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Watchmen Trailer

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Markster said:
I'm noticing this reaction a lot actually.
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Yea, same.


Soem of my friends think The Watchmen might beaout TDK as the best comic book film ever. I doubt it, because for that to happen, The watchmen would have to be 4 hours long.
 
SpeedingUptoStop said:
Yea, same.


Soem of my friends think The Watchmen might beaout TDK as the best comic book film ever. I doubt it, because for that to happen, The watchmen would have to be 4 hours long.
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the movie doesnt have to incorporate everything from the comic in order to be well done.
 
DigitalA1chemy said:
From Wikipedia: "Wilson put on weight to play the character, instead of wearing a fatsuit."
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MrBurns.gif
 
SpeedingUptoStop said:
Yea, same.


Soem of my friends think The Watchmen might beaout TDK as the best comic book film ever. I doubt it, because for that to happen, The watchmen would have to be 4 hours long.
Click to expand...


If they are expecting it to be a regular superhero action flick, they will be dissappointed. And maybe even shocked. At least, so I hope.
 
DigitalA1chemy said:
From Wikipedia: "Wilson put on weight to play the character, instead of wearing a fatsuit."
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The initial pics of him had him pudgy. It's my belief that the trailer and more recent promo stuff is trying to make everybody look cooler. Hence all the action in the trailer, when there is hardly any in the story. Much of it is *in* the trailer.
 
Since I just finished the comic book, I was wondering if I could get some thoughts on a couple things that bothered me about Watchmen (and will likely bother film audiences even more):

1. The main story seemed pointless. If nobody in this comic had done anything, the outcome would have been the same. Except Rorschach would still be alive, I guess. That isn't to say that learning all the character's histories isn't interesting, but the actual plot here is pretty unsatisfying.

2. Ozymandias' plan is meant to stop war, yet it's his plan that destabilzes the world and makes war an inevitability. It seems unlikely that the one catastrophe he causes would bring about any kind of lasting peace 10, 20, 30 years down the line once the thought of an "alien threat" subsides......Ozy himself should be able to see that. All he does is stop a war that he started.

So the elements central to the plot are either "pointless" or "stupid and convuloted." But maybe that's the point, and what we are supposed to be reveling in is the characters' individual stories.
 
border said:
Since I just finished the comic book, I was wondering if I could get some thoughts on a couple things that bothered me about Watchmen (and will likely bother film audiences even more):

1. The main story seemed pointless. If nobody in this comic had done anything, the outcome would have been the same. Except Rorschach would still be alive, I guess. That isn't to say that learning all the character's histories isn't interesting, but the actual plot here is pretty unsatisfying.

2. Ozymandias' plan is meant to stop war, yet it's his plan that destabilzes the world and makes war an inevitability. It seems unlikely that the one catastrophe he causes would bring about any kind of lasting peace 10, 20, 30 years down the line once the thought of an "alien threat" subsides......Ozy himself should be able to see that. All he does is stop a war that he started.

So the elements central to the plot are either "pointless" or "stupid and convuloted." But maybe that's the point, and what we are supposed to be reveling in is the characters' individual stories.
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For 2., the nuclear war was an inevitability to Ozy. You could see this when they have the "crime busters" or whatever meeting and Ozy gets all sad and glassy eyed. He felt no matter what would happen nuclear war would come and wipe out humanity. So he took the step forward and destabilized the world to bring about his vision of a "united world" that much sooner.
 
Uncle said:
If they are expecting it to be a regular superhero action flick, they will be dissappointed. And maybe even shocked. At least, so I hope.
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No, they read the books. I just don't think it can outdo The Dark Knight as a film, though.
 
border said:
1. The main story seemed pointless. If nobody in this comic had done anything, the outcome would have been the same. Except Rorschach would still be alive, I guess. That isn't to say that learning all the character's histories isn't interesting, but the actual plot here is pretty unsatisfying.

2. Ozymandias' plan is meant to stop war, yet it's his plan that destabilzes the world and makes war an inevitability. It seems unlikely that the one catastrophe he causes would bring about any kind of lasting peace 10, 20, 30 years down the line once the thought of an "alien threat" subsides......Ozy himself should be able to see that. All he does is stop a war that he started.
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1) This is part of what makes it so different. In all comic stories previous to this, the villain is defeated, and everyone is happy. Here, the real climax is the corruption of all of the heroes over to the other side. The outcome is no different than if they had done nothing, but the characters themselves have changed. The tables turn on Rorschach, and now his single minded focus on justice is the new threat to global security.

The plot itself is not what the book is about.

2) The foregone conclusion in the book is that Nuclear War is going to happen. These days, we don't appreciate it as much, but in the 80s there was an honest fear of it, and the scenario in the book is what one would expect as the start of WW3.

