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This is a DynaMic Network podcast.

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Welcome to the Dynamic Duel Podcast, the weekly
show where we review superhero films and debate

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the superiority between Marvel and DC by comparing
their characters in stat-based battle simulations.

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I'm Johnny DC. And I'm his twin brother Marvelous
Joe. And for this episode, we will be reviewing

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the latest direct-to-video DC animated film,
Watchmen Chapter 1. Who watches The Watchmen?

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This guy. And this guy, and he also regrets
it. But we'll talk about that later. Before

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that, we're going to break down the comic book
movie news from the past week, of which there

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was just one major news item, and that was the
official trailer number two for Craven the

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Hunter. A movie I also will regret watching,
I'm pretty sure. Same here. As always guys,

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we list our segment times in our episode description,
so feel free to check out the show notes if

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you want to skip ahead to a particular topic.
Guys our artificially intelligent duel simulator

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AJ9K has a quick message for our listeners,
so listen up. Why hello there, do you want

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even more from this podcast? Then become a part
of the dynamic duel community on Patreon, where

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you can choose from three tiers. The dynamic
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server. The fantastic 4 tier gives you two bonus
episodes each month. And the X-Force tier makes

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you an executive producer of this show. Lastly,
The Diner Mike podcast network tier lets you

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create your own podcast using this Monte Carlo
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your show, provide graphic support and consultation,
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your ideas via email at dynamicduelpodcast at
gmail.com. Check it out at patreon.com slash

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dynamicduel. Pip pip cheerio. Thanks AJ9K, and
thanks to everyone who supports the podcast.

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Be sure to tune into the other shows on the
DynaMic Podcast Network this week, including

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Max Destruction, which pits your favorite action
heroes from film and television against each

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other. This week, hosts Scotty and Gilly are
reviewing Double Dragon. And on the Send Your

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World podcast, host Zachary Hepburn speculates
on fights between fan favorite anime and manga

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characters. This Thursday, Zach's finding out
who would win between Tatsumi Oga and Baby

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Beel from and Kiyotaka Mine. On the Console
Combat Podcast, hosts John and Dean find out

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who would win in fights between popular video
game characters, and in yesterday's episode,

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they determined who would win between Virgil
from Devil May Cry and Raiden from Metal Gear.

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Visit dynamicpodcasts.com or click the link
in our show notes to listen to all of the shows

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in the DynaMic Podcast Network. We want to
give a quick shout out to Zachary Hepburn,

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who is the host of Senjou World. It was his
birthday this past week. So happy birthday

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man. If I could get you any gift from Marvel,
it would be silver samurai's armor. Cause I

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think I got you the Muramasa blade last year
for your birthday. So I'm gonna go silver samurai's

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armor this year. The adamantium suit from the
Wolverine movie. That was pretty bad ass. Well,

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I'm gonna have to get you the soul taker sword
to go with that. I think you already gave him

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that. Fuck. Ha ha ha. But also happy birthday
to Josh, another one of our patrons. If I were

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to give you a gift from Marvel, it would be
Wolverine's adamantium claws, because I know

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you like Wolverine. Like, I probably wouldn't
give you the whole skeleton, because that just

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seems like it'd be a pain in the ass. So we'll
just go with the claws. Okay, but you're not

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going to give him the healing factor as well.
So he's just going to stab his hands all the

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time. You know what? I'm going to give you Deathstroke's
healing factor. You're welcome. Deathstroke

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barely has a healing factor. So that's a horrible
gift. He's from Marvel. It's fine. And we have

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one more birthday wish to give to John Storosky,
the host of the console combat podcast, which

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we forgot to do last month when it was his birthday.
So happy birthday, man. If I could get you

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anything from Marvel, it would be the war machine
armor, because that's one of the new weapons

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being unveiled in the Fortnite season. And being
a gamer like yourself, it's just cool. I think

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you'd like it. And I would get you a red lantern
ring, because while you claim to be on the

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fence between Marvel and DC, we all know your
team red, bro. So happy birthday to all you

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guys, Zach, Josh, and John, but with that out
of the way, quick to the No Prize! A No Prize

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is an award Marvel used to give out to fans.
Our version, the Dynamic Duel No Prize, is

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a digital award we post on Instagram for the
person that we feel gave the best answer to

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our question of the week. Last week we asked
you guys, which upcoming Marvel Studios film

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or show are you most looking forward to and
why? And this is coming off of all of the leaked

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trailers that were presented during the D23
event for Disney investors a couple of weeks

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ago. We got two whole answers, so let's go ahead
and run down the honorable mention and the

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no prize winner. Our honorable mention goes
to Kat Stevenson, who said, Hi guys, it's Kat

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Stevenson again, and the one that I am most
excited for is Ironheart. Ironheart, I feel,

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is going to be a lot about taking over from
Tony Stark's legacy. especially leading up

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to Secret Wars and Doomsday with Robert Downey
Jr. coming back. I can't wait to see what they

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do with Ironheart to help build her and build
herself off of the Iron Man legacy. Thank you

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guys. Have a good day. Yeah, I wasn't too excited
for Ironheart myself. Just coming off of my

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reception to Dominique Thorne's performance
as Reeve Williams in Wakanda Forever, I wasn't

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a fan of it. But when I saw the leaked trailer
for Ironheart and the app- approach that they

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were taking to the story where it was almost
like a set it off type plot where she starts

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stealing money to help fund her research and
development of the new armor. I thought it

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was a pretty interesting angle and the hood
looks really cool as well. So I can see why

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people are looking forward to this now because
I am. Yeah, I'm not quite sure it's going to

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delve into her kind of taking up Tony Stark's
legacy. I didn't get that from the trailer.

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That's what I thought the show was going to
be about. But like you, the trailer did definitely

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get me intrigued for the project. Great answer,
Kat, but the winner of this week's no prize

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is Lizzie Dyer Arnie, who said, Hey, it's Lizzie.
So it's been six years since season three of

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Daredevil. No question. That's the one I'm most
looking forward to. Six years. That's a really

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long time ago. I think we're way overdue and
I cannot wait for season four. Season 3 of

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the Daredevil Netflix series is among the best
projects that Marvel television has ever produced.

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And now that the show is under the Marvel Studios
umbrella, and it's apparently not a reboot,

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more like a Season 4 of that show, it just looks
incredible. The leaked trailer for Daredevil

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Born Again was probably my favorite trailer
to come out of this year's D23. And with all

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the returning characters and all the new characters
that they'll be introducing, like White Tiger

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and Muse, it looks like it's going to be phenomenal.
especially as the Daredevil franchise begins

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folding itself into the greater Marvel Cinematic
Universe. Yeah, we gave season 3 of Daredevil

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a perfect rating because how could you not?
That season was incredible. I'm really looking

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forward to see where they take that story. The
leaked footage was awesome. So yeah, it's really

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easy to get pumped for Daredevil. So congrats
again to Lizzie Dyer Arnie for winning this

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week's No Prize. If you the listener want a
shot at winning your own No Prize, stay tuned

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to later on this episode when we'll be asking
another question of the week. And now that

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that's done, on to the news!

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Alright, this past week we got the official
trailer number two, although it's not being

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called official trailer number two, for Craven
the Hunter. We got our first official trailer

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almost a year ago for this movie, but it's been
delayed so many times now. It's coming out

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this December, and so the time came for another
new trailer, and this one was pretty action-packed.

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Of course, this is part of the Sony Spider-Man
universe, along with Madame Web and the upcoming

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Venom The Last Dance movie. It's crazy that
Sony's releasing three Spider-Man related movies

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this year because the whole point of making
and releasing these films for that company

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is to retain the rights to the Spider-Man character.
And to that end, you would probably want to

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stagger these out over the years so that you
retain the rights that much longer. But I feel

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like Sony is going to lose a lot of money this
year on the Spider-Man franchise and hopefully

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that's a good thing. Like, hopefully, the rights
end up reverting back to Marvel due to the

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epic disaster that this film will probably be.
Because I wasn't impressed with this trailer

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too much. Despite the action, there was very
little inclination of what the movie is actually

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going to be about. Yeah, it feels like they're
really trying to oversell me on the violence.

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It's like, OK, like you do some pretty crazy
stuff, like trap a guy's head in a bear trap

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and like split a guy in half with a tree trunk
and some ropes and stuff like that, which is

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pretty wild. But I don't know, like violence
isn't going to sell me on a movie. I want to

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know what the story is. I want to know what
the stakes are. Things like that to me. This

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is like Aaron Taylor Johnson just doing a bunch
of violence and then posing like a GQ model.

