movie, instead of the giant squid.
I read the comics religiously, and repeatedly over the years. I was a comic illustrator when the books came out and it was earth shattering for people like me. And I was disappointed when I heard that Snyder was directing. What a horrible choice! It turned out to be one of my favorite movies of the last decade.
One thing I do have to say for the movie is it was very well cast. Rorschach, Nite Owl, Comedian, and Dr. Manhattan were all excellently captured by their actors. Rorschach especially!
I know it didn't do well, but I thought the movie was AWESOME!
ehh
Old Man I just watched it for the first time and it’s amazing, although I disagree with this video for a number of reasons
The movie was fantastic, and gets unfair criticism.
The movie made like 180 million so I think that is pretty good
Whether or not the film made money is actually unknown. It could have been a mild success or a mild failure; we'll never really know.
It didn't HAVE to be a big psychic squid, but the point was that it had to be something completely ALIEN and having no origin to Earth. That's why humanity would put aside their petty differences to unite against a fully extraterrestrial problem, its the only way to shock the world into putting down their guns at each other.
I still think Watchmen is unfilmable, its just too dense. The Motion Comic was a much better direct translation and it ended up being TWELVE HOURS. It also used an original score over a soundtrack and had a much better sense of timing and emotional impact (its version of Rorschach's journal entry about The Comedian and his death is stunning in its emotional crescendo.) Good for Snyder to try and obviously a lot of people liked it but I think he totally missed the overarching criticism of masked superheroes in a real world with real world problems Moore was making. Great video Cinefix!
WittyDroog The Dr.Manhattan ending is still makes sense, because he could destroy the entire world if he wanted to meaning that once he turned against humanity the whole world was at stake, putting aside their differences to unite and stop the seemingly all powerful Dr. Manhattan.
Johnny Vulture but then he goes away....
CineFix But the threat of him coming back is always there. They would most likely see him as a Zeus figure of greek mythology who's elevated himself so far above humans they become toys to amuse himself with, he even says, maybe I'll create life. Basically showing how little he thinks of life as it is an afterthought or a hobby to him. BTW Love this series!
The problem is that Russia would NEVER buy it. They would always be skeptical and go 'but the US created him and used him in the war.' Oxy's plan had to leave absolutely no room for Russia or any other country to suspect a nation of being in cahoots . The Earth unites against an enemy that comes from outside the Earth.
The Manhattan plot technically works but its a lot weaker of a solution.
WittyDroog But to the public the last they've seen of Manhattan was the revelation that he causes cancer, him get angry on tv glow and put a network out of commission, leave the planet, and then destroy a major city. There is no reason for them to believe anyone is in cahoots with anyone. All they see is an angry thing who has just realized he's a walking plague that can no longer have any contact with humans unless he's willing to kill them in the process, and what does he do after gaining this knowledge? He says fuck it humans aren't worth saving and kills thousands of people as easy as someone raises their finger. Seems like a threat that the world should be wary of.
The Director's Cut is the best version, IMO.
the Ultimate Cut is the best one.
it's weird how theres the theatrical cut, the director's cut, and ALSO the Ultimate cut, but the Ultimate cut is by far the best way to watch it.
@@redhoodie4111 Directors cut is the directors prefered version, the ultimate cut includes the black fraighter comic, but zack didnt feel it fits properly because it was never designed with the black fraighter to begin with. but i havent watched it yet. seen the directors cut once over 10 years ago. might check it out.
@@redhoodie4111 think that’s bad, you should see how many cuts Blade Runner has
HEY GUYS! This was one where we HAD to separate these big differences from all the little stuff or risk going INSANE!... so if you want the Details of the Details in PART 2 on Watchmen about all the smaller differences we usually pack in, like this video and let us know in the comments that you want UNA SEGUNDA SECCION!
CineFix SEGUNDA SESIÓN POR FAVOR GRACIAS!
CineFix You should really try to do this in a "better" way: Compare the Graphic Novel to the Ultimate Cut of Watchmen en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watchmen_(film)#Ultimate_cut Anyway, thank you for bringing this piece of work to more people's eyes and ears. Well deserved in my opinion :-)
I would love to see the second video
Awesome video guys! Can you please do "The Godfather" next?
CineFix please do part deux. As when i watched the film I liked it, but didn't completely understand the narrative.
I think we can all agree on one thing about the movie, though; Its cinematography and visual design is fucking *amazing*. Snyder, as polarizing as a director he may be, always goes above and beyond when it comes to visual presentation in his films.
2:14 "Losing all this material is not very major."
Um, yeah it is. To paraphrase Red from Overly Sarcastic Productions, these scenes with the kid Bernie and the old man Bernie are meant to show that basic human kindness exists in this dark world that Alan Moore made and that the superheroes are failing to notice it.
"How are we going to fight a giant alien squid?"
"Too bad we don't have a super being who can tear atoms apart with his mind. Let's try diplomacy instead."
More fitting ending, my ass.
Good point.
That is actually an incredibly good point. Wow.
Hadn't Manhattan abandoned the US in the graphic novel? Leaving them unable to rely on his support.
