Thailand still uses locally-drawn movie posters, and here's the one for "Watchmen". Click on the image to get a larger version (about 800 KB).
The tag line below the "Watchmen" title roughly means "Massive Superhero War", which is about as accurate as other Thai movie posters. In fact, I'm a bit surprised they didn't work in "ghost" or "hell" (other popular Thai tag line ingredients).
I suppose I should include a review, but it'll only be half of one
at best, since I was only able to see the Thai-dubbed version.
(Surely it's a measure of my fan-status that I was prepared to see
a movie that I could barely understand.)
The movie is true to the visuals of the comic, including many shots that are taken directly from the page. I felt a distinctive tingle several times, as the book seemed to come alive.
A striking series of images that's aren't from the comic are the super-hero montages during the opening credits. They nicely supply some of the details we miss by not having the "Under the Hood" text pieces.
The period settings: post-war, Vietnam, the 80's, is excellent. There's a great balance between 80's style (the Mac, MTV, etc.) and futuristic stuff (electric cars, the blimps).
All the actors are convincing; I had no troubles with the minor changes to the costumes.
There's more blood and guts, and nudity than in the comic, although the Thai censors have blurred out Dr. Manhattans's penis, thereby saving me from being too shocked. I didn't like the extra gore, although it's mostly just an extension of what occurs in the book. Rorschach's dislike for dog owner's is the most serious modification, and I prefer the book's version.
The movie captures the feel of the comic except for Dr. Manhattan's
time on Mars. The complex time-shifts in the comic don't seem
to work on-screen.
Being a comic fan first, I wasn't too happy about the changes at the end of the movie. Not being able to understand most of the dialogue makes it hard for me to judge if the revisions make sense.
There's no black freighter, so I was left wondering how Ozymandias' brief talk with Dr. Manhattan about his dreams was handled.
Here's the movie leaflet that was available at our local cinema. Click on the small images to get the large versions (each one is about 500 KB).
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Dr. Andrew Davison
E-mail: ad@coe.psu.ac.th
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