Who Watches the Watchmen?
Judging from the results from this weekend’s box office numbers, many of you went and saw the newest Batman film… in fact probably all of you considering its record breaking weekend. If you were among the millions who did, you not only saw a great film, you had the chance to see for the first time on the big screen the preview trailer for next years film: Watchmen. To say that my excitement level in anticipation for this film is high is quite the understatement. I think the last time I was this excited about a film this far in advance was for the Lord of the Rings films. Watchmen hits theatres early next spring on 3/6/2009.
If you are not familiar with Watchmen it is thought of as the gold standard all other comics are held to. It came out in 1986/7 and paved the way for the future of comics that lead to more adult laden themes. It won every comic book award out there and went on to be named by Time magazine as one of the 100 best English novels since 1923…..
Let that sink in for a moment it is held in the same breath as Vonnegut’s Slaughter House Five, Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises, Orwell’s Animal Farm, Morrison’s Beloved, Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye, Burgess’s A Clockwork Orange, Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath, Faulkner’s Sound and the Fury, Fitzgerald’s Great Gatsby, Tolkein’s Lord of the Rings, Golding’s Lord of the Flies, and many more books you read as classics going through High School and College.
That should give you an indication that this is not your run of the mill KAPOW and BOOM comic book.
The question begs when the doomsday clock reads five minutes to midnight: “Who Watches the Watchmen”. The quick answer to this question is not its creator Alan Moore. Alan the creative mastermind behind other Hollywood films such as From Hell, League of Extraordinary Gentleman, and V for Vendetta abhors Hollywood about as much as he does his former mainstream employers DC and Marvel. He is quoted recently as saying he is not a fan of the director of the movie (Zach Snyder “300”) and does not see how anyone can adapt the award winning graphic novel into a film. To put it simply he has seen his work destroyed previously by those in Hollywood trying to make his work more acceptable and marketable to target audiences. Because of this he has no plans to see the movie and wants his name to not be associated with it.
I must admit I have fears that this book is too dense and has too much going on to be made into a film, but I’ll give it a shot. The first trailer looks stunning and there is no one who can doubt Snyder’s ability to make a film look sensational, but I am among those who are concerned he may not have it in him to create a film that so heavily relies on the characters interpersonal relationships as well as his ability to maintain a hold on all the symbolic imagery utilized in the comic.
If you are interested in learning more about the plot, the creative process and an overview of the characters I highly recommend checking out Jeff Jensen’s article at Entertainment Weekly. He does a great job of summing everything up.Here is the trailer for those that missed it or just want to see it again. The clock is ticking and midnight is just around the corner……..
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July 21st, 2008 at 9:52 pm
I second that the trailer looks amazing. From everything I can see, the characters all look great in costume. I actually worried about that, because in the comic some of them seem kind of silly. I mean, one of the guys is an owl man….how cool could that look on film?
From the trailer….The answer is awesome!
I did notice one pretty large part that seemed to be absent from the trailer. I saw all the “this generation” characters. However, I didn’t see any of the first gen characters (the original watchmen) in action. The comic plays huge parallels between those two world, and the plots are really dependent upon each other. I wonder if they have omitted a large part of that world….
Anybody heard anything to that effect, or have I just read into it wrong??
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July 21st, 2008 at 10:13 pm
I came across this on Digg. A side by side breakdown of the comic art versus the trailer art. It’s well done, and shows how close the movie is to the comic.
It’s worth a look:
http://www.empireonline.com/trailer/breakdown/watchmen/
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July 22nd, 2008 at 6:39 am
I took a look at that link and i noticed from watching the trailer a lot of similarities in screen shots but that just solidifies that he has paid a lot of attention to the orginal source. Nice find.
I will say that i agree and disagree about Night Owl’s costume change. I think that most of the people who were super heroes were supposed to look a little silly . Part of the story is them dealing with the past and how crazy or silly they were for doing what they did. An older middle age person reflecting on the act of their youth and then trying to recapture it one last time. I have no doubt that the orginal costumes were made silly on purpose. In that piece by Jeff Jenson Moore even says part of the begining inspiration for the story was an old MAD magazine making fun of the absurdity of superheroes running around in silly costumes.
That being said it is an aspect that in the comic book is easier to get away with as a plot piece then in a visual based medium like a film. Average joe blow would see a silly costume and go this movie is going to suck the heroes look like jokes….. thus the point. And to go even further the Comedian embodies that in both name and costume.
As for the older guard not being shown in the trailer… I hope they get into the story and don’t just rush over it. The overall plot would suffer if it is not mentioned. It is bad enough that the Tales of the Black Freighter is being released as an animation DVD a week after the movie comes out instead of being part of the story which was a nice touch in the Comic.
All in All I know some changes have to be made for it to be made into a movie and I’m very encouraged by the initial first look. I noticed it is being released in March just like 300 was which quickly became the biggest MArch movie ever. I’m sure they are hoping for the same sort of luck with Watchmen. they are hoping the big competition won’t be out yet.
Oh and also how awesome does Dr Manhatten look? I was worried about how he would turn out but man they nailed it!
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July 22nd, 2008 at 7:48 am
By all indications this will be the best comic book movie ever. The trailer was amazing and I really liked the song
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