***** Seems a little more ambiguous. The rest of the world might still think the USA has him in their back pocket. If anything that would make an alliance less likely.
+MyNameIsBucket Watchmen HISHE
_The Watchmen_ is not simply a commentary on superheros. The changes made in the movie improve the storytelling as an apt indictment of Americana. _The Watchmen_ was written as an exaggeration of the truth of reality, that _The United States of America_ collectively suffers from a form of _Affluenza_. In this continuity, as shown in the opening credits of the film, the existence of Dr. Manhattan allows the USA to win confrontations that, in reality, they lost for good reasons. So, they never learned those lessons. In the real world American's have historically had very little accountability to the outside world, in _The Watchmen_ they have *_no_* accountability because they have Dr. Manhatten. That world is not simply an alternate reality... it is a _PERVERSION_.
_The Watchmen_ is thoroughly steeped in irony. This is what The Comedian means when he says "It's all a joke", and is the reason behind his violence: he has so little accountability that it is ridiculous. This is also why he is brought to tears when he figures out Ozymandias' plan because he is suddenly forced to imagine a world without his scapegoat, considering all the horrible things he's done. Ever notice how most of the main characters, politically speaking, are almost scary with how conservative they are? The things coming out of their mouths are atrocious... and this is why it is ironic when Night Owl discovers Ozymandias' plan and says "You haven't idealized mankind, you've…you've deformed it!".
...the fact that, when American audiences watch this movie or read the book, and this aspect of the story is almost completely lost on them *IS THE POINT*.
wow, man I must read the comic
Great comment.
Or maybe, you're a pompous douchebag who's looking way too deep into something that isn't there.
Hunter Cook Nah, he's right. (Notification squad BITCH)
Well, I've read the actual Graphic Novel, written in 1985, and I can tell you that all of the stuff he's talking about was not intentional. I believe he should interpret art however he likes, but insulting other readers because they can't see some delusional nonsense that he sees because they are rational human beings, or because they have their own interpretation is utter nonsense and makes him look like a pompous douchebag. Oh look, I made a run on. Oh well. Anyhow,
"Ever notice how most of the main characters, politically speaking, are almost scary with how conservative they are?"
Well that's because the novel was written in 1985! That's not clever writing, that's how people freaking talked! Can we stop pretending that modern judgment and culture is law and is how it's always been and will be?
Anyway, my point is don't be a jerk and act like Americans are morons because they don't believe your twisted and moronic world view.
Have a nice day.
I watched it full uncut version it has the black freighter comic and everything about the movie is masterpiece in itself , props to Zack Snyder.
Watchmen is the best comic book film of all time.
I wouldn't say it's the best ever. But it is still in the top 10, for me at least.
Michael T Yeah, for me it's this or the dark knight. Nice profile pic by the way.
Will Hush thanks.
WolverinesNation92 I agree with you
How about no. I put my money on Sin City being the best.
The comic was so in depth its very difficult to adapt, causing the movie and comic to be quite different from each other. Nonetheless though, the movie was still fantastic, it was enjoyable to see how similar some scenes were to the comic, many parts of the movie was basically animated versions of frames in the comic. So for me the movie was visually great, but very lacking in the plot when compared to the comic. Still high ranking tho
+KoOkiEzRoCkz The Ultimate Cut is ok. Not as good as the comic since it still focuses too much on the action and leaves out several background elements that actually were extremely interesting and important to character development, but it's not as bare bones as the theatrical cut was.
KoOkiEzRoCkz
KoOkiEzRoCkz completely agree
The movie was an insult to the graphic novel I only read the first 2 chapters and my opinion on the film has changed drastically the color degradation was stupid and how Synder tried to emulate the style of the comic was dumb and the changes he made were a huge middle finger the movie isn't good no matter the cut
@@captainjakemerica4579 lmao you're an idiot, genuinely an idiot trying to explain why the movie was bad.
One of my favorite movies. I like a lot of the films based on graphic novels and comic books, but at the same time, I hate it when the stories are changed, and that happens a lot.
One of the things I thought worked the best with the change at the ending is that it gives Dr. Manhattan a reason to leave earth. In the comic it's more or less "I'm bored now, bye" while in the movie he's the fall guy
Yosi Berman true, it does work for his character arc much more smoothly!
The biggest mistake was Manhattan not telling Ozy that "nothing ever ends," that's the only person Ozy would listen to/respect
I think the opening fight scene between Comedian and Ozymandias sums up the problem with Snyder's take on Watchmen. Instead of a broken, old man being overpowered by a physically and mentally superior opponent, Snyder is going "Check out how awesome this is!"
I love this series (What's The Difference) and while I enjoy both the comic and the movie for their own reasons, I couldn't help but notice a LACK of bias from Cinefix on this one. Usually they stay impartial, but it's clear from this video...they just don't like the movie.
Which is fine, a lot of people don't...I just expected impartiality given the other episodes in this series.
Insane Ian A lack of bias and impartiality are two different things. If anything, I'd say they were too fair to the film version.
