Watchmen

GamePlayer · Post by **GamePlayer** » 06 Mar 2008 13:12

I'm not sure if anyone has been keeping up with developments for the Watchmen film adaptation, but the marketing dept has finally revealed the costume designs:

http://www.iwatchstuff.com/2008/03/watc ... ed_mos.php

IMO, Rorschach, The Comedian and the Silk Spectre are definitely close live-action approximations of the original Watchmen character designs. Nite Owl and Ozymandias are certainly the most radically redesigned in their live-action incarnations. I must say the film is certainly surprising me with the amount of style it has retained from the golden age era motif that was used in the original Watchmen graphic novel. These live-action versions of the characters definitely feel very retro. Nite Owl still looks retro with those goggles and I noticed his ship looks the same in the background. Ozymandias actually looks Gilliam-esque, like he belongs in Brazil or Flash Gordon.

I have to say the costume designs are certainly much better than I was expecting.

Post by **Omphalos** » 06 Mar 2008 14:04

Id have loved to see Dr. Mahnattan.

And though I do love Blake's flair, with only one piece, he isnt going to do very well.

inhuien · Post by **inhuien** » 06 Mar 2008 15:00

Outstanding costumes, really classy. The Watchmen's an old comic book?

I noticed in a side frame that someones been busy on an Ironman flick, I used to love that as a kid, KEWL:)))

orald · Post by **orald** » 06 Mar 2008 15:24

Ah, north-americans and their little superheroes that no one else has heard about...

I do like the 3rd and 4th pics, though not for the costumes themselves.

Nekhrun · Post by **Nekhrun** » 06 Mar 2008 16:04

orald wrote:Ah, north-americans and their little superheroes that no one else has heard about...

You'd be doing yourself a favor to "hear about" the Watchmen. Though I'm not sure if they can be classified specifically as North-American. I'm fearful of the film adaptation based on other Alan Moore adaptations. For more Alan Moore fun I do have this, it's annotations for some of his comics. The V for Vendetta one is excellent.

orald · Post by **orald** » 06 Mar 2008 16:45

Argh, it's more that there's this whole culture of relatively unknown(mainly outside the USA)comics.
Though I may be particularly oblivious to them since I don't read that kind of comics.
But still, I doubt alot of these are well known outside certain countries, unlike superman and his ilk.

And why isn't there a God Leto comic? God Leto is way better than any of these so called superheroes.

Siaynok FTW!

Simon · Post by **Simon** » 06 Mar 2008 17:28

I'm worried about this one... Thus far Zack Snyder has had nothing but massive hits in my book (Dawn of the Dead remake, and 300) but Alan Moore himself has said that a Watchmen movie was a bad idea and he thought it couldn't and shouldn't be done. So we will see, I hope Mr.Moore was wrong....

GamePlayer · Post by **GamePlayer** » 06 Mar 2008 18:14

inhuien
Somewhat. Watchmen itself is 22 years old, but even when it was first published in 1986, the character designs were intentionally retro drawing character design motifs from back in the Silver Age of comic books (circa 1960s-1970s).

Jon Favreau is doing the new Iron Man movie with Robert Downey Jr playing Stark. I'm hopeful about this one. The casting is good, but Favreau can be hit or miss.

orald
What rock have you been living under for the past 20 years? Watchmen has been lauded as one of the greatest books of the 20th century (see Time's list) and remains the only graphic novel to ever win a Hugo award. You should really take the time to read this book.

And for the record, I'm Canadian and Alan Moore is english

Simon
Moore does have good cause for concern. Nearly all adaptations of his work have been horrible and even the one that was good (V for Vendetta) was too politicized IMO and totally missed many of the key points of the graphic novel.

