Posted on: March 7th, 2009 Watchmen: From The Outside Looking In

I am not a fan of Watchmen, there I said it. It’s out there in the open. But it’s not what you think. It is not because I hate it or think its absolute garbage, nor is it because I am unmanly. Simply put, unlike Dr. Manhattan’s genitalia, I have not been exposed to it. The first I heard of it, aside from maybe a few references that were brushed off as nonsense, was when the project was announced in 2007. I had never really ever given any thought about it. Now here I am, the lone wolf on a site partially dedicated to the wonderment that is The Watchmen, standing outside looking in. So what is this outsiders thoughts on all this? Well in short, I am excited and eager to go and view the film for myself and borrow, if not buy the graphic novels myself and read it. However, given the media circus that has plagued it since fall of 2008, I have become less interested. Here is this outsiders story.

Typically I hate hype and the constant attention that blockbusters and long awaited films receive. I find it bombards my senses and in some cases ruins what could be an enjoyable film. Granted there are a few exceptions, such as The Dark Knight and Iron Man, but generally speaking, it bothers me immensely. This brings me to Watchmen. They hype was not as bad when the project was announced, there were a few hip hip hoorays and various discussions around the web on what this meant. Then Zack Snyder was hired on to direct, and the hype grew. Casting and filming began, and finally the first trailer was released and that’s when it finally became a big deal to me. Everyone could not stop talking about how great it was going to be. But that all died down and you heard the occasional quip. Up to this point this had just the right amount of hype for me, everything was going well, and then Fox came in and rained on the parade.

When Fox issued the lawsuit, everything Watchmen became everything lawsuit. It wasn’t the Watchmen film any more, it was now referred to as the Watchmen Lawsuit. And because of that I lost my excitement, it’s all that mattered but it was understandable. Had the lawsuit gone a completely different route, Watchmen may have never have seen the light of day, and the roads would become bathed in blood, mobs of costumed fanboys would run rampant. A bit extreme, but you get my drift. For someone like myself, this was a huge turn off. The media frenzy and the constant discussion about it frustrated me, and I downright lost interest.

The good news though is that through all of this, in recent days since the screenings and opening day, reviews have slowly swayed me in the theaters directions. I have a strong feeling that Watchmen will be a film talked about years down the road, and it would be a pity to miss out on such an event, because seldom these days are there films that receive constant attention long after their theatrical release. In this outsiders opinion, every outsider should fore go debate and make their way, with popcorn and drinks in hand to your seat and partake in something that is sure to be revered as a comic book masterpiece.

I know I will make my attempt and go see it for myself.

12 Responses to “Watchmen: From The Outside Looking In”

1. Stan-Lee Says:
   March 8th, 2009 at 12:06 am

   I for one enjoyed the hype surrounding the watchmen battle. however, I have to agree that the lawsuit crap got real old real fast. but it did create a lot of buzz around the film, it leads me to wonder if the lawsuit was exaggerated a bit and used as a marketing tool itself.

2. Metallicat79 Says:
   March 8th, 2009 at 8:33 pm

   I really belive the timing was highly supsious. But thats just me.

3. Jon Stephens Says:
   March 9th, 2009 at 4:02 pm

   That’s interesting. It’s hard for a Watchmen mega-fanboy like me to relate to that, because any and all Watchmen related news was a big deal to me. Watchmen has been a major part of my life for almost 15 years.

   I will say this: All the hype around Iron Man got the film to make some good cash, but it also RUINED the film, in that all those trailers and tv spots gave away all of the best parts. It was a little disappointing.

   You have a way with words, my friend

4. Metallicat79 Says:
   March 9th, 2009 at 4:26 pm

   I think the problem with a lot a of films and their marketing strategies, is that they reveal too much and ruin the mystery.
   I think when i speak hype what I really am talking about is attention and the distraction to other things going on. I love talking about movies and film, but when a topic of discussion becomes the only topic of discussion, thats where i get lost. When the whole lawsuit thing happened, it was the only thing anyone would talk about, granted this lawsuit was monumental and important to the film industry and fanboys but there were other topics out there that I would have rather talked about. It was the same thing with TDK, I loved TDK, but i felt and still do that it received far too much attention and people just would not and will not shut up about it.

   I chose to write this particular post because, everyone else was doing something Watchmen related, and I felt like the outsider, not understanding what all the hoopla was about. So rather than sit and wait until all this died down, I wanted to contribute, and what better way then to show one persons perspective who was not familiar with the Watchmen. I hoped you enjoyed it, and I think you did. And thanks for the compliment Jon, makes me feel good considering I don’t feel that I am that good a writer. You Da Man.

