Watchmen Trailer

[Alasdair5000]

Is up at the official site, empireonline.com and youtube.

Ummm...

WOW.

Seriously.

Also, for the first time in very nearly as long as I can rememeber, it made me want to go and re-read the book instantly.

[stePH]

Is up at the official site, empireonline.com and youtube.

Ummm...

WOW.

Seriously.

I hae a doubt.  I'm not seeing how Watchmen could be adapted to film well; the story and backstory are all over the place.

That said, I'll probably go to see it anyway.

[Alasdair5000]

Interestingly, the director actually shares your concerns especially about the "Black Freighter" pirate comics sub plot.  Which is why they're being done as a seperate film, released on DVD the same week Watchmen hits theatres with plans already in place to slot it into the film on a director's cut DVD a few months later.

Also, apparently, the ending?  Is in.

This may just pull it off.

[stePH]

Interestingly, the director actually shares your concerns especially about the "Black Freighter" pirate comics sub plot.  Which is why they're being done as a seperate film, released on DVD the same week Watchmen hits theatres with plans already in place to slot it into the film on a director's cut DVD a few months later.

My stated doubt does not even consider the pirate comic subplot.  The main story alone is a challenge enough.

[DKT]

Also, apparently, the ending?  Is in.

If the ending wasn't there, would it still be the Watchmen?  

I've got hopes for this.  I read the comic book for the first time last year.  And I dig that Snyder is doing all the stuff (like the pirate comic) for a BIG DVD.  (Although it would've been cool if somehow that could've been in the movie, too.)  

I think the trailer looks tight.  Very, very tight.  I was a little worried about Snyder overdoing it because I don't think 300 and Watchmen are the same kind of comics, much less movies, at all.  And I still have some doubts.  It already looks way sexier than the comic ever did (style and shots, I mean, not just sex).  But I'm not sure how you'd do it differently as a movie.

Fingers crossed for me on this one.

[wintermute]

It already looks way sexier than the comic ever did (style and shots, I mean, not just sex).

It looks shinier, certainly. And all of the characters look like they do in the comic (except is that meant to be Ozymandias in front of the wall of monitors?), and every scene in the trailer evokes a specific panel from the comic. But still, it seems to lack something.

Still, the ending can't be worse than Terry Gilliam's "Doc Manhattan goes back in time and stops Jon Osterman getting trapped in the machine" travesty...

[stePH]

Still, the ending can't be worse than Terry Gilliam's "Doc Manhattan goes back in time and stops Jon Osterman getting trapped in the machine" travesty...

what what WHAT? 

[wintermute]

Friends of mine were journalists in the comic book field, and interviewed Gilliam after the movie fell apart. I actually had the good fortune to read the script.

It was the most amazing adaptation in the history of cinema. Until that final scene.

[DKT]

Wowza.  I heard there were some bad adaptations of it before, but that one's got to take the cake.

I'd still like to read that Sandman script where Morpheus gets into a fistfight with the Corinthian or whoever the villain is in the climactic scene.

But what the hell do I know?  I thought V for Vendetta was mostly enjoyable.

[stePH]

But what the hell do I know?  I thought V for Vendetta was mostly enjoyable.

[aol]
Me, too!
[/aol]

And I'd have liked to see Jodorowsky's Dune.  From what I've read, it would have been almost unrecognizable to readers of Herbert's novel, but I probably would have liked it better than Lynch's film.

[DKT]

But what the hell do I know?  I thought V for Vendetta was mostly enjoyable.

[aol]
Me, too!
[/aol]

And I'd have liked to see Jodorowsky's Dune.  From what I've read, it would have been almost unrecognizable to readers of Herbert's novel, but I probably would have liked it better than Lynch's film.

Dude, we seriously need to find that Impossible Dreams DVD store. 

[stePH]

Dude, we seriously need to find that Impossible Dreams DVD store. 

Hopefully (unlike in the story,) the DVDs will be in a format readable to our players, or they'll have players compatible with our power supplies.

[errant371]

I have been hearing a lot about Watchmen movie lately, and quite frankly I am not holding my breath to see it.  I have been a fan of Moore's since the mid-80s and have seen every film adaptation of his work, and they have all sucked (except, perhaps, From Hell).  There seems to be something about a Moore story that does not translate well to film.  Gibbons appears to like the adaptation, or at least doesn't hate it.  Moore, on the other hand, once again refused to attach his name to the project and will not be credited.  I hope I am wrong though, I would love to see a live action Watchmen that does justice to the story.  I really, do.  However, I said this about V For Vendetta and was horribly, horribly disappointed.  The Warchowski Brothers proved again that they were incapable of making a decent film or an even half decent screenplay.  They couldn't even get the opening scene right.

All that being said, Watchmen probably doesn't even need to be made into a movie.  Kind of like how Raiders of the Lost Ark really didn't need sequels.

[wintermute]

Gibbons appears to like the adaptation, or at least doesn't hate it.  Moore, on the other hand, once again refused to attach his name to the project and will not be credited.

Previously, Moore's attitude to films of his work was that he'd already made his art, and if someone was going to pay him to make something completely different that just happened to have the same title, then why should he care? Apparently, he never even bothered to watch the movie adaptation of From Hell.

And then came LXG.

Screenwriter Larry Cohen alleged that the LXG movie was identical to a script he'd written and 20th Century Fox had turned down, and that Moore's comic was basically a hackwork that he could sell to Fox so they could make this other script without paying Cohen. Naturally, Moore was slightly annoyed at this; and the man knows how to hold a grudge.

