Monday, July 21, 2008

Watchmen Trailer


Apparently a lot of people are excited about this: the Watchmen trailer. I haven't read the graphic novel and I really really hated 300 so I can't really say that I'm buying my tickets now. Thoughts from anyone else?

8 comments:

Ed Howard said...

I thought 300 was an absolute disaster, a homophobic, racist piece of trash that encouraged the worst in the audiences who ate it up and cheered its fascist celebration of violence. Its best moments were the ones where I could simply laugh at its sheer incompetence, which was preferable to the parts where I was disgusted by its whole outlook. So consider it an understatement when I say I'm unethused by the fact that the same director is tackling one of the most complex, morally ambiguous, and intelligent superhero comics of all time.

If you haven't read Watchmen, you definitely should. It's written by Alan Moore, who's been treated very poorly in the screen adaptations of his comics, so much so that he's now disowned any film adaptations in advance, sight unseen. The original comic is not, I think, Moore's best work, or even his best superhero work, but its great reputation is well-earned anyway, and it's essential reading for anyone interested in comics as an artform. I'm not too optimistic about Snyder's ability to do justice to the comic's ironic tone, or its moral ambiguity, or its multi-faceted characters. The trailer looked like a whole bunch of sleek, empty effects, very reminiscent of 300. I'll admit I got a little shiver of excitement over the CGI job on Dr. Manhattan, who looks great, but on the whole the trailer made me even more inclined to just re-read the comics and leave it at that.

Brandon Colvin said...

I agree with basically everything Ed just said.

I hated 300.

I love WATCHMEN the graphic novel. It's one of my favorite books ever.

I think Zack Snyder will ruin everything. The trailer already has WAYYYY too much slow-motion for me.

Nostalgia Kinky said...

Let me chime in with more hatred of 300. I HATED, HATED, HATED 300 and thought it was among the worst films of the decade so I am not exactly excited about seeing a new film from this guy.
That said, I am a bit obsesssed with Carla Gugino and that alone will probably get me to see the film. It definately looks more promising than 300, but that isn't saying much.

Ric Burke said...

I don't think there could ever be enough hate directed at 300 - one of the worst films I've ever endured. I should have walked out of the cinema; if it wasn't for a friend buying the ticket I would have, but instead I had to sit through the whole mess. Ed is 100% correct on why the film is so horrid.

So, it's with great alarm that the same man is tackling my absolute favourite. There were parts in the trailer that I grinned like the sad fan-boy I can be but at other times (the sloooooow-mooooo) I wanted to cry. I think the man is going to miss the point entirely.

Just read the book and when you're done re-read it. I read it at least once a year; words don't do it justice just how brilliant it really is.

James Hansen said...

Fine, fine...I'll read the book! :)

All I can say about 300 is...at least I didn't pay to see it in a theater...

Anonymous said...

Allow me to join in the "300" bashing: SUCKED. Thankfully, I also didn't pay for it.

When I saw the Watchmen trailer, there were several points where I could have sworn it was a trailer for a superhero spoof me (for example, the aptly titled and certain-to-be-horrendous "Superhero Movie"). I've yet to read "Watchmen", but I'm convinced that I'll hate the movie. The combination of slow-mo, uber-seriousness, and CG blue people almost had me retching in the theater.

Anonymous said...

I'm glad to read some ambivalence about Snyder's abilities to properly translate Watchmen. Most of what I've read has been empty-headed fanboy ramblings raving about how the trailer shows the director's fidelity to the source material. I disagree; in fact, I argue that the trailer shows us the opposite. Gone are the out-of-shape, psychologically-complex "superheroes" of Moore's original novel, now replaced by endless posing and posturing, ass-kicking in slow-motion, glistening like action figures. Gone is the grit and grime and noir sensibility, now replaced with the empty sheen of CGI. Gone is the deconstruction and postmodernity, now replaced with a scatterbrained aping of trite cinematic superhero conventions.

My expectations, obviously, are low. 300 was such a terrible, offensive piece of trash that I can only imagine this adaptation of Watchmen will follow in those dreaded footsteps.

But hey, I just got an academic paper I wrote about Moore's original graphic novel accepted into a conference. So that makes me feel better.

James Hansen said...

Congrats on the conference, Chuck! When/where is it taking place?