No blurring in the Western version - we got to see everything. EVERYTHING.
It's been interesting reading the responses to the ending by people who haven't read the book, because it's causing me to revise my opinion of the changes that were made. My initial impression was that it worked pretty well, but the message people are taking away is so different than what's in the novel that I'm starting to rethink that.
Silhouette kissing the nurse is a great visual gag but I wish her story hadn't been reduced to three shots of Silhouette Was a Hot Lesbian Who Died Being Hot. The book is more complicated and less homophobic.
I look forward to reading the source material . . . what's interesting about the movie's failures while being so apparently slavish to the comics is that it does truly make me want to read the comics themselves. It's been very interesting reading reviews from critics who are and are not fans of the original work.
Nope- the phrase "glowing blue CGI penis" was part of my conversation after seeing the film for a reason. The ending was actually altered from the book's; it says something that 1) the ending of the movie is actually more plausible, if not more satisfying, and 2) that Watchmen is still (rightly) mentioned as being the great comic book work of all time, despite having an ending that involves teleporting mutant telepathic death squid. (No, really.) You're right about the strength/grace of the characters, too; in the comic books, after Dan and Laurie kick the muggers' asses; they're puffing for breath; in the movie, they look as though they've been studying martial arts in Thailand :) (And Laurie Jupiter- the chick from Harold and Kumar, IIRC) was the one real weak note among the actors, too).
I think it was meant to be highly stylized and weird, though it was far too reminiscent of the groan-inducingly bad sex scene from 300 for me to think that the badness (and the humor that went along with the badness) was intentional. :)
You should definitely go to the source. There is a lot of density and character work that rivals the opening credits. In many ways the opening credits are the most faithful to the tone of the book than any other scene. Sure somethings were fuckin awesome and nailed head on (Rorschach, Crudup, etc), but man, it definitely was a talented teenage-fanboy adaptation. Where as the source material is something on a much more hardcore level.
If anything, as much as I enjoyed the movie, it served mainly to give me an even greater appreciation for the awesomeness of the source.
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It's been interesting reading the responses to the ending by people who haven't read the book, because it's causing me to revise my opinion of the changes that were made. My initial impression was that it worked pretty well, but the message people are taking away is so different than what's in the novel that I'm starting to rethink that.
Silhouette kissing the nurse is a great visual gag but I wish her story hadn't been reduced to three shots of Silhouette Was a Hot Lesbian Who Died Being Hot. The book is more complicated and less homophobic.
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I look forward to reading the source material . . . what's interesting about the movie's failures while being so apparently slavish to the comics is that it does truly make me want to read the comics themselves. It's been very interesting reading reviews from critics who are and are not fans of the original work.
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If anything, as much as I enjoyed the movie, it served mainly to give me an even greater appreciation for the awesomeness of the source.
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