New Watchmen Trailer

[Dylflon]

Originally Posted by BreakABone

I know will get some upset, probably not here, but they could have modernized it a bit. I mean some of the ideas are a bit dated or have been done to death in recent comic book movies, which is why I guess this does not stand out as much.

So wrong that it hurts.


Modernizing it would be a terrible idea. One of the main points is it being set in the cold war. Threat of nuclear annihilation.

[Dyne]

I was worried they'd bring it even further back and dedicate the first half of the movie to the Minutemen fighting crime. Or even the Watchmen fighting crime. Eep.

[DarkMaster]

Well we'll get the newspaper dude/comic kid in the super extended ultimate edition, hopefully some more psychiatrist guy too, he was a cool character. I'm wondering if the extended cut of Watchmen will have a Kingdom of Heaven type of effect. And by that I mean, the theatrical version was so-so, and then the extra dvd footage brought the story together brilliantly and it was like watching a whole different movie (I'll take this opportunity to highly recommend the 4 hour extended edition of Kingdom of Heaven).

[Professor S]

Originally Posted by DarkMaster

Well we'll get the newspaper dude/comic kid in the super extended ultimate edition, hopefully some more psychiatrist guy too, he was a cool character. I'm wondering if the extended cut of Watchmen will have a Kingdom of Heaven type of effect. And by that I mean, the theatrical version was so-so, and then the extra dvd footage brought the story together brilliantly and it was like watching a whole different movie (I'll take this opportunity to highly recommend the 4 hour extended edition of Kingdom of Heaven).

This is what I'm hoping for as well. As it stands I think it's a very good and effective movie. But it could had been great. I suppose I'm lamenting it's potential, rather than the final execution of the film, which might be unfair but when you make a movie version of literature you have to expect this.

As for modernizing it, I can tell you it didn't feel dated to me at all. If anything, it brought back old/bad memories of the Cold War. Being the council elder on these boards, I have distinct memories of the Cold War and I think I was in the finaly elementary school classes to do the "sick your head between you legs and kiss your ass goodbye" drills.

Apart from the rediculous Nixon presidency addition, I thought tension was built quite well using the 80's as a period backdrop, a period that is rarely used.

I guess my biggest complaint with Snyder as director is that whenever he made changes to the source material, he seemed to go in the direction of satire, such as the absurd Nixon makeup and impersonator and overly detached and "perfect" Veidt. Watchmen is not an overtly satirical film, it is a grave warning against putting faith in those who would "protect" you. It seemed his changes made to transfer to film made the movie less human than it could have been.

[Thespis721]

I saw the Watchmen movie, and, I don't know. I'm seeing it again because a friend has no one to go with, but I'm not sure if I liked it all that much. I felt it was a really great tribute movie, but as a film, I think it may fall flat.

I agree with BaB's point of losing humanity in the end. While I'm fine with the bomb instead of the squid, I think the handling of the ending was very displaced as if these choices were just drawn out. Veidt had as much humanity as Dr. Manhattan and I think that is wrong.

My major complaint, when it came down to it, is that comics and movies are different mediums and DIRECTLY translating one to the other is almost disrespectful for the forms. Godfather and Lord of the Rings were amazing books, however, they were also amazing movies because the director realized that they weren't making a motion comic, they were making a movie and made intelligent changes to make that amazing movie. But I don't think Snyder has that kind of directorial intelligence. Personally. And I liked 300 and Dawn of the Dead.

Finally, I disagree with the point that there could not be a better Watchmen translation. There are a lot of things in the movie that could have been fixed (like more focus on character work and having the actors make active choices). I'm not going to bitch about them till the "cows come home" but I refuse to believe that ANYTHING is the epitome of perfection.

[Dyne]

Originally Posted by Thespis721

I saw the Watchmen movie, and, I don't know. I'm seeing it again because a friend has no one to go with, but I'm not sure if I liked it all that much. I felt it was a really great tribute movie, but as a film, I think it may fall flat.