***** I was referring to the theatrical cut. I haven't seen any other versions, and while they might be better they can't address fundamental flaws. The two best examples were how the heroes were portrayed as almost superhuman in the gratuitous fight scenes and how Adrian's plan was terrible since Dr. Manhattan was known to be American.
Don't get me wrong, for an adaptation of a graphic novel long considered to be unadaptable, it's great. It's a good movie, and they made a lot of good decisions making it (notable examples: the montage at the beginning and taking out the pirate comic), but at other times they really missed the point of the source material or made bad decisions.
Watchmen is one of the greatest graphic novels of all time, but it is certainly not one of the greatest films of all time.
+Thutil I don't see how the plan doesn't work, Dr. Manhattan turns on america and the rest of the world in response to the nuclear war bullshit everyone is trying to pull. Maybe world peace is a bit of a stretch but it is also a stretch with a giant squid. But it is likely that they would call a truce to deal with the bigger threat, humans are kinda know for banding together against a greater enemy, regardless of origin.
Never read the comic, but I definitely still felt Ozymandias's regret for the deaths he'd caused; I don't feel it rang false at all. His coldness doesn't detract from it, not if you're willing to accept what he says. Such coldness would be one way for a person to cope with the remorse.
+Buffoon1980 Compared to the comic, yes, it was cold. In the comic, he asked if it was over, only for Dr. Manhattan to tell him "It's never over" making him realize he had only killed millions of people to provided a temporary solution.
8:32 He didn’t keep fighting after he had his face through a countertop
I might be wrong (it's been ages since I read it and I don't have a copy to hand), but I don't think the team of Dr Manhattan, Ozymandias, Rorschach, The Comedian, Nite Owl and Silk Spectre II are ever called "The Watchmen" in the comic, or even specifically referred to as such. The name Captain Metropolis calls the new team is "Crimebusters" and I think the only time the term "watchmen" is used in the story is a bit of graffiti; the old phrase, "who watches the watchmen?", referring to vigilantes in general, rather than any actual group.
I read it recently, and I'm pretty sure they do not call themselves that either.
+Jack Woodgate You are right. Though not offensive, that was one of the dumbed down things of the movie
+Jack Woodgate Yeah, the only superhero team with a legit name was the Minutemen. Crimebusters WOULD have been the team-name had Metropolis been able to rally a team, but it failed.
Rorsach and Niteowl II were the ONLY heroes in an actual team (with no name), and they eventually split ways after Rorsach started killing criminals.
+Jack Woodgate Yeah, the only superhero team with a legit name was the Minutemen. Crimebusters WOULD have been the team-name had Metropolis been able to rally a team, but it failed.
Rorsach and Niteowl II were the ONLY heroes in an actual team (with no name), and they eventually split ways after Rorsach started killing criminals.
+PsychoholicSlag83
just because they called themselves Watchmen?
i'm sorry, that sounds pretty dumb if you ask me.
The director's cut with the black freighter added, is an extremely good movie.
10:30 - 10:36 What was even sillier was the insertion of "The Outer Limits" tag into the film. In the comic, Ozymandias' scheme was identical to the Outer Limits' episode "The Architects of Fear," which was announced in the original story as an obviously inside joke on Moore's part! Why did Snyder feel the need to put it in when he eliminated the original twist?
Most, if not all, of the material cut was added back in if you watch the extended cut (which I have).
*takes deep breath* WATCHMEN IS UNDER APPRECIATED
This movie was way ahead of its time, I think thats probably why critics were so divided. This movie was a visionary masterpiece
Isn't the comic within the comic in the movie, i watched it for the first time and it was there
The Flash You must've watched the directors cut, is it any good?
Joshua .Perez Yes, it is! But the version with the Black Freighter in it is not the director's cut, it's the ULTIMATE CUT :)
Oh I didn't even no about that one, I just bought the cheap one.
It's nearly 4 hours long and some of these "issues aren't im it"
Yeah... It's AWESOME!
Do Scott pilgrim next. That would be cool.
It was an amazing series to read! I saw the movie first but the comic was better IMO
t3x77 I read the series over the summer and it was really good. It just sucks they had to cut so much from the books due to time constraints (and the fact that the final book wasn't published at the time of release.)
Michael T Nice QOTSA album profile
Walmar neto Thanks! Yours pretty cool too.
I still can't understand how these changes = the movie sucking.
Because people have a connection to Moore that's almost as psychotic as he is.
I think the movie is bad on it's own merits. A lot of very very very bad acting, silly over the top fight scenes, terrible use of music, way too fucking much slow motion, ending makes no sense, lack of color, goofy rubber costumes, etc.
***** Alright, I personally like the movie, but I can see your point. :)
Mily Wolfheart The movie isn't awful on it's own, it has some serious pacing issues, and a SERIOUS problem with tonal whiplash. What really gets me though is Zack Snyders complete misunderstanding and removal of a lot of clever and intelligent details in favor of stuff he thought was 'cool.' A good microchasm of this is Ozymandias' suit. In the comic his wardrobe shows his borderline obsession with Egyptian culture, while giving him a regal and powerful appearance, posing him as a more intimidating and intellectually superior to his other watchmen team members. In the movie Snyder forgoes this intelligent character design for what is essentially an inside joke. Basically every detail of the movie suffers from this. The biggest problem is the complete ruining of the book's tone and message. The whole point of the final encounter is how morally grey it is, it's thought provoking. Snyder clearly sides with Rorschach, showcasing Ozymandias as a mustache twirling villain, even unambiguously giving Rorschach the last laugh. That really defeats the punch of the book's ending.
