Day 916 of 365 Again.
I really just wanted a chance to do something cool I’ve felt like my self-portraits weren’t much of anything lately. I just wanted to do something creative and I started thinking of something weird to do.
It turned into kind of a magical/superhero thing I guess. Big surprise.
Anyway, it made me start thinking about the upcoming Watchmen movie. Something people have been asking me about lately. Steph is even rereading the book (I made her read it ten years ago as a condition of dating me).
So if you’ve seen the trailer, it probably looks cool, right? Well, I guess it does. And that gives me hope. But honestly, it’s going to suck.
Don’t get me wrong, I so want it to be a big movie. And yeah, I thought it looked pretty too. When I first saw the trailer a year or so ago I was crazy excited for several minutes.
Then reality set in.
You see, while to you it’s just one of the coolest looing movies in a while, to me, and other comic book fans, it represent the culmination of a dream. I have quite literally been dreaming of a Watchmen movie for 23 years. They’ve attempted to make one several times. And it has always fallen through. In 2005 when I heard it had been optioned for like the 87th time, I just kinda blew it off. But now it looks like it will actually happen.
23 years! That’s a lot of anticipation. At this point, anything shy of the film curing the blind or healing the lame will disappoint me.
They’ve actually already started. There have been major changes to the end of the story. The director swears its good, and he may even be right. It’ll probably never bother real people at all. But to the comic book fan… why fuck with perfection?
Just a few weeks away now. We’ll see how it goes.
Watching the trailer, two things worry me (apart from the new ending).
First, it looks like it’s full of high-rent CGI crap and that highly stylized look (in the vein of Sin City and 300). Kind of a shame. The thing about the Watchmen story is that with the exception of Dr. Manhattan, these are just guys who wear tights and punch people. They are gritty and realistic and kind of ridiculous, and then God shows up. But the trailers make it look like every fight is in super slo-mo and everyone has glossy hair. I’d rather it looked realistic, and then when Dr. Manhattan is in the room, the contrast is heightened.
Second, the voices. Oy vey. None of them have the gravitas. It’s really the opposite of my first complaint: I want them to look real, but sound intimidating.
Oh well. If they screw it up they screw it up. The book will survive.
sui66iy: So I’m kinda torn on that. Watchmen actually isn’t "realistic" at all in a way. It’s this odd hyper realism. Yes there’s no superpowers (other than DocM) but the thing that made it so interesting in 1985 (and even today) is that the world was so fantastic. It was understated background stuff, but you could just tell that they were 5 years away from living in the Blade Runner world. If this movie had been made in 1986 like it was supposed to be, that’s kinda what I would have expected it to look like. In a lot of ways I’m glad they waited because I want the technology in the movie to live up to my dreams of what it was in 1985 (and the 24 years since). The OwlShip needs CGI.
That said, I do see your point. The hook of the Watchmen is at the end of the day, these are all just regular, if remarkable, people and one god walking amongst them. I kind of wish they didn’t go for as shiny and modled a costume look. I’m ok with them modding the uniforms, but other than Night Owl and maybe Ozy, those people aren’t Batman and shouldn’t have the kind tech to look like it. I think it’s gritty enough but what’s really a problem is that DocM doesn’t stand out enoucgh for me. I don’t want him to be gritty, I want him to be bright and vibrant and comicbooky. We’ll see.
Zach Snyder is directing, so it’s going to have some 300 similarities, I’m sure. But I’m hoping he knows to not overuse the slow motion in this one. I actually thought that worked really well for the storytelling in 300, but this should visually play a lot more like Sin City or Batman/Dark Knight. The fights should be more human. I’m hoping those are just being hyped up (and maybe even more slowed down) for the trailer. Sometimes I won’t mind it. I mean, Blake getting thrown through the window takes like 10 panels in the comic, and that effect is really necessary as it sets the monumental feel for the book (no Spoilers for anyone. Blake getting thrown through the window is literally the very first scene). But the trailer has random extras throwing a pipe bomb into a store front window and that’s slowed down, and doesn’t really need to be.
I hate the Silk Spectre II costume for the movie. It’s too Hollywood 2000. And giving her Laurie’s signature mole was just stupid. It looks fake. For the most part I’m ok with the outfits.
For me, it’s really about the story though. The closer we get to the release date, and as I continue to reread the book and such, I just start realizing all the subtleties that really need to work right to make it feel right. The ending being the most example. The true Watchmen ending is so poignant and moving. I’m trying to reserve judgment on the new one til I see it, but Zach Snyder AIN’T Alan Moore. Beyond that, there’s a lot of subtle world building that’s just hard to get right. Will turkeys have four legs? Is Regan running against Nixon? I know it’s silly but that kind of thing is important.
I haven’t even thought about the acting yet. You’re right, that could kill everything. I’m trying to give them a chance. Funny though, I never really thought of any of the characters as sounding intimidating except maybe 1985 era Rorschach and probably the Hooded Justice. Crimebuster era Blake maybe sounds like John McClaine or Dirty Harry. Everyone else I kinda think of as a regular guy with delusions of granduer. More cop than action hero. It makes them feel real to me.
We’ll see. My fingers are crossed.
You should’ve put an eye on the end of each finger and been the Ten-Eyed Man!
i’m a big watchmen fan and i still think the movie is going to suck a little because:
1- the world and extras moore built at the end of each issue really make you more into the characters. to me the veidt products are the best bits (considering the end)
2- dr manhattan looks like a cheap effect in the trailer: looks like a guy from the blue man group. sorry but i think he just wont sell with the audience.
3- you need a dark knight approach to this: big really detailed scenes with all the "real" in it. i agree with mav on a couple of slow mo’s like the murder scene and i bet ozy is going to slo-mo for that bullet…
4-rorschach beyond all the masked scenes is really the guy driving the story and that scene where you’ll get to know his reasons and look into all that darkness. and see the doctor go into that, is one of my favourite parts of the book. and that’s something that i believe they will screw up (i hope not but…)
5- and yeah i agree with the voices not sounding all that imposing..
i know i’m going to be there to see it premiere but i’m actually more excited to the wolverine movie than watchmen… hopefully they’ll both be amazing
Maybe I’ll just re-read the book and pretend I’ve seen the movie. You know how I never trust them to do the movie right… and usually they don’t.