I agree with BaB's point of losing humanity in the end. While I'm fine with the bomb instead of the squid, I think the handling of the ending was very displaced as if these choices were just drawn out. Veidt had as much humanity as Dr. Manhattan and I think that is wrong.

My major complaint, when it came down to it, is that comics and movies are different mediums and DIRECTLY translating one to the other is almost disrespectful for the forms. Godfather and Lord of the Rings were amazing books, however, they were also amazing movies because the director realized that they weren't making a motion comic, they were making a movie and made intelligent changes to make that amazing movie. But I don't think Snyder has that kind of directorial intelligence. Personally. And I liked 300 and Dawn of the Dead.

Finally, I disagree with the point that there could not be a better Watchmen translation. There are a lot of things in the movie that could have been fixed (like more focus on character work and having the actors make active choices). I'm not going to bitch about them till the "cows come home" but I refuse to believe that ANYTHING is the epitome of perfection.

You just proved the point that people will find anything to complain about.

[Thespis721]

Thank you! I did prove that!

More to the point is that I am commenting on the idea that this is the best possible Watchman there ever could be. Everything has flaws, everything isn't perfect. And as long as that axiom exists, there is no such thing as "best ____ there ever could be".

[DarkMaster]

You misunderstand my meaning of "best adaptation there could have been". It is has nothing to do with being "perfect". You have to consider the possibilities of a Watchmen movie in the hands of some other director, or studio. Even just a few years ago, before movies like the Dark Knight and 300 proved that violent, intelligent comic book movies were successful, the thought of an almost 3 hour long, rated R Watchmen movie that was faithful in any way to the source material was absurd.

What I'm trying to say is that we can nitpick as much as we want, but it could have been so much worse, like a stupid PG13 90 minute piece of crap. I'd rather just be thankful for what we got.

[Thespis721]

Originally Posted by DarkMaster

You misunderstand my meaning of "best adaptation there could have been". It is has nothing to do with being "perfect". You have to consider the possibilities of a Watchmen movie in the hands of some other director, or studio. Even just a few years ago, before movies like the Dark Knight and 300 proved that violent, intelligent comic book movies were successful, the thought of an almost 3 hour long, rated R Watchmen movie that was faithful in any way to the source material was absurd.

What I'm trying to say is that we can nitpick as much as we want, but it could have been so much worse, like a stupid PG13 90 minute piece of crap. I'd rather just be thankful for what we got.

I absolutely agree that perhaps 5 or so years ago, this couldn't have been possible. (I believe three it could have since I think the process started about three years ago) I don't mean to play a game of semantics, but I do hear a lot of "best adaptation there could have been" from people who mean exactly those words.

But as I heard somewhere else, the fact that we can nitpick, and that we all pull something from the movie that was off is just a testament of how good the novel was that we found even the details to be important.

[KillerGremlin]

wow i just saw the film...

I actually sought out the graphic novel and read it before seeing the film. Normally I don't do that, but this comic in particular intrigued me.

I have to say, changing the ending so as to put the blame on Dr. Manhattan....I thought it cheapened the point of the original ending.

I thought Dr. Manhattan was one of the few beacons of hope in Alan Moore's dreadful dreary of a distopia. At the end of the novel he sees some good in humans, so much in fact he goes to stop the inevitable nuclear war...only to find that Ozymandias was the mastermind behind it all. He informs Ozymandias that the plan will only be temporarily successful (if that), we then see the guilty and emotional side of Ozymandias (which was also missing form the film), and then in a beacon of positivity and hope Dr. Manhattan leaves the love (Silk Spectre) he can no longer have since he is no longer human and he goes off to create new life elsewhere.

Blaming blue balls and making Ozymandias the supervillain and then leaving the film on a note with a united word........totally cheapens the ending in my opinion.

It was cute that at the end they find Rorschach's diary. I guess it is implied that the plan is a failure anyway.