Alan Moore is not psychotic he is one of the best writers in comic book history next to Stan Lee and Mark Millar and 80s and 90s Frank Miller he is one of the best
Probably one of the most faithful comic book movie adaptions. The problems with the film are just regular problems when adapting a full-scale story to a 2 and a half hour film. Character development suffers and plenty of stuff needs to be changed or taken out. Overall, Watchmen is both my favorite comic book and one of my favorite movies.
The characters being op both sucks and doesn't.
It sucks because as you pointed out the whole point of the Watchmen is that they are ordinary people with a PhD in ass kicking but that's it. They're not super humans who can punch through concrete and rip someone's arm off.
But it also makes for badass fight scenes which is nice;
Silver Chariot ... I think it’s safe to say that Dr. Manhattan has super human powers.
Let's just say they're at peak human levels. That's why they dubbed Dr. M as the first superhero.
Bad ass fight scenes isn’t a worthwhile substitute for keeping true to the thematic relevance and verisimilitude of the story
@@akshaybhatia8971 Exactly.
What made _Watchment_ an excellent comic book story made it an excellent COMIC BOOK story. It was not written cinematically, as, say, _300_ was. All the changes that gut the theme to make it a more passable flick just go to prove that the original work was, in fact, unfilmable, like some fans always claimed.
I don't think it screws certain details up. Rorschach describes Nite-Owl as a "flabby failure" and yet Dan can arguably kick more ass than him.
This is coming from somebody who read and loved the graphic novel before watching the movie; the movie ending was WAY better.
Im sorry, but the squid always felt random and out of place for me. I know that Moore was going for a "common enemy" deal, but it just kind of felt out of place. Not only that, but the whole common enemy motif still works with Manhattan being framed.
In the movie, I think framing Manhattan was a better way to go. Its much more believable that Manhattan might go rogue, rather than some random squid teleporting from nowhere and killing people. It is constantly brought up how Manhattan is drifting, and how he doesn't really care about human beings anymore, and when he freaks out at the press on live tv, and teleports to mars, I think it was a lot more believable that the public would think Manhattan just snapped. Just saying, if I was watching Dr Manhattan on television saying that "A live human and a dead human have the same number of particles. Structurally there is no difference", then was told that guy snapped and nuked several cities, I'd totally believe it.
I love the graphic novel, but the squid was retarded. I'm sorry, it just was.
You're right. About everything you said. I've read the book too. The movie did it way better.
Random? There are hints all throughout the entire novel that something big and bad is developing somewhere in a private island, and that by the end of the story is gonna burst. The missing artists, the robbery of Robert's Brain, the way the Comedian breaks after seeing whats happening in the island, how the artists think they are working for special effects and are killed right after, it is nowhere near random, it is a basic part of the damn plot.
The fact that only the threat of an Alien invasion could chill out the Nuclear War tension is actually very logical.
It also reflects a very common fear that normal people have, ''how can we be sure that this or that menace is not something staged by rich or powerful ruthless people''? Something very Moore that gets lost in the movie.
The city of New York reduced to debris and covered with blood is so shocking and makes the ending so poignant.
In the movie, on the other hand, Manhattan going mental and causing the destruction seems rushed and like plucked out of thin air to spare details and force it to fit in 120 minutes of movie.
You’re not a fucking fan of the comic so don’t say you are because if you were you’d know that it was already foreshadowed and hinted at many times and is far superior to the embarrassing movies version
Black Freighter was adapted into an animated film and later included in an extended edition of the movie.
Hewylewis we know, but that's kind of going down the path of "this scene that was different from the book was included in the special features on the DVD" - it's cool that it's out there, but it's not part of the movie that most people saw. We compare the theatrical version to the source, that's the show, if not we'd go bananas lol
CineFix Gotchya. Also, PLEASE talk about The Howling or Last Unicorn!!
CineFix But the Ultimate Cut (or the Director's Cut and Tales of the Black Freighter) with the Under the Red Hood documentary is the full film. Plus, no one saw this movie in theaters, so you might as well go with the home video version.
Can you do Kingsman-What's the difference? I would love that! Great episode btw!
Richard At The Movies We really want to, but we want to wait a little bit more for people to check it out... unless you're all saying it's been long enough?!
CineFix well the movie is already out in DVD and Blue ray....
Simen Kristoffer okay, we'll wait a little longer.
I like the Ultimate Cut, which actually has the comic within a comic.
Coming from somebody who didn't read the graphic novel... I loved this movie.
Same here, I thought the story was, although nonsensical at times, still very gripping and well done. I do want to get around to reading the graphic novel though, as it is considered one of the best books of all time
Musa Chaudhry cool!
