'Watchmen': Why Rush Limbaugh isn't gonna like it

[Cheney Killed Bambi]

The biggest laugh Watchmen got at the sold-out, 9 a.m., IMAX suburban-theater show I went to on Saturday occurred when the Lee Iacocca-businessman-figure said, "Free is just another word for socialist." It was the happily derisive laugh of a crowd that was totally into the movie, and which also seemed well aware of the recent effort to label the Obama stimulus package as "socialist" -- and the audience clearly thought the use of that supposedly-inflammatory word was a joke.

http://popwatch.ew.com/popwatch/2009/03/watchmen-rush-l.html?iid=top25-%27Watchmen%27%3A+Why+Rush+Limbaugh+isn%27t+gonna+like+it

[Veritas_et_Aequitas]

1. Well, that and what happens to Rorschach.

I like the character, although I know that he'd probably be a Freeper if he were a real person.

[Cheap_Trick]

4. No, he couldn't be a freeper.

He's too sane for them.

[EOTE]

17. Rorschach is actually an Objectivist.

Alan Moore wrote Rorschach as an update of DC Comics' The Question and wanted him to be the embodiment of Ayn Rand's Objectivist ideology. Another point of note, Alan Moore hated Rand and Objectivism.

[Dr Fate]

56. Google Ditko's "Mr. A" for more. n/t

m/t

[ozu]

25. Rorschach is ultra-right wing in the book

The movie plays him more as a noir-esque badass but Moore designs for him are very Ayn Randian.

Also, he's completely insane.

[hendo]

32. He is only insane if you do not support his conclusions. NT

[Dr Fate]

55. He is patterned after "Mr A"- Steve Ditko's Randian hero from the late 60's. n/t

n/t

[hendo]

7. Yeah, what happens to Rors sucks

He's the only character that I had any respect for in the Watchmen comics.

[sarcasmo]

13. Don't you mean Kelly Leak.

[hendo]

15. oh, is he the guy who played Rorschach?

Sorry, i haven't seen the movie.

[sarcasmo]

42. That was his character in the Bad News Bears, Kelly Leak. The original movie.

[Cheap_Trick]

2. The appearance of a 1977 Pat Buchanan also got some laughs.

[camera obscura]

3. That made me laugh too!

[camera obscura]

5. In the comic, Robert Redford plans on running against Nixon and is derided as a "cowboy actor"

In the film, they changed it to Reagan running, who was derided as just a "cowboy". Perhaps a dis at Bush?

[sasquatch]

6. That was a big mistake too

Ronnie Reagan would've been too old in 1988.

[hendo]

8. Reagan often played a cowboy in his movies NT

[camera obscura]

34. Yeah, I got the feeling it was Moore's one direct shot at Reagan

when the rest of the book it was just hinted at.

[Marr]

9. I definitely took it as a swipe at Bush.

"Who would want a cowboy in the White House?" Pretty funny, I thought.

[hendo]

21. a book written in 1985 is a swipe at Bush?

If anything it was a swipe at Reagan.

[Marr]

41. Hmm- I didn't recall that line in the book.

I assumed it was an addition to the movie, but here it is in the original comic.

[greenkal]

10. With all of the serious issues...

why are people here talking about some stupid cartoon book? WTF!!!

[Fumesucker]

11. Unrelenting seriousness becomes very wearing..

Not everything has to be, or even should be, dead serious. Many topics are discussed here, some as serious as reverse peristalsis in a space suit, some considerably less so.

[hendo]

16. And, why do you care what we talk about?

Do you want to dictate all conversation?

[nadinbrzezinski]

38. Go watch it, it is an indictment on RW ideology

[Dukkha]

39. your concern is duly noted

perhaps you should read Watchmen and V For Vendetta then come back with your 4th post as an apology.

[Touchdown]

53. This movie takes itself WAY too seriously, so it fits in here.

Want a movie that doesn't wallow in it's own self importance? See Schindler's List.

[sarcasmo]

12. Greatest Three hour movie ever, IMHO.

[EOTE]

22. I thought it was good, but would have been better at 3.5 or 4.

Even though I think they kept the most important stuff, I still can't wait to see the director's cut when it's available. Have you read the graphic novel? If so, what'd you think of what they did to the ending? I thought it was an attempt to make a movie featuring a god-like creature a bit more believable (as much as that can be done), but I preferred the novel's hokier ending. You just don't fuck with a giant squid alien.