Your point is raised by Manhattan when he says "nothing ends". Certain nuclear war has been averted, but only for now.
 
JayDubya said:
Yes.
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How?
How can an artificial human construct - however admirable it may be - outweigh the lives of millions, perhaps billions, of people? Justice won't bring any of those New Yorkers back from the dead.

cbrotherson said:
He does. It's strongly implicated that he's effectively
aware of all time and its intricacies at that point, able to rewind and foresee with a large degree of accuracy, which perfectly ties in with the main theme of the book - time. Manhattan represents our ability to read a comic book, to stop, flick back, flick forward and traverse through time as we wish at any speed we wish. He sees life, much like we see Watchmen - as a book to go through at his own pace, knowing that he may observe it, but is unable to ultimately change the events that unfold because even he's part of a grander scheme. And like us, at the end, he leaves that world in the knowledge of his power and powerlessness. As Rich Johnston smartly pointed out, "who watches the Watchmen? We do."
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That's an excellent explanation of why the movie - as a direct adaptation - simply can not live up to the comic. This is what I was trying to get at when I said that Watchmen proved the validity of the comic book medium.

Kletian said:
Just finished reading chapter 3 (Dr. Manhattan's origin) I gotta say, I hope it gets better as of right now I'm not seeing the 'zomg best thing evar!' vibe this book has been hyped to be.
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You've gotta ignore the hype on the first read through. I wasn't in love with the comic until the second reading.
 
for those of us that were having issues before. the iTunes free watchmen episode is working now. im downloading it at the moment. from the description it seems like its just the comic with some animated panels and voices dubbed in. has a good rating though.
 
Well the trailer was good enough to make me pick up the actual comic, I'm done with three chapters in one sitting - and this is some quality stuff.

I'm around the part where
Doc manhatten has left for Mars, after the t.v. interview
 
Evlar said:
Some recent posters should consider spoiler tags.
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No. Not even in the face of armageddon banning. Never compromise.

I have seen someone complain about seeing The Comedian thrown through a window in the trailer. That is the entire impetus for the story. It is not a spoiler. Spoilertards have taken it too far and now the pendulum must swing the other direction. I am not the biggest Rorschach fan (the character, not the GAFer <3), but on this I must be like him. Never. Compromise.
 
Karakand said:
No. Not even in the face of armageddon banning. Never compromise.

I have seen someone complain about seeing The Comedian thrown through a window in the trailer. That is the entire impetus for the story. It is not a spoiler. Spoilertards have taken it too far and now the pendulum must swing the other direction. I am not the biggest Rorschach fan (the character, not the GAFer <3), but on this I must be like him. Never. Compromise.
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Just put spoiler tags around shit. It's not a compromise, it's common sense and courtesy.
 
Greatness Gone said:
Edit - lol, nvm. I misread that as Nite Owl screaming because Rorschach took off his mask.
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If you saw
the face of Archie Andrews and Alfred E. Neuman's bastard love-child
you'd scream too!
 
border said:
Since I just finished the comic book, I was wondering if I could get some thoughts on a couple things that bothered me about Watchmen (and will likely bother film audiences even more):
Click to expand...

Welcome to "grey area" "post-modernism." Where guys like Hitler 'may well just be OK' and such. Perhaps the decline of human civilization, to be honest. But it's a common theme since the mid 80s-early 90s.

I mean far be it for you to have a stance.

PS film audiences *love* this kind of ending.
 
Markster said:
I'm noticing this reaction a lot actually.
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and that, precisely, IS the problem. Watchmen isnt some sleek, overproduced, action story. its slow and cerebral, even in the comic i was going back and forth while reading, checking and re-checking facts. the trailer is like an action, summer, thrill extravaganza. which i know, is what a trailer is supposed to be, but ppl will go in and see it for the wrong reasons.
 
Justin Bailey said:
Just put spoiler tags around shit. It's not a compromise, it's common sense and courtesy.
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Common sense? Common sense would be a statute of limitations on having to use tags since they are a form of censorship. (And if you think they aren't you have no common sense.)

Courtesy? That would be realizing you shit like everyone else and that the internet isn't there to affirm your own provincial sensibilities and never challenge them.

If a new Romeo and Juliet film came out someone on GAF would bitch about people saying
they both die
untagged. And that person would have their way because no one is willing to stand up to this madness.

I will be tagging things unique to the movie, but if it is in the comic it is fair game. No compromises.
 
Karakand said:
I will be tagging things unique to the movie, but if it is in the comic it is fair game. No compromises.
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That's really stupid.
There are a lot of people who haven't read the comic.

