WatchmenComicMovie.com Forum

He does a little..but without the crazy.

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"The world is a fine place and worth fighting for." I agree with the second part.

"There's a cello in your house now."

I always try to watch movies from the perspective of a first-time viewer who isn't familiar with the source material, even if I have already seen it multiple times. That's what I did for the UC, and it just didn't work for me. It was a mess. Lots of fun if you're a fan, but it doesn't stand alone at all. Unlike the DC, which would still be a great film even if the book didn't exist.



I think it is too. The TC is certainly NOT a bad film. It's just not a great one. I still give it an enthusiastic thumbs up, which is something I can't do for the UC. The TC has some big flaws, but overall it still "works." The UC just fundementally doesn't work.



Haha. I work at a TV station and people joke about that whenever I go on camera.

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"Computer unnecessary."

I don't think I'll ever watch the Theatrical Cut again.

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"It's a joke. It's all a joke..."

My personal interwebz:
Facebook (regular Carl™)
Twitter (caffeinated Carl™)

^ I would never choose the TC over the DC.

But, without a doubt, if I was showing Watchmen to friend who hadn't seen it, I would not show him/her the UC.

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"Computer unnecessary."

Hear Hear! I've finally gotten over and accepted Magic Rorschach and I love all of the other additions.

Hmmm...Magic Rorschach..

Patent Pending.

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"The world is a fine place and worth fighting for." I agree with the second part.

"There's a cello in your house now."

I just wrapped it up and I liked it but I'm sure of what to make of it. On one hand it works great as an overarching analogy of Ozy, his experiences and the main plot as well. But ROR-SHACK brought up the main points on why it didn't quite work as a film. It didn't gel together with the bookending scenes like the book had. I'm still thinking about it. I really dug the Bernies scenes (except the one with the man yelling "Manhattan has left us!" Mediocre acting. ) and thought they gave some more weight to their deaths when NY is destroyed.

If I had to give a show a copy of Watchmen to a newbie, it would still be the DC. The UC is a little too much handle.

I think I'd have to watch the UC again to have a better grasp of whether it failed or not.

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"When someone asks if you're a god, you say YES!"

After seeing the DC, I never doubted for a second that it was far superior to the TC.

I will be watching the DC again and again for years to come. The UC...eh, I'm sure I'll watch it again. Here and there. One of these days.

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"Computer unnecessary."

you really like that term don't you?

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I really do.

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"The world is a fine place and worth fighting for." I agree with the second part.

"There's a cello in your house now."

Good news guys. Today, a couple of friends came over, and after awhile we decided to watch a movie. Three out of four of us had read the novel and watched both the TC and DC. The other person was total nub, never read the book, hadn't seen the movie. Since I had recently purchased the UC, and loved it, I suggested we watch Watchmen the UC. I realized this would be a perfect opportunity for an experiment! Since the people who prefer the DC are adamant about the UC not being for newbs, I decided to test out their hypothesis. So we watched the Ultimate cut.

The results? Out of the three of us who read the book and saw the film, only one felt indifferent about DC vs. UC. His arguments were pretty similar to ROR-SHACK's. The other two (my friend and I) agreed the UC was, even its faults, a better film. And what about the person who hadn't read the book or seen the movie before? Well she loved it. In fact one of her favorite things about the movie, was how it switched between TBF and the rest of the story.

Though I will admit, we did explain to her before-hand that Watchmen wasn't a super-hero movie, rather it was political satire, and a social commentary on super-heroes, and........well...a whole bunch of stuff.

Now it's true, that this won't be true for everyone, but nubs can enjoy the UC.

I've always felt for all it's sweetness, the DC was lacking. In watchmen the supporting characters are basically as important as our protagonists. Giving back life to the secondary characters, and adding some commentary about Veidt is a definitely a huge plus.

And about the TBF scenes. There is some relation about what is happening in TBF and what has happened recently or what will happen soon in the rest of the film.

I'd say that's fair game.


It seems that some of us are divided on this matter.

I declare....Civil War!!!!





...too extreme?

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"The world is a fine place and worth fighting for." I agree with the second part.

"There's a cello in your house now."

Moloch showing up after he was fucking MURDERED pissed me off. I mean, Jesus Christ I thought these fuckers were supposed to be professionals! Also...why did they add Gerard Butler's credit sloppily after Malin Åkerman's? Why couldn't they add it after everyone else's?

(sigh) Anyway, aside from those bits...I'm liking the UC so far (haven't finished it yet). Having never seen TotBF, it merges relatively well with the film and is animated quite nicely.