Otherwise I thought the movie was fucking brilliant. The ending seemed rushed and I'd like to see a director's cut with the original ending since the original ending is better.

Better for who? Us comic nerds. As was stated in this thread I'm probably nitpcking. But the way I see....most people are going to hate Watchmen the movie unless they have read the book. It's heavy, depressing stuff. It's all over the place thematically too. So my question is, how many people are we REALLY alienating if we put a big squid creature in at the end?

[KillerGremlin]

I'm just surprised that Snyder would follow the comic pretty much to a tee until the final chapter.......and change the ending and personality of Adrian.

I thought the casting was great.

I thought the comic to movie visuals was as good as it will get (just look at 300, it was EXPECTED).....

I even enjoyed the music, although some of the choices where a bit cliche and Dr. Manhattan's theme was by far the best....

I mean I almost came during the murder of The Comedian at the beginning.....the cinematography was BEAUTIFUL! And the whole prison scene with Rorschach was epic. It was just a beautiful film. So what the hell....

....why take creative liberties in the last 20 minutes of the otherwise perfectly translated vision?

[Fox 6]

I think that it would be easier for movie audiences to accept Dr. Manhattan rather than a giant space squid with psychic powers.

[Teuthida]

I think if they mentioned the kidnapped artists (and showed that squid picture the woman was working on) and writers and the island (it was an island right? been a while since read) the squid wouldn't have been completely out of left field for the audience who didn't read the book.

[BreakABone]

Here are some details on the extended cut

First thing is first not all the changes are directly from the comic. A few extensions of scenes are entirely made up. A few of the new scenes are just same situation and location but different dialouge (good though and true to the spirit of the scene from the comic book and to the characters themselves.) Most of the changes bring it dead on with comic. Added monolouge and dialouge here and there.

I would rate the theatrical cut an 8 and this 3hr cut a 10

Here's a list of changes that I noticed:

1. At the end of Rorschach's search of the comedian's apartment. Two cops enter, he knocks one of the cops out and jumps out the window as the other cop is firing his gun at him.

2. Rorschach has more comic book monolouge, throughout the movie. Though I'm only going to mention it once. (nothing but the good stuff too.)

3. Dan and Holis's visit is extended by seeing roschrach on TV. Hollis comments "It didn't stop him." (refering to the keane act.)

4. More scenes from the comic such as:

-- Before they walk into the alley we are introduced to the scene by the news vendor talking to Seymour delivering his papers.

-- When Jon says "leave me alone" everyone in the room disappears. Leaving him alone.

-- Cut back to Laurie and Dan at the end of the fight.

-- Laurie decides to go back to the military base and Dan meets with Hollis; they watch TV and learn of Jon's departure. Dan says laurie doesn't know. Cut to Jon on Mars and his story.

--The only major difference in this scene that I can remember is Jon talks about his symbol, slightly varied from the comic he says,"The boys in marketing wanted me to have a symbol. I said if I should have a symbol it shall be one I respect."

--Next scene is Laurie getting interrogated at the military base. They discover that Jon is on Mars and Laurie escapes and decides to go stay with Dan.

5. Rorschach has more dialogue from the comic with Dr. Malcom. Also in his story of the girl, the murder is shown as in the comic - walking outside, asking his dogs to bark, when they don't he draws his gun and enters the building.

6. Rorschach and Laurie argue on the rooftop of the jail; Rorschach more or less calls Laurie a whore. They escape.

7. Jon and Laurie begin their conversation as they did in the comic: "You're going to tell me you have been having an affair with Dan".

8. A few more interesting changes, happen.

9. Oh and Hollis talks on the phone with Sally, only to be interrupted by knocks at the door. He has a great montage death scene. They also explain why the knot heads go there at an earlier point.

10. In the bar, Dan sees the news of Hollis's death by knot heads and beats up one in the bar (knocks out like all of his front teeth. pretty brutal).

http://www.aintitcool.com/node/41595

[DarkMaster]

Plus all the black Freighter stuff is in there, right?