Everyone’s Watching the ‘Watchmen’ Trailer
If you were online at all today, that strange substance that may have stained your clothing is nerd. That’s right. You got nerd on you. It turns out the Watchmen trailer which is set to premiere in front of Ye Olde Darke Knight was all over the Internets, first unofficially and then officially. It also happens to coincide neatly with next Friday’s Watchmen presentation at Comic-Yawn in San Diego.
Anyway, this led to a collective geeking-out in all corners including a petit mal geek-out right here at LiC. The monkeys and I are big fans of Alan Moore’s original comic, but we’re deeply skeptical that anyone who had anything to do with 300 could possibly bring Moore’s layered, nuanced work of literary art to life safely.
A couple of the monkeys are not convinced, but I was struck right away by the visual fidelity shown to the original drawings. Of course, it’s likely that the marketing stooges cherry picked all the scenes that would inspire maximum geekage and it’s also true that the visual element of Watchmen is but one facet of its complex genius, but I have to say I’m encouraged so far. It’s clearly a movie made by people who care about and appreciate the original material.
Whether it works or not, we’ll just have to wait until March ‘09 to find out.
Meanwhile, Rope of Silicon has an interesting set of images comparing different frames from the trailer to the images from the actual comic.
Filed under: Miscellaneous
Tags: Watchmen
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I must not be nearly as much of a nerd as I’ve been led to believe by some since my knowledge about The Watchmen stems from bits and pieces of things I’ve heard others say in the past couple of years (due to the rumblings of a film being made based on it), culminating a few weeks ago in the epochal experience of searching for “Watchmen” on Wikipedia. That’s as far as I’ve gone in my odyssey. It sounds interesting. Snyder making a movie sadly doesn’t.
As such, I’m as poor a fellow as there could be to judge this trailer. Looks all right, I guess. I doubt Snyder is capable of much beyond eye-catching vistas and some flashy visual pyrotechnics.
I just have a feeling that, while I’m sure Snyder loves Watchmen, he also almost certainly doesn’t actually understand Watchmen.
Interesting to hear a non Watch-geek’s take Alexander. You really oughta check out the comic though, all collected neatly in a graphic novel for your consumption.
Jeff, I worry that you’re right. The slo-mo/fast-mo action is a problem.
I think he probably gets the source material by now, but in his desire to capture the visual elements of every frame of the comic book on film I’m afraid he’s going to forget to actually make a good film. It’s one thing to stage every frame of the comic book again (and clearly, he’s becoming something of an expert at it) but a completely different thing altogether to direct a quality film.
In the case of 300, millons of people didn’t seem to care about that though.
But as I mentioned to Craig yesterday, I never thought 300 the comic was anything more profound or nuanced than 300 the movie. If anything, he captured it perfectly, so maybe working with material with depth will give him the chance to make something that is more than a surface reflection of the comic book.
But so far, I ain’t feeling it.
you mean “Visionary Director of 300″ Zack Snyder?
The sad thing is that if the movie blows, it will be most people’s introduction to the story and it’ll just be written off as another bit of League of Extraordinary Gentlemen type nerdery.
Wasn’t that Corgan song used in Batman and Robin?
If so, horribly bad sign.
It was, but I’m not reading anything into it.
I’m not sure, but I do believe it was a different SP song used in Batman and Robin. The song choice is very odd though since Watchmen the comic is set very squarely in the 80’s and so using something with an 80’s period to it would logically make more sense, but I can’t think of anything off the top of my head that would fit well.
Regardless, I wish they had just pulled a good piece of film score rather than a pop song. I still think one of the best appropriations of film score for a trailer ever was the long Two Towers trailer that copped Clint Mansell’s score from Requiem for a Dream. Incredible movie trailer, amazing score.
I have Watchmen on my Amazon wishlist, but I haven’t read it yet. Like the rest of you, I’d probably be more interested if Zach Snyder weren’t directing. At least it’s not Michael Bay doing Sandman, though.
Well then I stand corrected.
Hurry and read it before the movie comes JB. Normally I’m an illiterate movie-first guy, but Watchmen is something else.
Mind you, I’m not a complete comic nerd either. And I don’t want to overhype it. But I guess I kinda just did.