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You know, this is GQ Craven. And I'm like, why?
I mean, the last trailer that we got kind of

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gave us a hint at the background of the character,
right? We know that he comes from a family

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of hunters, that he was bitten by a radioactive
lion or some shit. And so he got super strength

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and speed and stuff like that. But we don't
know exactly who the bad guy is, what their

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aims are. and we didn't get any more information
about that for this trailer. We know that one

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of the bad guys is going to be the Rhino. And
I will say that the Rhino looks pretty cool.

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It looks like the actor who plays Alexei Sistovich
is going to be injecting himself with some

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kind of like Rhino serum, I guess. And it transforms
him into this Rhino looking dude. And the character

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design is pretty good, but it's strange because
the Rhino is not typically a Kraven villain,

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you know? Though I think it makes sense for
him. For sure. Yeah, I'll give you that. We

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know that Craven's brother, Dmitri Smirdyakov,
is also in this movie, who is known as the

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chameleon in the comic books. And while they
typically work together in the books, I'm wondering

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if maybe his brother is the main antagonist
in this film, especially the lines that he

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has in this trailer where he's like, you're
just after another trophy or something like

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that, you know? Oh yeah, setting up like a sibling
rivalry. That would make sense. Yeah. Maybe

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they'll give him like radioactive chameleon
blood, you know, sort of like how the rhino

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guy shooting radioactive rhino blood into him.
Yeah, he'll shoot himself with chameleon blood

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and then be able to take on the appearance of
anyone. So stupid. I hope they don't do that,

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but I also kind of hope they do because this
movie, I don't think deserves to do well just

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by virtue of the fact that one, it doesn't look
good and two, it's made by Sony. And I think

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the sooner that Marvel gets the rights back,
the sooner that will stop getting crappy movies

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like Madame Web and most likely this movie.
Now, to be fair, a lot of the reason you're

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trashing this is because of Sony's reputation
but what if the movie is good? If the movie

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is good I'll eat my words. If I enjoy it, sure.
I mean I did that with the first Venom movie

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which I enjoyed. I hated Let There Be Carnage.
Did not enjoy that one at all. But you know

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if this ends up being more like the first Venom
movie and actually brings something new to

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the table in the way that film did, then yeah.
But as of right now, judging off of this trailer

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and everything else I've seen for the movie,
I'm ambivalent about it. And since I'm not

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too excited for this, I don't think that the
question of the week this episode will tie

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into the Craven trailer. And instead, we're
gonna kind of riff on our previous question

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of the week with this new question.

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Which upcoming DC Studios film or show are you
most looking forward to and why? Record your

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answer at dynamicduel.com by clicking on the
red microphone button in the bottom right hand

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corner of the screen, which will prompt you
to leave us a voicemail. Your message could

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be up to 30 seconds long, and don't forget to
leave your name in case we include you on the

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podcast. We'll pick our favorite answer, and
award that person a Dynamic Duel No Prize that

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we'll post to Instagram. Be sure to answer before
August 24th.

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That's all of the news this week, so now let's
move on to the main event of this episode,

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in which we review DC's latest direct-to-video
animated film, Watchmen Chapter 1.

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Alright, Watchmen Chapter 1 is the first of
a two-part computer-animated adaptation of

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the seminal 1986 comic series by writer Alan
Moore and artist Dave Gibbons. It cannot be

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overstated how much of an impact Watchmen had
on the comic book medium and superhero genre.

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Recent works like The Boys, Kick-Ass, Invincible,
and even to an extent DC's Snyderverse, with

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their attempts at deconstructing flawed, morally
ambiguous, and psychologically complex superheroes

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owe a considerable amount to The Watchmen Story,
which was the first mainstream superhero comic

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intended for mature audiences and to successfully
achieve literary success with accolades such

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as the Hugo Award, the Kirby Award, the Eisner
Award, and was the only comic work listed on

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Time Magazine's list of the 100 best novels
of all time. It is in arguably the most celebrated

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comic book ever made and it continues to be
one of the best selling graphic novels year

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after year, which is probably why Warner Bros
continues to adapt it to other mediums. It

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is a fool's errand because Watchmen is the best
example I could think of a story tailor-made

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for the comic medium in the way it was expertly
paced and creatively laid out on the pages.

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Though I will also admit that I've enjoyed basically
every adaptation of the story, most notably

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Zack Snyder's 2009 live-action film, which we've
reviewed on this podcast. Snyder's film was

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mostly faithful to the source material, even
recreating some comic panels in the framing

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of certain scenes, but it also took some liberties
with the story, which I honestly didn't mind.

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The mediums of comics and film are very similar
in that they're both comprised of pictures,

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And it's not like I wanted the live action film
to replace anyone's need to read the graphic

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novel, which I will say everyone does need to
do. Now while I was excited for this animated

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film adaptation, my biggest fear was that it
would be too faithful to the source material,

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to the degree that people would not need to
read the book. And as I watched Watchmen Chapter

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1, I admittedly found it really hard. to enjoy
because it is indeed the most faithful adaptation

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of the source material outside of the motion
comic which essentially was just an audiobook.

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Now, reviewing Watchmen Chapter 1 is in essence
like reviewing an abridged version of the first

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issues of the comic series. So if you haven't
read the comic and haven't seen this animated

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film, just know that doing one will spoil the
other and will essentially be spoiling both

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in this spoiler review. Yeah, Watchmen Chapter
One is faithful to a fault. And I think a lot

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of people would come at me for saying that because,
you know, it's every fanboy's dream to essentially

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see direct translations from the source material
to the movie medium. And that's valid. I think

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if Zack Snyder's 2009 live action film didn't
exist, this review would be an entirely different

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thing, right? Because it would be cool to actually
see these characters move in three dimensional

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space and hear their voices and stuff like that.
But... because it's coming off of the back

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of Zack Snyder's movie, which arguably did a
superior version of adapting the story to the

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screen. This feels uber redundant, as I mentioned
in our discussion of the trailers for this

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movie. Yeah, absolutely. It's like Marvel doing
an animated version of the first Avengers film.

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It's like, why? The first Avengers film is already
a thing. Right, exactly. I will absolutely

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give credit where credit is due. You from the
first trailer said that this looked like it

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would be redundant and I didn't want to hear
it You told me that I was butt hurt and that

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you were gonna get me a hemorrhoid pillow and
cream for when I watched this movie And yeah

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got butt hurt about it And you know what? I
wish I had that pillow and that cream because

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I was butt hurt when I was watching this movie
because it just felt So fucking pointless.

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I was like, why am I doing this? I know this
story. I've read it so many times I mean, yeah,

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sign me up for that pillow and cream because,
you know, same, right? At the time, I didn't

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want to hear it because I argued that this animated
adaptation and the graphic novel could coexist

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in much the same way that the book and live
action version do. But I'm not going to say

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that they should have never made this animated
adaptation because the story is still really

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good and still really relevant. And while I'll
always recommend the book because it has several

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more layers of depth and artistry, What I don't
want to do is be a book snob to someone who

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only has time to watch the film because it's
one way to appreciate the story, a slightly

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inferior one. That's going to be the case for
99.9% of book to screen adaptations anyway.

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Now, I reread Watchmen like every other year.
I own several copies of the book and when I

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hand them out to someone to read, I often find
myself reading it alongside with them. And

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just about every time I do... I notice something
that I overlooked before or I find a new appreciation

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for how consistently relevant the book remains
across the decades. I enjoy rereading the book

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so I thought I would enjoy watching this film
but like you mentioned watching this film I

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couldn't help but think man I already know the
story this is a waste of time. Watchmen as

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an entire story does have this sixth sense-esque
killer twist that I won't spoil here. And while

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it's fun to spot all of the foreshadowing upon
revisiting the story, that really didn't save

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the somewhat disappointing experience I had
in watching this film. Because Watchmen Chapter

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1 was so faithful, there's nothing really to
scrutinize other than the animation and voice

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performances, which I mean, neither were bad
enough for scolding criticisms or profound

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enough to warrant too much commentary. The animation
was fine. I've seen people compare it to Marvel

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Television's animated What If series, and it's
not as good, I will admit, but barely. The

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characters are a little bit more robotic in
their movements, and the textures are a little

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bit more cheap, but the line work they incorporated
made it more reminiscent of artist Dave Gibbon's

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comic artwork, and there are brief scenes where
the lighting almost makes the animation look

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live action. It doesn't look as good as Zack
Snyder's film. but I can see how some Watchmen

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fans would actually prefer the colorful, cartoony
look for the story, since Watchmen itself is

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something of a satire of the superhero genre.
And one of the criticisms of Snyder's adaptation

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is that its dark and grim aesthetic resulted
in a film that took itself too seriously. Though

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personally, I would argue that's a good thing.
Yeah, I was one of the people that compared

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the look of this movie to the What If Disney
Plus animated series, and you're right, it's

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not as good. The What If show is very fluid
in its characters' motions and facial expressions

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and stuff like that. Here, everything was very
robotic and stiff to the point that it almost

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felt like a video game cutscene extended over
a feature length runtime. I could see that.