Watchmen is the greatest superhero movie adaption in movie history. Sorry Marvel, that's a fact you can't deny.
+Internet Dinosaur No. Despite abandoning the original draft of the script which would've been a PERFECT adaption, Iron Man 1 remains the BEST comic book anything adapted at this time, though Deadpool is a VERY close 2nd and only because they couldn't use Thanos necessitating some changes.
ZanathKariashi Well, everyone has opinions.
+Internet Dinosaur You're always there to keep me entertained when my internet dies and i have chrome open.
Asriel Dreemurr No problem m8.
*Logan has entered the chat*
Shit when I read watchmen I never paid attention to what the kid was reading
same
In other words
"Things you couldn't fit into a two hour film"
i feel like the movie ending makes more sense. Blaming Doctor Manhattan (a literal walking nuclear weapon) or a giant convoluted space squid that just shows up out of nowhere and only attacks New York compared to major cities around the world being "destroyed by Manhattan" giving the entire world a reason to freak out and come together against him? I thought the squid idea was stupid cause come on wtf.
Bishoujo A Gogo It doesn't just show up out of nowhere. There are intra-dimensional scientific establishments in the comic which are partly responsible. Manhattan's scientific advancements are partly responsible for these establishments.
But still, it only attacks New York, and no one else. If we're talking about a realistic scenario, the Russians, seeing as none of their cities were attacked, wouldn't really care enough to put aside their differences and unite with the Americans. Most likely, the war would only get worse, as the USSR would seize this opportunity to strike down a weakened America after the squid attack. Having Manhattan destroy EVERYONE in the world makes more sense in the terms of uniting everyone against a common threat.
MrConstantine02 But why would he do that? And why not finish everyone off?
MrConstantine02 But Manhattan did attack other cities in the world... Look again in that scene it shows Moscow, Paris, etc
flaggerify Why would he do that? Well, maybe because, after the nationally broadcast emotional breakdown on that interview show, he just didn't give a shit anymore. Maybe he just felt like it. I don't think any of the world's nations would be rationalizing this too much.
To be honest, first time I watched this film I didn’t like it. I was distracted by all the little details such as the heroes being completely normal yet also being really tough, strong and fast. Rorschachs mask was another detail that kept distracting me “how is it doing that?” All in all this meant that I missed the bigger picture so when I eventually rewatched it, it was like seeing a completely different movie. One that was immeasurably better. I had just come to accept the little details for what they were and didn’t let them bother me. Thanks to that I finally could focus on the characters and there motives and/or morals that drive them. I finally understood the deal with the comedian and came to appreciate the characters arcs and development.
I hadn’t seen the comic which probably meant that I enjoyed the film more, instead of spending you time comparing the differences or listing what was changed and cut whilst your watching it, to jut get to appreciate what’s happening in front of you. I think all super hero films should probably be watched for this reason. I adored the film V for Vendetta so much that I bought the entire comic for it. I cannot begin to say how bored I got of it. Film adaptations have to be different in order for them to work, and in my personal opinion are as a result better, with irrelevant stuff cut or succinctly said I think makes them in all actuality better. A less is more situation.
In the comics Rorschach explains that is mask is made from a synthetic material engineered by Viedts companies. It was a dress with ink in between two layers of this special fabric is was sealed in that responds to heat. that's how the ink moves freely around the mask.
Despite a few flaws, this is probably one of the best adaptations ever made.
The movie was fantastic (for me) one of my favorite movies
If you have time to read the book in one setting and then watch film straight after it is remarkable the similarities between the two scene for scene and a testament of Snyder's love and appreciation of the source material.
You guys nailed this, but left out one detail that always infuriated me about the movie. In the comic book, Veidt talks to Dr. Manhattan and asks him to confirm that everything worked out in the end. Dr. Manhattan simply says, "In the end? Nothing ends, Adrian. Nothing ever ends." This line absolutely shatters Veidt, destroying forever his sense of victory. It's the perfect conclusion of Veidt's arc. But instead, in the movie, they give that line to Laurie, just tossing it off weightlessly. Gah. It's terrible.
Watchmen is overrated. Too much filler not enough killer. ua-cam.com/video/s0NPE5sDy6c/v-deo.html
Idk the name of the actress for silk spectre ii but her whole performance was absolutely atrocious, I mean just 0 emotion, every scene no matter what was happening she had the same expression and tone of voice, not to mention the fake crying during the mars scene…
The acting in general was pretty bad for the whole movie, although some of that may not have been the actors fault directly but more how rushed everything felt. Although the writing is technically good (mainly because most of it is ripped directly from the comic, which is actually a good choice) the dialogue just felt so unnatural and falls flat.
None of the emotional moments hit because we have no time to sit with the characters and form a connection like we do in the comic.
You guys should have done this episode with the Ultimate Cut.
The only thing that bothered me about the movie was that they cut out Rorshach's monologue after he burns the killers house down. That speech was amazing!
I'm here after Avengers Endgame and yes, Watchmen is still the best comic book movie ever made
I agree
I think the best comic book movie is The Dark Knight, but i love Watchmen to.
