It was a weird thing when the Watchmen movie came out in 2009. There it was, a cinematic adaptation of one of the most-loved superhero stories of all time and… it was bad. Mostly, according to comedian and uber-nerd Patton Oswalt, because it was too much like the comics it was based on.
At an appearance in New Jersey’s Word bookstore — picked up by ScreenCrush — Oswalt took questions while on stage with actor Patrick Wilson, who played Night Owl in Zack Snyder’s big-budget movie. For the most part, Oswalt’s responses to a fan’s question about Watchmen won’t be that big of a revelation to fans of Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ seminal superhero drama. But it’s great to see him bounce those thoughts off of Wilson, who offers great insight on what it was like to embody a character that existed in both visual and written forms.
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15 responses to “Watch Patton Oswalt Trash (And Defend) The Watchmen Movie”
But I liked the movie! I thought it was great, a very close adaptation of the graphic novel except for the ending.
Yep, same here. I thought it was a great adaptation… certainly much, much better than I was expecting. Especially in the full length Ultimate Cut edition… apart from the different ending it’s a better adaptation than anybody could have reasonably hoped for.
Yep – me too. I read the comic after watching the movie and I understand a lot of the hate was directed at the endings being different. But after reading the comic I honestly don’t how you could pull that off properly in a live action cinematic version.
I’m going to utter a blasphemy: I liked the movie ending better.
Me too, when I first watched it. After multiple revisits to both, I’ve realized that I was right.
Now you’re just going too far 😛
Agreed, the movie ending was much better. The comic ending was a bit out there, and unnecessary.
I agree.
Admittedly, I did NOT read the comic first, but I thought the movie was pretty cool.
Then I bought the comic and thought “holy shit, this is great”. The comic IS better, but the movie isn’t bad. Great casting decisions, certainly.
The reasons for the changed ending were understandable, too. Despite the differences, it all equated to the same basic conclusion anyway.
I never understood why everyone accepted the idea that the movie couldn’t have a giant interdimensional alien as the ending. Seriously, if the audience can get on board with a naked blue guy who reassembles himself out of thin air with god powers, then a faked attack by space squids is trivial after that.
Jaws could have used a Mafia subplot.
I really didn’t like the movie at all. I walked out of the cinema at the time and I couldn’t decide whether I actually liked what I had just seen or not. After a while and some more thought on it I realised no, I really didn’t like it.
It might have been pretty faithful to the comic but that might be why I didn’t like it. There was just so many things that didn’t sit right which I’m sure come across better in the comic.
Glowing blue guy showing us his wedding tackle all movie long. A few too many sex scenes. Slicing off a guy’s arms with an angle grinder. Other very graphic violence and a rape scene. No real explanation for certain plot points (why did Dr Manhattan go to Mars, of all places for example? It’s not explained well in the movie at all)
Yeah, no.
I liked the movie.
Didn’t read the book.
Nice to have a super hero movie which actually makes you think instead of the usual dumbed down, made for teen boys, crap that gets served up (transformers anyone?)
“I don’t want to see that.”
All an immature moron needs to hate is confronting male sexuality.
I enjoyed the movie, loved the comic. Rorschach was done perfectly, the whole visual side was great. I think the ending of the movie ***spoiler*** wasn’t as good due to not having any emotional connection with the civilians that died, but I realise that the movie probably would have gone for 6 hours if they included it. I remember reading the comic and feeling sorry for the newspaper stand guy… so sad
It was bad? I thought it was brilliant. They may not of gone with the original master plan but really the original would never fly with today’s audiences. Plus the extra time they’d have to put in to make the original ending even achievable would be pretty significant.