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Watchmen Ending Debate (Warning: Contains Spoilers)
Its been over a week since Watchmen has been out in theatres, and i'm going to assume that most of you have either seen the movie, or at least know about the changed ending. With that said, I would like to open a discussion on which Watchmen ending was better; the Squid ending of the book, or the Blue Bombs ending of the movie.
In my opinion, the book ending was vastly superior for these reasons:
-Throughout the book, there is this constant tension building up. You, as the reader, know something horrible is about to happen, but you are led to assume that it will be nuclear war. What you get instead is something far more horrifying and shocking that you couldn't possibly have seen coming. Not only that, but this phony alien invasion, which kills half of New York City, puts a halt to the nuclear war. In the movie, you get the same plot, but with these Blue Bombs that blow up multiple cities, so it might as well have been nuclear war.
-In the book, Ozymandias uses tachyons to mess Dr. Manhatten's foresight, in order to carry out his plot. In the film, Ozymandias actually manipulates Dr. Manhattan into building the reactors that destroy multiple cities. This demeans Dr. Manhattan's character, and actually cheapens his phrase, "...this World's Smartest Man means no more to me than it's Smartest Termite." It also demeans Ozymandias' character as well. One of the final points established in the book is that even the World's Smartest Man must turn to a higher power for guidance. This is shown when Ozymandias asks Dr. Manhattan "I did the right thing, didn't I? It all worked out in the end." This moment is absent from the film.
So, thats my stance. What's your's?
In my opinion, the book ending was vastly superior for these reasons:
-Throughout the book, there is this constant tension building up. You, as the reader, know something horrible is about to happen, but you are led to assume that it will be nuclear war. What you get instead is something far more horrifying and shocking that you couldn't possibly have seen coming. Not only that, but this phony alien invasion, which kills half of New York City, puts a halt to the nuclear war. In the movie, you get the same plot, but with these Blue Bombs that blow up multiple cities, so it might as well have been nuclear war.
-In the book, Ozymandias uses tachyons to mess Dr. Manhatten's foresight, in order to carry out his plot. In the film, Ozymandias actually manipulates Dr. Manhattan into building the reactors that destroy multiple cities. This demeans Dr. Manhattan's character, and actually cheapens his phrase, "...this World's Smartest Man means no more to me than it's Smartest Termite." It also demeans Ozymandias' character as well. One of the final points established in the book is that even the World's Smartest Man must turn to a higher power for guidance. This is shown when Ozymandias asks Dr. Manhattan "I did the right thing, didn't I? It all worked out in the end." This moment is absent from the film.
So, thats my stance. What's your's?
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Maverick-Farenheit on -
And Iron Man, if you don't have anything intelligent to add but instead just troll this thing, just shut up because this thread is for people who are interested in discussing Watchmen. Just because you don't like it, doesn't mean that you have to ruin it for everyone else.
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Permalink Reply by Maverick-Farenheit on
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Hold on, what do you mean that 'Ozy didn't get his justice' dude, he actually said the line from the book, 'I've felt for every death I've caused.' If that doesn't show regret then there is nothing, as for real justice, I couldn't help but think that it came in the form of Nite Owl II's spandex clad fist. He looked incredibly repentant when they were all leaving, because although he's had to do that, he doesn't get thanks for causing peace, nobody says a kind word to him. He is very much alone, especially now that Manhattan is gone as he was the only one to get his viewpoint, also his cat got fried.
As for the ending, Manhattan attacking is a more logical ending, because a squid just coming out of nowhere and attacking new york wouldn't cause world peace. If anything the U.S.S.R would just think, 'I don't know what that was but hey it helped. Let's finish em off.'
With energy pulses erupting all over the world, that actually does give the semblance of a universal threat, as opposed to just against America.
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Permalink Reply by Mr Yakushi on -
This Thread Needs More Tentacles.
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Permalink Reply by Maverick-Farenheit on
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Ok, I've been reading these comments and a lot of them seem to say how the energy pulses may as well have been atomic bombs. I think everybody is making the mistake of assuming that an atomic bomb is just an explosion. No. When a nuclear weapon explodes, the land that's used is scarred, nuclear poisoning fills the air and nothing can live there. It is essentially a dead zone.
The energy pulses still allow for things to be rebuilt as it doesn't scar the land. That was what Ozy was talking about earlier when he was referring to 'clean energy'. All it does is explode, kill people and end. Nuclear bombs do much more, for proof just watch 'When The Wind Blows', the couple in that survive the explosion with hardly a scratch, but they still die a horrible death in the aftermath.
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Permalink Reply by Witten on -
well, i'm sort of one the fence with this one. because each ending has its own strengths and weaknesses that fit with the format its being told. basicly what i'm trying to say is that the book ending works perfectly with the book and the movie ending works better with the movie.
i would have disliked the movie even more if they did the exact same ending as in the book. why?, because the squid monster plot in my opninon works best when you tell its background story (the island of artists) and shea's story (the author of the black freighter) and none of that would make any sense if they didn't show the black freighter sub-plot which they didn't in the movie. one of the thing's i loved about the book's ending was how it all tied together.
and the energy blast in the movie occured all around the world forcing them to unite. i HIGHLY doubt the soviet union would have helped the US in the aftermath of the fake alien attack. if anything they would have only been more motivated by the attack and taken advantage. or the US would have come to a hasty conclusion that whatever attacked new york was russian. either one would have led to nuclear war. and as maverick-farenheit mentioned nuclear blasts and the enrgy blast in the movie are very different.
i liked the how in the movie nite owl 2 actually cared about rorschach getting killed and bieng all upset about everything that has just happened. however i'd prefer if they had included ozymandias' conversation with manhattan before the end.
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