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Watchmen movie news

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miss wonderstarr

06:46 / 16.03.09

I checked those panels and they are the sequence where Rorschach dies ~ the only point I could see is that with his mask off, maybe only Kovacs dies. Maybe I need to look at it again.

07:45 / 16.03.09

My own take on the Rorschach thing, and it may just come off as the short version of many of the arguments already presented... but if Moore really wanted us to see R. as nothing but a reprehensible nutjob, he shouldn't have included the back story or any of his 'normal' moments with Dan.

It seems odd that in a story designed (at least in part) to deconstruct the typical view of superheroes, he'd want us to take a very black-and-white view of this character, and mostly fail at it. At the least, this debate proves Rorschach to be a more complicated figure than it seems Moore intended.

miss wonderstarr

08:39 / 16.03.09

Keep thinking of moments where the distance between Rorschach's stubborn world-view and what we see as the reality are particularly funny, sad and endearing ~ he tells his diary (convincing himself) that Ozymandias may be even faster than him, then reassures Dan that if there's any trouble, he'll subdue Ozymandias (leave it to me) ~ and then he keeps pretending, to himself, to Ozymandias and to Dan, that Bubastis is the only reason he's being pwned in the fight. "CALL OFF CAT!" Trying to save face, literally (when Adrian attacks him, Rorschach clings to his mask). Ozymandias says something patronising, along the lines of "yeah, sure you'd beat me without Bubastis here."

11:55 / 16.03.09

I thought it was a shame Bubastis got such a small amount of screen time, but-

The deluxe extended version will be nearly an hour longer than the theatrical cut and is the director/writer's preferred version, similar to the extended Lord of the Rings dvds. A reassessment of the film is due after it's released, I think. (cameron)

..that should solve that. I definitely agree a reassessment will be due after watching the extended version and the black freighter (does anyone know when that's out? or is it a part of the extended edtion?)

Aha, the internet knows-
a companion DVD to the film coming out on March 24, titled Watchmen: Tales of the Black Freighter. And if you're muttering, "Tales from the huh?", then this ain't the disc for you.

I loved the movie despite the flaws and I can't wait to buy the extended version, and now of course I want a cuddly Rorshach doll with little feet (Cameron?) as well as a plush Bubastis and this-

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v625/iggychan/doll1.jpg

South Park Watchmen;
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a153/drfateboy/WatchmenGroupcopy.jpg
Simpsons Watchmen;
http://blackmaps.files.wordpress.com/2009/02/watchmen-babies.jpg

I like it so much my partner made a birthday cake like a smiley with a bloodstain, it was awesome.

12:10 / 16.03.09

Peanuts Watchmen
http://www.bamkapow.com/bk_images/2008/10/22/watchmen-alternate-ending-news.jpg

I think Rorshach is popular because he has the most iconic looks (on a par with Dr Manhattan) and he is the narrator, especially in the film. In my mind he has always been closest to the Punisher or the Crow despite the obvious batman parallels, a vigilante killer in black and white.
Whatever Moore intended, comic book readers tend to be fairly sympathetic to vigilantes in masks as it's such a familiar trope, so to paint him as a vigilante gone too far was always going to be problematic.
If he'd really intended to make him unsympathetic he'd have had Rorshach kill a mask, if he'd been implicated in the murder of, say, Silhouette then the average comic book reader would be much less forgiving of his moral gray areas and smell.
I think he's essentially a character to empathise with and a flagship for how flawed the superheroes are, his problems are just more obvious.

13:37 / 16.03.09

(does anyone know when that's out? or is it a part of the extended edtion?)

It's both - the dvd on March 24 is the 15-minute Black Freighter animated short on its own, as well as a 30-minute mockumentary about the history of the Minutemen called "Under The Hood." Then in July you will be able to buy both the regular theatrical cut on dvd, or the extended edition with all the extra footage and the Black Freighter edited in to the narrative.

18:54 / 16.03.09

if there was any justice this would be on it too.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDDHHrt6l4w

best. cartoon. ever.

and very true to the original comic.

looking forward to the minutemen doc. the film is clearly a labour of love.

