Watchmen : The Greatest Comic Book Movie of All Time

The Greatest Comic Book Movie of All Time

I honestly believe that give this movie just 5 more years and it'll come to be seen as the greatest comic book movie ever, yes even better than the Dark Knight. A majority of people on the Internet already believe so. Some are even using the words 'cinematic masterpiece.' Your thoughts on this?

Re: The Greatest Comic Book Movie of All Time

I'm about to screen the directors cut. I also have the ultimate cut. I believe I am heading towards putting this on that masterpiece level. I did always like the film but it keeps moving up my list of adapted comics the more I do watch it

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This has slowly but surely climbed its way up, not only my list of favorite comic book movies, but movies period. It's still a bit polarizing, but I agree w/the OP that I think it's a film that people will revisit and re-evaluate in the years to come, similar to Blade Runner, and that its reputation will grow accordingly.

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A journey into the realm of the obscure: http://saturdayshowcase.blogspot.com/

Re: The Greatest Comic Book Movie of All Time

Couldn't agree more. THE best comic book movie of all time, but also simply one of the greatest films. It's one of the few films i've given a 10 to. It is noteworthy to say that my sentiment is exclusively based on the movie, as i have never laid eyes on the graphic novel.

I will start by saying that as good as Batman begins and The Dark Knight were (i almost prefer the former), neither came close to the intensity, depth and mythological richness Watchmen contains.

The deep philosophical dimension of this movie is a pure delight to ponder about every time i watch it. Every line Rorschach or Manhattan deliver are like a punch to the guts. Strikingly misanthropic and hopeless, senseless, nihilistic and dark, yet thought provoking and beautiful in a melancholic kind of way.

One of the many reasons i love this movie is because of THE most bada$$ origin story ever told on screen. Manhattan's background story is just... magnificently told. Can't watch this scene without having the same goosebumps he has in that tank at the start of the experiment. The score, the calm monologue.

"It is [Time] and i feel fear for the last time" Brilliant.

The score during the whole scene is just perfect and adds to the tension, yet inspires awe and curiosity. The way he reappears, a circulatory system over there, a screaming skeleton over here, and then the Christ-like final apparition of the most perfect entity the universe has ever created. Just awesome.

"Perhaps the world is not made. Perhaps nothing is made. A clock without a craftsman. It's too late. Always has been, always will be. Too late." and "In my opinion, the existence of life is a highly overrated phenomenon" Love it. So depressing. So existential.

Or "I've walked across the surface of the sun, seen events so tiny and so fast that they hardly can be said to have occurred at all. But you, Adrian...are just a man. And the world's smartest man poses no more threat to me than does its smartest termite."

Rorschach is also a killer: "You see, Doctor, God didn't kill that little girl. Fate didn't butcher her and destiny didn't feed her to those dogs. If God saw what any of us did that night he didn't seem to mind. From then on I knew... God doesn't make the world this way. We do"

Or:

- "Is it bean juice?"
- "Human bean juice" Cracks me up every time!

Special mention the Ozymandias. This guy is just the ultimate bada$$ who comes up with a plan that made me actually go "Huh. Not bad at all!", contrary to so many other movies within which the bad guy's plan just makes no sense whatsoever **cough**SKYFALL**cough**!

His elegant, smooth and borderline homoerotic way of talking and moving around. His perfect and eloquent speech, his over-the-top intelligence (and speed), everything about him makes him awesome. I particularly love this line:

"The only person i have ever admired was born 500 years before Jesus Christ..."

First time i heard that i was like "DAMN!" If that's not a subtle and slick way of committing blasphemy and attacking Christianity, i don't know what is. Which is totally in line with Alan Moore by the way, who is a confessed gnostic, like Philipp K. Dick too for example, which explains this hatred for reality, the nihilistic, misanthropic undertone of Watchmen and Moore's other works. I suggest anyone interested in the subject reads up on Gnosticism, i find the whole thing deeply fascinating and it helps a great deal towards understanding the dense subtext of the movie.

