A lot of people I know complained about how incredibly long The DarK Knight was and how slowly it progressed, where as no one made similar comments about Watchmen. You say that the background stories slowed down its pace, but I felt it was only natural, helped answer questions and so on, but it didn't seem excessive in any way.
Dark Knight comparisons are inevitable, even though the movies were completely different. Watchmen was far more comic-y, which is why I think it was a much better comic book movie.
Gender: Male Location: Bringing forth the apocalypse
TDK might have been long (overlong, in my opinion), but its pacing was generally excellent- it was fast and furious, without many slow or boring moments. Just saying.
Gender: Male Location: Bringing forth the apocalypse
True that. Though, it really did capture the feel of certain less mainstream comics- hard-boiled, gritty, realistic (to an extent), violent, and morally ambiguous. In that sense, it wasn't stereotypically comic booky- it simply touched upon the darker and less explored side of comics. The side the masses generally aren't familiar with.
Which is part of the reason why I preferred Watchmen.
And Watchmen didn't?
It's not exactly your run of the mill comic book movie either. Just like V for Vendetta it was still able to maintain a comic book feel, and go far deeper than "hero get bad guy"
Gender: Male Location: Bringing forth the apocalypse
I'm not saying it didn't. Hell, I love Watchmen (the comic). I don't think a 'comic book' feel is necessary- because a 'comic book feel' translated to a campy, bombastic, exaggerated feel in the eyes of many. In order to achieve its thematic purpose, the the Dark Knight had to maintain a degree of realism and drop the stereotypical 'comic book' feel. Had the Dark Knight been more exaggerated, or more campy, or featured more 'uber' action, it would not have been able to ascend to the same degree of cinematic heights.
Okay, you know what, here's a question: what do you define as a 'comic book' feel?
Lot of things really, in Watchmen it's easily the focus on superhuman feats, grand scale plans, etc. The Watchmen movie was actually closer to what I would define as "traditional comic book" then the comic itself.
Gender: Male Location: Bringing forth the apocalypse
Then here you have it: The Dark Knight's portrayal of humans who attempt to become virtual gods, in addition to its relevance to modern politics and terrorism, requires gritty realism instead of comic book exaggeration.
Part of why Watchmen is so great is because of the way it chooses to treat superheroes in the way they would be in the real life- basically insane, violent, borderline fascistic vigilantes.
Well i Just saw Watchmen and i liked it.
I think it stayed true to the essence of the comic and they gave us the best movie adaptation possible. yeah so they changed a few things it didn't bother me too much as i said the essence of the comic was still there.
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Mar 7th, 2009 10:13 AM
