Comments on: The Trailer For “Watchmen” Is Out

By: C.S.Strowbridge

C.S.Strowbridge — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 07:22:24 +0000

“Still leaning “cautiously optimistic” on this one.”

Same.

By: Parthenon

Parthenon — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 22:14:14 +0000

great movie to look at, although the film itself had glaring narrative flaws all over the place.

Exactly so. It didn’t appear at all that the narrative was the part that the filmmakers were most excited about. It was almost like watching someone else play a sparsely-plotted video game – can you hold off the Persian horde?!? The actors didn’t do too bad, considering they were in front of a blue/green screen for most (if not all) of the time.

I will say for 300 that it convinced me there should be an Oscar for fight choreography

That’s a great idea, though as you imply it would depend a great deal on the cinematographer and director. The fellow that choreographed the last Bourne film, for instance, might have gotten a lot of credit if not for the spazcam style Greenglass used for some reason. The fight in the apartment, in particular, might as well have been animal planet for all I could tell what was going on. Ditto most of Gladiator, and some others.

By: SpiderJ

SpiderJ — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 21:06:31 +0000

I'm actually in the same place as you with 300, I think--great movie to look at, although the film itself had glaring narrative flaws all over the place. I will say for 300 that it convinced me there should be an Oscar for fight choreography, because 300 was the first time I saw a filmed melee combat that made it very clear why it was that one side was superior to the other, as opposed to just looking like a lot of bodies smashing into each other with weapons.

By: Parthenon

Parthenon — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 20:48:02 +0000

Spider — Currently leaning toward reading it after I’ve seen the film. I like going into films dry and unfettered; the limitations of the medium of course necessitate that some things will need to be altered or cut. Though if I do come across it I’m not sure if I’ll be able to resist…

The director has a good hand. I think I may be the one guy that didn’t care that much for 300, even if I did appreciate the craftsmanship.

By: SpiderJ

SpiderJ — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 20:25:45 +0000

Parthenon – I’m torn as to whether or not to recommend you track down and devour the original graphic novel before or after March 2009.

(On a related note, I’ll say that after spending the day researching Snyder’s involvement with the film that there is nobody else who I’d want to see doing the project. The man respects the hell out of the novel and is currently agonizing over things like cutting out the sign outside of Hollis Mason’s repair shop to get his film in under 3 hours.)

By: Parthenon

Parthenon — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 20:01:35 +0000

Never heard of Watchmen. Looks awesome.

By: Jaim

Jaim — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 17:18:34 +0000

/fingers crossed

By: SpiderJ

SpiderJ — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 17:14:17 +0000

Jamey - There could be a lot of post-production work still in the offing, plus it sounds like a lot of what gets cut from the movie is being made into supplemental material to be slowly released on the Internets (Gerard Butler apparently stars in an animated adaptation of Tales of the Black Freighter, and a documentary of Under The Hood is also being produced.) I waited this long for The Dark Knight, I can wait eight months for Watchmen.

By: Jacob Singer

Jacob Singer — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 16:26:18 +0000

I love the trailer — actually gave me goosebumps — but as any fan of graphic novels knows these days, ‘best no to get one’s hopes up too high.

Still, I’ve watched the hi-def trailer about a dozen times already…

By: SpiderJ

SpiderJ — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 15:54:50 +0000

I’ve heard that Snyder fought like hell to maintain the ending, and apparently the success of 300 netted him the cache to get what he wanted.

I was so disappointed in what was done to V for Vendetta–my favorite of Moore’s works–that I can’t help but be a touch cynical, even when the trailer looks this terrific.

By: Steve Rogers

Steve Rogers — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 14:41:33 +0000

Holy balls. They got everything right: Doc Manhattan’s look, Mars, the Comedian. And that shot with Night Owl yelling in the snow…that can only mean they didn’t change the ending. Wow.

My hopes for this are simple, I just want it to be the best movie I’ve ever seen. Is that asking too much?

By: SpiderJ

SpiderJ — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 14:12:01 +0000

I’m sure that something will not be quite right, even for Snyder’s obvious respect of the material…I don’t know about Hayter and Tse’s script, but we’ll see.

But the trailer gets an awful lot spot-on, starting with Jackie Earle Haley’s voice and continuing on through the cast of mostly unknowns (the biggest name in the film is the guy who spends most of it as a naked blue CGI effect). So I’m with Thad…cautious optimism.

And damn, it’s pretty awesome watching Dr. Manhattan create his Martian palace.

By: Jamey

Jamey — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 14:06:45 +0000

Why a March release? Does Warner not have confidence in this project?

Certainly it’s faithful at least to the artistic vision. But the ending of Watchmen was pretty dour, if I recall.

But, yeah. Wow that it even got made.

By: Scott Ricketts

Scott Ricketts — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 13:41:27 +0000

Wow. I never thought this would actually get made, let alone, made well. It’s pretty clear Mr. Snyder did indeed keep a copy of the book on hand while making the movie.

Just wow.

By: Thad

Thad — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 07:26:06 +0000

Still leaning “cautiously optimistic” on this one. It looks like Watchmen, but it also looks like a generic superhero movie. It’s now clear that it’s got the visuals — in fact, the specific scenes — but it’s too early to tell if it has the soul. I sure hope so.

Plus, I always wanted to see a man exploded into Kirby dots in a live-action movie.

By: Sean D. Martin

Sean D. Martin — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 04:14:08 +0000

Really kinda wish this was one of those movies I didn’t know was being made so that I could be surprised by the trailer coming up before some movie I’d gone to see. Just sittin’ there in the theater waiting for the main feature to start. Oh, some guy’s getting electrocuted. Wait a minute, was that an Owlship??? Damn! That’s Rorshack. Frackin’ cool!!

Sometimes, knowing too much ahead of time takes away from the fun. (I’m looking at you, Batguy.)