Watchmen Movie

[Duder84 0]

Has anybody seen a trailer for the movie yet? There is supposed to be one coming up in the next Comic Con or something like that. I haven't seen anyone talk about this one yet so figured I'd throw it out here.

[Jason Harris 31]

We discussed it a bit in the Dark Knight thread. The trailer played before DK and it left me a little concerned, since it seemed much too flashy. The Watchmen was a gritty comic, yet the trailer had scenes that were like someone being thrown through a window while the film went from fast to slow to fast.

This is the same director who did 300, so I'm worried he's going for style over substance.

[Duder84 0]

Huh, I saw pics of the characters in their garb and thought they stayed pretty faithful to the the book (most of them anyway), hopefully that also translates into the storytelling

[mack 44]

I had some doubts, even after the stills that came out early, but the trailer looks like the comic's come to life. I just want to see more of The Comedian.

[Rustpot 1]

This is the same director who did 300, so I'm worried he's going for style over substance.

I thought the trailer said "the visual director from 300", does that mean something else?

Also, Zach Snyder did not write the screenplay this time, so hopefully that makes a difference.

[Trooper 8]

It's going to be amped up a little for the film, but I am worried about the director. 300 was nothing more than a testosterone fest for overactive teenagers. Watchmen needs much better treatment.

[Jason Harris 31]

Huh, I saw pics of the characters in their garb and thought they stayed pretty faithful to the the book (most of them anyway), hopefully that also translates into the storytelling

Yes, the costumes appear to be faithful, but the preview came across like 2 Fast 2 Furious, where a car is going around a corner and suddenly shifts into slo-mo as it takes the curve, then just as suddenly accelerates to regular speed. Besides the same thing happening with someone being tossed out the window in The Watchmen trailer, I think there was a similar scene when one of the characters landed on the ground and time stood still for the character to look up for dramatic effect.

Believe me, I hope I'm wrong, but I'm worried special effects like those are going to overrun the movie. Besides the story itself, what made The Watchmen so special was the realism of Dave Gibbons' art, the attention to detail. I always figured a movie of The Watchmen would be film noir, with special effects handling the explosions, not making the actors look cool as they are walking.

[Race4LastPlace 31]

apparently there's a game coming out at the same time. a 'multi episode' game with the first one releasing at the same time as the movie. i hope they dont ruin this for me.

edit: link

also didnt i read somewhere that snyder didnt want to have anything to do with this, or was is somebody else (writer maybe) that was very relucttant to be a part.

[mrusse01 0]

The choice of it being a 'brawler' is a terrible one.

[Jason Harris 31]

also didnt i read somewhere that snyder didnt want to have anything to do with this, or was is somebody else (writer maybe) that was very relucttant to be a part.

Alan Moore, the author of the graphic novel, didn't want to have anything to do with the movie. I believe he was unhappy with V For Vendetta, so he swore off Hollywood.

[Race4LastPlace 31]

also didnt i read somewhere that snyder didnt want to have anything to do with this, or was is somebody else (writer maybe) that was very relucttant to be a part.

Alan Moore, the author of the graphic novel, didn't want to have anything to do with the movie. I believe he was unhappy with V For Vendetta, so he swore off Hollywood.

ah yes, thats right. so is he gonna be any part of this. a buddy was telling me about him, but dont remmebr exactly what he said as far as his involvement

[mrusse01 0]

also didnt i read somewhere that snyder didnt want to have anything to do with this, or was is somebody else (writer maybe) that was very relucttant to be a part.

Alan Moore, the author of the graphic novel, didn't want to have anything to do with the movie. I believe he was unhappy with V For Vendetta, so he swore off Hollywood.

He feels he got screwed over by DC, long story apparently.

Moore seems like a bit of a nut, but I'd be a bit pissed if people were putting words in my mouth (changing anarchy for democracy in VforV) and for the steaming pile of crap that was League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, which was also a Moore graphic novel...not to mention From Hell.

In conclusion, no, he would have nothing at all to do with a Watchmen movie and hasn't had anything to do with any of the film adaptations of his work.

[Steve_v3 289]

Here is a link for coomingsoon.nets the Watchmen page: The Watchmen

Has Trailer and some other videos.

[mack 44]

No mention of the animated comic yet? I hate being the big nerd here:

Now we’re announcing another important experiment on this road. Last summer, I traveled to London with Warner Premiere President Diane Nelson to show Dave Gibbons a first test of a new digital format. Diane’s team and WATCHMEN director Zack Snyder passionately wanted to take the original WATCHMEN graphic novel, put the artwork into motion, add a soundtrack, and create a new, multi-format digital version while keeping all of the original literary and art material. We spent hours with Dave, discussing the inherent challenges, the proven power of WATCHMEN to convert people to the “new” format of graphic novels, and how that might happen again if we did this new project well. Unsurprisingly, Dave had important insights into how the artwork could be digitally manipulated to best effect, and ended up becoming a vital part of the process, working directly with Zack and the producers over the last year. This first chapter of the first “Motion Comic” went live as a free download from iTunes on the ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY site last night, and production is moving steadily towards releasing the rest of the monumental work that is WATCHMEN in multiple formats for computers and cell phones between now and the movie’s premiere.

http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore...10&s=143441

It also didn't say "visual director;" it was "visionary director."

