Rorschach
July 8th, 2009, 05:47 AM
So Watchmen didn't do as well as was expected at the box office, but we knew that. However, we also knew that a ton of footage was cut from the theatrical release at the behest of producers and distributors. Well as luck would have it, the Director's Cut will be making its way into theaters (at least in the U.S.), but it will be a one-weekend limited release: July 17 to July 19 at select theaters in Los Angeles, New York, Dallas, and Minneapolis. But don't fuss up, folks, it'll be coming to DVD and Blu-Ray (http://www.blu-ray.com/search/?action=search§ion=movies&keyword=watchmen) the coming Tuesday (July 21).
An insider has shed light on the thirty extra minutes of footage we can expect to see. Some of the scenes are extended, some have been added back in; some of the scenes are directly from the comic, others are more true to the comic than they ended up being presented in the movie, and other scenes weren't actually in the comic but are said to remain faithful to the characters and the narrative. Here's the breakdown:
I was luckily enough to get to see the 3 hour director's cut of Watchmen yesterday and I want to give you short review with a list of changes I noticed.
First thing is first not all the changes are directly from the comic. A few extensions of scenes are entirely made up. A few of the new scenes are just same situation and location but different dialouge (good though and true to the spirit of the scene from the comic book and to the characters themselves.) Most of the changes bring it dead on with comic. Added monolouge and dialouge here and there.
I would rate the theatrical cut an 8 and this 3hr cut a 10
Here's a list of changes that I noticed:
1. At the end of Rorschach's search of the comedian's apartment. Two cops enter, he knocks one of the cops out and jumps out the window as the other cop is firing his gun at him.
2. Rorschach has more comic book monolouge, throughout the movie. Though I'm only going to mention it once. (nothing but the good stuff too.)
3. Dan and Holis's visit is extended by seeing roschrach on TV. Hollis comments "It didn't stop him." (refering to the keane act.)
4. More scenes from the comic such as:
-- Before they walk into the alley we are introduced to the scene by the news vendor talking to Seymour delivering his papers.
-- When Jon says "leave me alone" everyone in the room disappears. Leaving him alone.
-- Cut back to Laurie and Dan at the end of the fight.
-- Laurie decides to go back to the military base and Dan meets with Hollis; they watch TV and learn of Jon's departure. Dan says laurie doesn't know. Cut to Jon on Mars and his story.
--The only major difference in this scene that I can remember is Jon talks about his symbol, slightly varied from the comic he says,"The boys in marketing wanted me to have a symbol. I said if I should have a symbol it shall be one I respect."
--Next scene is Laurie getting interrogated at the military base. They discover that Jon is on Mars and Laurie escapes and decides to go stay with Dan.
5. Rorschach has more dialogue from the comic with Dr. Malcom. Also in his story of the girl, the murder is shown as in the comic - walking outside, asking his dogs to bark, when they don't he draws his gun and enters the building.
6. Rorschach and Laurie argue on the rooftop of the jail; Rorschach more or less calls Laurie a whore. They escape.
7. Jon and Laurie begin their conversation as they did in the comic: "You're going to tell me you have been having an affair with Dan".
8. A few more interesting changes, happen.
9. Oh and Hollis talks on the phone with Sally, only to be interrupted by knocks at the door. He has a great montage death scene. They also explain why the knot heads go there at an earlier point.
10. In the bar, Dan sees the news of Hollis's death by knot heads and beats up one in the bar (knocks out like all of his front teeth. pretty brutal).