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One superhero blows up New York, another one kills women and children, and the last one just flashes everybody.
SUPERHEROES ARE ASSHOLES! ~ Chester A. Bum

While I'm impressed with your big letter usage, someone already pointed out that that person was not Moloch. They were in fact, a completely different actor. If you look, he doesn't have pointy ears. Also, a guy who was also an extra in the film met him.

In fact, that discussion is in this thread. Upon hearing the news that they didn't screw that up, I stated that I decided not to hang myself.

Can't miss it.

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"The world is a fine place and worth fighting for." I agree with the second part.

"There's a cello in your house now."

You... you almost committed suicide? Sh- Er, good thing you didn't, we would feel empty if you had!

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(checks thread; cooks up a big plate of crow)

Seems you're right. I haven't checked this thread in days since the UC just came in the mail today and I didn't want anything spoiled. Surely you understand.

At any rate, it did look just like him.

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One superhero blows up New York, another one kills women and children, and the last one just flashes everybody.
SUPERHEROES ARE ASSHOLES! ~ Chester A. Bum

When one of my favorite movies becomes inconsistent is when I draw the line on life.

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"The world is a fine place and worth fighting for." I agree with the second part.

"There's a cello in your house now."

Well, I've watched the Ultimate Cut and without a doubt this is my preferred version of the film. It feels more complete and the Black Freighter compliments the film very well.

As for recommending a version to a first-timer, it has to be this version. Simply because this version is closest to the novel. Some folks have said that it's "too much" for a newbie. Well, if it is, then the novel is too much for a newbie.

It's like you give a copy of the novel to someone, telling them: "Oh, there was a pirate story in there but I tore those pages out because it's too much to handle. And there are a bunch of characters at a newsstand, I tore those pages out, too."

If you'd never do that to the novel, there's no reason to do that to the film. If the Ultimate Cut of the movie is "too much" for viewers to handle, then tough. This movie is not rocket science. Folks should come to it for the first time as they come to the novel for the first time. It, like the book, is meant for more than one viewing. Newbies will either like it or they won't. Just like I know people who read the novel and weren't impressed by it at all. To each his own.

But for me, if I want someone to experience WATCHMEN -- the film, then I'll steer them to the Ultimate Cut every time. The other versions are nice to have but this is the one I prefer.

The next set we see will probably have all 3 versions of the film in a megaset (a la Blade Runner), which will solve the problem for newcomers to the movie. When they buy, they will get them all.

But for now, it's my opinion that the Ultimate Cut is the Ultimate version of the film.

My sentiments exactly! ^ (albeit organized into coherent thought)

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"The world is a fine place and worth fighting for." I agree with the second part.

"There's a cello in your house now."

I couldn't disagree more. The transitions in the book aren't so jarring; TBF blends seamlessly into the story. In the movie, it sticks out like a sore thumb and disrupts the story. The individual scenes also had little relevance to that point in the story. Unlike the book where the relevance is clear.

Also, in a book, the reader has control over pacing. They can read as fast or slow as they want. They can take as long as they want to ponder the meaning of something. You can't do this in a movie. The director has complete control over pacing. This is one reason why a complex and multi-layered story like Watchmen works best as a GRAPHIC NOVEL. And it's a reason why no movie could ever capture all the depth of the graphic novel. It's no one's fault, it's just the nature of these mediums.

Watchmen is often praised for doing things that only a graphic novel could do, and TBF is the perfect example. It would be a mess as a regular book, and it was a mess as a film. But in a graphic novel, it works perfectly. The perfect medium for it.

"Closest to the book" in what sense? It terms of literal events? Yes, perhaps. But in terms of good story-telling? Comes no where close to the book.

Saying "if you won't like the film then you won't like the book" is simply absurd. Neither film version comes anywhere close to capturing the brilliance of the graphic novel.

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"Computer unnecessary."

Like hell it was. I didn't figure out what the main allegory was until I read it somewhere on the internet. I understand that you mean certain scenes take on small roles like the two riders were approaching thing but that's just cutesy weird stuff that are only details of the larger foil.

If you want to count those, there's a thing in the movie where one of the knot tops says, "Hey Man!", while it shows the "captain" sinking to the bottom of the water. Then he opens his eyes as if he hears it. If you're referring to cutesy juxtaposition like that (which I'm pretty sure you are) then yeah there's more in the graphic novel. I think that the Veidt parallel is more obvious in the movie though because it crams it down your throat with those (three I think) lines in the last Black Freighter segment.

Also, there's a Rorschach blood blot on the sail in the movie version. So...more cutesy stuff there.

Furthermore, the Black Freighter and news stand segments were pretty jarring in the book too. I kind of kept wanting to just get back to the main story without having to deal with crazy pirate guy.

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"The world is a fine place and worth fighting for." I agree with the second part.

"There's a cello in your house now."