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Argh... Will they just release it?! I'm dying for something I actually want to see to be in the theatres.
Posts: 3826 | Registered: May 2005
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Each trailer makes me want to see it more and more. It looks like Snyder may have actually made this into a really amazing film. If it sucks, I'll cry.
Posts: 6026 | Registered: Dec 2004
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Exciting trailer (as they all have been), but it's hard to tell how the movie is going to be based on a rapid series of quick-edits. I have high hopes, but I'm really curious about how such a complex plot is going to work as a single feature film.
One minor problem I've got with the trailer is the costumes. I really like how the characters in the book look like ordinary people dressed in homemade costumes. It reinforced the meta-superhero commentary, and it helped define the characters. The way Rorschach has a totally utilitarian costume with a mask, Nite-Owl II is a pudgy guy in cheesy spandex, and Ozymandius is the only one that looks much like a traditional superhero because he has the means and the motive to pull it off.
The trailer kind of makes everyone look like Spiderman/Batman clones, in physique and apparel. It loses a bit of the story's uniqueness, and makes it look like another generic superhero cash-in.
Of course, it's a minor quibble. If the film works out I'm sure the costumes and the casting won't spoil it for me. I just hope it's not an indication of how they're adapting the story.
[edit: I went back and looked at some of the posters, and I may be overstating the case a bit. Rorschach looks pretty good, Comedian may be a little slicker than I'd like but it's not too bad, and I can handle how Silk Spectre turned out. I think it was mainly Nite-Owl II that put me off a bit, but we'll see how it works in context.
Again, minor quibble, good trailer, high hopes and all that.]
Posts: 2804 | Registered: May 2003
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I never got the feeling from reading Watchmen that the costumes were meant to be anything other than standard traditional superhero costumes. Most of these people, explicitly, were full time superheroes. The Silk Spectre had a manager. Nite Owl II somehow managed to acquire a working, fully-armed, hover craft. If I remember correctly, he's supposed to have built it himself. And he was only pudgy after being out of work for however many years.
If anything, the costumes were cheesy because they're supposed to be from an era* when the popular conception of a superhero costume was largely what we today consider cheesy.
*Perhaps it would be more accurate to say they were done in the artistic style of an era...
Posts: 2907 | Registered: Nov 2005
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Yes, the original series characters were all based (more or less) on the 1960s Charlton Comics action heroes and certain 1940s era vigilantes. By today's standards, such characters have a cheesy, campy look to their costume.
Posts: 6689 | Registered: Jan 2005
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quote:Originally posted by Juxtapose: And he was only pudgy after being out of work for however many years.
Exactly. That's one of the defining aspects of his character, and I loved how they were able to make a realistic middle-aged science nerd into a superhero without buffing him out and styling him up like every other comic book character.
It's always a risk, especially in this genre, to make a protagonist that isn't an ideal of physical perfection. That risk paid off big time in the book, but it doesn't look like producers are willing to try it with the film.
It doesn't mean I automatically hate the movie, but when I watched the trailer I did find it a little disappointing. If I'm the only one, though, I won't put up a big fight about it.
Posts: 2804 | Registered: May 2003
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quote:Originally posted by Juxtapose: And he was only pudgy after being out of work for however many years.
Exactly. That's one of the defining aspects of his character,
The government forcing him to retire caused a depression-induced weight gain, but I wouldn't call it a defining aspect of his character.
It was one thread out of an entire tapestry of problems Moore cooked up for him. One that received much less focus compared to his attraction to Silk Spectre, his reluctant bond with Rorschach, his pre-apocalypse anxiety, and I could go on. Posts: 6689 | Registered: Jan 2005
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quote:Originally posted by Juxtapose: I never got the feeling from reading Watchmen that the costumes were meant to be anything other than standard traditional superhero costumes. Most of these people, explicitly, were full time superheroes. The Silk Spectre had a manager. Nite Owl II somehow managed to acquire a working, fully-armed, hover craft. If I remember correctly, he's supposed to have built it himself. And he was only pudgy after being out of work for however many years.
If anything, the costumes were cheesy because they're supposed to be from an era* when the popular conception of a superhero costume was largely what we today consider cheesy.
*Perhaps it would be more accurate to say they were done in the artistic style of an era...
This is something that a lot of people who are new to Watchmen don't seem to understand. The whole idea is that in the Watchmen world people looked at 1940s era superhero comics and decided to imitate them, so their outfits aren't necessarily supposed to be as "realistic" and practical as Batman's in the new films.
Posts: 1569 | Registered: Dec 2004
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George Lucas was the one who made me temper back all my expectations to ZERO. Which is partially why I cried tears of joy while I watched The Dark Knight and Ironman. Good films can be better than church to me, they are part of my religion.
I read the Watchmen in single issues as they came out. I've read it over a 100 time, probs. I cannot fault Mr. Snyder for trying. Yes, please, let us see it. I want to go to the movies, but there is nothing to see.
Oh. And, I one of my best friends worked for Jackie Earl Haley for a few years, one time we were all hanging out, drinking beer and talking long into the night. He played a song he wrote for his daughter on the acoustic guitar. It was awesome. It blew me away. And To think that I used to think I'd always think of him as kelly leek, the pitcher from Bad News Bears.
No. He became Rorsarch. One of the greatest characters of all time.
Woot.
T
PS. Dr. Manhattan is my favorite.
Posts: 377 | Registered: Jul 2003
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quote:Originally posted by Puffy Treat: The government forcing him to retire caused a depression-induced weight gain, but I wouldn't call it a defining aspect of his character.
I would, but it's not that the weight gain itself is the "defining aspect." It's symbolic of the fact that he's the one that was able to put the superhero thing behind him. Comedian carried on working for the government so he wouldn't have to retire, Rorschach remained an outlaw vigilante rather than be forced out, Ozymandias maintained the superhero facade as a way to move merchandise, but Nite-Owl let it go and moved on to something else.
It's not that his pudginess defines him. But the fact that he's the only one of the bunch who'd spent the better part of the decade in academic pursuits that had nothing to do with his alter-ego does, in part, define his character. And realistically, someone like that isn't going to be as ripped as The Comedian or Ozymandias.
I'm not saying I hate that about the movie (or the trailers). I'm just saying I liked it about the book. But I realize they have to sell some tickets, and as long as they keep his character traits intact the physical appearance isn't a dealbreaker for me. But it was a surprise.
quote:Originally posted by neo-dragon: This is something that a lot of people who are new to Watchmen don't seem to understand. The whole idea is that in the Watchmen world people looked at 1940s era superhero comics and decided to imitate them, so their outfits aren't necessarily supposed to be as "realistic" and practical as Batman's in the new films.
And yet in the new movie the costumes are more or less "as realistic and practical as Batman's in the new films." That's kind of my point.
Posts: 2804 | Registered: May 2003
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quote:Originally posted by Speed: It's symbolic of the fact that he's the one that was able to put the superhero thing behind him.
Okay, now I really disagree.
He lets Rorschach crash and root around in his place for food, he obsessively holds onto each and every memento of his costumed career, he can only truly achieve sexual satisfaction if wearing his super-hero suit, he falls right back into all the old reflexes and catch phrases if given the opportunity to do so. This is not a guy who has left the life behind, this is a guy ambivalent and disaffected from a life he once loved.
Posts: 6689 | Registered: Jan 2005
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