19:02 / 16.03.09

miss wonderstarr - yeah, I took a look at a copy of Watchmen at work today (I don't own one now myself - my old copy got so kicked about that I had to get rid of it) and yeah, the only significance is Rorschach - mask = Kovacs. Maybe the idea is that instead of publishing the journal, Seymour is inspired instead to take up the mantle of the blot, and deal out his own brand of justice to the deviant? He already has the personal hygeine aspect of being Rorschach down pat...

19:16 / 16.03.09

Watchmen 2: Rorschach's Legacy
or It's Seymour's Turn!

20:03 / 16.03.09

Yeah, I'm gonna pass on this one. I'm already playing the lead on the Warner Bros adaptation of Tom Strong.
The ape's the lead, right?

21:23 / 16.03.09

if there was any justice this would be on it too.

Are we going for a record here, or something?

00:22 / 17.03.09

I've not had a chance to see it yet, but I'm really looking forward. Does anybody know if Allbeard has expressed any opinion since the release?

ONLY NICE THINGS

10:41 / 17.03.09

I'd like to buy this as a record.

10:57 / 17.03.09

Shall we have a competition to see how many links to Saturday Morning Watchmen we can put in this thread? Yes!

12:00 / 17.03.09

I can't believe I fell for that.

15:23 / 17.03.09

Upcoming movies:

"Watchmen Origins: Roschach"

Big Figure and Moloch as villains. Cameo by Nite Owl II.

15:29 / 17.03.09

Cameron, I can't believe you fell for that either. Now make my Rorshach doll!

15:50 / 17.03.09

"Watchmen II: Watch Harder"

16:08 / 17.03.09

Dammit I have the Saturday Morning Watchmen theme stuck in my head.

18:57 / 17.03.09

would that be the theme music to this hilarious internet thing?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDDHHrt6l4w

miss wonderstarr

19:09 / 17.03.09

An interesting point about Rorschach in jail is that, presumably, everyone Rorschach put in jail was imprisoned between 1965, when his career began, and 1975, when he stopped being "soft on criminals" and "letting them live".

So they've all been in there 10 years or so. Anyone he caught after 1975, according to his grim claim anyway, went to the morgue instead.

22:38 / 17.03.09

If it's not too ghoulish, I was wondering about that - how many people has Rorschach really killed? If memory serves, he's wanted for two counts of homicide when 'Watchmen' starts, presumably Fred and Barney's owner, (nice touch, that) and the guy he leaves outside the police station when the Keene act's passed. In the latter case, he leaves a note, and he seems to be in the habit of doing that generally, (the Moloch fridge scenes, etc) so I wonder if we aren't supposed to infer that Rorschach isn't responsible for as many deaths as he'd have us believe.

22:45 / 17.03.09

Yeah, but other than the rapist he dropped at the police station, there's no indication that he leaves notes in the actual bodies after the child-killer case (remember, he left no note in that case), so it's up in the air. Leaving signatures for the police seem more of a Kovacs trying to be Rorschach attitude than Rorschach's, who, other than "never" regarding Keene's Act, doesn't seem to have nothing to say to anyone

00:15 / 18.03.09

Well, he does write notes to Moloch, while lurking in his fridge.

I agree though, that it's open to question.

Kali, Queen of Kitteh

05:25 / 18.03.09

Apropo of nowt, I am quite surprised and pleased of the 'Lith's discussion of this movie. I was 80% expecting a fire fight of hate and vitriol.

Even, aside from this useless contribution, I like reading everyone's insights into the film. It makes me think about it further and reconsider some other aspects I hadn't given attention to before.

So. Um. As you were.

miss wonderstarr

07:13 / 18.03.09

Leaving signatures for the police seem more of a Kovacs trying to be Rorschach attitude than Rorschach's, who, other than "never" regarding Keene's Act, doesn't seem to have nothing to say to anyone

Not sure what you mean here, as he writes a daily journal ~ I think he writes a coded/shorthand version on the street, then keeps a full one in his room ~ and plays around with patterns of sauce on napkins in the Gunga Diner, and (apparently, could be accident) with bean juice on a plate in his room.