All the good things in this movie are only down to the source material being the best story ever told (except for the intro sequence, even I have to admit that was pretty well done
The best thing about the movie? No dumb fukn SQUID.
About the movie, I liked the part when it ended.
@@edwintroller6509 You must not like good movies.
@@edwintroller6509 yeah I agree that part was great
I’ve rewatched this movie many times and was so confused when I watched the directors cut with the pirate scenes. Thought I was watching a pirated version no pun intended
I really love the changes they made for the film. Especially the ending and nite owl watching rorschach died. I mean like, how could someone possibly had sex after finding out that 3 million people died?
it's more like they're having control over each other after failing to save millions of people so they can at least save each other from their despair but I see what you mean.
to cope, and comfort the only way they could.
The thing is that rorschach is a fascist miserable killer, he didn't deserve someone yelling "no" at their death , that is the point of killing him in two panels in the comic, he is the bad guy after all
I also liked that you are left with Rorschach's black and white reasoning for trying to reveal the perpetrator, Ozymandias'/Dr Manhattan's conclusion that it was worth sacrificing the few for the many, and Night Owl's issue with having to deceive humanity to keep it from destroying itself is not natural or right. It really leaves you having to decide who has the best point.
@@floweylaflower4824 Rorschach being called a fascist or being the straight bad guy misses the point of the comic too. Rorschach isn't a fascist, he's insane. There are no good or bad guys in the comics, just morally grey people who believe they know how best to save the world.
People who say "in the comics none of them except Manhattan were actual super heroes" seem to forget that Rorschach had a fucking magic face mask and a grappling hook he used to climb skyscrapers. He was a crazy version of Batman
Umm.... In the book Rorschach's mask is made out of a weird looking dress that he put together...
Kadin Grayson How does a dress change patterns by itself?
+BenRangel Have you read the book?
Kadin Grayson Yep, long time ago. Remember something about a dress with ink but to me it doesn't make sense that it would be symmetrical and change to suit his expressions.
+BenRangel It wasn't really explained. I think that it's just boring for the artist to keep drawing the same mask over and over and wanted to make it unique.
*Reasons why the movie is hated:*
A) The movie didn´t get watchmen intentions.
Watchmen treats his characters as decadents, the movie treats them as heroes. Moore wanted them to be disgusting, repulsive, close minded with mental issues. The movie adores them by showing how cool it´d be to be them. It´s more focused into action than the critique to the superhero genre.
The action scenes in the comics shows them as regular to trained people, whereas in the movies they´re on john wick levels of combat on steroids. Kicking, punching people, and jumping as if they had superpowers (inhumanly enhanced reflexes, strength, agility).
The comic says if you were a dressed as a superhero you would be a decadent idiot, the movie said that you would rock. Completely different message. Despite some fantastic elements visually the comic went for plausibility, the movie went for spectacularity.
When silk spectre is about to be r*ped, the movie shows her like super sexy, in the comic she´s casually changing her clothes to make the act more disgusting.
B) The characters weren´t adapted well:
1) _Nite owl_: in the comics is a parody of Batman, a guy who inherited lots of money and didn´t know what to do with it, so started to fight crime. He is an overweight guy, that even has problems when getting laid with Silk spectre (look up in the comics when comentators describe ozymandias gymnastics routine on TV, they are describing the opposite of Dan´s movements). He uses a ladder when coming out of archymedes (his aircraft) not gliding with his cape batman-style. He´s supposed to be pathetic.
2)_Silk spectre_: only ended hooking up with nite owl because she felt alone after manhattan left her, they movie tries to show like she starts getting in love with him.
3)_Ozymandias_:confident charismatic, charming, magnetic and adorable looking guy in the comics. In the movie he looks like a creep (the actor always act horribly as if he is up to something). Both his suit and his facial expressions stinks of evil. One of the worst actors in the movie. He was supposed to be the really nice guy who wouldn´t kill a fly that turns out to be f*cking mad in his pursuit for peace, having such a superiority complex that can only relate to dead emperors and has a plan that is so bad that depended on Dr manhattan´s will (who didn`t care about humanity by that point) or the rest of the crimebusters to not tell people about it.
4)_The comedian_: in both is shown as a bad guy, but where in the comics is implied that he dies beaten and humilliated like the dog he is, in the movie he puts up a well coreographied fight even PUNCHING HOLES THROUGH WALLS, making us root for him.
5)_Rorscharch_: asocial and unstable right wing violent, who we´re supposed to despise (stated by Moore himself), the movie instead turns him into a misunderstood martyr that dies heroically defending his principles. Moore made him die alone, with no much detail because that´s how he deserved to die. In the Movie they got Manhattan putting in sad faces and Dan screaming Noooo!!!!!!! (That´s snyder screaming in reality).
C) New york destruction: The squid vs Manhattan´s explosion.