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You know, I'm not surprised, though, because
you're going up against Disney animators who

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are literally at the top of their game in the
industry. It's so you admit that Marvel is

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better than DC. I do not recall saying any such
words. It's essentially what you just said.

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I just said Disney animators are better than
basically any other animation, except for maybe

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like Studio Ghibli. OK, all right. Yeah. So
Marvel's better than DC. Oh, my gosh. OK. But

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animation aside, I do want to talk more about
the voice cast in our character breakdown.

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Just overall though, it wasn't bad and it was
a lot closer to how I read the lines than what

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the actors did in the live-action adaptation.
Though that doesn't necessarily mean the voice

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actors for the animated film did a better job
than the actors. Actually if I had a choice

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between recommending Snyder's live-action film
or this animated version. right now I'd say

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go with Snyder's version, though that may change
after seeing Chapter 2. And if I thought they

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also planned on watching the HBO sequel series,
because that ignores creative liberties Snyder's

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film took with the story. If they're watching
the HBO series, definitely go with this animated

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version. Now regarding the story, this film,
like Snyder's version, took some liberties,

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but they impacted the story fairly minimally.
Like most of the changes involved rearranging

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flashback scenes throughout the film that normally
happened during the comedian's funeral, you

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know, soon after various characters learned
of his death. And I didn't mind that, you know,

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I didn't mind them cutting certain lines. Like
I said, it's an abridged version of the novel.

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And despite that, the filmmakers, namely the
screenwriter J. Michael Straczynski, who's

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a comic book writer, managed to successfully
translate the genius that is writer Alan Moore,

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who uses this technique in his writing where
dialogue or narration from one scene is overlaid

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onto a different concurrent scene, creating
this cross-contextual resonance. The text is

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not only relevant to the scene it originates
from, but also adds layers of meaning to the

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scene. overlays and this interplay between dialogue
and visuals deepens the story's thematic impact

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and draws these connections between scenes that
otherwise would not exist. You know, for example,

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a government agent could be debriefing Dr. Manhattan
about what can and can't be mentioned during

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an interview, warning him not to get into any
tight corners. But that voiceover is played

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over Dan and Laurie walking into a narrow alley
as they're being pursued by a gang of not tops.

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It adds this complexity to the narrative in
that it encourages readers or viewers to engage

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with the words on multiple levels simultaneously.
There's a few, very few comic writers who can

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do that technique effectively, but Alan Moore
is the absolute master of it. Now, the biggest

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problem I had with Watchmen Chapter One's story
is that it's only half of a story. And what

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could be considered the climax of the film,
the standoff between Rorschach and the police,

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wasn't expanded upon or drawn out in any kind
of climactic way. So the film ends on this

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anticlimactic cliffhanger that's pretty unsatisfying
and completely unnecessary, considering the

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film is about five minutes shy of a standard
90 minute runtime. Like, you couldn't give

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me five more minutes of action. Everyone knows
who listens to this podcast that I don't mind

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long runtimes. Zack Snyder's Justice League
is four hours. The Batman is about three hours.

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Our past two episodes have been reviews of five
hour long television series that I binged and

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I've come to the realization that if you really
wanted to do an animated Watchmen adaptation

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justice at the bare minimum, you should just
make each comic issue a 20 minute long episode

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of a 12 episode television series. That would
be perfect. And you know, the things that the

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film and television mediums have over comic
books is action and movement. Right. And if

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they could have drawn out some of those fight
sequences, some of those climactic battles

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where we have Ozzy Medeus going up against the
assassin and you have Rorschach going up against

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the police and stuff like that, they could have
drawn those out longer. And they had the opportunity

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to do that, not just to extend the runtime,
but provide a more cinematic experience for

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the viewer. Exactly. Yeah. Cinematic. I could
not have said that better myself. Now, anyone

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who's listened to this podcast for a while has
also heard me say a thousand times that one

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of the reasons DC Comics is better than Marvel
is because DC's characters are pure archetypes

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and symbols of virtue, these true heroes unburdened
by character flaws. Now when I say that, I'm

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100% not talking about Watchmen. Watchmen was
Alan Moore's way of criticizing DC superheroes

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by showing us a world of unconventional superheroes
that are these insecure or immoral or nihilistic

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humans. whose motivations for vigilantism would
not and should not be trusted or accepted by

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the public. In that case, you can kind of say
that the Watchmen story is DC's most Marvel

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tale. Yeah, but only if Marvel was like good,
you know, it's like DC could do Marvel better

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than Marvel could do Marvel. No, they can't
shut up. But let's get more into these flawed

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characters in our character breakdown, starting
with Rorschach. Now Rorschach was voiced by

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Titus Welliver, the star of the Amazon series
Bosh, and who you may also recognize from shows

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00:25:49,374 --> 00:25:54,858
like The Good Wife or Deadwood or films like
Argo. I know the guy's face, but I didn't know

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his name or his voice, apparently. I felt like
he was doing an impression of the Rorschach

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actor from the live action film Jackie Earl
Haley. And though Haley did it better, I wouldn't

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say Titus Welliver did a bad job by any means.
There was nothing like new or unique or superior.

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to his performance over what we got in the Zack
Snyder film. If you had told me that Jackie

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00:26:17,032 --> 00:26:22,355
Earl Haley actually did the voice for the character
again, I totally would have believed you. I

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wish that they would have tried a different
approach. Like maybe go for like a very monotone

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00:26:27,337 --> 00:26:31,779
serial killer spooky type voice, you know. But
yeah, what does that sound like? Kind of like

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your voice, but fuck you.

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00:26:37,894 --> 00:26:42,218
I guess a good reference for that would be Michael
C. Hall's performance in the Dexter television

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show. He did a lot of narration across all of
those episodes and just his cold voice, I thought,

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could have provided a good template for this
version of Rorschach. Interesting. I think

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you're going to go more along the lines of something
like Buffalo Bill and be like, put the lotion

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in the basket. Never compromise. Never in the
face of a barbeque. That's weird. No, I just,

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I mean, to me, he kind of sounded like. Gravely,
Batman, and I think they could have done something

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00:27:06,698 --> 00:27:11,740
unique just to help separate this from Zack
Snyder's film and draw fewer comparisons. Yeah,

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00:27:11,840 --> 00:27:16,201
that would have been great if they would have
tried something new. Again, though, I didn't

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00:27:16,241 --> 00:27:21,423
mind this. Now the first half of The Watchman's
story, Rorschach is the only active street

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vigilante driven by his uncompromising black
and white moral philosophy to punish those

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00:27:26,884 --> 00:27:33,274
who have done wrong and evil. When investigating
the murder of Edward Blake. Rorschach learns

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that he was the comedian, a former vigilante
turned government agent in middle age. His

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arc involves a descent into obsession and conspiracy
as he arrives at the possibility that someone

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00:27:45,244 --> 00:27:51,209
is killing former costumed heroes, and his obsession
shows just how much he's willing to alienate

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00:27:51,249 --> 00:27:56,493
his remaining relationships and hurt anyone
in pursuit of justice. Yeah, it's really hard

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00:27:56,513 --> 00:28:00,737
to add commentary to the character of Rorschach
as a character in this film that hasn't already

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00:28:00,777 --> 00:28:06,308
been said about. The comic book character. I
liked the movement of Rorschach's mask in this

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00:28:06,348 --> 00:28:13,912
movie, though. You mean more than the live action
version? No, no, of course not. No. OK. No,

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00:28:14,332 --> 00:28:21,756
no, no. Yeah, the whole concept of Rorschach's
mask, how it is constantly shifting. I always

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thought has been a really cool one. Like, there's
no other costumed mask character in the comics

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00:28:26,539 --> 00:28:33,210
that's like that. Moving on to Dan Dreiberg,
aka Night Owl 2. He was voiced by Matthew Riz.

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He's not a big name. I'm not too familiar with
his other work, but I also kind of felt like

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his performance was somewhat inspired by Patrick
Wilson's take on the character in live action.

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Yeah, if I was the director of this animated
film, I would have told the actors to not watch

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00:28:47,997 --> 00:28:51,678
at all the Zack Snyder film if they haven't
already, but it looks like what these guys

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00:28:51,718 --> 00:28:55,820
did is went and watched Zack Snyder's film and
then just tried to do that exactly. I mean,

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everyone's seen Zack Snyder's film. It's a great
movie! Well, they should have tried to erase

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00:29:00,467 --> 00:29:04,469
it from their brains and come up with a new
approach. Do you think Matthew Riz did a better

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00:29:04,570 --> 00:29:10,474
job than Patrick Wilson? Because I actually
do. Really? What? No, I don't at all. I loved

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00:29:10,514 --> 00:29:15,298
Patrick Wilson's take on Night Owl. Well, I
mean, who doesn't? Everyone does. But regarding

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00:29:15,358 --> 00:29:20,962
his arc, you know, Dan starts out as a retired
superhero struggling with a sense of purposelessness

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in a world that no longer values masked vigilantes,
you know, living a quiet, lonely life. that

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00:29:26,550 --> 00:29:32,874
changes when Rorschach warns him of his conspiracy
that someone is targeting former masked heroes.