5. Jon Stephens Says:
   March 9th, 2009 at 8:13 pm

   Ah shucks buddy, thanks.

   Confidence my man, confidence. Ooze it, and it will show in your writing.

6. Film-Book dot Com Says:
   March 24th, 2009 at 5:30 pm

   The problem with Watchmen is that financially, it is not living up to the hype. I will still see it again in theaters though.

   The opening title sequence and fight scene are boss, Malin is hot and Haley is badass.

7. Ryan Ferrier Says:
   March 24th, 2009 at 8:12 pm

   I have to disagree with you here. For a property with no sequel or spin-off potential, the financial argument is moot. Plus with Fox now added to the mix for any profit sharing, the chances of the film making much extra bank was a no-go from the beginning.

   I don’t buy “financial flop” for one second, hype or no hype, projections or no projections. The facts are that a near 3 hour, R rated film with no marquee cast and a “new” director, based on an extremely niche and concentrated story bagged over $55 million on opening weekend. That’s a phenominal success. Look at Grindhouse, which WAS a tremendous failure – it was released with almost the same conditions and that had not one but two mainstream directors and huge stars attached to it.

8. Metallicat79 Says:
   March 24th, 2009 at 8:33 pm

   I still have not yet seen The Watchmen, however I am inclined to go with Ryan on this one, no disrespect to you Filmbook.

   And really Watchmen was more or less made for the fans of the source material, thats it. I wouldn’t call it a flop persya, it did what it set out to do, appease the mass of die hard Watchmen fans like Ryan and Jon

9. Jon Stephens Says:
   March 25th, 2009 at 9:13 am

   Watchmen may not make much in the box-office, but I’m pretty damn sure Snyder knew that. Where the film will make it’s money will be on DVD releases. It will make massive amounts of bank, and I believe it will pay for itself after factoring in the dvd sales.

   You just know there will be a four hour extended cut. Snyder shot a bunch of scenes we know from the GN that never made it into the movie because it was long enough as is. Fanboys will go nuts over that DVD. I know I will.

10. Metallicat79 Says:
    March 25th, 2009 at 9:15 am

    Well said Jon, I think I will be all over the special features myself.

11. Richard Christensen Says:
    July 26th, 2009 at 11:56 am

    This is Richards wife and I have to admit I watched Watchmen with Richard last night.

    I have never read nor heard of Watchmen until my husband started telling me about the movie. I didnt have any expectations going into the movie and no real background to go on.

    As a person who loves action movies and comic book characters i have to admit i was a little Disappointed by this movie.

    It only touched the Briefest explanations about the characters accept for Mr manhatten and Silk spectre. I loved the Rorschach character, but needed to understand him better. And how did his mask do what it did??? Night owl was a very blah character until he and Silk hooked up. I guess getting some finally snapped him back to reality. But we never really found out much about him. Silk seemed to me to be a whiny brat who didnt get what she wanted from Mr manhatten. Mean really who wouldnt have Loved two men whorshipping her!?!?! yeah the working while doing it would piss me off but really girl…… enjoy what you have.

    I did Enjoy when Mr manhatten went to Mars. I thought that was pretty well done and I loved the story about How he came to be and his relationship with Janey. If they had been able to develop each character like that I would have probably enjoyed it a lot more.

    We actually , at one point, turned it off and went to bed because we were getting bored with it. We watched it the next morning but some of the parts just dragged on.

    And as if they just left Veidt alone! i mean really they should have at least beat the crap out of him.

    Anyway thats just my feelings on the movie.

12. Richard Christensen Says:
    July 26th, 2009 at 12:46 pm

    OK, so it looks my wife took advantage to haveing been logged in, and now for my thoughts, as I believe a follow up to this article is in order.

    I still have not read the source material, so perhaps some of my thoughts are irrelevant.

    My biggest complaint about Watchmen, wasthe pace, there were a few parts where I lost interest and dissappeared into the kitchen for a quick snack o a drink and would come back with the same Blah Blah Blahing going on. If the pace was a little faster, and kept me more engaged it would have been a little bit better.

    I would have loved to have seen a little more devlopment for Rorsarch as I really enjoyed his character. And I don’t know if Dr.Manhatton is supposed to be that bland, but man was he bland and boring, which is real disappointing for me as a fan of Crudrup.

    ThePositives far outnumber the negative, since the cinimatography was awesome, the muscial score and Music selection was awesome and really fit the tone of the film, with the exception of the Chemical Romance song used for the Closing credits, it really felt out if place. The acting was fantastic, though Haley really sounded a lot like Bales Batman at times which became a little irritating, but easily ignored.

    All in all it was enjoyable, and worth investingtime and money in for at least one viewing.

    So there you have it, my thoughts on Watchmen in a nutshell.

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