I could be wrong Joel, I was just going off of what someone else said on another message board. I’ve blocked all memory of Batman and Robin from my mind.
Yeah, I fear overpraising this to those unfamiliar with it or those that aren’t comic book fans. Dave Gibbons’ artwork can at first be a little oft-putting, but once you get into it and realize how much there is going on in every frame it’s pretty impressive, especially since the art style itself is intentionally designed to evoke the look of Silver Age comic books and yet break all the conventions of comic books up to that point. I know a comic book fan or two who couldn’t get past the look of it, which is sad.
But underneath it all is still a great story. It’s helpful to remember that this book was so influential it completely changed the entire medium of comics, kind of the same level of influence that Citizen Kane is credited with having.
We’re all about the overhyping here Joel.
Thanks for reminding me how kick ass great that Two Towers trailer was Joel. I played it far more than any other before or since.
The Watchmen was my first graphic novel and I was stunned by its complexity and craft, and by the possibilities of the form. I guess I had been expecting a kind of smartly scripted storyboard. But the form does things that neither writing alone nor film can duplicate, offering unique rewards.
Yeah, I’d have to agree. Alan Moore specifically talks about this style of narrative in this excerpt from a longer interview (sadly, I can only find the excerpt).
“What it comes down to in comics is that you have complete control of both the verbal track and the image track, which you don’t have in any other medium, including film. So a lot of effects are possible which simply can’t be achieved anywhere else. You control the words and the pictures — and more importantly — you control the interplay between those two elements in a way which not even film can achieve. There’s a sort of ‘under-language’ at work there, that is neither the ‘visuals’ nor the ‘verbals,’ but a unique effect caused by a combination of the two.
A picture can be set against text ironically, or it can be used to support the text, or it can be completely disjointed from the text - which forces the reader into looking at the scene in a new way. You can do this to some extent in film, in terms of striking interesting juxtapositions between the imagery and what the intent of the characters may be, but you cannot do it anywhere near as precisely as you can in comics. Here the reader has the ability to stop and linger over one particular ‘frame’ and work out all of the meaning in that frame or panel, as opposed to having it flash by you at twenty-four frames per second in a cinema. ”
V for Vendetta has this same stylistic concept going on, although being one of Moore’s earliest works it’s not as refined as Watchmen. I’d also recommend Moore’s long run on DC’s The Swamp Thing comic book. He took a completely throw away character, redefined the character, then created the best horror comic I’ve ever read. Phenomenal stuff. Swamp Thing put Moore on the map in America.
I will never forget the evening I read The Anatomy Lesson (#issue 21) and had my entire mind blown. Everything about it, from the concept to the dialogue to the way the art was integrated into the narrative storytelling was like nothing I had read before in a comic book.
Is his run on Swamp Thing collected in a graphic novel?
I like how he talks of the structure of comics like an architect talking about a building he’s designed.
Me too Craig. And the intricate structure/architecture of The Watchmen is one of its standout qualities. That’s a great and illuminating quote Joel. Artists are not necessarily very good at describing their own creative process or a precise understanding of how their art works, but Moore is masterful at it.
I’m slowly working my way through Moore’s canon. You’ve got me excited about Swamp Thing.
“The Watchmen was my first graphic novel…”
[in voice of SNL character, Penelope]
That’s really nice, yeah, I’m really lucky too, yeah, Chloe Sevigny gave me my first blowjob.
Ha! I always was lucky.
Moore’s run is collected in a series of graphic novels. Moore was on the comic from issue #21 to #64, although artist Stephen Bissette and inker John Totleben left the series with issue #50, which really changed the comic a lot. Bissette and Totleben’s artistic collaboration with Moore created a unique visual style, somewhere between psychedelic/surreal and just utterly creepy/terrifying.
You know, many times when I type LOL, I’m just kinda smiling and maybe the little man my head says “oh that was funny”, and other times I really laugh out loud. The Chloe Sevigny crack was just such a moment.
Perhaps I’ll hit the bookstore in between Amoeba Records and The Dark Knight this evening.