At last but not least, the Comedian. The most despicable character to have ever been called a hero, yet one of the most intriguing and interesting at the same time, and a compelling philosopher who doesn't even know he is one. A man who rapes whoever he fancies, burns people alive while smoking a cigar and murders pregnant women while cracking jokes. A man who's not in it for the "greater good", whatever that means, but for the lulz and thrills of murdering whoever and who drops unexpected bombs such as:

- "What happened to the American Dream?"
- "What happened to the American Dream?" It came true! You're lookin' at it..." just before shooting some dude in the back... Common! How do you want the Dark Knight to beat that? And they call TDK dark and gritty? Gimme a break (and i love the movie!).

A man's whose last words were: "This is a joke. This is all a joke" It can seem so trivial at first glance but i find it just so insightful and deep somehow.

I'm not gonna mention much Nite Owl and Silk Specter II. Wilson did a good job and delivered a very humane performance and Akerman was ok i guess, definitively the weakest link of the cast. Also, i found them both having the lowest philosophical and mythological relevance compared the other much more complex and multi-layered characters.

So yeah, add to all of the above top notch special effects and the really compelling fight scenes (5min in, one realizes while watching the Comedian fight and be killed that this is no generic Marvel movie. Nope.), one of the greatest score/soundtrack ever done for a movie (seriously, i had no idea Bob Dylan was that awesome before Watchmen made me realize it!) and you get the best superhero movie ever, i totally agree with OP.


PS: As far as comic book movie go, i even put Kickass before TDK. In my book: TDK = 7-8/10, Kickass = 8-9/10 and Watchmen 9-10/10. I gave it a 10.



People who don't like their beliefs being laughed at shouldn't have such funny beliefs

Re: The Greatest Comic Book Movie of All Time

Also, the ultimate irony at the end, Rorschach himself transformed into a... Rorschach stain!

Love it ^^


People who don't like their beliefs being laughed at shouldn't have such funny beliefs

Re: The Greatest Comic Book Movie of All Time

I watch the Director's Cut all the time. This is an excellent analysis, almost perfect. The weakest link in the entire movie in my opinion are definitely Nite Owl and Silk Spectre II. The love-making scene was absolutely pointless, and the addition of the timing with Leonard Cohen made it all the more cheesy.

Yes. Watchmen is the greatest comic book movie of all time.

Re: The Greatest Comic Book Movie of All Time

Thanks.

People who don't like their beliefs being laughed at shouldn't have such funny beliefs

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lol....seriously

Re: The Greatest Comic Book Movie of All Time

Yes, one of the best superhero movie.

The only thing holding it back IMHO is the overuse of licensed music which made some scenes really cheesy. Hallejujah, 99 Luftballons, Sound of Silence & All along the Watchtower.

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It was always at the top for me. Before it was released V for Vendetta was my #1 then it went to TDK in 08 then right to WATCHMEN and it's stayed up there.

There's just something about it that is oh so perfect.

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Agreed. I've grown tired of super hero movies yet I still continue to watch this one...and the Director's Cut is the way to go, IMO.

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I really like this film (the ultimate cut) and I hope that it will continiue to grow in popularity. It has a few small flaws but those can be overlooked.

It might be the only film I have given a 10.

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The Watchmen Ultimate Cut is by far the greatest comic book movie made. But more than this, it is as you say, a cinematic masterpiece.

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Not even close. It's a bastardized mess made by a shameless hack who has no understanding or appreciation of the source material.

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Wow. While I agree that Synder can be hit and miss, I totally disagree with you. This is an incredible film, about as close as they could possibly get to the plot of the graphic novel, and still make it palatable to non-fans. The look, the score and the acting all add to Alan Moore's incredible story.

Just when I think comic book movie adaptions are played out, I give this a rewatch. Its like having a zesty dessert after a spicy meal. Totally refreshing.

Re: The Greatest Comic Book Movie of All Time

Please post the " Best Comic Movie " then. I'll prepare a laugh.

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Not even close. It's a bastardized mess made by a shameless hack who has no understanding or appreciation of the source material.

There's always one socially inept jackass in the bunch.

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I have never thought that I could love a super-hero movie. I always thought that for me the only good super-hero movie would be deadpool until I meet with "watchmen". I honestly watched it as a homework (Because of the dilemma in the movie which was killing millions of people for billions of lives) But this movie gave me inspiration, new ideas as well as the 3 hours-long unique movie experience. I never thought of anything else while I was watching it. Especially towards the end of the movie I didn't even know where I was watching it.