[ozu]

26. The ironic thing

David Hayter mentioned they couldn't film the death and destruction at the end because it was too reminiscent of 9/11, but ironically the shots that they filmed instead, that of a crater and rebuilding construction, are more evocative of 9/11 (post) than say, a giant fucking squid.

The context is still there, but I wish for my own sake that they had kept the ending of the book in tact.

[EOTE]

29. I agree.

And I felt the same thing seeing the crater in NYC, although I didn't really consciously make the connection at the time. I would have loved to see the book ending on screen. If for no other reason than to see an incredibly realistic hologram of a giant space squid.

[HughBeaumont]

31. Wasn't the excuse something like "It would have required too much backstory"?

I mean, the film is a hard R as it is. I think it would have been one of the goriest endings in moviedom had they kept it intact. That would have been a sight; like the end of a civil war battle or something.

[EOTE]

45. Movies can get away with a ridiculous amount of gore nowadays.

Take "Saving Private Ryan". That movie probably has more guts and gore (incredibly realistic guts and gore at that), than just about any grind house flick you can imagine and yet gets an R rating. Show a realistic portrayal of sex in a movie and it gets an NC-17 rating. I took the changed ending more as an attempt to make the film more realistic. But how realistic can a movie be that features a man-god capable of rearranging matter at its most elemental level and transporting to Mars on demand? Or perhaps as you say they thought it would have required too much back story. Maybe they were pushing too much time already, but it seemed like Veidt explained away using Osterman's power in a matter of 5 seconds in the movie. What it all boils down to is that seeing a massive psychic space squid destroy a city would be wicked cool. I can only hope that Zack Snyder sees fit to give us an even more faithful version in the director's cut Blu-ray and DVD, with squid intact.

[sarcasmo]

43. I never read the novel, but thought the movie was great and will also buy the directors cut

[rcrush]

14. I love what happend to Lee right after he said that.

Right between the eyes bitch!

[hendo]

19. They didn't really kill the wrong character at the end, did they?

Why do movies always have to take a good story and ruin it?

Then again, the comic's own creator was quoted as saying "I'm never going to watch this f****** thing."

[Uzybone]

30. The creator is a very crotchety man

plus he has been burned 3 times already by Hollywood adaptations of his other fine work. I don't blame him for being skeptical.

[EOTE]

44. 3 times?

I assume you're referring to "From Hell", "V for Vendette" and "League of Extraordinary Gentlemen"? Don't get me wrong, I thought LXG was complete, unmitigated crap. But the other two I thought were fairly decent. From Hell was a little bland at times, but overall I thought it captured the feeling of the graphic novel pretty well. And I thought "V for Vendetta" stayed faithful to the message of the graphic novel and was a pretty good action film to boot. If you haven't seen Watchmen, I'd recommend giving it a shot. Granted, they had to leave a lot out, but I thought Snyder did a pretty awesome job converting cells to live action.

[hendo]

51. Oh, I'll see it. I just might not pay to see it. NT

[hendo]

60. Well, I saw it

and I hated how they changed Rorschach's death. The guy deserved to die with honor, not after begging Manhattan to kill him.

And, Manhattan being framed? All because they thought a giant squid would be reminiscent of 9/11. how on earth is a giant squid monster reminiscent of 9/11. I would have thought that a gigantic crater where downtown NY used to be would be more reminiscent of a major terrorist attack.

And Dan is supposed to be a chubby nerd, he had way too much panache'.

[Howler]

18. Loved The Movie but I have a question.......

Was I the only person on the planet that had troubles watching Rorshcach spots move and change? It really made my face Itch....Every shot. My husband was laughing at me as I scratched through every masked Rorshcach scene.

[EOTE]

47. I thought Rorschach's blots were pretty awesome.

I was wondering how realistic it was going to be and I was afraid that it would be too CGIey, but it really seemed like it was actual cloth you were seeing. I thought the blots were going to be distracting, but I found myself grinning every time I saw them change :P

[Howler]

59. Oh I agree!!!

The changing spots were a really cool effect. I'm just saying watching them move made my face itch... alot. LOL!!!:)

[Lost in CT]

20. It's got a giant naked blue man... Rush will love it. nt

[hendo]

23. If anyone wants to actually read this, let me know.

I might be able to dig you up a copy.

[Howler]

24. The Watchmen Graphic novel? or comics?

My husband and I do.