As for Watchmen under Snyder, I remain extremely skeptical and the casting has only made me more jaded. I like Zack Snyder and have enjoyed both Dawn of the Dead and 300, but he's yet to prove himself with a film of substance. The casting so far is hit and miss in my opinion. A few of the roles reek of "lowest common denominator" decision making and are cast way too young. Patrick Wilson is just wrong for the role of Nite Owl II, especially for Dreiberg who even in his prime as a costumed adventurer was far more subtle a combatant than overtly athletic. Crudup wouldn't exactly be my first choice of Osterman, but I will concede he does have the acting chops to make a good go of it. Overall, mixed feelings and I was hoping for better.

Even when Aronofsky was attached to direct (and later Matt Vaughn) I still had concerns if the script would work, but at least I knew the film would address some of the depth of the graphic novel with the right director. I'm not saying Zack is necessarily wrong, but he needs a damn good script to make this work and that's not something the studios are known for.

It's easy to like good costumes and Hollywood can produce style to spare. But then again, the costume designs are not the thing that has me worried most about this film adaptation...

orald · Post by **orald** » 06 Mar 2008 19:07

Time's list? Oh my, I must bow before Time's list.

And pray tell, where oh where did Time Magazine do that survey? Could it be *gasp* in the USA? Which was exactly my point.
I don't doubt there are lots of famous comics, but alot are famous just in the USA...and the USA is still not the rest of the world.

GamePlayer · Post by **GamePlayer** » 06 Mar 2008 19:12

Okay then orald, just Canada, Europe and Australia from which I all have friends who are big fans and knew about from within their native countries. Do yourself a favor and try reading it. Gawd knows no one here will ever make the mistake of trying to turn you onto something ever again. Roll eyes at that.

SandChigger · Post by **SandChigger** » 06 Mar 2008 19:28

Why am I suddenly wondering how ARCH from 'Keen is doing these days?

orald · Post by **orald** » 06 Mar 2008 20:15

Arch...the Serbian or w\e girl?

And, GamePlayer, do you know who plays in this or that cricket team in this or that cricket league? I don't, don't really care, but I know lots of people from the British commonwealth etc would find that awfully strange(I'm not from the commonwealth).

The world is made of bubbles, and while bubbles may touch, no single bubble holds everyone inside.

Gawd knows no one here will ever make the mistake of trying to turn you onto something ever again.

Nowhere did I criticize the fact you raised this topic or tried to share this Watchman comic with others.

But I have to ask, who watches the Watchmen?

SandChigger · Post by **SandChigger** » 06 Mar 2008 20:20

orald wrote:Arch...the Serbian or w\e girl?

Yep. You got the reference. How about the implication?

orald · Post by **orald** » 06 Mar 2008 20:53

Implication?

But I think we're derailing the topic even further now.

P.S. My pun is even worse than I thought since Wiki' says the name is actually based on it. >_<

GamePlayer · Post by **GamePlayer** » 06 Mar 2008 22:53

orald wrote:And, GamePlayer, do you know who plays in this or that cricket team in this or that cricket league? I don't, don't really care, but I know lots of people from the British commonwealth etc would find that awfully strange(I'm not from the commonwealth).

The world is made of bubbles, and while bubbles may touch, no single bubble holds everyone inside.

Gawd knows no one here will ever make the mistake of trying to turn you onto something ever again.
Nowhere did I criticize the fact you raised this topic or tried to share this Watchman comic with others.

But I have to ask, who watches the Watchmen?

That was the whole point orald, which you missed. Watchmen is outside it's own bubble. Comic books have never won Hugo awards, but Watchmen did and remains the only one that has done so. Comic books aren't taken seriously by anyone outside of the comic book bubble, but apparently Time magazine made an exception (the ONLY exception) for Watchmen. Watchmen is exactly the kind of work that has transcended it's own art form and is known internationally as a great recognized work. Watchmen is the Dune of comics; the Lord of the Rings of graphic novels.

As for the rest, you gave sass, so sass was given back. No harm done, but maybe let's try to stay on point. I'll concede it's fair enough you once believed Watchmen was some obscure nothing comic book. How about giving it a try and maybe you might like it.