If this was a thread about the Watchmen comic book, I could see your point. But this thread is for a movie trailer. I would guess that there are a lot of people who haven't read the comic strip and would be inspired to after seeing this trailer. (just like I did a few days ago)
 
6 March 2009 is the release date, right? Plenty of time to squeeze in a reading then! I got one in over the last 2 nights just before I went to sleep because the trailer got me jonesing to do so.

edit: Funny you should mention threads about the comic, a while back people were spoiler tagging in a thread semi-about it. This has become utter madness I'm afraid.
 
Jtwo said:
That's really stupid.
There are a lot of people who haven't read the comic.

If this was a thread about the Watchmen comic book, I could see your point. But this thread is for a movie trailer. I would guess that there are a lot of people who haven't read the comic strip and would be inspired to after seeing this trailer. (just like I did a few days ago)
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Yeah, please no spoilers.
 
Karakand said:
6 March 2009 is the release date, right? Plenty of time to squeeze in a reading then! I got one in over the last 2 nights just before I went to sleep because the trailer got me jonesing to do so.
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Yep, the day after Scott Mosier's birthday. :lol

Karakand said:
edit: Funny you should mention threads about the comic, a while back people were spoiler tagging in a thread semi-about it. This has become utter madness I'm afraid.
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Well, why shouldn't they put spoiler tags? Unless it's a thread like the TDK one on the front page - it really is just common courtesy to add them. It doesn't take any extra time to read or type. You never know who might be reading it.
 
The 4.5 hour director's cut could be awesome. Hopefully they won't pull any punches and allow it to have an "R" rating.
 
Karakand said:
Common sense? Common sense would be a statute of limitations on having to use tags since they are a form of censorship. (And if you think they aren't you have no common sense.)

Courtesy? That would be realizing you shit like everyone else and that the internet isn't there to affirm your own provincial sensibilities and never challenge them.

If a new Romeo and Juliet film came out someone on GAF would bitch about people saying
they both die
untagged. And that person would have their way because no one is willing to stand up to this madness.

I will be tagging things unique to the movie, but if it is in the comic it is fair game. No compromises.
Click to expand...
No need to channel Rorschach.
 
Jtwo said:
Well, why shouldn't they put spoiler tags? Unless it's a thread like the TDK one on the front page - it really is just common courtesy to add them. It doesn't take any extra time to read or type. You never know who might be reading it.
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Because you wouldn't have gotten the point the thread was making unless you'd actually read the comic.
 
Well, it sounds like that specific thread was a case where the spoilers were essential to the discussion. Which is cool. But that's not the case for more general threads like this one. The first post I read of yours seemed to just be saying "fuck you, I'll spoil what I want and it's your fault for not reading the comic." But I get what you're saying by now. It's by no means a perfect system, but having things spoiled for you DOES suck. REALLY bad.
57.gif
 
joshcryer said:
Welcome to "grey area" "post-modernism." Where guys like Hitler 'may well just be OK' and such. Perhaps the decline of human civilization, to be honest. But it's a common theme since the mid 80s-early 90s.

I mean far be it for you to have a stance.

PS film audiences *love* this kind of ending.
Click to expand...

You're a couple decades off. The "grey area" "post-modernism" started in 60s and 70s, in film anyways. Bonnie and Clyde, Blaxploitation, Wild Bunch, and umm, my memory is shorting out, took a revisionist approach towards outcasts and criminals and turned them into anti-heroes way before the mid 80s. Even before the 80s movies like Dirty Harry and Death Wish showed up at the opposite reaction at the other end of the political spectrum. Also it's not such a terrible decline in morality and civilization to know what you're up against. Not everything can be summed up to be either good or evil.
 
icarus-daedelus said:
Yeah, I'm gonna have to go with Karakand on an extremely popular and famous (for its industry, anyway :lol) comic that has been out for twenty years.

Guess what? Darth Vader has a change of heart and throws the Emperor and his bad teeth down a big shaft about thirty years too late in Return of the Jedi. OMG SPOILERS FORM 1983 SOMEONE MIGHT NOT HAVE SEEN IT!!!!
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And how big of a difference would you estimate to be between the number of people who have read Watchmen and who have seen Star Wars. Or how about how many watch movies and how many read comics?
 
icarus-daedelus said:
Yeah, I'm gonna have to go with Karakand on an extremely popular and famous (for its industry, anyway :lol) comic that has been out for twenty years.