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00:29:33,234 --> 00:29:39,538
Dan's interactions with Laurie Uspechek betray
his insecurity, which seemingly contrasts with

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his former superhero persona. As Dan reconnects
with Laurie, he begins to reconnect with his

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00:29:45,601 --> 00:29:51,745
old identity, grappling with the harsh realities
of the world around him. Now his arc is one

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00:29:52,025 --> 00:29:58,449
of... tentative reawakening as he slowly reclaims
his role as Night Owl and grows closer with

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00:29:58,549 --> 00:30:04,732
Laurie. It's essentially the story of how Night
Owl got his groove back. It's a good way to

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00:30:04,772 --> 00:30:11,176
put it. But speaking of Laurie, aka Silk Spectre
II, she was voiced by Katie Sackoff from Battlestar

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00:30:11,216 --> 00:30:16,019
Galactica fame, who I thought did a much better
job with the character than Malon Ackerman

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00:30:16,059 --> 00:30:20,941
did. Yeah Malon Ackerman was the weak link of
the live action version, but she looked the

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00:30:20,981 --> 00:30:25,605
part. the movie. I agree. I really liked Katie
Sikoff's performance here. It felt different

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00:30:25,645 --> 00:30:30,248
from Mal and Ackerman's in a way that the previous
two characters did not. Right, yeah, I agree.

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00:30:30,388 --> 00:30:35,512
Now, Laurie is a retired superhero and initially
the romantic partner of Dr. Manhattan, who

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00:30:35,552 --> 00:30:40,616
grapples with her identity and the legacy of
her mother, the original Silk Spectre. Living

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00:30:40,636 --> 00:30:46,040
with Dr. Manhattan, Laurie feels increasingly
isolated and disillusioned with her life as

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00:30:46,080 --> 00:30:53,089
a former superhero and current pacifying companion
you could say to Dr. Manhattan. As Dr. Manhattan

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00:30:53,109 --> 00:30:58,512
grows more and more detached from humanity,
however, Laurie rekindles a friendship with

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00:30:58,572 --> 00:31:04,695
Dent Dryberg, whose loneliness and diminished
glory as a superhero allow her to easily relate

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00:31:04,715 --> 00:31:11,299
to him. When she eventually leaves Dr. Manhattan,
she starts to reclaim her own identity, one

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00:31:11,399 --> 00:31:16,406
independent from the roles her mother and the
government imposed on her. and one that she

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00:31:16,486 --> 00:31:21,647
knowingly or unknowingly uses to manipulate
Dan. Laurie's character was always a bit of

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00:31:21,667 --> 00:31:26,049
a mystery to me in the original story because
it really didn't make sense for her, I think,

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00:31:26,089 --> 00:31:33,091
to redawn the Silk Spectre identity considering
her stance on it and her mother and superheroism

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00:31:33,131 --> 00:31:39,653
in general. It's like she largely did it just
to bring Ny'al out of his shell. Yeah, but

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00:31:39,693 --> 00:31:44,262
I guess I don't see why she did it herself.
I was under the impression that was largely

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00:31:44,442 --> 00:31:49,164
it. Like they were off to go rescue Rorschach
and she was going to do it as a superhero.

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00:31:49,184 --> 00:31:54,446
She kind of found her own way to that lifestyle
without, you know, badgering from her mom or

347
00:31:54,526 --> 00:31:58,968
anything like that. But is that a lifestyle
that as a character she would even want to

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00:31:59,008 --> 00:32:05,507
go to? That I don't think rung true from the
original story. I think she found excitement

349
00:32:05,567 --> 00:32:10,249
in it. And I think the alleyway scene where
she's beating up the gangsters was proof of

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00:32:10,289 --> 00:32:15,291
that for both her and Dan. They both kind of
got hot and bothered by that. So her angle

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00:32:15,571 --> 00:32:21,794
into Super Hero X was merely just thrill seeking.
100%, yes. So then why wasn't she satisfied

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00:32:21,874 --> 00:32:26,536
as a hero prior to that? Because she felt like
she was only doing it because her mom wanted

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00:32:26,576 --> 00:32:31,286
her to. What effect did that have on the thrill
seeking aspect? Well, who knows how much thrill

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00:32:31,306 --> 00:32:35,507
seeking she actually got from it considering
she was going to be on the same team as Dr.

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00:32:35,547 --> 00:32:39,668
Manhattan. I always kind of saw her more as
like a model than a superhero and the same

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00:32:39,708 --> 00:32:44,310
goes for the first Silk Spectre. I don't know
how much crime fighting they actually got involved

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00:32:44,350 --> 00:32:49,611
with because it didn't show that in the original
comic. Now, May in the expanded Watchmen universe,

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I haven't read all of those comics, but maybe
the answer is found in there. Maybe. Moving

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00:32:55,473 --> 00:33:01,220
on to Jonathan Osterman, aka Dr. Manhattan.
He was voiced by Michael Cerveris. I'll be

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00:33:01,240 --> 00:33:06,284
honest, I'm not familiar with his work. Apparently
he played Professor Pig in the Gotham television

361
00:33:06,324 --> 00:33:11,849
series though. Interesting. I did not like his
performance at all. His was the one performance

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00:33:11,929 --> 00:33:16,613
where I could say was not as good or better
than what we got in live action. Well, not

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00:33:16,673 --> 00:33:20,816
even as a comparison to Billy Crudup's because
obviously Crudup's performance in Zack Snyder's

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00:33:20,857 --> 00:33:27,254
film was exceptional. It was so brilliant. But
here, Dr. Manhattan sounded like... literally

365
00:33:27,294 --> 00:33:33,237
an AI voice. Yeah. I guess I can understand
the approach, but I did not like the execution

366
00:33:33,277 --> 00:33:40,941
at all. No, it was 100% inferior. Dr. Manhattan
is very detached from humanity, yes, but he's

367
00:33:41,101 --> 00:33:46,044
not a robot, right? He's somewhere in between
is what I'm guessing. And really, I think Crudup

368
00:33:46,104 --> 00:33:53,308
nailed it, that sort of human yet detached quality
to his voice. Absolutely. Not just his voice,

369
00:33:53,368 --> 00:33:58,426
his whole performance in general, like his facial
expressions. The Dr. Manhattan in the comic

370
00:33:58,466 --> 00:34:04,328
had way more emotive facial expressions than
they gave him in this animated film. I was

371
00:34:04,368 --> 00:34:08,569
actually looking at the comic as I was watching
this film the first time I watched it. And

372
00:34:08,609 --> 00:34:13,571
yeah, they stripped a lot of the emotion out
of Dr. Manhattan, which was really surprising

373
00:34:13,591 --> 00:34:19,733
to me. Now from the get-go, Dr. Manhattan is
portrayed as this detached god-like figure

374
00:34:20,033 --> 00:34:26,416
that struggles to relate to humanity. His transformation
into a being of nearly unlimited power made

375
00:34:26,436 --> 00:34:32,321
him distant, viewing human life and emotions
with a cold, almost clinical perspective. As

376
00:34:32,341 --> 00:34:38,186
he becomes more involved in geopolitical and
international matters, his growing disconnection

377
00:34:38,226 --> 00:34:44,831
from humanity is made evident by his deteriorating
relationship with Laurie, who leaves him due

378
00:34:44,851 --> 00:34:49,715
to his emotional absence. When he's accused
of causing cancer to people close to him throughout

379
00:34:49,755 --> 00:34:57,171
his life, Dr. Manhattan retreats to Mars, distancing
himself from Earth. His arc is one of profound

380
00:34:57,331 --> 00:35:03,232
alienation as he grapples with his loss of humanity
and the existential weight of his powers which

381
00:35:03,272 --> 00:35:07,754
will ultimately set the stage for his change
of heart and renewed interest in human beings

382
00:35:07,954 --> 00:35:13,635
later on in the story. Why do you think Dr.
Manhattan became detached with humanity? Why

383
00:35:13,695 --> 00:35:19,797
does just the ability to perceive time in the
fourth dimension and an abundance of superpowers

384
00:35:20,037 --> 00:35:24,679
make you act like a robot? Right? Like Superman
has a lot of powers. He doesn't act like a