9 out of 10 Dune fans agree, Watchmen is a good read

And probably 9 out of 10 of us are really hoping the movie won't be shit either

inhuien · Post by **inhuien** » 07 Mar 2008 06:53

GamePlayer wrote:inhuien
Somewhat. Watchmen itself is 22 years old, but even when it was first published in 1986, the character designs were intentionally retro drawing character design motifs from back in the Silver Age of comic books (circa 1960s-1970s).

I knew I knew the name from somewhere, Moore is the best thing to have happened to Comics since black ink and staples, When I was a nipper I'd read him in 2000AD and he was sorely missed when he left.

Nekhrun · Post by **Nekhrun** » 07 Mar 2008 08:09

GamePlayer wrote:9 out of 10 Dune fans agree, Watchmen is a good read And probably 9 out of 10 of us are really hoping the movie won't be shit either

And 10 out of 10 of us know that it will be.

orald · Post by **orald** » 07 Mar 2008 09:22

GamePlayer wrote:9 out of 10 Dune fans agree, Watchmen is a good read

You know this kind of phrase only work when there's 1 who disagrees with the other 9, so I'll be that 1.

Robspierre · Post by **Robspierre** » 07 Mar 2008 17:37

inhuien wrote:
GamePlayer wrote:inhuien
Somewhat. Watchmen itself is 22 years old, but even when it was first published in 1986, the character designs were intentionally retro drawing character design motifs from back in the Silver Age of comic books (circa 1960s-1970s).
I knew I knew the name from somewhere, Moore is the best thing to have happened to Comics since black ink and staples, When I was a nipper I'd read him in 2000AD and he was sorely missed when he left.

I enjot Moore a lot, have issues 1-4, 6, 8-9 of the US release of Miracle Man (Marvel Man), and most of his latest work too, especially Promethia, that was a total mind trip. Slowly reading Lost Girls right now.

Rob

Nekhrun · Post by **Nekhrun** » 07 Mar 2008 18:48

Robspierre wrote:Slowly reading Lost Girls right now.

What do you think of that? I read some stuff about it as he started writing it, but never took a look at the finished product.

Robspierre · Post by **Robspierre** » 09 Mar 2008 17:18

Nekhrun wrote:
Robspierre wrote:Slowly reading Lost Girls right now.
What do you think of that? I read some stuff about it as he started writing it, but never took a look at the finished product.

Half way through volume one. Its pornography, literate but still pornography, Victorian, naughty, not bad so far, I for see Moore's penchant for pontificating on magic cropping up soon.

Rob

tanzeelat · Post by **tanzeelat** » 11 Mar 2008 02:49

Wasn't so taken with Promethea, but Tom Strong is a hoot. Likewise, not so keen on Albion, Batman: Killing Joke or some of his other stand-alone stuff. Despite all this, he's quite clearly streets ahead of anyone else in his field.

Ampoliros · Post by **Ampoliros** » 17 Apr 2008 17:18

I just hope its better than V for VendetomgnatalieportmanlovesV

i liked the movie, but damn they missed one of the most important parts of it, the fact that whoever V truly is, he's an "undesirable" At least they didn't effup the Valerie letter.

If Watchmen actually takes a stand and looks at the socio-politcal implications moore was getting at it will be worthy of the name.

Still i'm waiting for it to be rated R for "Giant Alien Vagina attacks NYC".

SandChigger · Post by **SandChigger** » 18 Apr 2008 04:53

Ampoliros wrote:Still i'm waiting for it to be rated R for "Giant Alien Vagina attacks NYC".

OH GAWD! GET IT OFF THE EMPIRE STATE BUILDING! GET IT OFF! GET IT OFF! GET IT...oh...phphph.

Looks like it got itself off.

Ampoliros · Post by **Ampoliros** » 18 Apr 2008 16:00

SPOILER for those who haven't read Watchmen...