The biggest question to ask ,though, is why the heck such a movie could only take 7.6 points? There are many pointless, boring movies in the top 250 movie list. But this movie could only gain 7.6 points. Well, this is a huge JOKE.

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I don't consider tdk triolgy CBM movies at all more crime thillers with batman in them. Watchmen is one of my favorite movies of all time and worthy of being thought of as the best CBM of all time..it's up there for me tbh

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much better than that avengers crap huh c:

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From the first time I saw it I think its the best super hero movie ever. Nothing even came close. I'm still shocked to see this movie having a rating of 56 from metacritic.com and Age of Ultorn 66 or Iron Man 62...I mean, wtf? Watchmen is a masterpiece and to bad it did not make enough movie for a sequel. Also, this comes from a person who never read the comic book or any other comic book that so ever.

Raylan Givens: I'm going to need an ambulance, and a coroner.

Re: The Greatest Comic Book Movie of All Time

My thoughts are that comic book fans will think any movie that looks like a comic, is a masterpiece, completely ignoring that from a movie standpoint, it isn't anything special in comparison to the Dark Knight.


A majority of people on the Internet already believe so


The majority of people on the internet are idiots, and know nothing about cinema. Those who say that Watchmen is better than TDK are most likely the same people who say BvS was a good movie.

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I don't know how to reply to someone who is so full of himself and yet so ignorant at the same time. People are entitled to their opinions and it is a flaw in judgment to paint a disparate group of people with such a wide brush. But, cheers, if this is what helps you to get through the day.

I just watched BvS and it made me nostalgic about Watchmen. The dark elements in the DC movies seem to be obvious attempts to recapture the dark magic introduced by Alan Moore. I think we all can see the difference between pre- and post- Watchmen Superman and Batman movies.

One of the things I love most about Watchmen is that it doesn't forget that it is a "comic book" movie. The opening montage is perfect in introducing this world through stills that could have easily been panels in a comic book and at the same time establishes the setting, mood, and characters, and then sucks us back to "reality" with the Comedian watching late night TV. This transition was sublime in my opinion.

Far be it from me to claim anything a masterpiece, but Watchmen is (IMO) still the best movie about superheroes though Deadpool was pretty good too.

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Actually, the biggest idiots are the people who immediately agree with what the majority of viewers say without a shred of independent, intelligent thought.

Anybody capable of using his own brain instead of just following box office revenues and dimwitted critics can see that Watchmen is vastly superior to TDK in every possible way.

For example
- a smarter, deeper storyline (duh, watchmen is based on one of the best novels, albeit in graphic novel form, of all time.... TDK is, well, a poorly thought out parody of Frank Miller's "The Dark Knight Returns" at best, at best just a self-indulgent, pretentious, utterly meaningless piece of fluff)

-superior attention to details and character development (aside from The Joker, any character in TDK is an empty caricature while in watchmen every character is unique and well defined, and even the joker, meh, the actor had just died, so guess what, time for the Hype machine. Sadly, if he'd still been alive the movie would have been a lot less successful and by now it would have been forgotten)

-Vastly superior cinematography (possibly because the comic book served as storyboard, still, the first twenty minutes of watchmen are visually more memorable than all of TDK put together with its out of focus action scenes, its close up shots of emoting stars, and dumb car chases)

-free of TDK's constant attempt to combine serious themes with paper-thin, cartoonish characters and childish storytelling


and the list could go on and on.... (btw, BvS is terrible, same director but completely different in any other way, shape or form compared to Watchmen - but then again it doesn't matter because since the general opinion is that it's terrible you probably agree without having even watched it)

Either way, for people with a brain Watchmen is not just superior to TDK, but one of the best movies ever made. Obviously a bit too smart for certain individuals, but that's ok, dumbing stuff down for the masses might make more money but doesn't produce great art.

On a more Batman-friendly note, if you want to see some real art involving this character read Frank Miller's "The Dark Knight Returns". which is what the movie could have been if they hadn't used a pretentious director who couldn't tell a work of art from a cartoon for retards if his life depended on it

peace

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My thoughts are that comic book fans will think any movie that looks like a comic, is a masterpiece, completely ignoring that from a movie standpoint, it isn't anything special in comparison to the Dark Knight.