1) _Squid_: It was made by Moore because he didn´t want the comic`s main catastrophe to be some random explosion. It had to be something unknown and feared from outer space that could join the world against it (an alien invasion). Alan moore had seen lot of comics showing a generic explosion, doomsday device, death rays that didn´t involve you with the catastrophe and chaos for more than 2-3 panels. So he decided to show lots of citizens`lifes so you get to know them and get shocked when they die. The image of the newspaper stand owner running to protect the child (way younger in the comic) is more powerful than the one in the movie where they just hug each other. Every single panel in the comic after that incident shows dead people you got know. They even show the man and the child both dead. Way more impact.
2)_Manhatan´s explosion_: And... the movie made just that, some random generic explosion. The fact that the movie makes Dr. Manhattan take the blame is silly because: not only he was american and fought for the amercican army but he was THE ULTIMATE AMERICAN. The russians would be even angrier with USA if Manhattan went rogue.
An american weapon out of control, they´re to blame.
They shouldn´t have got Zack Snyder to direct watchmen: He is really good with making some good visual movies (300) but watchmen as a comic had more to show than nice drawings and fights. So his team totally missed the point and focused in making the movie look cool. I wish a more capable director could have taken it.
YES. THANK YOU. Finally someone making good arguments instead of yous saying "but...I liked the movie !". Yes you liked the movie, It's a "good" movie if you want, but it's a very bad adaptation.
Dear GOD dude you are so right. The HBO Watchmen show is doing a most excellent job fixing the movies mistakes. My GOD you are the man!!!!!
I fully aggree!
Stumbled across this vid and just wanted to add one thing:
The reason that Snyder probably changed the Rorschach scene with the child killer is because that ending with the handcuffs, saw and fire was actually taken from the ending of original Mad Max film.
Eh, it's still a bad change, it bothered me way more than losing the Space Squid or giving the characters actual super strength.
ShinGallon A bad change but a neccessary one.
That scene with the axe was good, very violent and dark. You don't need to burn a house with a man inside it to become a violent psycopath without mercy for criminals, you can just frantically plant an axe into his head
Both the graphic novel and the movie are great projects that work great on their own media, there’s no way a 12 issue storyline fits in 1 movie (without sequels) and Snyder cared to make an entertaining movie full of details
Not to mention the part during the jailbreak where in the book Rorschach is in his prison outfit the whole time, and after they escape he returns to his apartment and gets a backup outfit he made, yet in the film adaptation he finds his gear in his psychologists room (which contradicts how Rorschach 2--the psychologists son--finds Rorschach 1's original gear in the Doomsday Clock "sequel" to the Watchmen series). The film adaptation also cut the whole backstory of him being a clothier and how he made his gear. Another thing is that in the comics ending, Nite Owl 2 and Silk Spectre 2 go into hiding, changing their names/looks/what not. Its not until years later that the original Silk Spectre learns Laurie is not dead, but in the film it happens shortly after things go back to normal, and they have not changed their appearances/names/etc. Lots of inconsistencies between the two. I could go on.
There are things i think Watchmen did better in the comic and things that the movie did better.
WOW. Did I just spot some actual nuance in a UA-cam comment? Just when you think you've seen everything...
I disagree
I love the Book and The Movie. Sue me.
+PayasoTheDark
me too.
I really liked the movie & didn.t mind the changes. Was delighted at how the show tied into the comic & kept the original ending while being a wonderful sequel to the comic.
I suspect the squid monster in the comic was sort of a weird nod/reflection of the first JLA comic appearance from the Silver Age, where the heroes banded together to deal with a telepathic, giant starfish from outer space.
That said, it was a needlessly complex plot... And the Comedian stumbling upon it was far too unlikely for the more grounded reality of the Watchmen concept.
Also, the single-target event was problematic... The Americans might have perceived it as some crazy Soviet secret weapon and retaliated! The Soviets might have seen their enemy stunned from the event and opted to strike while the US was at a disadvantage!
Adrian's plot in the movie made better sense. Making it appear that Angry God Manhattan had spanked the whole world... Unlike the Squid, which might be ultimately be written-off as a once every billion years freak accident, Doctor Manhattan would be presumed to be watching, ready to act again if Mankind got back on the path to Nuclear War.
Of course, the movie plot required DM to either be destroyed or agree to play-along... The latter of which Adrien predicted well.
+rajvader Kind of strange that something intended as one of the grand masterpieces of comics would use a parody of such a such a random little thing as it's finale.
+BenRangel it wasn't intended as such. it was a bunch of characters the publishing house had recently acquired when they bought the original house. they got moore to write something out of it, and he went and changed the characters and even designs a lot. The pirate story was a nod to the original comics before superheroes took over in the 50s/60s. Manhattan was a superman, ozymandias was an actually smart lex luthor, night owl was an everyman's batman, silk spectre was a wonderwoman type. comedian was a captain america, in that oh so popular at the time way that vietnam vets were thought of. It was a as a whole a parody of the modern comic book, with the villain portrayed as the usual cookie cutter comic book villain while in reality being a hero themselves. Ozymandias was the inspiration for how nuts batman gets in other stuff like kingdom come. the graphic novel was rushed week to week, moore had to fight to write what he wanted, it was delayed, and it was bringing reality to comic books. that requires parody in its essence.