While we’re recommending graphic novels, can I put the word out for one that Ryan put me onto - Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth. The title is ironic, though it speaks to an important dimension of the character’s inner world. It’s a heartbreakingly accurate depiction of a lonely, socially withdrawn and awkward, and anxiety ridden soul. And the overlaps and resonances between him and the generations of fathers that more immediately preceded him. It is a difficult work but very affecting, and what Chris Ware does with the form to tell his story is remarkable.
That Chris Ware is ridiculously talented.
I can vouch for Jimmy Corrigan. It’s a bit existential at times (think the graphic novel version of Ulysses, although not quite as painful), but ends up being quite fascinating, especially when you read the post-scripts about Ware and his own father.
These are all quite good, but the first four are essential.
Since we’re talking graphic novel recommendations, allow me to chime in…
First of all, every single one of you needs to read Neil Gaiman’s Sandman. Like, right now. Its influence was never on the level of Watchmen or Dark Knight Returns, but it always resonated much deeper with me. Gaiman’s ability to mix and match mythology and genre and folklore is endlessly fascinating - think Hellboy 2 levels of creativity. There are 10 books, and while I enjoyed the first 3, it was the 4th collection that made me sit up and realize I was reading a masterpiece.
Second, Katsuhiro Otomo’s Akira. Just forget whatever you know about the anime version, especially if you’ve seen it. The graphic novel is a staggering work of immense detail and epic adventure. Imagine splitting War & Peace in two, and then compressing the first half into a 2 hour movie and you’ll get the gist of what was done to translate Akira into animated form. It was one of the grandest reading experiences of my life.
Third, Maus, Art Spielgelman’s Pulitzer Prize winning account of his father’s survival of the Holocaust. The Jews are depicted as mice, the Nazis as cats. This is stunning, heart rending stuff.
Fourth, Craig Thompson’s Blankets, a bittersweet depiction of the romantic ups and downs of adolescence. This one actually messed me up pretty good, as I was experiencing the aftermath of a particularly messy relationship, and the depth to which I related to the main character was scary. A moving, nostalgic portrait of love lost.
Honorable Mentions:
- 100 Bullets, a fractured morality tale where different characters are offered 100 untraceable bullets, information on someone who did them a terrible wrong, and complete immunity if the bullets are used. Some people take the bait, others don’t.
- Lone Wolf and Cub, a manga that meticulously depicts feudal Japan and features a mysterious samurai assassin who travels with a small child.
- Y: The Last Man. A plague strikes earth, killing every single man…except one. Situations both humorous and horrible ensue.
I’m right there with you on Sandman, Evan. Though it wasn’t as influential, it drew in a lot of people who don’t read comics.
You know, I actually have Jimmy Corrigan on my shelf and have never read it. A friend was downsizing his book collection and somehow I got the idea (since he was getting rid of it) that it was not very good. I’ll have to dust it off (literally) and give it a try.
Good recommendations, Evan. The fanboys in my life (there are so many) have said good things about most of those.
Thank God I was not on the Internet yesterday…
I agree. Those are all stellar selections, Evan. I haven’t read Blankets but I’m familiar with all the rest.
I’d also suggest Warren Ellis’ Planetary and Authority, both interesting twists on the standard super-team genres. Planetary are a group of investigators looking into various paranormal incidents around the world and Ellis uses these to pay tribute to familiar genre favorites from the last century or so of films, TV, and literature. The Authority are a group of heroes protecting the earth from global threats: an adult version of the Avengers x10.
I also really liked Ellis’ Global Frequency, a 12 issue mini-series now in collected form that features an international, privately funded agency of 1001 specialists who can be activated at a moments notice all over the globe as a search and rescue team for events the local authorities have no capabilities to deal with. Great sci-fi writing and each issue is drawn by a different artist, presented in a very cinematic style (almost became a TV series last year).
And if you don’t want to spend the dinero on comics, your local library probably has all of these titles in stock or you can put them on hold and transfer them to your local library.
I love the library.
I just wanted to agree that Maus is pretty terrific. I haven’t read most of the others.
I concur (again) with Joel. Libraries are the shiznitz.
Free rules.
craig…you do know there’s gonna be another 300 movie. seems frank miller is doing another graphic novel…and from there….
301?
jeff (hey!) i read the info here…
http://www.boxofficeprophets.com/tickermaster/movienews.cfm?tmID=4601