Watchmen, Its A Better Movie Than You Might Think

[Jingthing]

We get a limited number of movies released in Thailand and most of the imports are Hollywood blockbusters or B movie horror trash, etc. WATCHMEN, playing now, actually has a lot more entertainment value than your typical Hollywood comic book based action blockbuster! There is a lot of excellent and very sophisticated SATIRE (political and social) in this movie. I think Americans will understand the references the best, but I think most westerners will also get most of it, but I think Thais will get very little of the satire of the movie unless they are well educated. But that doesn't matter, because the movie can be enjoyed for the usual blockbuster qualities which it does have in spades. Just letting people know who like good films who avoid the blockbusters, that you may want to make an exception for WATCHMEN. I loved it. (Some Thai censorship of images in the movie.)

Edited March 9, 2009 by Jingthing

[Jimjim]

Wow, I thought the exact opposite. Watchmen was a horrible, horrible movie. Absolute rubbish as a movie. All they did was recreate the comic book basically frame for frame and that comic/graphic novel was adjudged by many for being unfilmable or untranslatable if done as an exact recreation with no alterations. Well, you can't make a good movie that way and they went ahead and tried it anyway. It sucked as a movie, though many love it as a comic book which was ahead of its time mostly for creating heroes that were actually three-dimensional. These days, however, we've seen that already in comic book movies based on comics that came after this one. Anyway, it completely underwhelmed me. If had been alone and not with a friend, I would have left the cinema after about 45 minutes and I've only done that once in my life (I watch a lot of movies, too). Far too long a movie with an incredibly unfocused plot (for a movie, that is). The quality didn't deserve the length and was an hour too long. The political themes are about 20 years old but that makes sense as this comic (movie might have well as been as they didn't change a thing for the sake of purists) is 20 years old.

Two thumbs down, way down, plus two big toes down. This movie makes my top five worst movies list without a doubt. Do not see this movie if you do not want to waste three hours of your life. Or believe the OP and see it. If you do, I am certain a majority of you will be disappointed to the extreme.

Edited March 10, 2009 by Jimjim

[cloudbusting]

has anybody got any idea how long it is expected to last in the imax cinema?

[scottyd]

Just seen this movie last night. Was a bit disappointed. I was hoping for it to be a brain dead action flick.

There was too much Patter and not enough Arse-Kicking. That mutant god thing was a proper wanke_r, no wonder he couldn't see the future clearly because his head was up his arse.

I wish I had more hands, so I could give this movie four thumbs down!

Edited March 10, 2009 by scottyd

[Jingthing]

Like I said, this movie may indeed be TOO GOOD for the usual suspects film fans in Thailand ... If you just want pure gore/pure action, this is not for you.

The reviews are mixed. I stand by my rave. Not saying its the best film of the year, am saying we get almost all total CRAP released in Thailand and this one is better than crap.

There is something exhilarating in the sheer madness of Watchmen: a wacky world turned upside down - famous people from history are always getting dream-like cameos. Costumed combatants flit across the screen in the company of Nixon, Henry Kissinger and Pat Buchanan: the Watchmen's existence pokes some sharp satire at the besuited, capeless warriors of conservative America. The synapse-frazzling ambition of Watchmen is impressive as it lurches from hyperreal Earth to photoreal Mars; it is dizzy, crazy and quite sexy - when it's not being self-indulgent and pointless. If it doesn't quite hang together or add up, or stick faithfully to the comic-book original, these offences aren't major. What a spectacle.

The Guardian

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?...amp;type=movies

One could say that the filmmakers' strategy in "Watchmen" is to try to hold the audience's attention, not with a great story (the story is just OK), but with great scenes, one after the next. That's the ultimate risk in any narrative art: It means that the contract for an audience's engagement is up for renewal at the end of every sequence. Yet Snyder and company keep closing the deal. They keep the ball in the air for an epic 163 minutes, by attending to the drama within scenes and by nurturing the film's pervasive mood - despair and nihilism.

That mood descends during the opening credits. Through a mix of archival and manufactured footage, we get the back-story of "Watchmen" through flashes - an alternate history in which masked heroes have been part of the urban landscape for decades. The effect of this credit sequence can't be overstated: It presents, in fictionalized form, the mid to late 20th century as an endless slog of wars, assassinations and mass deceptions. Within minutes, the viewer has been infused with a sense of life on earth as chaotic and hopeless.

The appeal of "Watchmen" is really about something else - the sight of a blimp passing by the twin towers, as seen from an office window. It's about the uneasiness we feel when we see those towers resurrected in an alternate universe. Part conscious and part unconscious, "Watchmen" tells us of a world without hope and then makes us wonder if we're already living in it.

Edited March 10, 2009 by Jingthing

[Jimjim]

Like I said, this movie may indeed be TOO GOOD for the usual suspects film fans in Thailand ...

Not sure what a usual suspect film fan is, really. Don't flatter yourself, although I think you're more responding to the poster right before yours. Blood, guts and gore are not what I want out of movies. I want plot, flow, tension and intriguing moral dilemmas. This provides moral dilemmas, but not to a particularly intriguing degree for me. I think it's just a case of most people aren't going to like this movie, and some will. I like plenty of movies that get bad reviews or others don't find interesting. Doesn't mean it's TOO GOOD (this movie was far from too good), means I just liked it for my own reasons whereas it didn't have mass appeal. They marketed this movie heavily and I think that's why it pulled in over $50 million on the first weekend, but I'd doubt more than 50% that saw it really thought it was that great. Most of the reviews I read said it sucked for the same reasons I did. Honestly, though, the movies I like often get bad reviews. In this case, it was the opposite.

Oh, and why not give some of the bad reviews as well, because there were plenty of those from which to choose. Regarding that second review you posted, the only "despair" I had was because I wasted three hours of my life.

Edited March 12, 2009 by Jimjim

[Jingthing]

I agree of course, responses to movies are subjective. I thought the political satire in the Watchmen was fantastic and done in a very fresh way. Not everyone is going to appreciate that or even understand that (in other words, they will be BORED by it). So I get your point. It is a strange kind of movie, a very DARK movie, and not for everyone. I didn't like the censorship in the Thai version so I liked this one enough to watch the real version, and for me that is rare, I usually do not watch movies more than once. There was so much richness in the details of this one that I think its worth the time for another viewing.

Edited March 12, 2009 by Jingthing

[QED]

I quite enjoyed it, the missus was confused as <deleted> and eventually fell asleep.

Never seen quite such a graphic sex scene in a movie in Thailand - two thumbs up for that, she was fit. Missus: "why you bring me look sex movie?"

Dr Manhattan's c*ck was always blurred out, does that mean he was walking around with it on show all the time in the west? - very strange, mind you I guess that's why the Jing liked it so much

[Jingthing]

Dr Manhattan's c*ck was always blurred out, does that mean he was walking around with it on show all the time in the west?

That's what I hear, for all to see, on the BIG screen.

More good news at the local Thai cinemas:

THE WRESTLER opens today.

This one I think will appeal to all kinds of crowds. Have fun.

Edited March 12, 2009 by Jingthing