(spoilers)
Some people don't like the ending at all. I know some people who hate it, feeling that Watchmen was brilliant right up to that point.
But it worked for me.
Inspired by this article in Newsarama about translating the ending of the original Watchmen graphic novel to the silver screen (or not).
I didn't hate the ending. I thought it worked.
ReplyDeleteJust read the article. Man, the studio knows for sure this will be big. I'm glad I got a Blu-Ray...screw HD-DVD. Man, Blu-Ray can do so much more. It's just that they haven't had the stuff/tech/camera(?), I guess, to be able to put it on the discs. Hence the lack of extras on both the new formats.
I am sad to see the thingies go. It depends on how this new ending unfolds, but the thingies really clinched it for me. I heart the thingies!
ReplyDeleteI've always liked the ending and thought it worked for the universe it was set in. I mean, Nixon's still in office in the mid-eighties, so it's clear that there are some leaps to be taken - and there is the question of how far science (and the creation of hmmmrm-brrr-blah [me avoiding a give-away]) would have come in a world here the spandex clad did exist. To avoid any spoilers, I'll merely say that for me, the ending worked, and I'm looking forward to seeing the translation, if any.
ReplyDeleteThere are people who don't like the end? What?
ReplyDeleteThe Ozymandias "master plan" was always the weak point in the story for me. I've never believed it would have worked, and I never believed Adrian Veidt would believe it.
ReplyDeleteAs the screenwriter Sam Hamm said after attempting his own version of the screenplay in the late 80s, "even if it did work, you'd have to keep doing it every six months."
So I have no issue with a new, more plausible ending being concocted for Zack Snyder's version.
I, for one, loathed it, and I suspect this will be an instance (think The Godfather or Trainspotting or The Ice Storm) where the director surpasses the source material.
ReplyDeleteI liked the ending. It was a typical Moore literature/pop culture reference.
ReplyDeleteSPOILERS BELOW
I think the "alien" fits the plan better than putting the blame on a super powered being. Because it seems to me that if a hero identified with America suddenly went bad, America would still get the blame for damage done to other countries.
On the other hand, I fully realize that normal comic imagery can look rather goofy on screen. So, I am not that perturbed by the change.
I'm torn on the Watchmen movie. On one hand, it seems impossible to translate thematically, and certainly when the guy who made 300 is directing. On the other hand, Snyder has intrigued me, not with the fanboy-pandering faithfulness to the source material everyone goes on about, but with the actual changes he's made. For starters, Ozymandias looks like he stepped out of Batman & Robin. Nightowl's costume is more Batman Begins, Silk Spectre is ridiculously sexified and the original Minutemen costumes seem like the kind of padded fabric suits you'd see in a 50's serial. Which all leads me to think Snyder's attempting to translate Watchmen's breakdown of superhero comics into a deconstruction of superhero films. But that's just a guess. It's possible Dan is just supposed to look badass and Laurie is nothing more than a masturbatory fantasy. As such, I'm not really all that concerned if he fiddles with the squid ending. I am going to be mad if Rorschach's questions of sexual identity are glossed over though.
ReplyDeleteI'm Italian... so I'm rather fond of squid (generally fried).
ReplyDeleteWhile I like the ending, I of course don't agree with Veidt's masterplan nor do I think it's a workable solution for the long-term.
ReplyDeleteAs for the movie, if you're going to make as direct a translation as possible, do it. Stop trying to hide behind "comic book imagery doesn't work on the silver screen" nonsense. The frickin' squid didn't stop Watchmen from being a good book, so why should it stop it from being a good movie?
The ending is only good if they do a really good job of depicting that weird underground evil paper and making you believe that they might actually believe that they will read Rorshach's journals.
ReplyDeleteThough if they change is so that Rorshach strangles more people before he dies, that would be cool.
Or if the Comedian came back to play Pinochle. Just kidding.
I do like Rorshach, though.
Yes, I liked the ending. And the big squid. And crushing New York. Maybe they should imitate the first Punisher movie and squish Tampa, though?
The ending is what makes the entire book worthwhile. If not for the ending, none of what happened would of mattered.
ReplyDeleteI liked the ending in the comic, but I don't think the general public would.
ReplyDeleteTorsten's Law Of Movie Adaptations: No matter how bad a motion picture adaptation of a literary property is, it will always increase sales of the original book. Moviegoers will understand that the original story was exceptional enough for a motion picture company to spend millions of dollars filming.
ReplyDeleteSo, unlike everyone here, I have not yet seen the movie. If the ending is different, then that will encourage people to compare it with the graphic novel. Dave Gibbons have his approval. He even drew new pages of story for the production crew to match new story in the screenplay.
*SPOILER* The GN is a bit week. Adrian knew the future, and should have manipulated events much better. Costa Rica? Why not Kiribati? Why murder the Comedian so blatantly (and wouldn't the CIA investigate?) when you could make him "disappear"? Or does he want the other heroes to become involved? Does Adrian suffer from Riddler'sPsychosis, needing for someone to figure out his Master Plan, to prove how smart he is?
Oh, yes, please change the end, Hollywood. You all know what's believable SOOOO much better than anyone else. Glowing blue guy, hey, that's fine! But the climax of the book as written? Nahhhh, that's too much. Wouldn't make a good toy.
ReplyDeleteThe revised ending of V for Vendetta, where everyone suddenly understands what's going on instead of being typical blind dunderheads? Brilliant! In fact, we should fix the endings of a lot of those unbelievable stories. Romeo and Juliet? Too much of a downer, let's have them ride off into a sunset of some sort. The Crow? Let's have Eric stay alive and fight crime! The Bible? Let's have Jebus stay dead at the end, it's more realistic.
In conclusion, people are dumb.
Don't stress, no spoilers, I'm gonna be vague.
ReplyDeleteYou know, I've been thinking, and I was wondering about the change hinted at with the ending. I wonder, like the V for Vendetta was an allusion to our government's wrong-doings, if Watchmen will end with an allusion to 9/11?
The ending worked for me. Of course Veidt's solution won't work long term, that was the reason Manhattan told him that nothing ever ends, or at least that was my take on it.
ReplyDeleteI thought the oiginal ending was perfectly fine. It was feasible given the technological leaps they had already shown due to Dr, Manhattan, and of course, it would not work in the long term. Dr. Manhattan said as much as he was leaving.
ReplyDeleteThat's true- Dr. Manhattan pretty much told him it wouldn't work. And that's coming from a guy who knows everything down to the smallest particle to a guy who thinks he knows everything.
ReplyDeleteStill, if the change to the ending were an improvement, I'd be all for it. But it seems like Snyder's trying to have it both ways. Tough to judge without having seen it and with so little to go on.
300 stunk, by the way.
It was my favorite episode of the Outer Limits. I suppose it was Alan Moore's too.
ReplyDeleteOh noes!
ReplyDeleteI thought the ending was actually part of the whole theme of the book...
Stop me if i'm wrong, but, it seems to me, that the Entire Point is that in this world with superhero vigilantes affecting world history and the Cold War looming over them, everyone is obsessed with the end of the world. The thingie was totally Lovecraftian, and if you interpret Black Freighter as the Watchmen Universe's answer to superhero comics, then Lovecraft would be the Watchmen Universe's Tolkein.
The thingie makes absolute perfect sense in that setting. It's all part of the tapestry! "This is what culture looks like when real cloaked vigilantes roam around claiming to represent justice" - it's a culture that would accept a Lovecraftian horror better than they'd accept peace.
But i didn't expect a filmmaker to be able to grasp the 'point' of Watchmen in the first place. Hell, maybe nobody else saw it but me anyway.