+rajvader In the comic book Ozymandias' trick was to convince the world that Earth was under attack by an alien species. The giant octopus destroying New York was not supposed to be just a random event but the first of many to come. The world becomes united in order to fight the "alien invasion".
Pavel Lujardo
One event doesn't establish a pattern. Especially when the "alien" basically arrived, exploded, and expired. Not much of an invasion plan. Especially since Ozzy didn't have a second squid to throw out there.
The shock that there *were* (apparently) aliens, and that things like this could happen, might be enough to shake the world leaders from focusing on their mundane "enemies"... But the squid might also raise a lot of questions, and some of the theoretical answers might not lead to peace.
+rajvader Everyone forgets that the squid didn't just APPEAR and die (and it DID NOT explode), it broadcast a massive psychic wave with visions of the aliens world, choreographed by one of the best horror writers of the day and with designs with some of the most talented artists of it's time, that Ozy said people would be seeing nightmares of for decades to come across the whole world.
That's why the resolution was instant, almost everyone on earth felt it and saw it, with those already psychically sensitive having their brains fried or going completely insane, with the people directly in new york killed by the mental trauma even without any psychic sensitivity due to the close proximity.
There was no chain of command to have to deliver news and make snap decisions on whether it was the end-game by one side or another, they all knew instantly what had happened (or at least what Ozy wanted them to know had happened).
"Im not locked in here with you,You're locked in here with me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" 👹👹👹👹
That sounds intriguing 🤔
I think Snyders changes made the story better. Excellent film. it was before it’s time and if it was released today it would be critically acclaimed. No other adult super hero film has had the balls to hit the points that watchmen hit
No
@@lazyvoid7107 Yes :)
The Boys, Logan, Joker, The Batman laughing:
I deem Watchmen as one of the best superhero movies ever made, it is surely in my personal top 5 (with The Dark Knight, V for Vendetta, Guardians of the Galaxy and Spiderman: Into the Spider-Verse)
Btw in the Ultimate version they show the comic in a comic as a cartoon
This video seems pretty dang biased towards the comic to be honest
poke moo The comic is the original creation. The film is merely an adaptation.
Agreed. I thought that this was just going to be an unbiased look at the differences.
@@jalenjohnson1662 Generally speaking with their videos, these guys have a tendency to pick whichever one has a bigger fanbase and vaguely bias towards it, the only exception that I've personally seen being their V for Vendetta video. I'm not saying this as a bad thing! Totally okay to have biases. Just something I've observed
Well, the movie is quite alright, but Watchmen is probably The best comic book, and the movie fails to capture a lot of what makes it great. The guy who quit the second time was right, it needed to be mini series, not a movie.
@@tasosalexiadis7748 why is being an adaptation necessarily a bad thing in most people's vocabulary? Snyder did one hell of a job, and I'd argue things like the changed ending (Manhattan instead of "Alien" Squid) brings better thematics.
Look at both works separately and not one as a copy paste of the other
y'all forgot that in the comic, they go back to Rorscach's apartment to get his spare mask and suit while in the movie, he got it back from the prison office, and the moment when he died was the first time Daniel saw who his identity in the movie
Other than changing the ending, I think this is a pretty fantastic adaptation. This is especially true if you watch the nearly 4 hours long Ultimate Cut which restores much of the deleted material including intercut segments from Tales of the Black Freighter. It is really the only way anyone should watch this film.
Masterpiece of comics adaptations...
I don't know if i'm crazy or something but mostly everything this video tells was omitted from the movie i remember being there, except giant squid. even the pirate cartoon, but it was animated.
You were lucky enough to see the ultimate cut of the film. We compared the theatrical release.
Casey Redmon Actually, some festivals have shown the Ultimate Cut over the past few years.
Alex Gorcea That's good! I've only seen the theatrical and director's cut. The ultimate cut sounds superior.
Casey Redmon The ultimate cut is amazing. I don't think it adds much that a non-comic fan would appreciate, but what it does add pretty much bumps it up to being the best comic movie adaption ever made.
Alucard BloodyVampire alucard? you cray cray, like way way.
Never read the comic but fully enjoyed the film. No book or comic has ever been successfully adapted to film BUT most do produce a good stand alone film.
I just finished reading the graphic novel for the first time. It was... awesome!
11:24 Zach Snyder's 300.
I wish they would've just kept to the graphic novel's story. My 2 favorite scenes, Dr Manhattan's chapter "Watchmaker" where they show how Manhattan sees time in one of the most thought provoking moments in literature was cut down SO much. But they made Nite Owl and Silk Spectre's sex scene fucking 4 minutes long?! My other favorite thing about Watchmen was "The Abyss Gazes Also" because of how the psychologist slowly became like Rorschach.
It’s funny…studios see an acclaimed story and try to turn it into a movie to make money, forgetting why it was told as a comic/novel in the first place.
The only thing I would have changed from the film is get Kevin Spacey to play Richard Nixon and possibly get a better make-up artist to age the older characters/Nixon, other than that the movie is pretty flawless.