385
00:35:24,739 --> 00:35:31,661
robot. No, but I mean, Superman also experiences
time the same way we do. When you can see so

386
00:35:31,681 --> 00:35:38,343
many things in the way that he sees them, things
become more trivial to you for the most part,

387
00:35:38,383 --> 00:35:44,265
I would say. I don't necessarily think so. I
think if I could perceive my entire life nonlinearly,

388
00:35:44,425 --> 00:35:49,043
I don't think that would strip me of my personality.
No, but when you get to see like the individuel

389
00:35:49,224 --> 00:35:54,688
atomic makeup of people and you find that interesting
It's like he said there's no difference in

390
00:35:54,728 --> 00:36:01,113
the number of atoms between a dead human and
a live human He doesn't really see them as

391
00:36:01,153 --> 00:36:06,837
humans anymore He just sees them as these ghosts
shifting through time as he's able to see all

392
00:36:06,877 --> 00:36:11,881
of time They don't really matter and things
don't really matter because it's all just atoms

393
00:36:11,921 --> 00:36:17,647
moving I think even if I were able to see atoms,
I would still see people. I guess I never understood

394
00:36:17,747 --> 00:36:22,048
the evolution of John Osterman as a character
into Dr. Manhattan. It was just something that

395
00:36:22,128 --> 00:36:27,030
happened, and you had to kind of accept that's
who he was, but how he got from point A to

396
00:36:27,070 --> 00:36:31,891
point B just by rebuilding himself, I'll never
quite understand. Okay, well think of it this

397
00:36:31,931 --> 00:36:39,033
way. Do you care about the lives of ants? No,
not really. Do you care about what they care

398
00:36:39,073 --> 00:36:43,700
about? But human beings would not be ants to
me because human beings act different than

399
00:36:43,780 --> 00:36:48,942
ants to me. And yet if you were Dr. Manhattan,
they would all be ants to you. No, no, because

400
00:36:48,983 --> 00:36:52,685
he's still carrying on conversations with us
and stuff like that. If we were really ants

401
00:36:52,705 --> 00:36:56,727
to Dr. Manhattan, why would he bother communicating
with us? Why would he bother interacting with

402
00:36:56,787 --> 00:37:00,969
us? Why would he bother having a girlfriend
and having these emotional attachments and

403
00:37:00,989 --> 00:37:05,511
stuff? But it's not like the conversations he's
having are interesting to him. In fact, they

404
00:37:05,552 --> 00:37:11,606
become less and less interesting as time goes
on. You were Ant-Man and you could talk with

405
00:37:11,806 --> 00:37:17,028
ants. Who the fuck cares what an ant has to
say? It's a fucking ant. What? Fuck Ant Bro.

406
00:37:17,048 --> 00:37:21,769
How would you know? You've never talked to one.
Oh, I know. Don't worry. All right. OK. There

407
00:37:21,789 --> 00:37:27,011
you go. This conversation has gotten really
weird. I think we should move on. Oh, we've

408
00:37:27,031 --> 00:37:31,432
already moved on. It's the future. That's how
you perceive time. We're already there. It's

409
00:37:31,592 --> 00:37:39,346
all right. Moving on to Adrian Veit, AKA Ozymandias.
He was voiced by Troy Baker. who's a very versatile

410
00:37:39,487 --> 00:37:45,070
and prolific voice actor for a lot of animated
work in video games as well. I thought he did

411
00:37:45,090 --> 00:37:49,572
a great job for as little as he was in the movie.
I thought he did a better job with the character

412
00:37:49,612 --> 00:37:53,814
than Matthew Goode did in the movie. I didn't
really love Matthew Goode's performance in

413
00:37:53,834 --> 00:37:58,277
the live-action version. Well, yeah, Matthew
Goode kind of approached it with a German accent,

414
00:37:58,437 --> 00:38:02,339
if I remember correctly, like slightly German
or something. Yes. I'm not sure if that was

415
00:38:02,359 --> 00:38:07,346
the right call there, but I would say that in
this animated movie, Troy Baker approach the

416
00:38:07,386 --> 00:38:12,168
character in a way that was more consistent
with how I read it in the original books. Yeah,

417
00:38:12,248 --> 00:38:16,511
same for me. Although I do have to hand it to
the people who wrote Zack Snyder's Watchmen

418
00:38:16,531 --> 00:38:22,494
movie. In many ways, I think they improved upon
Alan Moore's original dialogue with lines like

419
00:38:22,934 --> 00:38:27,437
statistically, what murder doesn't constitute
a trend or something like that, which Ozymandias

420
00:38:27,457 --> 00:38:31,799
told Rorschach the first time they met. Just
lines like that I thought were well done. Or

421
00:38:31,879 --> 00:38:36,401
even lines where he was telling other businessmen
like I could buy and sell you 10 times over.

422
00:38:36,970 --> 00:38:41,392
something like that, you know, just to like
actually show that this guy really is the richest

423
00:38:41,412 --> 00:38:47,714
guy in the world. Now next to Dr. Manhattan,
Adrian is presented as the most capable man

424
00:38:47,915 --> 00:38:53,677
in existence. He's the world's smartest man
and a former superhero who successfully transitioned

425
00:38:53,757 --> 00:38:59,260
into a wealthy businessman. Outwardly, Adrian
appears to have left his vigilante days behind,

426
00:38:59,520 --> 00:39:04,542
you know, focusing on his global enterprises
and philanthropic efforts. But there are hints

427
00:39:04,722 --> 00:39:10,064
that he actually hasn't lost any of his touch
as a superhero, as evidenced by the foiled

428
00:39:10,104 --> 00:39:16,946
assassination attempt. His public persona as
a benevolent billionaire genius is only a half-truth,

429
00:39:17,006 --> 00:39:23,108
and his arc is one of subtle manipulation and
control, though we don't really comprehend

430
00:39:23,148 --> 00:39:27,609
that until later in the story, since in this
first half, his true motivations and plans

431
00:39:27,769 --> 00:39:32,256
are nonexistent. Yeah, I kind of forgot just
how few appearances the character of Ozymandias

432
00:39:32,316 --> 00:39:36,359
actually makes within the first half of the
story, which kind of seems like a misdirection

433
00:39:36,619 --> 00:39:41,102
on behalf of Alan Moore's part considering his
role in the second half of the story. You know,

434
00:39:41,363 --> 00:39:46,386
we don't think too much about Ozymandias in
this first half. Yes, absolutely. And you know,

435
00:39:46,406 --> 00:39:50,409
that was the case when I first read the comic
as well. I thought he was kind of the most

436
00:39:50,509 --> 00:39:55,553
boring character. I didn't really quite understand
why he was even in the story or what purpose

437
00:39:55,573 --> 00:40:01,972
he served. But yeah, he's very heavily involved
in the story as we find out in the second half.

438
00:40:02,273 --> 00:40:08,220
You know who gave the best Azumandias performance
of all time? Who? Jeremy Irons. Oh yeah! Yeah,

439
00:40:08,240 --> 00:40:12,505
that guy was great. That whole show was just
so good, I need to rewatch it. I think I will

440
00:40:12,565 --> 00:40:15,769
actually after watching Watchmen Chapter 2 when
that comes out next year.

441
00:40:23,214 --> 00:40:28,878
Our fantasies collide and heroes clash. One
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442
00:40:28,898 --> 00:40:34,623
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443
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444
00:40:40,968 --> 00:40:47,864
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battle every Wednesday, and Sendro World, where
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discover who will emerge victorious. Visit dynamicpodcast.com
where we settle the debate and settle the score.

448
00:41:10,455 --> 00:41:15,379
Let's move on to the story highlights. A man
named Edward Blake is murdered by being thrown

449
00:41:15,479 --> 00:41:20,463
out of the window of a high-rise apartment.
The superhero vigilante Rorschach illegally

450
00:41:20,503 --> 00:41:26,228
investigates Blake's murder and discovers Blake
was the comedian, a former masked adventurer.

451
00:41:26,628 --> 00:41:31,693
Concerned that Blake's murder could mean that
someone is targeting former superheroes, Rorschach

452
00:41:31,733 --> 00:41:37,037
warns his old associates, beginning with Dan
Dreiberg, a former superhero known as Night

453
00:41:37,157 --> 00:41:42,235
Owl. When Dan returns home from visiting his
mentor Hollis Mason, the original Night Owl,

454
00:41:42,575 --> 00:41:47,656
he finds Rorschach, who broke in, and the two
discuss Rorschach's theory regarding a mask

455
00:41:47,716 --> 00:41:53,278
killer, after which Dan remembers an incident
from the past when he and the comedian violently

456
00:41:53,318 --> 00:41:59,080
confronted protesters against an ongoing police
strike at the time and the hero's vigilantism.

