Watchmen Question

P

[PCE]el_Prez

Vault Fossil
Hey, I just watched that Watchmen movie and I have a question. I tried to do some research but came up empty but I figured someone on here would probaly know:

Do the watchmen (besides Dr. Manhattan) actually have powers? It seems like they are all super strong and tough and can kick ass - but the film didn't make it concrete that these guys were 'super'. Is this aspect meant to be ambiguous?
 
Only Dr Manhattan is supposed to have powers of any kind, although in the comic there is one other powered person who serves an important plot function but is never seen (this is considered to be one of the comic's few weak spots). The movie wants ridiculous Matrix-style fights, hence the ridiculous Matrix-style fights.
 
The movie kinda seems like it blows everyone out of proportion, but to your question, no, everyone aside from Dr. Manhattan are just masked vigilantes, no real superpowers of any kind.
 
i found it rather funny that the old nightowl (or whatever his name was) admits that they were just guys in masks because the criminals were masked too.

and then the movie goes on to show them all having extreme resilience, speed, strength, whatever.

PS: if Rorschach has no powers, how does his mask move? :) (it changes in the comics too)
 
I've seen the movie couple of times now, but I have to read the novel.

To answer your quastion (which has been answered already), only Dr. Manhattan has those. Others are just well trained fighters :P That's why they're so tough and shit IMO.
 
The movie completely missed the point.


One of the comics main themes was the fact that these 'super heroes' were nothing but dead-ordinary people, with petty problems, character flaws, romantic frustrations and erection disorders. It was a cark allegory on human nature as a whole.
The movie has them tossing eachother around in buildings, for fuck's sake.
 
Jebus said:
It was a cark allegory on human nature as a whole.
Click to expand...

Possibly the carkest allegory ever.

Jebus, your sig is longer than the rest of the thread.
 
I know! Irritating isn't it? Gets on your nerves doesn't it?

It makes you MAD, doesn't it? At me? Doesn't it? Doesn't it?
Come on, Per, say it- I know you want to. Ssssay it... Say how much you hate me!


Also, damn Firefox keeps on putting red lines under everything I type in English, so with small font webpages such as this one spelling errors are bound to ensue.
 
Per said:
Only Dr Manhattan is supposed to have powers of any kind, although in the comic there is one other powered person who serves an important plot function but is never seen (this is considered to be one of the comic's few weak spots). The movie wants ridiculous Matrix-style fights, hence the ridiculous Matrix-style fights.
Click to expand...

It's been about a year or so since my last re-read, and I can't figure out who you're talking about here.

Do you mean the super-squid?
 
rcorporon said:
It's been about a year or so since my last re-read, and I can't figure out who you're talking about here.
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That's how obscure it is.

rcorporon said:
Do you mean the super-squid?
Click to expand...

In a way. Should we avoid spoilers here?
 
It's a 15 year old graphic novel. If people haven't read it, it's their problem.

Or, just PM me :).
 
To solve our little problem I quickly coded something I like to call "spoiler tags"!

[spoiler:41ca20e0a5]One of the newspaper clips mentions a psychic named Robert Deschaines whose head had gone missing. His brain was appropriated by Ozymandias and incorporated into the squid creature by means of cloning to produce its psychic "scream". Some have taken Ozymandias' words on the subject ("sensitives world-wide will have bad dreams for years to come") to imply that ESP is a widespread phenomenon in the Watchmen world, although this is ambiguous at best.[/spoiler:41ca20e0a5]
 
SuAside said:
PS: if Rorschach has no powers, how does his mask move? :) (it changes in the comics too)
Click to expand...

It's made of a special cloth that has some weird polymer in it that moves around depending on heat and some other variables I can't be bothered to remember.

He's always breathing into the thing, I guess that will make it change.
 
Eyenixon said:
It's made of a special cloth that has some weird polymer in it that moves around depending on heat and some other variables I can't be bothered to remember.

He's always breathing into the thing, I guess that will make it change.
Click to expand...

I thought that it was just made from a dress, and it's shifting nature in the book was just a "special effect" to show his mood.
 
Just watched it yesterday too and I can't believe what a piece of overindulgent crap it was. I haven't been that bored in a long long time. It was like a mini series crammed into one movie that was way over financed. I couldn't wait for that shit to be over.

The acting was just absolute crap, the plot was simple but presented in such an overblown, over exaggerated manner that I expected Fight Club + Dark City + Brazil + eXistenZ ending, times five. It ended up being a pretty straightforward plot underneath all the fluff with the slow motion, and the CGI, and male ass, and the unnecessary blue penis.

Maybe I was supposed to have read the book or the graphic novel or whatever but damn. I feel robbed.
 
To definitively answer the questions of the nature of Rorschach's mask:
[spoiler:80b2527078]
watchmenv06p010.jpg
[/spoiler:80b2527078]
 
rcorporon said:
Eyenixon said:
It's made of a special cloth that has some weird polymer in it that moves around depending on heat and some other variables I can't be bothered to remember.

He's always breathing into the thing, I guess that will make it change.
Click to expand...

I thought that it was just made from a dress, and it's shifting nature in the book was just a "special effect" to show his mood.
Click to expand...

Well yeah, it's a fabric that never caught on but he was eventually fascinated by, I never said it was anything special that he made himself.

But still, that's what it's made from, it actually moves around depending on heat and etc.
 
And all this time, I thought it was Mood-Cloth, only black and white
Rorschach was the only interesting character (and only fleshed out one, next to Dr. Man') in the movie anyway . . . Come to think of it, he was the only reason I liked the movie at all.

To the comment about the Matrix style fights, though . . . Worse are the Folly effects of said fights. Espeically in the first one between the Comedian . . . I had difficulty keeping a straight, humorless face throughout it.

Actually, you know what, the best part of the movie was the little history lesson/introduction.

Everything else? Just a reason for some fight scenes, sex (Night Owl's chick gets around a bit too much, me thinks), and floating machines. Though, it was meantioned the smart-dude was supa' fast, unlike the rest of the "ordinary" vigilenties, like the original Night Owl.

Are the comics worth the time and effort to view?
 
JayGrey said:
Are the comics worth the time and effort to view?
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Yes. They're much, much better. Even if you didn't like the movie you could very well like the comics. If you like comics to begin with, anyways.
 
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