Who Watches? The Watchmen Movie
 

http://watchmenmovie.warnerbros.com/

The trailer for the already-filmed watchmen movie is out.

It's ... pretty. Well done sync with the sound track, and the music was well chosen.

As yet, no confirmation that the movie will suck. So there is still hope!

I have my fingers crossed.

I loved the trailer. Soundtrack was cool, kinda sounded like Smashing Pumpkins.

If Zack stays true to the source material, I can't imagine the movie sucking. Dr. Manhattan looks badass!

Man, MANY of the visuals in that trailer are exact recreations of panels from the book. Osterman being vaporized, the Mars base being created, The Comedian in Viet Nam, The Comedian being thrown out the window, Night Owl's aircraft (what was it's name?) hovering over the protesters... And Rorschach's voice is PERFECT.

This trailer didn't suck. I think there's hope.

"The Beginning Is the End Is the Beginning" by Smashing Pumpkins.

I didn't see "300", but I'm wondering how the visual style of 300 will affect Watchmen.

I think the point is, the visual style of 300 the movie WAS the visual style of 300 the graphic novel.

From the trailer, it's fairly clear the visual style of Watchmen the movie is going to be pretty damn spot-on to the visual style of Watchmen the graphic novel.

When I saw this trailer in the theater, it took me less then a second to realize what it was. I almost came in my pants right there. I new just what part of the comice every part of that trailer was from. It looks perfect. And Rorschach's voice was so fucking awesome. I really do have high hopes for this movie. It looks like the comic just started walking and talking.

The Watchmen has been on my to-read list for ages. Maybe if there's a film coming out I'll see if I can find a copy.

It looks good, maybe it will manage to do more that that. Time will tell but I am not confident. There have been too many Alan Moore projects that have been messed up.

Oh man, I never heard of Watchmen before, but this trailed has me psyched. Reminded me of Mystery Men, which I also love, but this looks so much richer. That last line in the trailer... excellent.

I'd just like to say that when I was a kid I never read comic books or graphic novels. I didn't understand them really, I just didn't know what they were. So when I approach a comic book movie I approach it more or less as a movie, along with anything I might happen to know or have heard about the comic or graphic novel on which it's based.

I love the teaser for Watchmen. I don't think it can be called a trailer because although it's trailer length, it doesn't tell us anything about what's in the film other than some people who can fly and glow. But I love its tone. The music works wonderfully, and more than anything, it makes me want to know what the hell is going on, which means it works.

However, I suspect that Zach Snyder, the 'visionary director of 300' as the teaser calls him, will give Watchmen a disappointing adaptation. I've never read 300, so I don't know how deeply it was about ideas and themes rather than exciting action, but as we know, the film of 300 was all about style over substance. And it kind of worked, although it was too long to keep itself going.

From what I hear about Watchmen there's an awful lot of pretty deep ideas and things in it that, should Snyder take the same approach with this project as he did with 300, will be discarded in favour of OH MY GOD DID YOU SEE THE THING HAPPEN IN SUPER SLOW MOTION I NEARLY CAME.

So I'm skeptical.

But who knows. I'm not up enough on, or interested enough in, the graphic novel to get sanctimonious about it so let's see what the film's like.

So... I really have to pull my head out of my hands after reading a paragraph like that.

I did read 300, and long before the film was announced. The film does a damn good job of bringing the book to the screen--style, substance, and all.

What is this "style versus substance" thing? I've been hearing this a lot lately. Because a thing is stylish, it must be substance-free? Did you WATCH 300? Or were you too busy saying, "Ooh, billowy cloth slow-mo: must be no ideas in this film!" Yes I know, it doesn't look as staid and composed as Bergman, so there's obviously nothing here to think about. :rolleyes:

The film 300 PERFECTLY rendered the graphic novel. From the teaser, it looks like the film Watchmen will PERFECTLY render the graphic novel. As somebody with a strong grounding in the graphic novel medium, I assure you that the former is the case, and I'm reasonably confident of the latter.

I 90% forgive the sanctimony that proceeded this sentence.

I didn't say it was one versus the other all the time. But in 300 the movie, I think it's difficult to argue that there's a great deal in the way of subtext and thematic depth. People have suggested, for example, that there are similarities to the films of Leni Riefenstahl, and superficially there are. But I think that going from there to calling the film a modern day example of popular proto-Facist propaganda is, well, bollocks. At the end of the day, the slow-motion shots of 300 Spartans with swords and pouches are just that. I don't think the film has an awful lot to say, if anything. I doubt you'll find many people who honestly believe the film is deeper than it appears to be.

I'm not saying that Watchmen will head the same way. I'm saying that on the basis of 300 the movie, and the Watchmen teaser, it's very easy to imagine that it could. And I think that would be a shame.

I'm looking forward to the movie, but like Charlatan I'm skeptical of Alan Moore adaptations. I know that Moore has not been happy with any of the adaptations. I haven't liked them. League of Extraordinary Gentleman was AWFUL.

I'd like to see a Watchmen movie that was like 20-30 hours long. It's difficult for me to imagine the entire graphic novel being done justice in 2-3 hours.

Very true. However, I heard (from a shot-by-shot recount of an alternate trailer somebody saw at a conference in the last couple days) that the pirate story that is framed inside the main narrative is in the movie. If I was going to toss anything for time, it'd be that... and they're not. I don't quite know what to make of that.

