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Watchmen (spoilers)

Started by Berkut, March 11, 2009, 09:28:10 AM

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Berkut

So...I think I might get lynched by some fanbois, but....I think the movie ending is considerably better than the book.

I mean seriously, a giant fucking squid? Totally disconnected from the rest of the story. Movie ending was a big improvement.
"If you think this has a happy ending, then you haven't been paying attention."

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lustindarkness

Heretic! ...but I do agree the squid would not make sense in the movie, but it went well with the book, more comic like.
Grand Duke of Lurkdom

Neil

Quote from: Berkut on March 11, 2009, 09:28:10 AM
I mean seriously, a giant fucking squid? Totally disconnected from the rest of the story. Movie ending was a big improvement.
Have you ever read Watchmen?  The squid is what Pyramid is all about, and thus the detective story.

It doesn't translate as well today, because psychic shit is less vogue than it was in the 80s.
I do not hate you, nor do I love you, but you are made out of atoms which I can use for something else.

Berkut

Quote from: Neil on March 11, 2009, 09:59:13 AM
Quote from: Berkut on March 11, 2009, 09:28:10 AM
I mean seriously, a giant fucking squid? Totally disconnected from the rest of the story. Movie ending was a big improvement.
Have you ever read Watchmen?  The squid is what Pyramid is all about, and thus the detective story.

It doesn't translate as well today, because psychic shit is less vogue than it was in the 80s.

Of course I read the story - I finished it a few days before seeing the movie.

Not sure what you mean about Pyramid being all about the squid. I realize that Pyramid was the cover company for Veidt plan to scare the owrld witha  giant psychic squid, but that doesn't mean it fits. It might as well ahve been a giant hamster, or maybe a gigantic beetle turd.
"If you think this has a happy ending, then you haven't been paying attention."

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Neil

Quote from: Berkut on March 11, 2009, 10:16:45 AM
Quote from: Neil on March 11, 2009, 09:59:13 AM
Quote from: Berkut on March 11, 2009, 09:28:10 AM
I mean seriously, a giant fucking squid? Totally disconnected from the rest of the story. Movie ending was a big improvement.
Have you ever read Watchmen?  The squid is what Pyramid is all about, and thus the detective story.

It doesn't translate as well today, because psychic shit is less vogue than it was in the 80s.

Of course I read the story - I finished it a few days before seeing the movie.

Not sure what you mean about Pyramid being all about the squid. I realize that Pyramid was the cover company for Veidt plan to scare the owrld witha  giant psychic squid, but that doesn't mean it fits. It might as well ahve been a giant hamster, or maybe a gigantic beetle turd.
Less scary.
I do not hate you, nor do I love you, but you are made out of atoms which I can use for something else.

frunk

The giant squid works because it's a threat that appears to be beyond the ken of human understanding and so I think is a more effective stimulus for the world to harmoniously unite thereby achieving Veidt's goal.  The biggest question marks are on the practicality of creating such a thing, and of keeping the research and development required for such an undertaking secret.  Yeah, yeah, Veidt killed everybody, but the huge amount of scientific development necessary would have left its mark.

Dr. Manhattan as worldwide threat works as it's a direct and obvious danger that's easily understood, and would require tremendous effort to defeat.  Covering up the undertaking appears easier as well, one technology researched with the main source of the development (Dr. Manhattan) unlikely to spill the beans.  The big question marks are the likelihood of needing repeat destructions of cities to keep the threat uppermost in people's minds when the Dr. doesn't show up for a long time, and the greater chance of squabbling/attempts to make deals.

HVC

I never read the comic, but when i first read about the ending back on the "old" forum i commented that i thought it was as upid ending. The movies choice seems much better.
Being lazy is bad; unless you still get what you want, then it's called "patience".
Hubris must be punished. Severely.

Berkut

I actually thought the movie ending had an element of "Jesus will throw in the lake of fire" to it - that the destruction was not done as an attack on humanity, but as a punishment, with the threat of more punishment to come if humans are not "good".

This is a weaker message - it is not that nuclear war was averted because mankind came together against an outside threat, but simply because mankind is afraid of being punished again.
"If you think this has a happy ending, then you haven't been paying attention."

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HVC

Quote from: Berkut on March 11, 2009, 11:38:38 AM
This is a weaker message - it is not that nuclear war was averted because mankind came together against an outside threat, but simply because mankind is afraid of being punished again.
more fitting witht eh human psyche lol
Being lazy is bad; unless you still get what you want, then it's called "patience".
Hubris must be punished. Severely.

Evil Spock

It seems like actually makes way more sense. Veidt eliminates his only threat and accomplishes his goal in the same move. Having not seen the movie yet though, I can't really say.

Neil

Quote from: Evil Spock on March 11, 2009, 12:17:30 PM
It seems like actually makes way more sense. Veidt eliminates his only threat and accomplishes his goal in the same move. Having not seen the movie yet though, I can't really say.
It was the TV interview and the cancer that got rid of Manhattan, not the finale.  That was what pushed him to realize that he was never coming back.  Laurie's performance on Mars might have made him a bit nostalgic and willing to help out a little, but he had already cut ties with Earth, and saving the planet was his way of cutting ties with Laurie.
I do not hate you, nor do I love you, but you are made out of atoms which I can use for something else.

I Killed Kenny

And I don't understand how can somebody said that Ozzy was the "good guy"... He did this all to make money rebuiling the world...

lustindarkness

Quote from: I Killed Kenny on March 11, 2009, 03:28:57 PM
And I don't understand how can somebody said that Ozzy was the "good guy"... He did this all to make money rebuiling the world...

He was a republican. :)
Grand Duke of Lurkdom

Neil

Quote from: I Killed Kenny on March 11, 2009, 03:28:57 PM
And I don't understand how can somebody said that Ozzy was the "good guy"... He did this all to make money rebuiling the world...
Probably not.  After all, he was already the wealthiest human being on the planet.
I do not hate you, nor do I love you, but you are made out of atoms which I can use for something else.

garbon

As I said in the old thread, the ending doesn't make sense to me as it doesn't seem like people would be cowed by fear for very long.  This wouldn't be everlasting peace as eventually people would stop being fearful of Dr. Manhattan.  Considering how public a figure he was (the news knew when he went to Mars), eventually people will figure out that he's gone.
"I've never been quite sure what the point of a eunuch is, if truth be told. It seems to me they're only men with the useful bits cut off."

I drank because I wanted to drown my sorrows, but now the damned things have learned to swim.