So, from that point, he's refused to deal with Hollywood in any way whatsoever. Those stories he owns copyright on will never be filmed; where he doesn't own the rights, he insists his name is taken off the credits, and any money owed to him be given instead to charity. This was the case with Constantine and V for Vendetta, as well as Watchmen.

[stePH]

Screenwriter Larry Cohen alleged that the LXG movie was identical to a script he'd written and 20th Century Fox had turned down, and that Moore's comic was basically a hackwork that he could sell to Fox so they could make this other script without paying Cohen. Naturally, Moore was slightly annoyed at this; and the man knows how to hold a grudge.

Am I reading the above right -- Cohen is alleging that Moore wrote the comic in order to pirate Cohen's script?  I've read the first two League of Extraordinary Gentlemen collections and they're the farthest thing from "hackwork". 

I've stayed clear of the movie because all reports have it sucking like a black hole.

[DKT]

stePH, it does indeed SUCK. And this is coming from someone who read the comic *after* he saw the movie.

I read the quote a little bit differently...that Cohen had written a movie script similar to League of Extraordinary Gentlemen that was turned down, and then he got commissioned to write LXG and used his own stuff to cobble together a script resulting in the POS that played in theaters. 

However, rereading the quote, I could be totally wrong.  But I'd be hard-pressed to listen to anyone who calls the comic "hackwork."  The first one (haven't grabbed the second yet) is of the most fun comics I've ever read.

[sirana]

Well i can't really comment since I don't know the comics, but I like Snyder's work so far. The dawn of the dead remake was fun (and yeah I know it wasn't a zombie film cause zombies don't run, but it still was a good film). And 300 was fan-fucking-tastic.
So I'm looking forward to the Watchmen movie.

[Alasdair5000]

Wowza.  I heard there were some bad adaptations of it before, but that one's got to take the cake.

I'd still like to read that Sandman script where Morpheus gets into a fistfight with the Corinthian or whoever the villain is in the climactic scene.

But what the hell do I know?  I thought V for Vendetta was mostly enjoyable.

Me too.  I LOVE the book (Growing up next to England in the 1980s, oddly, gives you a certain fondness for kitchen sink dystopias) and I really enjoyed the movie.

And as for bad adaptations?

Judge Dredd.

Basically everything after the first ten minutes.

[DKT]

And as for bad adaptations?

Judge Dredd.

Basically everything after the first ten minutes.

Yeah, but those first ten minutes were SOMETHING 

[stePH]

The comic I'd really like to see adapted to screen, and I don't really think it would be difficult in the right hands, is Frank Miller's Ronin.  Save for Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, it's the only truly worthy thing Miller ever did IMO.

[edit]
Actually, the comic book I would most like to see adapted to screen is The Incal.  But Ronin is definitely second.

[wintermute]

Screenwriter Larry Cohen alleged that the LXG movie was identical to a script he'd written and 20th Century Fox had turned down, and that Moore's comic was basically a hackwork that he could sell to Fox so they could make this other script without paying Cohen. Naturally, Moore was slightly annoyed at this; and the man knows how to hold a grudge.

Am I reading the above right -- Cohen is alleging that Moore wrote the comic in order to pirate Cohen's script?  I've read the first two League of Extraordinary Gentlemen collections and they're the farthest thing from "hackwork". 

I've stayed clear of the movie because all reports have it sucking like a black hole.

Yes, you understand correctly.

Cohen submitted a script called Cast of Characters to 20th Century Fox, they turned it down, and then made League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, which (I'm told) has more in common with Cast of Characters than with the comic it's supposed to be based on. Had he alleged that Fox bought LXG in order to infringe on his copyright, then I'd have a hard time thinking he was in any way wrong. But instead he also accused Moore of colluding with them.

And then Fox came to a settlement with Cohen which Moore characterises as a complete capitulation, dragging his integrity even further through the mud. Which is more evidence that the film they really wanted to make was Cast of Characters.

Anyway, you can see why he's not best pleased with the Hollywood machine.

[birdless]

Just finished watching the trailer for the first time… Dude, if they are as faithful to the story as they were to the artwork, we may have one hell of a movie. One can only hope…

[deflective]

aye, like 300 they're being exceptionally true to the art. they literally copy the frames at times.

except for Ozymandias. not a whole lotta resemblance there.

[stePH]

aye, like 300 they're being exceptionally true to the art. they literally copy the frames at times.

except for Ozymandias. not a whole lotta resemblance there.

Or the Silk Spectre.  They've slutted her up quite a bit from what she looked like in the book.

[wakela]

Whatever Alan Moore says, it looks awesome.  I've been waiting for this for 20 years.

I'm surprised no one mentioned Nite Owl.  He was middle-aged and portly in the comic, but pretty buff in the trailer.  I have to admit that I would rather see a kick-ass Batman type than flabby Shatner type.

I'm a little disappointed with Ozy, too.  It looks like they are envisioning him as the frustrated nerd, like the kid Buddy/Syndrome* from The Incredibles.  But I could be reading too much into a nanosecond shot.

The music is haunting.  Is that the Smashing Pumpkins?  I always find it ironic when a filmmaker uses a band that is almost 20 years old to do something edgy.

Actually, it doesn't seem too out of character for Dr Manhattan to stop his younger self from entering the nukey chamber.  I don't think I would have minded that. 


*just found out he was voiced by Jason Lee, the dude from My Name is Earl.  Who knew?