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ITT: We discuss the Major Players from the Watchmen
Cryztal_Flame
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
First, let me say, I've searched for this, both as the thread topic, and as merely a post within a more general topic, say, comic films in general, and found nothing. So if it has been posted, my apologies.
Anywho, Warner Bros has just released new promo photos of the major players in "Watchmen". And I have to say, I'm more impressed by this film with each new press release.
Silk Spectre looks a little... corny, for lack of a better word, but I'm blown away by the rest. Have a look:
As for the topic of debate, it's a simple one: Do you think these images accurately represent the major players in the film, and do you think it portends the best comic adaptation in film history, or do they make you wanna wretch.
Anywho, Warner Bros has just released new promo photos of the major players in "Watchmen". And I have to say, I'm more impressed by this film with each new press release.
Silk Spectre looks a little... corny, for lack of a better word, but I'm blown away by the rest. Have a look:
As for the topic of debate, it's a simple one: Do you think these images accurately represent the major players in the film, and do you think it portends the best comic adaptation in film history, or do they make you wanna wretch.
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Well, they're about as good as I could have hoped for for an accurate interpretation of the comic costumes.
Rorschach looks just fucking perfect.
Ozymandias looks way too shopped.
Nite-Owl looks too much like batman, definitely not dumpy enough, but the ship looks spot on.
The Comedian is quite good, accurate.
Overall, everything I've seen looks super accurate to the graphic novel, but it just looks a little weird. I guess just taking anything from a graphic novel into a movie has a weird conversion. I'm thinking only seeing the the complete thing will let me see it right.
Not quite, but I wouldn't be surprised if somebody told me: "Truly smartest man alive." I would nod my head.
On the black screen
If that costume doesn't say midlife crisis I don't know what does.
While these are good initial signs the costumes are about the least important thing in an adaption of The Watchmen. If they manage to not mangle or pussify the story I will be happy.
It does look ridiculous instead of "badass", but I believe that's unintentional. There was a Zack Snyder interview somewhere where he commented how they needed to change Nite Owl's costume so it would look "scarier" to criminals.
How is that "bad"?
On the black screen
As such, it strikes me as rather weird that the Egyptian guy is a corn-fed white-boy.
a) whether there's just "too much story" in Watchmen to keep from overloading a movie with plot points. Watchmen was a book that you kind of had to take a break from when reading in order to process the whole thing and take it in. I'm concerned that a 2-hour feature will either try to fit in every last plot point and end up with just a barrage of happenings without context or texture or emotional significance, or else eliminate everything but the "actiony" sequences, which will rob the story of everything interesting about it. Do you really think that they're going to take the time to really imbue Dr. Manhattan's story with the necessary emotional significance? Will the Comedian be seen as the morally ambiguous character that he needs to be? How will it be possible to really establish Rorschach as the mess that he is? The story - especially the characters - is extremely complex, and movies are not generally kind to complexity of plot. There's a real danger of getting another League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.
b) the setting: the only "near-future" sorts of movies of the same flavor that Watchmen presents are basically dreck like Freejack or Demolition Man. Something more like Blade Runner would be better overall, even if it departs from the book's interpretation - but, going back to my first point, Blade Runner spent about half the movie just creating the atmosphere and setting.
c) the story: "too many plot points" aside, and possible cheesy setting aside, some of the central plot points are going to be difficult to convey without seeming rubbish. A lot of the charm of Watchmen was that it served at least in part as a parody of comic books. I think that, in the end, Ozymanidus' big plan will seem a lot more Mystery Men than Batman Begins.
This is going to be an extraordinarily difficult story to make suitable as a movie. The costumes look pretty good though.
I mean, they at least got the look down, which is a start. It seems as though they're sticking with the Sin City formula; i.e. as close or nearly identical to the comic as possible. The Sin City movie was pretty much a perfect adaptation, with only some slight changes, so I'm at least hoping it'll be as good as that. Of course, Watchmen is a lot more complex than those, so it's going to be difficult, but I hope to dear fucking universal pantheon that they succeed, 'cause they're only going to get one shot at it.
RE: Costume changes
It seems to me as though, like Watchmen reinterpreted classic comic book superhero costumes, the movie reinterprets actual movie superhero costumes, which I think could create a fascinating dynamic, if that's the overall thesis of the movie.
Little too stylized for me, but that's what these shots are supposed to be, right? I'm not uncrossing my fingers just yet.
I think they said this movie was going to push the 3 hour mark and there may be some ridiculous LotR-esque extended DVD.
Yeah, completely CG.
Except for a flashback to when he was properly human, where he'll be played by the actor who's being used for the CG's mocap.
I hadn't thought about the second point you bring up, but the first and last ones are basically my thoughts on this verbatim. Even if they do the best job humanly possible with the material they've got, I just don't see this being a good movie. Now, if they depart from the material and take it somewhere consistent with the characters but different from the book, I might be happy. As it stands, all I'm really expecting to see is these characters on screen with a fairly different plot over the top. Maybe they'll go the mask killer route. That would completely neuter the impact the story has on its audience, but I think it'd be the only really feasible way to make this movie.
Also if Ozzy still gets to use the 20 minutes ago line.
I can see why people dislike Ozy's costume but I think it fits the character pretty well. The picture makes him look a little scrawny though. I hope that in the movie he is bigger than he appears in this picture.
Nite Owl doesn't look quite right, but he does look like a dork, so we've still got that going.
The comic in the comic. The one about pirates and such. The dude's sitting there reading it on the street corner by the newsstand for most of the book.
He's also a giant merchandising sellout, remember?
The comic's outfits were takes on the garish 1980s superhero costumes.
The movie, on the other hand, has takes on the superhero outfits we've had since Batman Forever, right down to nipples.