The Bleak Ending of 'Watchmen' Changed?
Filed under: Action, Classics, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Mystery & Suspense, Warner Brothers, RumorMonger, Fandom, Comic/Superhero/Geek
Warning: This post contains heavy spoilers. Really big ones. Those who haven't read Watchmen and want to remain unspoiled, skip this post altogether. Put this firmly into the "might not be true" category of your brains, and then take it with an additional grain of salt. I hesitate to even spread this further because it is unverified, but I think it's worth discussing. And hey, maybe someone who caught the movie might weigh in.
There was a test screening of Watchmen last week. And according to the gang at /film, the buzz is building that the ending of the graphic novel has been changed in the movie. Devotees of the book remember that Ozymandias engineers a giant alien squid in order to destroy New York, an event so horrifying that it stops the world in its tracks, and deflects a nuclear war with Russia. According to a few members of the test audience, the faux-alien is nowhere to be found. Instead, Ozymandias' plot involves a machine he builds with Dr. Manhattan which mimics Manhattan's powers, and sets off atomic-bomb like attacks all over the world.
It's very perplexing, as there have been numerous reports that the ending remained unchanged. Patrick Wilson laughed off reports, as have numerous cast members. An unofficial set report confirmed the squid's appearance. Zack Snyder insisted it was left intact, despite that it was an unorthodox one for a movie. So many reports confirming the squid would tip the balance against the test audiences.
However, in the interest of fairness to those movie-going spies, Collider's recent interview with Kevin Smith suggests the whispers might be true after all. "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 f***ed it up or something. I love the ending of the Watchmen comic book, but I think this ending works just as well."
Now, Smith's answer depends on what "a little different" means -- and I wouldn't consider the new ending to fall into the category. It's impossible to know, but it's worth talking about. If the intent of the ending remains the same, does it matter how the movie puts it into play? I'm going to take the view that it does, merely because so many story threads do weave into the creation of that squid. Take that away, and how many plot-lines are shifted? It doesn't make sense, not when Snyder has stressed how faithful his adaptation is. It doesn't fit what we've seen so far. But whatever the case, the streak of hardcore geek in me wants to know before March of 2009.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
10-20-2008 @ 11:27AM
dukrous said...
You take away the squid and Rorschach's plot falls apart. If Moloch doesnt know Blake is The Comedian, then Rorschach doesn't go back to Moloch's and get arrested, needing Laurie and Dad to break him out of prison.
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10-20-2008 @ 11:41AM
Matt said...
i agree that the plot needs to remain consistent. changing the ending in any sense of the term would have repercussions throughout the plot. if the screening reports are correct, i suspect the studio is requiring a different ending be tested against the 'real' ending.
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10-20-2008 @ 11:41AM
Eric said...
Ehhh I can see why they would change it. The squid thing was kinda silly in watchmen anyway. So changing it to bomb or soemthing makes more sense. As long as the power of the ending is there.
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12-31-2008 @ 11:08AM
Mathaeis said...
Changing it to something might make some sense, but not a bomb. The point is for it to be so horrific alien that it stops a potential nuclear war. If it was just a bomb in NY, wouldn't the first reaction of most people just be, "Oh no, the reds attacked us!" That doesn't solve anything. In fact, it's the exact opposite. Obviously there could be other options that might still flow with the different storylines and not be as simple as another bomb, but I guess we'll all have to wait to see.
10-20-2008 @ 12:02PM
KJ said...
Okay, the whole plot was to bring the world together against a perceived extraterrestrial threat. Doesn't this screw that up?
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10-20-2008 @ 12:09PM
dlh said...
Absolutely. The nuclear powers are on a hair trigger alert. Nuke-like explosions around the world would send someone's finger to the button not send them rushing to the peace table.
10-20-2008 @ 12:52PM
Parl said...
No No No No.
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10-20-2008 @ 12:52PM
AJ Wiley said...
If this turns out to be true--and I won't go ahead and assume that it will, because we have no idea--then I will have even lower expectations for this movie than I did before.