Well, so far this all has me pretty excited, but he hasn't mentioned three key elements that I severly missed not seeing in the movie, which makes me worry that they won't show up this time around either. Those are when Rorschach is describing the Kitty Genovese story to Malcolm (the guy mentioned there would be more of their interation, but he wasn't specific), when Dr. Manhattan is showing Laurie around Mars and goes to Olympus Mons and the Valles Marineris, not to mention the line "We're all puppets, Laurie. I'm just a puppet that can see the strings." (Snyder mentioned before the movie came out that there would be more footage from the Mars scenes, but again, nothing was specific), and when Adrian Veidt is describing his past in depth, possibly even with an appearance of the Vivarium (given the way this story was cut into the movie, this part's dubious at past). The last part would be the real kicker for me, because believe it or not, Ozymandias was hands-down my favorite character in the graphic novel, not Rorschach. In fact, I personally found the Comedian more interesting than Rorschach, as he was basically who he was imitating, and I'd have Kovacs on level with Osterman. But hey, that's just me. I didn't hate Matthew Goode as much as everyone else in the world seems to (in fact I found him quite good, no pun intended), but he's just not the same as I remembered him.
Other little parts I'd like to end up seeing are:
When young Kovacs sticks a burning cigarette into the other kid's eye
More backstory from Laurie as a teen, and later on when she throws champagne in the Comedian's face (I wouldn't mind seeing some scar from the Comedian's half-Glasgow smile, either)
When Rorschach burns down the killer's tenement and remarks on knowing "what cats know" (though the narrative may have been changed too much in the movie for this to be fitted for it)
More backstory on Malcolm's personal life
The flashback when Jon and Laurie first see Bubastis
More scenes with the Bernies
Possibly more scenes from Jon's backstory (although I have to admit they pulled it of well in the movie)
Ozymandias' gymnastic act playing in the background on the television
An appearance by "Joey"
The scene when the investigator comes to Dreiberg's house
Footage of Nite Owl and Rorschach under the East River, explaining why Archie's engines sputter out in Antactica
Some more exploring around New York City, complete with all the "Pale Horse", "Krystalnacht", and "Day the Earth Stood Still" in the background (although I don't see this happening at all)
References and easter eggs for the documents, advertisements, and "merchandise" at the end of every chapter in the series
Not to mention I'd like to see the movie intercut with Tales of the Black Freighter, but I don't know if that's going to be happening. Hopefully it'll at least be a bonus feature along with some Under the Hood. Fingers crossed?
Here's a preview scene from some of the new footage. The Death of Hollis Mason:
QVeg78Yfp7g
And finally, Snyder is going to be integrating the film's commentary with an innovative picture-in-picture approach (http://www.justpressplay.net/movies/movie-news/5563-zack-snyder-interrupts-your-blu-ray-viewing-of-qwatchmenq.html) that I excpect we'll be seeing more of with other movies into the future.
An insider has shed light on the thirty extra minutes of footage we can expect to see. Some of the scenes are extended, some have been added back in; some of the scenes are directly from the comic, others are more true to the comic than they ended up being presented in the movie, and other scenes weren't actually in the comic but are said to remain faithful to the characters and the narrative. Here's the breakdown:
I was luckily enough to get to see the 3 hour director's cut of Watchmen yesterday and I want to give you short review with a list of changes I noticed.
First thing is first not all the changes are directly from the comic. A few extensions of scenes are entirely made up. A few of the new scenes are just same situation and location but different dialouge (good though and true to the spirit of the scene from the comic book and to the characters themselves.) Most of the changes bring it dead on with comic. Added monolouge and dialouge here and there.
I would rate the theatrical cut an 8 and this 3hr cut a 10
Here's a list of changes that I noticed:
1. At the end of Rorschach's search of the comedian's apartment. Two cops enter, he knocks one of the cops out and jumps out the window as the other cop is firing his gun at him.
2. Rorschach has more comic book monolouge, throughout the movie. Though I'm only going to mention it once. (nothing but the good stuff too.)
3. Dan and Holis's visit is extended by seeing roschrach on TV. Hollis comments "It didn't stop him." (refering to the keane act.)
4. More scenes from the comic such as:
-- Before they walk into the alley we are introduced to the scene by the news vendor talking to Seymour delivering his papers.
-- When Jon says "leave me alone" everyone in the room disappears. Leaving him alone.
-- Cut back to Laurie and Dan at the end of the fight.
-- Laurie decides to go back to the military base and Dan meets with Hollis; they watch TV and learn of Jon's departure. Dan says laurie doesn't know. Cut to Jon on Mars and his story.