Guess what? Darth Vader has a change of heart and throws the Emperor and his bad teeth down a big shaft about thirty years too late in Return of the Jedi. OMG SPOILERS FORM 1983 SOMEONE MIGHT NOT HAVE SEEN IT!!!!
Click to expand...
I HAVENT SEEN IT!!! OMG MY SOULLLL!!!!
 
icarus-daedelus said:
Yeah, I'm gonna have to go with Karakand on an extremely popular and famous (for its industry, anyway :lol) comic that has been out for twenty years.

Guess what? Darth Vader has a change of heart and throws the Emperor and his bad teeth down a big shaft about thirty years too late in Return of the Jedi. OMG SPOILERS FORM 1983 SOMEONE MIGHT NOT HAVE SEEN IT!!!!
Click to expand...

I can believe that people, even comic book fans may not have read Watchmen. But I wouldn't believe that anyone with access to the internet and a casual knowledge of popular culture wouldn't know how the Star Wars saga ends. Comparing the two is kinda silly. War and Peace is an important novel that has become extraordinarily popular in the decades since it was written, but can you assume that an average person has had it's plot and characters force fed to them by mass media like Star Wars franchise has been?

Everybody hasn't already read Watchmen. Spoiler tag stuff FFS!
 
joshcryer said:
PS film audiences *love* this kind of ending.
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Can't tell if this is sarcasm or not.

I don't think they are going to love it at the end of a 3 hour movie that has at best 2-3 significant action sequences, when
everyone just says "Oh well, whatever.....I guess we'll go along with Ozy 'cause there's not much we can do about it now." Not only are they deprived of seeing any kind of badass showdown, but the post 9/11 society will have just seen 3 million New Yorkers murdered with no reprisal or catharsis. If the Cloverfield nonsense was anything to go by, the press will have a field day with this and probably spoil it for most audiences before they even see it.
 
icarus-daedelus said:
On an internet website dedicated to videogames? :lol

And the important part was italicized already, but I can do comic bolding if you'd like. Twenty years is 20 years, whether it's Kieslowski's Dekalog or the outcome of the 1986 Congressional elections. And Watchmen is not exactly an obscure Polish TV series.
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Why is time such a big factor in whether to spoil or not? I don't get the reasoning behind this argument.
 
That itunes Watchmen video/comic was pretty good. I didn't realize it was just one guy reading the voices till they got to the girl. Kinda wish they sprung for a varied 'radio drama' style cast for it. As it is, it's a good way for anyone to enjoy the comic if you havn't read it already. Reminds me of the Metal Gear graphic novel.

Here's hoping the rest are free.
 
icarus-daedelus said:
On an internet website dedicated to videogames? :lol

And the important part was italicized already, but I can do comic bolding if you'd like. Twenty years is 20 years, whether it's Kieslowski's Dekalog or the outcome of the 1986 Congressional elections. And Watchmen is not exactly an obscure Polish TV series.
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Well now I know what I'll be doing when the next "What are you reading" thread comes along...
 
zewone said:
1216326542048.gif
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Jtwo said:
Did the scale seem off to anyone else in that shot?
If you watch it again, it doesn't look like he's towering above. It looks like he's standing right behind him.
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See?
It's totally wack.
 
icarus-daedelus said:
Yeah and Mr. Random invading-at-the-end Guy is still alive, but who gives a shit about them?




Actually, I always thought it was funny that nobody ever mentions Horatio's non-dead status at the end of Hamlet. :lol
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Horatio is an interesting character. I'm not willing to say he's a first or anything, but he's similar to, say, C3PO in that he appears in nearly all of the story without really playing a part. He's basically there to maintain consistent POV.

I'm personally more of a Macbeth fanboy <3
 
icarus-daedelus said:
Macbeth has my favorite Shakespeare monologue (sound and fury) and Lady Macbeth is a pretty great character all around. I'm a big fan of King Lear though because it spawned my favorite film adaptation of Shakespeare (Ran, which is a Kurosawa thing, and I know you're not too terribly fond of his pictures.) I'm also kind of partial to Henry IV because my favorite teacher ever assigned me it. I think. It's one of the British history ones, so there's really no other explanation.

Anyway, total thread derail. Is it possible to be off-topic in the off-topic forum, though?
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I like Macbeth because it has strong characterization along with an intriguing plot. Hamelt and Macbeth are similar in that respect, but I think Hamlet has fewer interesting characterizations, plus its LOOK A GHOST supernatural element is feeble in comparison to Macbeth. King Lear is also great.

I do, also, find it interesting how I basically rank my favorite Shakespeare plays akin to my professors. I don't think I'm an easily influenced person, but for the most part, at least in regards to Shakespeare, my opinions basically match my professor. I'd guess this is because my teacher's true passion for those specific plays had an effect on me. Once we get past the Big Plays, my opinions tend to diverge. This pattern is also similar to Shakespeare's sonnets.
 
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