457
00:41:59,100 --> 00:42:03,481
I gotta say, we didn't discuss the comedian
in the character breakdown, but I hated this

458
00:42:03,521 --> 00:42:08,480
version of the comedian. Now... I know I've
been saying that I wish these voice actors

459
00:42:08,520 --> 00:42:13,284
took a different approach from what was done
in Zack Snyder's film. And that's definitely

460
00:42:13,304 --> 00:42:19,450
what the comedian actor did here. But it was
just so bad that I wish Jeffrey Dean Morgan

461
00:42:19,510 --> 00:42:24,534
had come back to voice the character. Dude,
you are so inconsistent. You want to be the

462
00:42:24,594 --> 00:42:29,379
same? Come on. I wanted Rorschach to be different,
but I wanted the comedian to be a little bit

463
00:42:29,419 --> 00:42:34,370
more wry in his delivery, a little bit more
ironic. because that's kind of who the character

464
00:42:34,450 --> 00:42:41,112
is, I think. Here he was just angry and one
note and frankly, boring. That's fair. Actually,

465
00:42:41,132 --> 00:42:47,554
I mean, the comedian is a character who kind
of sees the tragic humor in everything. Right,

466
00:42:47,574 --> 00:42:52,035
he's the ultimate cynic. Yeah. That's his whole
thing. That's very fair. Jeffrey Dean Morgan

467
00:42:52,055 --> 00:42:58,517
is such a charming actor. He makes so many like
bad guys likable, you know, whether it's here,

468
00:42:58,537 --> 00:43:03,510
whether it's in The Walking Dead, The Boys,
a lot of different places. So yeah, if you're

469
00:43:03,550 --> 00:43:09,673
gonna play a character like the comedian who
should be played, you know, very human, I guess,

470
00:43:09,713 --> 00:43:14,795
for lack of a better term. I don't want to say
sympathetic, but almost. He's not a caricature

471
00:43:14,955 --> 00:43:19,917
like he was portrayed here. He's a piece of
shit, but he's not one note, you know? Yeah,

472
00:43:19,957 --> 00:43:26,020
he's very, very complex as a character. Probably
the most complex character in Watchmen. So

473
00:43:26,060 --> 00:43:31,855
many lives were affected by him in so many different
ways. Now after roughing up patrons at a bar

474
00:43:31,895 --> 00:43:37,138
looking for answers, Rorschach visits Adrian
Veit, the former hero known as Ozymandias,

475
00:43:37,298 --> 00:43:41,942
now the current head of Veit Industries as well
as the smartest and richest man in the world.

476
00:43:42,342 --> 00:43:47,285
Upon learning what happened to Blake, Adrian
remembers a time when the comedian interrupted

477
00:43:47,325 --> 00:43:52,349
a meeting held by Captain Metropolis and the
potential formation of a new super team because

478
00:43:52,369 --> 00:43:57,732
he pointed out that nothing they did would be
able to stop the world's inevitable apocalyptic

479
00:43:57,772 --> 00:44:03,595
descent into nuclear war. And Adrian's recollection
of the comedian is really the one that brings

480
00:44:03,655 --> 00:44:09,396
out the nihilism of the Watchmen story and particularly
that of the comedian. I actually liked the

481
00:44:09,496 --> 00:44:14,458
animated performance that Azumandias gave in
this scene. The way he would eyeball everyone

482
00:44:14,478 --> 00:44:18,479
who talked to him, kind of like sizing them
up and just being very calculating. You really

483
00:44:18,499 --> 00:44:23,020
got that vibe. Yeah, you know, in the comic,
the artist who did it, Dave Gibbons, he's a

484
00:44:23,140 --> 00:44:29,654
master of like body language. So it's impressive
that they could expand upon that. in something

485
00:44:30,335 --> 00:44:34,938
that moves. I thought they took really great
cues from what was going on in the story to

486
00:44:35,018 --> 00:44:39,381
do things and add things like that. I kind of
wish Matthew Good would have done that in the

487
00:44:39,421 --> 00:44:44,946
live action movie. Oh yeah, I agree. But instead
he kind of acted more like a diva when the

488
00:44:44,966 --> 00:44:49,069
comedian was pissing him off during that meeting.
Yeah, again, there's a number of ways in which

489
00:44:49,209 --> 00:44:54,333
this adaptation is better than the live action
version. And it's kind of interesting to compare

490
00:44:54,353 --> 00:44:58,603
and contrast the two. Like I said, maybe by
the time the second chapter comes out, I'll

491
00:44:58,643 --> 00:45:03,646
end up liking this adaptation more. We'll see.
After sneaking his way onto a military base,

492
00:45:04,006 --> 00:45:08,549
Rorschach approaches Dr. Manhattan and Lori
Yospechik, the latter being the former hero

493
00:45:08,609 --> 00:45:14,892
and model known as Silk Spectre II, who became
agitated upon hearing about the comedian since

494
00:45:14,932 --> 00:45:20,275
he tried to rape her mother, the original Silk
Spectre, decades ago. After teleporting Rorschach

495
00:45:20,335 --> 00:45:24,837
away to comfort Lori, she decides to arrange
dinner with Dan Dreiberg for old time's sake.

496
00:45:25,226 --> 00:45:30,969
and the two bond over their glory days as heroes.
Alone with his scientific work, Dr. Manhattan

497
00:45:31,009 --> 00:45:35,932
recalls his time with the comedian during the
Vietnam War, in which they helped America win

498
00:45:35,952 --> 00:45:41,855
the war, and when upon their victory, Dr. Manhattan
failed to stop the comedian from killing a

499
00:45:41,935 --> 00:45:47,779
young Vietnamese woman he had impregnated. And
it's interesting to see how time goes on from

500
00:45:47,859 --> 00:45:52,390
when Dr. Manhattan first became superpowered
to the point where the story takes place. he

501
00:45:52,430 --> 00:45:57,412
becomes more and more detached from humanity
over time. And that's evidenced by the fewer

502
00:45:57,452 --> 00:46:02,554
clothes that he wears. Like when he's in Vietnam,
he's wearing more clothes than he does in the

503
00:46:02,574 --> 00:46:06,275
present day. And he was wearing more clothes
than that when he first began his superhero

504
00:46:06,315 --> 00:46:11,737
career and was even meeting with the Minutemen
to form potentially a new team. It's at Vietnam

505
00:46:11,817 --> 00:46:16,960
where I think Dr. Manhattan begins to realize
how disconnected he's becoming from humanity

506
00:46:17,000 --> 00:46:22,382
because the comedian was 100% right. He totally
let the comedian kill that woman. He could

507
00:46:22,402 --> 00:46:27,266
have stopped him, but he didn't because he's
just kind of become this watcher type character

508
00:46:27,626 --> 00:46:32,650
who's just watching time progress as opposed
to being physically a part of it. And that's

509
00:46:32,670 --> 00:46:37,895
a huge red flag for the comedian. You know what
I miss in this movie though, were the music

510
00:46:37,935 --> 00:46:44,100
choices from the Zack Snyder film. Nah, the
music choices and the soundtrack for Zack Snyder's

511
00:46:44,280 --> 00:46:49,184
Watchmen are top notch. I freaking love that
soundtrack. It bothered a lot of people and

512
00:46:49,204 --> 00:46:52,771
it bothered a lot of critics. because they thought
it was a little bit too on the nose. But I

513
00:46:52,811 --> 00:46:58,554
actually really liked the way it invoked specific
time periods and themes, stuff like that. It

514
00:46:58,574 --> 00:47:03,797
was really well done, in my opinion. Like, I
wanted to hear Simon Garfunkel's song during

515
00:47:03,837 --> 00:47:07,820
the funeral scene, and I wanted to hear Flight
of the Valkyries during the Vietnam War scene

516
00:47:07,840 --> 00:47:13,183
and stuff like that. It was just missed. Yeah,
same here. Now, during Blake's funeral, Lori

517
00:47:13,223 --> 00:47:18,754
visits her elderly mother, Sally, who lives
retired in California. Upon discussing Blake's

518
00:47:18,794 --> 00:47:23,918
death, Sally remembers when she and Blake, as
Silk Spectre and the Comedian, were both members

519
00:47:23,958 --> 00:47:28,941
of the Minutemen superteam, along with other
heroes such as the First Night Owl and Hooded

520
00:47:28,981 --> 00:47:34,965
Justice, the latter of whom we see halt Blake's
attempted rape of Sally. Dr. Manhattan, Dan

521
00:47:35,005 --> 00:47:40,429
Dreiberg, and Adrian Veidt all attend Blake's
funeral, along with an old retired supervillain

522
00:47:40,569 --> 00:47:45,813
known as Molech. Rorschach attacks Molech in
his home later that night, believing he may