--The only major difference in this scene that I can remember is Jon talks about his symbol, slightly varied from the comic he says,"The boys in marketing wanted me to have a symbol. I said if I should have a symbol it shall be one I respect."
--Next scene is Laurie getting interrogated at the military base. They discover that Jon is on Mars and Laurie escapes and decides to go stay with Dan.
5. Rorschach has more dialogue from the comic with Dr. Malcom. Also in his story of the girl, the murder is shown as in the comic - walking outside, asking his dogs to bark, when they don't he draws his gun and enters the building.
6. Rorschach and Laurie argue on the rooftop of the jail; Rorschach more or less calls Laurie a whore. They escape.
7. Jon and Laurie begin their conversation as they did in the comic: "You're going to tell me you have been having an affair with Dan".
8. A few more interesting changes, happen.
9. Oh and Hollis talks on the phone with Sally, only to be interrupted by knocks at the door. He has a great montage death scene. They also explain why the knot heads go there at an earlier point.
10. In the bar, Dan sees the news of Hollis's death by knot heads and beats up one in the bar (knocks out like all of his front teeth. pretty brutal).
Well, so far this all has me pretty excited, but he hasn't mentioned three key elements that I severly missed not seeing in the movie, which makes me worry that they won't show up this time around either. Those are when Rorschach is describing the Kitty Genovese story to Malcolm (the guy mentioned there would be more of their interation, but he wasn't specific), when Dr. Manhattan is showing Laurie around Mars and goes to Olympus Mons and the Valles Marineris, not to mention the line "We're all puppets, Laurie. I'm just a puppet that can see the strings." (Snyder mentioned before the movie came out that there would be more footage from the Mars scenes, but again, nothing was specific), and when Adrian Veidt is describing his past in depth, possibly even with an appearance of the Vivarium (given the way this story was cut into the movie, this part's dubious at past). The last part would be the real kicker for me, because believe it or not, Ozymandias was hands-down my favorite character in the graphic novel, not Rorschach. In fact, I personally found the Comedian more interesting than Rorschach, as he was basically who he was imitating, and I'd have Kovacs on level with Osterman. But hey, that's just me. I didn't hate Matthew Goode as much as everyone else in the world seems to (in fact I found him quite good, no pun intended), but he's just not the same as I remembered him.
Other little parts I'd like to end up seeing are:
When young Kovacs sticks a burning cigarette into the other kid's eye
More backstory from Laurie as a teen, and later on when she throws champagne in the Comedian's face (I wouldn't mind seeing some scar from the Comedian's half-Glasgow smile, either)
When Rorschach burns down the killer's tenement and remarks on knowing "what cats know" (though the narrative may have been changed too much in the movie for this to be fitted for it)
More backstory on Malcolm's personal life
The flashback when Jon and Laurie first see Bubastis
More scenes with the Bernies
Possibly more scenes from Jon's backstory (although I have to admit they pulled it of well in the movie)
Ozymandias' gymnastic act playing in the background on the television
An appearance by "Joey"
The scene when the investigator comes to Dreiberg's house
Footage of Nite Owl and Rorschach under the East River, explaining why Archie's engines sputter out in Antactica
Some more exploring around New York City, complete with all the "Pale Horse", "Krystalnacht", and "Day the Earth Stood Still" in the background (although I don't see this happening at all)
References and easter eggs for the documents, advertisements, and "merchandise" at the end of every chapter in the series
Not to mention I'd like to see the movie intercut with Tales of the Black Freighter, but I don't know if that's going to be happening. Hopefully it'll at least be a bonus feature along with some Under the Hood. Fingers crossed?
Here's a preview scene from some of the new footage. The Death of Hollis Mason:
QVeg78Yfp7g
And finally, Snyder is going to be integrating the film's commentary with an innovative picture-in-picture approach (http://www.justpressplay.net/movies/movie-news/5563-zack-snyder-interrupts-your-blu-ray-viewing-of-qwatchmenq.html) that I excpect we'll be seeing more of with other movies into the future.