Yesterday I went to see Watchmen with my friend Ryan. I was supposed to go with my Brother-In-Law and my friend Mike too, however work came up for both of them. That sucks when the weekend still requires you to work. Weekends are short enough as it is without work stepping in and screwing it up.

So, I met Ryan at Five Guys Burgers and Fries. Talk about organized chaos. The place is insane. Insanely good! When I got there Ryan had already placed his order and was scouting a table. Here is the setup. You walk into the shop and there are a bunch of 4 person tables spread out all over the place. They are very tightly packed together. You walk around the tables and get in line. The menu is simple. Burgers and Fries. There are some hot dogs too. You can order a regular burger (two patties) or a little burger (I’m assuming 1 pattie) and then you can order fries, large or small. Go with the small, there are plenty. I got the large, it was too much. You order and then move down and watch the coordinated efforts of people frantically putting together order after order of burgers. What makes each burger unique is that you can put whatever toppings you want on the burger, and there are many.

I watched this take place and it was pretty cool. The burgers are simple, cooked well, and then placed on the buns that have been prepped with all the toppings. The burger is wrapped up in a foil wrapper and then added to the bag. Fries are put in to a cup and added to the bag and then additional fries are dumped into the bag (that’s why it is okay to order small). I got my fries Cajun style. They were good, I wanted to try 5 guys style too but didn’t. I already had enough fries.

Five Guys also has bulk peanuts around so you can eat those at will as well. I am ashamed that I did not take any photos at all when I went to Five Guys. I even had my Canon SD and my Flip HD, so ashamed. I’ve found some great photos on Flickr that people have put up, so if you want to see some amazing Five Guys photos check this out. Five Guys on Flickr.

After our dinner we headed over to see Watchmen. We saw it at Showcase Cinemas at Patriot Place in Foxboro, MA. Patriot place is a sweet shopping area. I’ve gone to nice outdoor places like this all over the country and I am glad that there is one like this close to us.

The theater itself is pretty cool where they have what is called the LUX level. That is where they have plush leather seats and people to bring you food and drinks. It costs a bit more than a regular ticket. I had never seen the LUX level before and I am glad I did. the LUX level is in the same theater as the one we were in, it is separated by a railing. I don’t really think that is really worth it.I’d rather be in a theater that is all LUX. That works much better.

The movie was really well done. Visually it is amazing and the people who made it painstakingly recreated locations and characters from the graphic novel. My favorite character was Rorschach played amazingly well by Jackie Earle Haley. Of all the characters in the graphic novel Rorschach is the one who maintains a completely black and white outlook. Good and Evil, that’s it, no grey whatsoever. I think the movie handled his backstory very well. Jackie Earle Haley certainly brought this character to life.

I was discussing the movie with my friend John who is also a big fan. The one thing he did not like and I agree was that the movie made it seem like all the characters had superpowers. The thing that works in the graphic novel is that the characters are all human with human limitations except for Dr. Manhattan, he is a super hero with super abilities. All the rest of the characters are very human.

There were many scenes, especially with Silk Spectre II and Nite Owl II where they characters performed like they had super powers and had super reflexes and super strength. The violence was very graphic, the comic pulls no punches and neither did the movie.

In all it was a very good story. The graphic novel is incredible, there was a change to the ending of the novel, and say what you will I liked it. I liked how it remained true but at the same time was changed slightly. It worked better for me than the ending of the graphic novel. I will talk about my thoughts on the ending at the bottom, it is a spoiler so please take note that if you haven’t read the graphic novel or seen the movie you might not want to read my take on the ending until such time as you have seen and read.

At the very end of the movie the projector stopped working. Everyone was wondering what happened. A few people went out to complain. Then a member of the Showcase Staff came in and made an announcement. He stated that they were aware of the problem and it would be fixed in 5 -10 minutes. He then started to say that if anyone wanted a refund, then he stopped and said better yet on your way out you will receive a free ticket to come back.

I went for a quick bathroom break and when I came back the movie had been restarted and by the time I got up to my seat, seconds, there was only 3 minutes left of the movie. It ended and we got our free tickets. Showcase really made an effort to maintain good customer service. I was impressed.
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*************Spoiler Alert**************
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The ending of the graphic novel had New York as the target for the incredible loss of life. In the movie there were several locations that were attacked. I don’t see how an attack on one nation could sustain a collaboration of peace with all nations.

We had an attack on September 11, 2001 and for a while the world was behind us in our mourning. However the world is not unified, wars are not over just because of an incredible loss of life in New York. No, it made more sense that attacks occurred across the world and thus unified nations against a common enemy. That was a big change to the novel and it wasn’t a giant squid made to look like an alien but rather it was attacks that looked like they came from Dr. Manhattan. It really made much more sense.