On the contrary, I think fans of the comic are the hardest to please. Someone who never read the book is much more likely to judge it on its own merit, while devotees of the book are more likely to pick it apart and complain about every deviation. I love the book, and I also really like the movie. Yes, they changed some things, but overall they were pretty faithful. I think they adapted it was well as could be hoped.

The further a society drifts from the truth, the more it will hate those that speak it.

Re: The Greatest Comic Book Movie of All Time

Yeah, no. Not even in the top 5.

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WORDS MEAN THINGS! Also, before you come to bitch about a plot hole, rewatch the show/movie.

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Best movie of all time, period. Very true to life plot and a dark look at humanity's nature and the government.

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I wouldn't go as far, but I would definitely put Watchmen in Top 10 list of the best comic book adaptations ever. This movie is convoluted and very nontrivial with its approach, but that's why it's so great. It still hurts my brain to understand how the hell Age of Ultron and Iron Man 3 received better critical and fan reception than this one. This movie managed to successfully do three things that any good comic book movie should do: 1. It was entertaining. 2. It respected it's source material. 3. Despite being entertaining, it's still manages to have thought-provoking ideas and intellectual integrity.

How the hell this movie is so divisive while those movies I've mentioned received minimal critical backlash?

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Totally agree....I was blown away at why this movie was panned so badly. I have seen this movie so many times. Snyder did a brilliant job with the source material and direction. The cast also was brilliant as well. Simply could not have had a better cast. Simply in my top 5 best comic movies ever.
1.Avengers -1st movie
2.Captain America-all movies
3.Watchmen
4.X-Men-First Class
5.Ghost Rider-first movie

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Re: The Greatest Comic Book Movie of All Time

I don't get the obsession with the Nolan Batman movies. I can't stand them. Batman Begins was alright, but I felt Dark Knight was terrible, story-wise. I just couldn't maintain my suspension of disbelief. To my mind, Dark Knight was like Batman for hipsters.

Tim Burton's Batman (1989) to me is the penultimate superhero film, but this one comes extremely close, perhaps even better. It is definitely one of the best films overall of the century.

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Sorry to disappoint, but i found this film tedious and a bit of a mess - I actually gave up an hour in. I felt no connection with any of the characters. It was as though the Director had said "look how clever i am seamlessly blending flashbacks with contemporaneous action" ah well you cant always hit the bullseye.....



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Re: The Greatest Comic Book Movie of All Time

Think if you watched lot of comic movies and started to get bit tired of em then come to this movie its a wonderful experience, sure its little bit to smart for its own pants but its target audiences is certainly rather jaded comic enthusiasms.

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Re: The Greatest Comic Book Movie of All Time

Agreed. For me it's far above all other comic book movies (yeah, even the Dark Knight).

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I watched this movie in the theater and I keep coming back to it. I agree, I would stamp Masterpiece on this. It was the epic comic book story I dreamed of.

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I totally agree that Watchmen is a cinematic masterpiece, but I still think that The Dark Knight is a better movie. Watchmen is more comic-booky, faithful to the source and has a story so unique, unpredictable and well crafted which raises a million good questions, but The Dark Knight doesn't lack on story, perfromances or execution either. They are both perfect, yet The Dark Knight is just a little better as a movie in my eyes, not for many reasons though. Really a tough choice.

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I believe it to the be best movie I've ever seen. Every movie now lacks for me in some area compared to Watchmen.

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When this movie came out, my oldest son (17 at the time) and I went to see it. When it was over, we walked silently to the truck, got in the truck and we both sat there for about 5 minutes before either of us said anything. Neither of us could believe what we had just seen.

This IS the best movie based on a comic and I'm not sure anything comes close. I watch it at least once a year.

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It screws up about as much as it succeeds. Some characters fall flat others are great, some scenes fall flat others are great. The biggest issue with it is that Snyder just is not a very good director. Its one of his best but could and should have had a better more restrained and subtle film maker behind it. Keep Snyder on for the visuals it's the only thing he's particularly good at.
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