V For Vendetta & Watchmen Movie Thread (mostly Watchmen now)

[ascender]

That trailer is absolutely stunning. Many of the shots are just lifted straight from the comic which surely bodes well and is no surprise given the noises coming from Snyder about how he wants to keep the ending the same, the period the same (I'm guessing there was pressure to update it to the current war on terror as opposed to the cold war) remain faithful to the source etc.

I think that unless we got someone like HBO to buy up the rights to this and throw money at a mini-series, this is as good a shot at a good adaptation as we'll get. Everything Snyder has said would suggest that he's serious about things and we're not going to get Watchmen-lite. Although given the length of the book, the plots and themes, some stuff is going to have to be left out. I'm impressed that they're shooting Tales of The Dark Freighter as well for a DVD release and hopefully inclusion for a director's cut, so that should free up some space in the film running time I guess.

I've actually been re-reading the comics recently and and been getting really excited about seeing the film. Having watched and re-watched that trailer, I just cannot wait to see the full thing. I also love how they've cut it together and slow-mo'd it to fit in with the Smashing Pumpkins track. I can't remember the last time I was this excited about a film, especially one which is so far from release.

As regards the director, I think he did well with 300 given the source material. And I loved his Dawn of the Dead remake, so again, I think its reason to be really optimistic.

[fishbowlhead]

Dont anyone linch me for saying this but what on earths the watchmen never heard of it before?

[prinnysquad]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watchmen

This tells you everything. The comics that revolutionised the industry.

[Spatial]

Seems Zack Synder could pull the greatest film ever out of his arse whilst riding a glass unicycle and playing "She'll Be Coming Round the Mountain When She Comes" on the harmonica - and Moore still wouldn't be impressed.

Moore has no intention of seeing the film and, in fact, he hints that he has put a magical curse on the entire endeavor.

"Will the film even be coming out? There are these legal problems now, which I find wonderfully ironic. Perhaps it's been cursed from afar, from England. And I can tell you that I will also be spitting venom all over it for months to come."

"They take an idea, bowdlerize it, blow it up, make it infantile and spend $100 million to give people a brief escape from their boring and often demeaning lives at work. It's obscene and it's offensive. This is not the culture I signed up for.

Full article here

edit: okay, maybe he kind of has a point. WB already pushing for Watchmen sequel.

[fishbowlhead]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watchmen

This tells you everything. The comics that revolutionised the industry.

After reading that you can see where all the comics an subsequent films have got all there ideas for the imperfect heros.

doctor manhattan sounds particularly interesting, cant wait for the movie now

[JazzFunk]

I saw the trailer for this and thought it looked great - especially considering the source material is so complex and potentially delicate, in terms of film.

BUT, I didn't know that Zack Snyder was behind it - he abused my youth with that half-pint Dawn Of The Dead 'remake'. With that, he took something essentially half deep/half shallow and magical, and turned it into something all shallow, but engaging and forgettable.

I'm gonna see it anyway, the budget chucked at it will ensure that it's at least a spectacle (though the storyline will bewilder all, condensed as it will be...)

[Matt]

The slow-mo / fast-mo fighting seems to be in the final, not just filmed for the trailer as some wishfully thought.

http://www.cinematical.com/2008/10/07/cinematical-watches-the-watchmen/

I can't wait to see this but have huge concerns. Can Snyder make something of substance? He's not done so yet.

[BeyondJumpFish]

Its starting to look promising this. Dr Manhattan looks good and its got a 2h50m running time, which it needs if you ask me. Alot to cram in!

[eastyy]

imagine they will add alot more footage for the dvd release though

[Matt]

The two cops are out apparently. Which is a bad move imo, they're critical to the whole story, not just leading some key plot developments, but also giving a perspective of "ordinary" people looking at the "superheroes".

[anephric]

The cops are only in it a tiny bit, though - surely the news-stand guy and the little kid scenes are more important, and they're definitely there (at least, from the on-set stills I've seen).

As long as they've got some of the scenes with Rorschach and the psychologist , then it's all good.

[figflair]

Dave Gibbons has seen it and he said fans will love it. He also said it's good enough to possibly even perusade Alan Moore to give it his approval!

[randombs]

I was awestruck when I first saw the trailer, and it made me go out and buy the novel which I ploughed through pretty intensely.

I've always wondered why people get so annoyed at comic book adaptations (transformers, fantastic 4, etc) as I've never seen the point in arguing against them (vote with your wallet and all that), but reading Watchmen put me on that side of the fence for the first time, and while reading it I began to feel upset about what the film could potentially become, imagining all these little things on the cutting room floor, or maybe not even considered for the film to begin with (such as the pirate side-story thingy which I'm so glad is being added to dvd at least).

Heck, the comic itself is laid out just like a film. There's one particular scene spread over three frames where Dan and Laurie are conversing while walking along a platform that goes behind a wall that has screens on it, and the left frame has them facing away from the camera, middle frame has them directly behind the wall, showing them on the screens, and the right frame has them at the end of the platform facing towards the camera. Also the scene where Sally's looking at the old photograph of The Minutemen and then the next frame is a camera flash and suddenly there's all this commotion and hubbub while we're transported back to the time when that photo was being taken.

My initial desparation at wanting to fast-forward to 2009 to see the film has now been replaced by a genuine hope that it really will do the comic justice.

Whatever happens, I respect Snyder for genuinely wanting to keep as close to the source material as possible (and other directors who do this, too, in spite of what happens in the end, provided they honestly did try and stay true), and from the trailer at least it's all in there, but echoing what others have said, 300 also had a groovy trailer. I haven't read 300, though, so I can't make any sort of comparison.

[rmoxon]

Whatever happens, I respect Snyder for genuinely wanting to keep as close to the source material as possible (and other directors who do this, too, in spite of what happens in the end, provided they honestly did try and stay true), and from the trailer at least it's all in there, but echoing what others have said, 300 also had a groovy trailer. I haven't read 300, though, so I can't make any sort of comparison.

Yeah, You have to respect him for taking up such a daunting task really, its such a loved graphic novel and has so many elements that probabaly wont work well on film, that there will need to be comprimise somewhere and chances are it wont even come close to pleasing everyone.

300 was very simlar to the graphic novel, though i actualy thought the film ended up being the better of the two simply becuase I thought the story worked better oncreen and used the advantages of the medium perfectly without really sacrificing anything from the comic.

[randombs]

Has anyone seen the video of a 45-foot Dr. Manhattan in his lab? Pretty groovy behind-the-scenes footage of the blue-screening (looks like Tron) and the beginning part where the guy with the remote control presses the button to light him up is wicked!