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10-20-2008 @ 1:04PM
Al Shut said...
i always thought the alien attack wouldn't work either as a peace making occurence so I don't mind a change of tghe device if the outcome of the plan stays the same.
But I have to wonder what the many story threads are that are tied to the squid. Is my memory so bad that I can't think of anything else than missing artists, which are ultimately expendable.
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10-20-2008 @ 1:53PM
Saint Leonidas said...
Im not worried. If Kevin SMith says its a slight departure then it in no way means there wasnt the squid, I mean that would be a huge departure if they left it out because its a major part of the role., my only guess is the difference might be the reaction from the other Watchmen, who in the graphic novel go along with it rather quickly, leavng only Rorshach as the one who still wants to tell the world.
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10-21-2008 @ 4:39PM
Elisabeth said...
I agree with you and George McBain...or maybe it's more accurate to say that I hope you two are right.
The reaction shot of Nite Owl always suggests Rorschach's death to me...and if that's what Smith is talking about, I think it is a good change. It always bothered me that Nite Owl and Laurie didn't give him or his fate a second thought. Dwelling on that could only be a good thing when it comes to the film, where you need to stress the humanity (or lack of) of the story.
10-20-2008 @ 1:55PM
Batzarro said...
I stopped reading when someone called Ozzymandias engineered a giant something BUT this does not bode well for the movie. On the other hand, if the ending is the same, where's the surprise to those that already have read the original book? I heard WHatever it is that does happen is a shocking thing, but, eh...
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12-31-2008 @ 11:40AM
Mathaeis said...
Did you honestly just suggest that every something-to-movie adaptation should have it's ending changed so that fans of the original have something new to 'look forward to'? I mean, I like the idea of not telling the same exact story over and over again when things are a bit more loose, such as most other comics. Spiderman and Batman, for instance - they can create an entire new storyline based roughly on old stuff since that's what the comics do. But Watchmen? There is one, singular, complete story. Deviating from that isn't the same as the above example.
12-31-2008 @ 5:29PM
Batzarro said...
I honestly suggested nothing. Only that if you know it, well you know it. Shock factor gone. So if the importance of the ending is it's shock factor, it might work better if you don't know it.
10-20-2008 @ 5:05PM
George McBain said...
After seeing the trailer, has anyone else noticed that Night Owl screams "NOOOOO!" at one point in an Antarctica setting? .... I am thinking that in the movie, he witnesses Rorschach being obliterated by Manhattan.
If so, that doesn't make sense, because then Owl's ignorant bliss shown in the comic is shattered ... unless they have Manhattan mind wipe Owl or something =|
I am wondering if this is the "slight departure" we are hearing about.
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10-20-2008 @ 7:53PM
NvM said...
I think that might be it.
The comic fleshes out Nite Owl and Rorsarch's friendship and I don't Moore ultimately put that device to justice when Nite Owl never really noticed him dying.
10-20-2008 @ 6:18PM
mezzanine said...
LEAVE THE SQUID I LOVE IT
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10-21-2008 @ 12:53AM
KevinInChains said...
I think as long as the intent of what Ozy wanted to do remains intact, its fine...i dont care if its a giant squid or a bunch of A-bombs.
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12-31-2008 @ 11:41AM
Mathaeis said...
Again:
The world is terrified of potential nuclear war. Ozzy needs to create something MORE horrific than that to draw them together. More bombs does NOT accomplish this in any remote way. It just sets of the paranoia and most people would assume the war they had been dreading just started anyways. It has the polar opposite affect of teh squid, plain and simple.
Some other scary thing? Sure. But NOT just more bombs.
10-21-2008 @ 12:48AM
Jeremiah Moon said...
If this turns out to be true, I would be very disappointed. The ending fit perfectly in the story, and if it is changed as mentioned I think it would be really problematic for continuity, as others have mentioned.
I have less grounds for disapproval than most of you, I'm sure - I just read the book for the first time a few months ago, but I might get up and leave the midnight showing if Zach Snyder tries to pull off some crap like that.
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