Panda Watch! We mean, err… Who watches the “Watchmen”? People in Portland, that’s who. Last Thursday there was a test screening of Zack Snyder’s film in the rainy, depressing NorthWest Pacific City (witz, hope you’re listening) and apparently it went well. Sorta. The lawsuit-afflicted film was well received and reviews were posted to various websites (and then promptly taken down from Warner Bros. cease and desist letters).
People have always wondered how someone like Zack Snyder, the creator of the “300,” would fare with something meant to be much deeper and layered like Alan Moore’s original graphic novel. Apparently the fans were pleased, but wait… Snyder changed the ending?? How dare he? Spoilers after this point, so please read no further if you haven’t already read Watchmen or don’t want to know how the film turned out. You’ve been warned.
In the original story, former hero turned genius, multi-millionaire Ozymandias / Adrian Veidt (played by Matthew Goode) hatches some hairbrained, god-like plot to unite the world’s warring nations against nuclear escalation by faking an alien invasion by creating a giant squid that kills most of Manhattan in a psychic blast. It works, the U.S. and the Soviet Union put down their arms, but the only one would can’t live with this moral exchange is the Batman-like psychotic character of Rorschach (played by Jackie Earle Haley), but Dr. Manhattan (Billy Crudup) kills him so he won’t tell the world what happened. The greater good must prevail. The moral of the story: let sleeping dogs lie when it comes to world peace.
In the movie, there is no squid and Veidt makes it appear like exiled hero Dr. Manhattan has wiped out New York, so that the world will stop their nuclear war mongering and focus on kicking the ass of one common enemy (Manhattan threatens to keep blowing up their shit if they don’t quit with the bombs n’ stuff).
We coulda told you this cause we read the two “Watchmen” scripts a few weeks ago (both the rewrite by Alex Tse and the original by David Hayter, another touch-up from the “Transformers” writers apparently exists too). But to be totally honest, we don’t even remember the alien invasion or the giant squid cause we read “Watchmen” the graphic novel so long ago.
While the screenwriters stripped “Watchmen” of most of its political depth and mostly reduced the film to a action/mystery film, with granted some heavy moralistic overtones, we found the Tse/Hayter ending to be quite fine and in keeping with the tone of what was delivered (nothing genius, but capable and not terrible either. Average you could say). Frankly, the sound of aliens and squids sounds ridiculous so these changes could be for the better and much more realistic in today’s post-‘Dark Knight’ raw and practical world.
One of our comic book expert friends believes this is a ruse by Snyder and the film WILL have the squids ultimately. “I will eat ten yards of shit if the movie comes out with that [Snyder] ending,” he said. “Line it up for me.” Well, we may have to just do that, because why wouldthis new, squid-free ending be in two different scripts that were written years ago?
Cause there’s no squids. Like we said, “Watchmen” is probably better off. Ok, return to your regularly scheduled program. Only six geeks are really up in arms anyhow and their already writing their hate-speech and calling for Snyder’s death on some Internet bathroom wall as we speak. Fans are too precious. Will anyone in this day and age buy a squid that kills Manhattan? We think not. A bold, but wise move on the “Watchmen” filmmakers as far as we’re concerned.
Even someone like Kevin Smith agrees with the change, and for once, Smith is right. This ending makes it about the characters themselves and not some strange evil squid force. Why not take advantage of the incontestable powers of Dr. Manhattan? It makes perfect sense.
“It’s a little different. While it is a slight departure, it actually makes sense in the context of the story because it brings the characters back into it. It kind of makes the movie more about them by the end of it because of the switch they made. I would never say that Alan Moore fucked it up or something. I love the ending of the Watchmen comic book, but I think this ending works just as well.”
Did Zack Snyder Change the Ending of ‘Watchmen’ to Make it More Like ‘The Dark Knight’? [Vulture]
Watchmen Ending Changed? [/Film]
SPOILERS: More from the Secret Watchmen Screening [Comic Book Movie]
Details of Watchmen From Early Screening [Spoiler TV]