523
00:47:45,833 --> 00:47:52,041
be the mask killer. only to learn that not only
is Malik innocent and dying of cancer, but

524
00:47:52,061 --> 00:47:57,024
that he was visited by a somber and drunken
comedian not long before his death, during

525
00:47:57,064 --> 00:48:02,688
which time he gave an ominous yet incoherent
warning about a massive plot that somehow involved

526
00:48:02,768 --> 00:48:09,453
Malik and Dr. Manhattan's old girlfriend, Janie
Slater. Now how cool is it seeing Hooded Justice

527
00:48:09,613 --> 00:48:16,850
and perceiving him as a black cop wearing white
makeup around his eyes with the noose around

528
00:48:16,890 --> 00:48:22,632
his neck that was once used to try to lynch
him. Now, I'm not sure how in continuity the

529
00:48:22,652 --> 00:48:27,795
Watchmen HBO television series is. It's totally
my head cannon. It should be. It should be

530
00:48:27,815 --> 00:48:32,857
because that was a fantastic origin for Hooded
Justice. And yeah, I 100% thought about that

531
00:48:33,017 --> 00:48:37,576
during this scene with him. It kind of adds
another layer as to why Hooded Justice didn't

532
00:48:37,596 --> 00:48:42,500
get more involved in punishing the comedian,
because the comedian kind of alluded to the

533
00:48:42,560 --> 00:48:46,663
fact that he knew something about Hooded Justice,
a seeker of his, that he didn't want to get

534
00:48:46,763 --> 00:48:51,366
out. So he was blackmailed, essentially. I think
the comedian knew that Hooded Justice was gay.

535
00:48:51,807 --> 00:48:56,831
Well, yeah, maybe multiple things. Well, a young
boy at a newspaper stand reads a comic book

536
00:48:56,931 --> 00:49:02,419
about a stranded pirate that's interwoven into
the main plot. Laurie becomes distressed upon

537
00:49:02,479 --> 00:49:07,443
learning that Dr. Manhattan is working on his
scientific research simultaneously while they

538
00:49:07,483 --> 00:49:12,087
make love, and she departs for Dan's home to
lament her relationship, and the two later

539
00:49:12,147 --> 00:49:17,272
defend themselves from a gang attack. Meanwhile,
Dr. Manhattan goes on a talk show to discuss

540
00:49:17,392 --> 00:49:22,716
international tensions and potential war, only
to be publicly confronted about a pattern of

541
00:49:22,756 --> 00:49:28,721
cancer diagnoses among those from his past,
including Malik and Janie Slater, among others.

542
00:49:29,170 --> 00:49:34,454
Agitated by the accusation that he's the cause,
Dr. Manhattan teleports the entire talk show

543
00:49:34,514 --> 00:49:39,738
audience and crew away before grabbing an old
photo of himself and Janie at an abandoned

544
00:49:39,819 --> 00:49:44,863
military base and teleporting to Mars to live
in seclusion. Now one thing that was missing

545
00:49:44,903 --> 00:49:50,447
from Zack Snyder's adaptation was of course
the tales from the Black Freighter storyline

546
00:49:50,488 --> 00:49:56,319
that was interwoven in the comic book. I completely
understand why that was omitted because it's

547
00:49:56,459 --> 00:50:03,124
not really pivotal to the plot of Watchmen,
but it is fascinating to see how, like I mentioned

548
00:50:03,204 --> 00:50:09,548
earlier, Alan Moore will use text from the comic
to relate to the scene that we're currently

549
00:50:09,588 --> 00:50:14,230
viewing. Yeah, I don't think the incorporation
of the Tales of the Black Crater comic was

550
00:50:14,270 --> 00:50:18,673
done successfully here. I appreciate how they
actually tried to interweave the tale within

551
00:50:18,713 --> 00:50:23,605
this story. but it just goes to show how unique
of a medium comic books is and that it felt

552
00:50:23,645 --> 00:50:27,648
very successful in the Watchmen comic. Even
though it was an abrupt shift in the pacing

553
00:50:27,688 --> 00:50:33,373
of the overall story, I think for film and television,
you need to keep that momentum going. And every

554
00:50:33,393 --> 00:50:37,556
time you go to the Black Friday, it was just
really confusing, I think, to any new coming

555
00:50:37,836 --> 00:50:44,442
audiences. Yeah, I can agree with that 100%.
I don't think it was unsuccessful entirely

556
00:50:44,502 --> 00:50:49,226
because there were those scenes where it added
layers, but you know, if they... dropped it

557
00:50:49,246 --> 00:50:53,127
from the film, I also would not have complained.
I think it was just really hard to catch the

558
00:50:53,227 --> 00:50:57,969
relevance of it all the way it was executed
here. You know, I'm not 100% you could even

559
00:50:57,989 --> 00:51:06,972
call it relevant. It's not. It's just this literary
framing device that, yeah, 100% works in the

560
00:51:06,992 --> 00:51:12,651
comics, but like you mentioned, maybe not anywhere
else. With Dr. Manhattan gone, Lori is kicked

561
00:51:12,691 --> 00:51:17,253
out of her shared home on the military base,
and worldwide tensions escalate dramatically

562
00:51:17,293 --> 00:51:23,557
now that America is without its protector. Meanwhile,
on Mars, Dr. Manhattan relives his past as

563
00:51:23,597 --> 00:51:27,899
the young man Jonathan Osterman, the son of
a watchmaker who encouraged him to become a

564
00:51:27,980 --> 00:51:33,323
scientist. He also recalls when he met and fell
in love with his scientist co-worker, Janie

565
00:51:33,363 --> 00:51:38,902
Slater, along with the accident that destroyed
his body and gave him his superpowers. His

566
00:51:38,962 --> 00:51:44,306
subsequent life with Janie and later Laurie
is briefly explored before he creates a massive

567
00:51:44,346 --> 00:51:50,712
clockwork structure made from glass back on
Mars. This whole sequence infuriated me, actually,

568
00:51:50,752 --> 00:51:56,136
because it was so inferior to what we got in
the live action movie. It just didn't work

569
00:51:56,176 --> 00:52:01,021
here. It was so boring the way the voice actor
narrated the jumps through time, giving the

570
00:52:01,061 --> 00:52:06,265
years and everything like that, and the lack
of music, you know? It just, it didn't work

571
00:52:06,305 --> 00:52:11,124
as well. nearly as well. It was like a magical
sequence within the live action version. And

572
00:52:11,184 --> 00:52:15,646
here I was almost born to death and I couldn't
wait for them to just move on with the story.

573
00:52:16,066 --> 00:52:22,230
This sequence is probably one of my most favorite
in the movie and the comic. And I would agree

574
00:52:22,350 --> 00:52:27,232
I liked it the least here. There was at one
point something they did that was really interesting

575
00:52:27,773 --> 00:52:32,775
where he says, I dropped the photo to the floor
and 30 seconds of the future it's already there.

576
00:52:33,056 --> 00:52:38,158
And you actually see that. So it's like looking
through his eyes. but they only attempted to

577
00:52:38,178 --> 00:52:43,299
do that one more time where he says, you know,
I'm standing looking at the stars and then

578
00:52:43,319 --> 00:52:49,141
you see his body shift into a transparent ghost
version of him. I don't know if I'm explaining

579
00:52:49,181 --> 00:52:54,102
it well. Ultimately, it was not done as well
as it could have been, though there was a hint

580
00:52:54,222 --> 00:52:58,944
at something possibly genius that they just
did not follow through with. With Malak being

581
00:52:59,004 --> 00:53:04,005
mentioned during the talk show, Rorschach revisits
and tortures Malak for information, which proves

582
00:53:04,085 --> 00:53:09,919
fruitless. After Dan offers to let Lori live
with him for the time, Adrian Veidt is attacked

583
00:53:09,939 --> 00:53:15,582
by an assassin only to disable the killer, though
he dies via a cyanide capsule before he can

584
00:53:15,622 --> 00:53:21,564
give Adrian any information. With Dr. Manhattan
gone, the comedian dead, and the assassination

585
00:53:21,604 --> 00:53:27,387
attempt on Ozymandias, Rorschach becomes more
convinced of his mask killer conspiracy and

586
00:53:27,427 --> 00:53:32,749
revisits Malek, only to find him in his home
alone, dead, with a gunshot wound to the head,

587
00:53:33,009 --> 00:53:38,547
along with the gun. just as a swarm of police
arrive on the scene. Rorschach attempts to

588
00:53:38,607 --> 00:53:44,789
flee, attacking police officers in the process,
but he is soon apprehended and unmasked, revealing

589
00:53:44,809 --> 00:53:49,871
him to be a homeless doomsayer that had been
seen walking the streets throughout the film.