Rorschach is clearly interested in making signs (and reading/detecting signs and patterns), recording his theories and feelings (from his childhood counselling to his last entries that he's cold and apprehensive) and also offering his interpretations at length to both his diary and to people like Dan, Manhattan, Moloch and Ozymandias.

I'd say he's actually quite a talkative, articulate, creative individual. Even his genuine responses to the Rorschach blots, contrasted with his fake (banal) readings, suggest that he has a tendency to read rich detail into patterns; which echoes his extreme misreading of the clues in the murder case (is it the King of Skin or the Underboss? is it the Reds?) and in his life (his dad working for Truman).

11:27 / 18.03.09

I've got to agree with wonderstarr Rorschach is clearly interested in making signs in the most literal sense, his alter ego carries a hacking great END IS NIGH sign around. Which lends a lot of weight to the more subtle signs he plays with, and IMHO connects him to the prevalent graffiti signs strewn throughout the book (and film).

Can I just take a moment to reiterate how great Jackie Earle Haley was in the role? He was great, totally convincing IMHO. In a parallel world though, Simon Pegg played him;
When Paul Greengrass was slated to direct the film in 2001, Simon Pegg and Daniel Craig met with producers about taking the part.
Imagine that...

PS more spinoffs,
bearbrick watchmen

11:52 / 18.03.09

Can I just take a moment to reiterate how great Jackie Earle Haley was in the role?

I agree, 100%. Hold up the comic to a still frame of where he takes off his mask for the final scene: It kind of reminds me of the Simpsons episode where for a brief moment, every one is drawn "realistically". He really jumped off the pages of the comic, I think.

Sorry. ahem Graphic Novel.

Can anyone think of an actor who was really, really weak in the film? I think that maybe Matthew Goode as Ozy was the weakest in the cast when compared to the comic, but he didn't ruin the role by any stretch.

15:01 / 18.03.09

I'd say that Ozy was the weakest by far, and was too easily telegraphed as the BAD GUY. I'd say that Laurie Jupiter was also weaker, but in the movie she is greatly diminished (perhaps because of her acting, perhaps because of cuts), and is more a string for connecting scenes together than a person.

15:14 / 18.03.09

Matthew Goode (Ozy), far and away. He was so monotone that Manhattan looked like an emotional basket case in comparison.

19:58 / 18.03.09

Sooo, something I've been puzzling over.

In the comic, were Rorshach to expose the plot, then the whole thing would fall apart, since there were no aliens. S'all a scam.

In the film, since Veidt has demonstrated that he can destroy multiple locations in the world (and can therefore presumably do it again), and Manhattan certainly can destroy the world, and is going along with the plot...what does it matter if Rorshach exposes the plot? The world still needs to behave itself, it's irrelevant whether it was Veidt or Manhattan. Why bother getting rid of Rorshach?

miss wonderstarr

20:30 / 18.03.09

Manhattan is probably out of the picture, for a start, but couldn't one or both of the superpowers take out Karnak and Ozymandias pretty quickly if they both acknowledged him as a mutual enemy?

ONLY NICE THINGS

01:39 / 19.03.09

If it's not too ghoulish, I was wondering about that - how many people has Rorschach really killed? If memory serves, he's wanted for two counts of homicide when 'Watchmen' starts, presumably Fred and Barney's owner, (nice touch, that) and the guy he leaves outside the police station when the Keene act's passed. In the latter case, he leaves a note, and he seems to be in the habit of doing that generally, (the Moloch fridge scenes, etc) so I wonder if we aren't supposed to infer that Rorschach isn't responsible for as many deaths as he'd have us believe.

He apparently dropped Captain Carnage down a lift shaft, which is usually but I suppose not inevitably fatal.

02:28 / 19.03.09

Well okay, but Bruce, you've survived some heavy scenes in elevators yourself, dude?

miss wonderstarr

06:53 / 19.03.09

Actually I'm not sure why Fred and Barney guy is one of the two outstanding murders Rorschach is wanted for. The murder scene burned down. How could there be any evidence suggesting Rorschach was responsible? (He did go around asking people for leads about it, but that isn't really the same evidence as leaving a signed note "NEVER!")

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