[hendo]

28. The Watchmen

Check your PMs

[HughBeaumont]

27. All I know is . . .

. . . watching the Nite Owl/SS II sex scene in "Archie" to Leonard Cohen with your 13-year-old stepson next to you = yeah, awkwaaaaard . . . I mean, did they HAVE to put the flamethrower cliche in that one? DID they? I'm like "OK, I'm . . . sorry you had to see that. I'm sorry I had to see that . . "

Other than the changed method o'death in the ending and the exclusion of the newsstand scenes, I thought it was a GREAT adaptation and a well-made film.

[hendo]

35. They excluded the newsstand scenes?

Those made the book. The comic that the kid was reading about the black pirates was excellent.

[HughBeaumont]

36. Five seconds of footage total. No substory.

Talk about one layer of the book vital to the overall story.

[EOTE]

48. Tales of the Black Freighter.

Yep, they're all gone. I didn't miss them all that much. Considering they were pretty much mirroring the events going on in the "real world" at the time, just in a pirate setting, I think it would have unnecessarily ended taking up an awful lot of minutes when they're already trying to fit the movie in less than three hours. I'm interested in seeing how they would do that though, if they decide to add it to a director's cut. Would they simply show the still frames of the comic, or perhaps the kid reading the comic? Snyder could certainly add another few hours if he wanted to.

[fascisthunter]

33. anything antithetical to fascism pisses off the right wing

including all other corporate whores.

[nadinbrzezinski]

37. well you should know FR saw this as an attack on Republicans

com'on Nixon is painted as a Nazi

And for god sakes, as a war monger

Though the movie, if you watch it... be aware, it has many amusing breaks in the time line

Some obvious, most not so much

[Touchdown]

40. Saw it Saturday night. I was bored to tears.

...for THREE FUCKING HOURS! A comic book movie that's 3 hours long. 2 hours of it were character expose, and I didn't care about them even then. Not one likeable character, and that film-noir cliche with the bad dialogue from the rorshack test boy was insufferable.

But! You might like it.;)

[hendo]

49. Well, if they kept Rorschach's bad grammar, at least they got something right. NT

[nadinbrzezinski]

50. You are not supposed to like them, every one of them is a classic antihero

Daniel is the closest to a hero in the whole movie

I enjoyed the obvious and not so obvious breaks in the time line... the historian in me went... interesting...

I especially enjoyed the not bombing of Hiroshima (geography was wrong) by the not so Enola Gay... that was so obvious but I fear lost on most

And some of the characters, see Kissinger and Andy Wharhol, were spitting images

Good job on the make up folks

[Touchdown]

52. Classic... also meaning cliche.

I never read the comic, so I went in blank. It's just not my cup of tea.

At the risk of saying too much, you mentioned the make up as top notch. That was the feature that I found most laughable, and over the top bad. Ted Koppel, John McLaughlin, Iacocca, and ESPECIALLY Nixon, were obviously stolen out of Movieland Wax Museum when daylight struck Hollywood Blvd.

I need to stop this. It wasn't a bad film, It just didn't appeal to me. I don't like to knock a film so many are fans of, except Magnolia. Fans of that POS deserve pain and torture... and lots of it.

[nadinbrzezinski]

54. Yes, those were stolen from the movie lot

on purpose

By the way, the less obvious breaks in the time line were also very enjoyable, see andy warhol and art

Or the daisy in M-1 that fires, (didn't happen)

Usually they are not my cup of tea either... but the movie (and the novel) played with many concepts that actually broke rules of the genre

Why the Watchment is such a different thing

Batman is not an antihero, neither is spidey

These guys, all are

[Touchdown]

57. Maybe there was something in the graph...

...let's face it! A $25 comic book!!!! ...ic novel.

Anyhow, some sort of message. Something that the film misses as a slam on RW ideology. I did not know that V was also written by the same man, and that film I enjoyed very much, and got the message loud and clear.

And, it's not that I'm aghast at anti-heroes, or flawed characters. As a matter of fact, I prefer them. These characters, after 2 hours of expose, I just didn't care about, and I don't think it was my fault.

[nadinbrzezinski]

58. Didn't t say it was

they were not well developed as antiheroes

Though Dr. Manhattan's transformation into a god was the only thing I found enjoyable

My hubby is a big fan of these things... I just watch them for plot and all that, and my mind looks at them more as a plot critique and all that

But no, it is not your fault

That said, it is very much anti RW ideology...

Of course the geeks told us exactly the changes from the graphic novel and this...

:-)

Didn't care for that much either. Though surprisingly the ending in the movie made more sense

[B Calm]

46. So FREE Republic is a socialist web site. . .