V For Vendetta & Watchmen Movie Thread (mostly Watchmen now)

[Matt]

http://www.cinematical.com/2008/10/20/the-bleak-ending-of-watchmen-changed/

Ending changed? If that's true it changes everything.

And it would be bollocks.

[CMcK]

Mmmm. Why go to the effort of making what looks like a fairly faithful version of the novel and wreck it by doing that?

It might reinforce the message that even Dr. Manhattan is just a puppet and has no more control over his destiny than mere mortals but I cannot see how it would bring the other characters back into it.

Let's hope it's just a rumour or some F.U.D. put out to keep the film in the media over the next few weeks.

[Matt]

It's more wrong the more I think about it.

->Open Spoiler<-

The Doc may be able to make the explosions without a machine! Helping Vendt? Then why confront him at the end and get vapourised? It alters the fundamentals - how Blake finds out about the plan, and everything thereafter (ie. the whole story!). You can twist things a little, but nuclear? At a time when the world is on the brink of nuking each other, Vendt decides to start setting off nuclear explosions? Because that wouldn't lead to the nuclear conflict he's trying to avoid? Not to mention the nuclear fallout the original plan avoided - guess Doc could tidy that up! But would the Doc come back to Earth if he was part of the plan in the first place? And if he did, he'd just stop Owl and co from getting to the ice palace because they'd be no gain in it for him.

I hope the story is wrong.

[Matt]

Hunted around a little, seems the rumours are right. New ending, in fact they've ripped out huge parts of it - maybe the Moloch character actually, given the new reason for

->Open Spoiler<-

the Doc leaving the Earth

.

This sounds worse by the minute!

http://www.comicbookmovie.com/watchmen/news/?a=5120&t=SPOILERS_More_from_the_Secret_Watchmen_Screening

http://spoilertv-movies.blogspot.com/2008/10/details-of-watchmen-from-early.html

[fishbowlhead]

after recently getting the novel, and loving every page so far, this is terrible news

What would possess the guy to do this? What a muppet.

[Atticus]

Much as I love the comic and much as I want the film to be as faithful as possible, I'm still going to try and remain positive until the film proves otherwise.

I did hear about this news but I've purposefully avoided specifics so I can keep an open mind and give Zack Snyder the benefit of the doubt. At least for now


EDIT: lol, as the afternoon ticks by I'm feeling more and more inquisitive. I'm going to have to find out at some point aren't it ...

[anephric]

I have no problem with them removing the squid - I can't, even on my most broad-minded of days, ever see that working onscreen - they just need to fabricate a different method for Veidt to use.

[Matt]

I think it would work fine. Not the bright coloured comic book version, but mute the colours, it would be great. And a real unique image.

[fishbowlhead]

He did make my favorite film, 300, so im guna take back my muppet comment and leave him to it. Im sure whatever he does will be fantastic, even the trailer is fantastic.

[PeteJ]

I agree with anephric, the ending won't work on screen (hell I'd argue it didn't work in the comic either!).

The rumoured new ending sounds pretty bad too for the reasons Chain explained.

[Matt]

->Open Spoiler<-

You can't make the threat the unites the world the Doc. It makes no sense. He fought in 'nam, he's the balance that keeps the Russians from doing anything. Why would he start blowing things up? Who'd believe that?

And why engineer the cancer scare to get him off the planet if you're only going to frame him? The original plot made sense - if he came back, Ozzy had his disintegrator; and when that failed, he had logic.

Surprised so many people are anti-squid. That was the one thing I couldn't wait to see on screen. It would have been telling if they'd done that, it's very graphic, a statement of intent.

I was worried at the choice of director (style over substance), the trailer had me more worried (style over substance), and now we're finding the story has been changed significantly

[randombs]

Hopefully they'll pull an I Am Legend and at least have two endings, alternate (i.e. closer to the original) one for the DVD. In the case of that film, the alternate ending turned it from an ok-but-never-again film to one of my favourites (not least because I read the book in the interim between cinema and DVD release).

[Matt]

I can't see them doing that I'm afraid. The effects work for the squid would be rather expensive! Plus they must have changed other significant / whole chunks of the film for the "new" ending.

Actually I'm not even calling it an ending. It's one of the main parts of the novel. What next?

->Open Spoiler<-

Ror gets teleported to the Mars sanctuary rather than killed?

[anephric]

The squid isn't that important - it's why Veidt does it that's important. Obviously, if they go for a more "conventional" method, people will think it's ripping off Heroes, when obviously it's the other way around.

[Matt]

It's what the squid symbolises - an attack from another world / dimension. Sure, everyone will be afraid of Doc if they think he's gone of on a rampage, but that breaks apart all the carefully constructed plot. And I think you're left with nothing but holes in the logic.

So they'll have to change a lot of things, with the resulting motivation changes. Apparently,

->Open Spoiler<-

the Comedian now fights in his apartment, rather than accepting his death - which is a HUGE thing, it sums up the enormity of Ozzy's plan. In the test screening, the end Journal shot was gone. The trailer shot of Dan screaming "No" is a reaction to Ror getting zapped - come on, that's wrong! Dan's ending changes if he sees the killing.

I should point out I've not read the novel recently (a long time TBH!) so I may have one or two facts mixed up.

The film makers have been going around saying 100&#37; faithful, then ripping it apart and reconstructing things. There's no way you'd get it all on the screen, I never expected 100% authenticity - I did expect them to tell the same story I've read though.

I keep going on about it, as it strikes me as a huge departure. You don't want the squid? OK, come up with something else. But making Doc the scapegoat changes everything, and when you've a novel this perfect, that's not a good thing.