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manofmystery 
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 Topic: Watchmen
Posted: January 04 2009 at 20:40 |
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Having read the legendary graphic novel Watchmen by Alan Moore, and having seen the 2nd trailer for the film version, I agree with Moore's assessment that his work is "inherently unfilmable" . Originally I had hopes that it might be ok, considering director Zach Snyder had originally promised a faithful adaptation but the more I hear and see about the upcoming film this hope dims. I mean the 2nd trailer is just ridiculous! So, I ask those of you who have read Watchmen: Is there any chance this film won't be a complete disaster?
Edited by manofmystery - January 04 2009 at 20:41
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 Time always wins.
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1800iareyay
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Posted: January 04 2009 at 20:46 |
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I had such faith in this when I saw the teaser attached to TDK, but it looks like cheese at best at this point. It got a thumbs up from Kevin Smith and his producer Scott Mosier (Mosier's endorsement intrigues me a lot more because Smith, God love him, sometimes goes with his geek gut on films), but I went from losing sleep over the first trailer to total indifference.
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Atavachron
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Posted: January 04 2009 at 21:10 |
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I read them one by one as comix when they first came out.. seems to me you'd want to avoid a faithful version in film and go in a different direction, the trailer I saw looked a little, well, comic-bookie, like X-Men or something
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Henry Plainview
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Posted: January 04 2009 at 21:34 |
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That's a good song in the beginning by I don't remember (before it breaks into freaking Muse), but that didn't work. And Rorschach now just sounds stupid instead of badass. Christian Bale was pushing it as it was with that Batman voice...
Edited by Henry Plainview - January 04 2009 at 21:36
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if you own a sodastream i hate you
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Vompatti
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Posted: January 05 2009 at 03:13 |
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If it's meant to be a faithful adaptation of the novel (not only storywise) it will most likely fail in all the important aspects. If it's meant to be an entertaining action/slapstick flick, something to watch while eating popcorn, it has a chance.
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el böthy
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Posted: January 05 2009 at 13:05 |
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First time I hear about this Watchmen stuff... just saw the trailer and I´m reading a bit about the comic in Wikipedia... I´ve never been a fan of comics, will this make me feel any different?
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"You want me to play what, Robert?"
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Henry Plainview
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Posted: January 05 2009 at 13:31 |
 el böthy wrote:
First time I hear about this Watchmen stuff... just saw the trailer and I´m reading a bit about the comic in Wikipedia... I´ve never been a fan of comics, will this make me feel any different? |
Probably. It was the only graphic novel on Time's 100 Best Books of the Century list, because it's as in depth as a novel.
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if you own a sodastream i hate you
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el böthy
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Posted: January 05 2009 at 17:29 |
Henry Plainview wrote:
el böthy wrote:
First time I hear about this Watchmen stuff... just saw the trailer and I´m reading a bit about the comic in Wikipedia... I´ve never been a fan of comics, will this make me feel any different? |
Probably. It was the only graphic novel on Time's 100 Best Books of the Century list, because it's as in depth as a novel. |
Interesting. I do own The Killing Joke comic from Batman, and it´s written by Moore also... it´s pretty good, even I can say it. I think I will check this Watchmen out!
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"You want me to play what, Robert?"
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manofmystery
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Posted: January 05 2009 at 18:49 |
a big time hollywood film of this work can't be properly made. I'm convinced that the only chance to make a decent film, that would even come close to complex Moore work, would be to make a two or three parter without the illusions of making a blockbuster. Don't dumb it down or make is flashy in hopes of getting a wider audience, which seems to be what they have done, at least from what I've seen.
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Time always wins.
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stonebeard
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Posted: January 05 2009 at 23:22 |
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I think it will be great as long as Fox doesn't mess with it after acquiring rights to it. I just hope the altered ending will work.
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BroSpence
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Posted: January 05 2009 at 23:32 |
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I was hopeful the first time I saw the trailer. Now it looks rather silly, and Synder has apparently changed the ending from the book. Also it may not even get released due to the recent lawsuit that Fox pictures has won against WB.
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Henry Plainview
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Posted: January 06 2009 at 00:01 |
BroSpence wrote:
I was hopeful the first time I saw the trailer. Now it looks rather silly, and Synder has apparently changed the ending from the book. Also it may not even get released due to the recent lawsuit that Fox pictures has won against WB. |
If you cut out the the references to the original ending (which you would since that would make the movie far too long), then the new and the old have the same effect.