I'm not real impressed with the credentials of the screenwriter....

However, as I understand it, he's got a handful of David Hayter scripts from which he's pulled material. From what I understand, Moore wasn't entirely disgusted with Hayter's work on the film adaptation--high praise, it seems for Moore. In addition, Snyder did a pretty good job with Miller's work, I thought, all things considered.

I think between the two of them, it might actually be pretty good. If the trailer is any indication....

Yeah, I hope this movie goes on for DAYS. I wouldn't want the world to miss the detail put into the story by the writer and artist.

Wow. Yeah...I have a hard time seeing how the Pirate story would play at ALL in a Watchmen movie. Let's just put me down as skeptical and that I'd be delighted to be wrong. But I probably won't be.

Watchmen just seems hard to adapt to film. But hey, LoTR was pretty damn awesome, so...

By the way, I saw Dark Knight at 6:00 AM the morning it came out in an IMAX theater. The only trailer for all us fanboys was Watchmen, and it was hilarious as a wave of recognition registered amongst the audience that this was advertising the legendary graphic novel.

That is my fear... that Watchmen will look great (like LOTR) but mess with the story in such a way that it ceases to be great (like LOTR).

I'm really hoping this will be good but at the same time Watchmen will be really easy to fuck up.
What I like so far...
Dr. Manhattan in Vietnam. Dear god that looks like so much awesome.
The Comedian and Rorschach look fantastic, pretty much like they were pulled right from the book.
Even though Ozymandias' look is changed it's a good change.

What I don't like so far...
Nite-Owl looks way too bad ass. Hopefully the shots in the trailer are flashbacks and in the present (okay 1985, but the movie's present) he's out of shape and not so cool.
Silk Spectre, mainly because the name is SILK Spectre not Latex Spectre. I just don't like the costume.

It does kinda look like her shrink-wrap melted, doesn't it?

After having seen this, it looks like the visual style of the comic book is remaining true.
We can only hope now that the story will be woven perfectly for the big screen.

I always have doubts about comic book crossovers to the big screen.

This thread needs more pictures!
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...screenshot.jpg
http://bearmythology.files.wordpress...ean-morgan.jpg
http://media.filmschoolrejects.com/i...ozymandias.jpg
http://rss.warnerbros.com/watchmen/NIteOwlFull.jpg
http://www.collider.com/uploads/imag...ovie_image.jpg
http://rss.warnerbros.com/watchmen/SilkSpectreFull.jpg\

No word yet on Cap. Metropolis.

http://rss.warnerbros.com/watchmen/rorschach1.jpg

More images are always good!

When I saw this teaser the first and second times, it was online and I still thought it was awesome. Then I saw it in the theatre and I got goosebumps.

I'm not skeptical at all about this movie. I used to be, I'm not anymore. Though it's interesting to see reactions from people who don't know what Watchmen is, because the trailer really doesn't tell you much. It's a showcase of characters but not much else.

Totally. I literally sat there before Dark Knight--having analyzed the trailer online within inches of its life--pinned to my seat. At the end of the trailer, I literally said, out loud, "FUCK, yes!"

I'm VERY excited about this. Rumor is Zack Snyder is carrying the novel around the set more than the script.

Kevin Smith saw it:

I'm excited and I have hated every other Alan Moore movie.

I'm certainly looking forward this one. Just finished the book again for the Nth time. :thumbsup:

//nerd-gasmic geek-spasm// I am reading the comics and they are blowing my mind.

Fox has just made my shit list.
Fox sues to block Watchmen movie from opening

Sonofabitch. At least it will probably be leaked if Fox is successful. Still, fuck Fox in it's ass for this. If they win, they'll have made a powerful enemy.

Well, hell. I can't believe WB legal didn't check the backstory on the Largo quitclaim before starting production on this.

I hope they can come to an agreement and the movie can still be released.

I'll have to get a copy off the illegal DVD seller that comes onto the industrial estate...

They block this, I am so downloading it. I hope this doesn't go through though. I REALLY want to see this on the big screen. Sigh. Choke on a dick Fox.

Fuck Fox. The Watchmen is one of the greatest graphic novels I have ever read. Movie looks amazing. My only beef is that Ozymandias looks like a wiener.

I'd be very surprised if a court allowed an injunction against a finished film, but I've done no research on the matter, so it might have happened before. Permanent injunctions show a fairly dramatic showing of hardship, and one of the primary defense to issuing one is laches, which is when a party's delay in bringing suit causes the other party injury. Seems like waiting until the movie was wrapped with a release date to file is a pretty classic laches situation. Which says nothing for the fact that I don't see any reason why monetary damages weren't sufficient. Fox sure as shit wasn't doing anything with this, and I'm sure they'd recoup the $1M they already put into the project. Their comment about copyright to the contrary, I'm pretty sure this isn't the kind of situation where money damages are insufficient.

This sort of thing happens all the time. Fox doesn't want to block the film. They want to see it released so they can recoup. They just want to ensure that they are recouping their money in a reasonably good position (i.e. first position).

any more news on this story? or should I just read the book with the trailer's soundtrack playing on loop?

Haven't heard anything new yet, other then the court date is set for Jan 6th. So hopfully this will be cleared up without stopping the movie.