590
00:53:50,251 --> 00:53:54,732
I always loved that reveal. I remember being
shocked by that in the comics when it's like,

591
00:53:54,872 --> 00:53:59,198
oh, it's that guy, it's the redhead guy with,
you know, the sign. There's a lot of things

592
00:53:59,218 --> 00:54:05,481
that happen in these scenes that I can't really
touch on until some reveals are made in the

593
00:54:05,561 --> 00:54:09,443
second half of this story. Because I don't want
to spoil that for anyone who's just coming

594
00:54:09,483 --> 00:54:15,086
into this fresh. But revisiting these scenes
with that in mind just kind of showed the masterwork

595
00:54:15,226 --> 00:54:18,668
of the plan that's going on behind the scenes.
And that's something that I always like to

596
00:54:18,728 --> 00:54:23,968
see anytime I re-experience the story. During
the end credits, we hear on a radio snippets

597
00:54:23,988 --> 00:54:28,912
from Janie Slater talking about Dr. Manhattan
and Hollis Mason talking about his early superhero

598
00:54:28,932 --> 00:54:34,396
career while we see blood slowly drip halfway
down the screen and a clock ticking closer

599
00:54:34,436 --> 00:54:40,661
to midnight. And actually really liked that
they included that in these end credits. Because

600
00:54:40,762 --> 00:54:44,705
you know, a lot of movies, especially superhero
movies will do things with their end credits.

601
00:54:44,785 --> 00:54:49,769
But like, Watchmen is known for the supplemental
elements that they included at the end of each

602
00:54:49,829 --> 00:54:55,549
comic. And for them to include portions of that
here, I thought was really cool. Like the ticking

603
00:54:55,589 --> 00:54:59,892
clock, like the blood going down the screen,
like the different excerpts from books and

604
00:55:00,172 --> 00:55:04,775
radio interviews. That was cool. It was brilliant.
I mean, I think you're right. If this was a

605
00:55:04,835 --> 00:55:11,160
12 part television series where each issue was
an episode, it would be really fucking cool

606
00:55:11,220 --> 00:55:17,044
to get the supplemental material in the form
of like a radio broadcast during the end credits

607
00:55:17,064 --> 00:55:24,962
scene. Dude, 100 percent. I would have loved
this as a 12 episode series. I would not put

608
00:55:24,982 --> 00:55:30,006
up past Warner Brothers to do that with like
in the next 10 years, just as another adaptation

609
00:55:30,046 --> 00:55:35,491
to give to us. I wouldn't be surprised either.
You'd think with the success of the Watchmen

610
00:55:35,531 --> 00:55:40,095
live action television series, maybe they've
even thought of doing that, but you know, animation

611
00:55:40,135 --> 00:55:45,380
is cheaper. So they should have just done that
here instead of doing what they did. Right.

612
00:55:45,580 --> 00:55:51,200
I don't hate this movie. I feel like a lot of
my review may have come across that way because

613
00:55:51,401 --> 00:55:57,466
it is well made, it is a good story. Not everything
is as successful as other adaptations, but

614
00:55:57,646 --> 00:56:04,252
it is still a good adaptation, a very faithful
one as well. Though despite filmmakers best

615
00:56:04,312 --> 00:56:10,537
intentions, the film is faithful to a fault.
In essence, it's an abridged and superfluous

616
00:56:10,577 --> 00:56:15,201
version of the celebrated graphic novel. It
was a really hard film to give a star rating

617
00:56:15,241 --> 00:56:22,154
to. But at the end, I decided to go with three
out of five stars, just barely recommendable

618
00:56:22,234 --> 00:56:27,438
as an adaptation. It's still a fresh rating,
but I'm still always going to recommend the

619
00:56:27,478 --> 00:56:33,142
book over this adaptation 100% of the time.
I feel like I would not recommend this movie.

620
00:56:33,422 --> 00:56:38,206
Actually, I would give this a rotten score because
at the end of the day, if you're going to read

621
00:56:38,246 --> 00:56:42,108
the book, I'd recommend reading the book. And
if you're going to watch a movie, I'd recommend

622
00:56:42,249 --> 00:56:46,803
Zack Snyder's live action film. I would never
in any circumstances, I think, recommend this

623
00:56:46,883 --> 00:56:51,086
animated adaptation. Well, you haven't seen
the full adaptation yet. That's the problem.

624
00:56:51,546 --> 00:56:55,028
And you're always going to have instances. I
come across this all the time where I'm like,

625
00:56:55,428 --> 00:57:00,571
read the book and people are like, I don't have
time to read comic books. Okay, well then watch

626
00:57:00,611 --> 00:57:05,233
this movie maybe. Yeah, watch the live action
movie because it's better. There's literally

627
00:57:05,293 --> 00:57:09,316
no instance in which I would ever recommend
this ever. You have two great options to choose

628
00:57:09,356 --> 00:57:13,378
from the original novel or the 2009 film. I
would just pick one of those. I think this

629
00:57:13,398 --> 00:57:18,900
is the most unnecessary thing that DC has ever
put out. It's hard. It's so hard because I

630
00:57:18,940 --> 00:57:24,302
really like Watchmen. And I feel like by giving
this a Rotten Tomato is the equivalent of saying

631
00:57:24,362 --> 00:57:29,624
I don't like Watchmen or that it's bad. You
know, 3 out of 5 stars is right on the cusp

632
00:57:29,764 --> 00:57:35,987
of fresh and rotten. It's 60%. You may have
just convinced me. I may give this a rotten

633
00:57:36,027 --> 00:57:40,809
rating. Look within your heart. That's all I'll
say. I'm not here to steer you one way or the

634
00:57:40,849 --> 00:57:47,275
other. Well, too bad, because he did. You happy?
Yeah, guys, don't be surprised if you see a

635
00:57:47,435 --> 00:57:53,438
rotten rating on this from me on Rotten Tomatoes.
Save your death threats. I'm already dead inside

636
00:57:53,478 --> 00:57:59,601
for having to do this as much as it pains me.
So yeah, I guess that does it for this review.

637
00:58:00,041 --> 00:58:07,184
Let's wrap this shit up. Agent NK, wrap this
shit up. Thanks for listening to Dynamic Duel.

638
00:58:07,824 --> 00:58:12,758
Visit the show's website at dynamicduel.com.
and follow us on Instagram at Dynamic Duel

639
00:58:12,778 --> 00:58:18,320
Podcast. You can support the show on Patreon
at Patreon.com slash Dynamic Duel and joining

640
00:58:18,360 --> 00:58:24,522
a tier that works for you or by rating and reviewing
Dynamic Duel on Apple podcasts, Spotify, Podchaser,

641
00:58:24,822 --> 00:58:29,323
or on our website. Don't forget to listen to
the other shows in the DynaMic Podcast Network,

642
00:58:29,743 --> 00:58:36,718
including Max Destruction, Senjo World, and
Console Combat. In our next episode. We would

643
00:58:36,818 --> 00:58:43,282
normally be doing yet another review of Suicide
Squad Isekai, but I need a freaking break from

644
00:58:43,342 --> 00:58:48,445
these reviews. So we're going to delay that
week and we are going to instead be doing a

645
00:58:48,585 --> 00:58:55,209
duel between Arsenal or Red Arrow and White
Widow. Right. White Widow is Yelena Belova.

646
00:58:55,349 --> 00:59:00,892
She's played by Florence Pugh in the MCU. And
I think it'll be fun to see her beat the shit

647
00:59:00,932 --> 00:59:05,354
out of Arsenal. So looking forward to it. and
I'm looking forward to you ending your words

648
00:59:05,414 --> 00:59:09,775
once again when DC wins. So there. But that
does it for this episode, we want to give a

649
00:59:09,855 --> 00:59:15,197
big thanks to our executive producers Ken Johnson,
John Sierowski, Zachary Hepburn, Dustin Balcom,

650
00:59:15,457 --> 00:59:20,578
Miggy Mathen-Geehan, Brandon Nestergaard, Nathaniel
Wagner, Levi Yeaton, Austin Wazilowski, AJ

651
00:59:20,598 --> 00:59:26,620
Dunkerley, Scott Camacho, Gil Camacho, Adam
Spies, Andrew Schunk, Dean Molesky, Devin Davis,

652
00:59:26,760 --> 00:59:31,721
Joseph Kirsting, and Josh Leiner for helping
make this podcast possible. And we'll talk

653
00:59:31,741 --> 00:59:36,626
to you guys next week. Up up and away, true
believers. The accumulated filth of all their

654
00:59:36,707 --> 00:59:40,972
sex and murder will foam up about their waists,
and all the whores and politicians will look

655
00:59:41,012 --> 00:59:45,558
up and shout, Save us! And I'll look down and
whisper, Taste the rainbow.