[Jason Harris 31]

I hate being the big nerd here:

Yes, but we look up to you, Big Kahuna....

[Duder84 0]

I finally got to watch The Dark Knight and saw the trailer today....and yes, Jason, you're right, it does seem like they're going for more special effects than substance, at least judging by this trailer. Although like Mack says, some of the scenes were straight out of the comic, like Dr. Manhattan's fortress(?) Like you, I thought the movie should be a little more noir, as there is a mystery to be solved, hopefully that doesn't change, especially since Alan Moore is not involved..

[TheBert 0]

I don't feel they're going overboard on special effects actually. If anything, most of the effects I've seen are being used to give it the comic book feel. See: http://www.empireonline.com/trailer/breakdown/watchmen/

But it does remain to be seen whether the writing is any good.

[Trooper 8]

Yesterday they covered Comicon with Snyder. They showed a lot of the storyboards which were lifted directly from panels in the comics.

[mrusse01 0]

I finally got to watch The Dark Knight and saw the trailer today....and yes, Jason, you're right, it does seem like they're going for more special effects than substance, at least judging by this trailer. Although like Mack says, some of the scenes were straight out of the comic, like Dr. Manhattan's fortress(?) Like you, I thought the movie should be a little more noir, as there is a mystery to be solved, hopefully that doesn't change, especially since Alan Moore is not involved..

It looked to me like virtually every scene in the trailer is directly ripped from the pages of the comic, no?

[Jason Harris 31]

It's how the scenes are ripped from the book that is worrying me. It appears to be bringing Matrix style filmography to a graphic novel that had little to do with flash.

Again, I hope I'm wrong.

[mrusse01 0]

I read somewhere that Moore was on record as saying that he thought Hayter's (in a cool aside, the voice of Solid Snake in the Metal Gear Solid franchise) script was as good a job as he thought anybody could do....although he still said he would never see the movie.

I've watched the trailer a bunch of times now, and it's really grown on me a lot, I think it looks pretty cool. A lot of the focus is obviously on Dr. Manhatten, which is going to be the most visually spectacular aspect of the film, so I'm hoping the movie isn't quite as action packed as the trailer makes it out to be. Another thing that I find a bit worrying is, who are the actors in this movie? Virtually the entire cast is b-list at best actors, and there is usually a reason for that.

[mack 44]

They may not be well-known but they're far from B-movie actors, save for Malin Akerman maybe. She's at least hot though. Jackie Earle Haley got an Oscar nom a couple years ago; Billy Crudup has been in some solid movies and is a good actor; Patrick Wilson was in the movie (Little Children) that got JEH an Oscar nom so he can at least act. They guy playing the Comedian has been in some shows but he at least looks the part.

[mrusse01 0]

Matthew Goode as Ozymandias worries me a bit....I mean, the guy doesn't even have a pic up on imdb and if that role sucks, it could really hurt the movie.

Maybe it will work out great, it's just a little surprising they couldn't get an A-list star or two on board for a project like this. I agree though, Jakie Earle Haley should be awesome as Rorschach.

[Jason Harris 31]

I read somewhere that Moore was on record as saying that he thought Hayter's (in a cool aside, the voice of Solid Snake in the Metal Gear Solid franchise) script was as good a job as he thought anybody could do....although he still said he would never see the movie.

Here's an excerpt from an interview Moore had with Entertainment Weekly:

Regarding director Zack Snyder, Moore said, "He's also the person who made 300. I've not seen any recent comic book films, but I didn't particularly like the book '300.' I had a lot of problems with it, and everything I heard or saw about the film tended to increase [those problems] rather than reduce them: [that] it was racist, it was homophobic, and above all it was sublimely stupid. I know that that's not what people going in to see a film like '300' are thinking about but ... I wasn't impressed with that ... I talked to [director] Terry Gilliam in the '80s, and he asked me how I would make 'Watchmen' into a film. I said, 'Well actually, Terry, if anybody asked me, I would have said, 'I wouldn't.' And I think that Terry [who aborted his attempted adaptation of the book] eventually came to agree with me. There are things that we did with Watchmen that could only work in a comic, and were indeed designed to show off things that other media can't ... I increasingly fear that nothing good can come of almost any adaptation, and obviously that's sweeping. There are a couple of adaptations that are perhaps as good or better than the original work. But the vast majority of them are pointless."