Although I'm hoping that the talk about the new ending is a cover for the real ending that will surprise everyone.
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if you own a sodastream i hate you
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manofmystery
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Posted: January 06 2009 at 01:58 |
Henry Plainview wrote:
Although I'm hoping that the talk about the new ending is a cover for the real ending that will surprise everyone. |
I hope your right because the ending I've heard makes no sense
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Time always wins.
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Jimbo
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Posted: January 07 2009 at 12:27 |
I don't have high hopes for this one. Hopefully I'm proven wrong. 
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JLocke
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Posted: January 07 2009 at 14:05 |
I've always felt that media such as comics and video games can have just as much drama and hard-hitting moments on film as a freshly-written script and/or novel adaptation could.
However, when a film compnay obtains rights to such things, they seem to not have enough faith in the source material themselves, so rather than staying true to the original, they always seem to deviate. There are very, very few comic and game-to-film adaptations that are worth watching, and none of them have ever stayed true to the source.
Funny, actually. These film companies think it's in the films' best interests to change or alter the original material, yet how do they know it wouldn;t be a success if they left it alone? It's never been tried before, and their way (which involves changing entire storylines and characters most of the time) certainly isn't working, either.
I want to see a film adaptation of this type really succeed, but that will only happen if the film companies learn to have respect for the original story and do it justice. I mean, the fans of these comics and games are the ones who are going to see the film garaunteed, so why in God's green f**k would they want to alienate those sure-fire ticket-buyers by ruining their movie? Makes no sense . . .
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The Hemulen
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Posted: January 07 2009 at 15:20 |
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I like to think of myself as an optimist by nature, but these trailers really don't give me much hope. I worry this film will just gloss over every plot point like it's ticking them off a list. So many adaptations (of comics, novels, anything really) seem to end up that way. Watchmen is such a dense book with so many moments worthy of inclusion that I can't imagine this film being any different.
I'll still be going to see it, of course, gibbering with excitement all the while. What's all this about changing the ending, by the way? Why? How? WHY?
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Henry Plainview
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Posted: January 07 2009 at 17:08 |
Trouserpress wrote:
I like to think of myself as an optimist by nature, but these trailers really don't give me much hope. I worry this film will just gloss over every plot point like it's ticking them off a list. So many adaptations (of comics, novels, anything really) seem to end up that way. Watchmen is such a dense book with so many moments worthy of inclusion that I can't imagine this film being any different.
I'll still be going to see it, of course, gibbering with excitement all the while. What's all this about changing the ending, by the way? Why? How? WHY?
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He said that he thought the squid wouldn't work in movie form because it's a bit silly and it's hard to convey the proper atmosphere from the book into the movie, so he was doing something else. I think it was a nuke or something but you'd have to google it.
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if you own a sodastream i hate you
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The Hemulen
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Posted: January 07 2009 at 18:00 |
Henry Plainview wrote:
Trouserpress wrote:
I like to think of myself as an optimist by nature, but these trailers really don't give me much hope. I worry this film will just gloss over every plot point like it's ticking them off a list. So many adaptations (of comics, novels, anything really) seem to end up that way. Watchmen is such a dense book with so many moments worthy of inclusion that I can't imagine this film being any different.
I'll still be going to see it, of course, gibbering with excitement all the while. What's all this about changing the ending, by the way? Why? How? WHY?
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He said that he thought the squid wouldn't work in movie form because it's a bit silly and it's hard to convey the proper atmosphere from the book into the movie, so he was doing something else. I think it was a nuke or something but you'd have to google it. |
A nuke? Oh I do hope not... That'd just lead to scores of cretins accusing the film (and by association Moore/Gibbons) of ripping off Heroes. I don't think I could bear that.
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stonebeard
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Posted: January 07 2009 at 18:03 |
I remember that. I told my friends (who saw it going down a very steep hill after season 1) that it was nothing more than a soap opera for geeks that jumped the shark.
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The Hemulen
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Posted: January 07 2009 at 18:16 |
stonebeard wrote:
I remember that. I told my friends (who saw it going down a very steep hill after season 1) that it was nothing more than a soap opera for geeks that jumped the shark.
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It had promise but it never really came through with the goods. Too
many characters, too much money, too much dodgy dialogue, too many
missed opportunities. I still pissed away hours of my life watching the
whole first season, mind you.
Edited by Trouserpress - January 07 2009 at 18:17
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Watchmen
