Watchmen: Full of Fight Things!
Reihan’s excited about the upcoming Watchmen movie. Me? I’m still suspicious. I reread the comic book graphic novel this weekend, and it renewed my belief that while, contra Terry Gilliam, it might be possible to adapt Moore’s 12-part epic into a two-hour film, it’s going to be really, really hard. Doing so will require a very strong screenplay and some equally brilliant performances and direction.
The new Watchmen teaser trailer merely confirmed what we already knew: Zack Snyder is a remarkably talented visualist. But it gave no indication that Snyder’s developed much ability as a storyteller, which, after 300 — a movie with appallingly little concern for narrative, character, or pacing — remains a serious concern. It doesn’t help that Synder’s running around making statements like this:
“I think there’s an IV drip of action that takes you through the movie, because there are superheroes that probably do fight things, and there are action-y things that actually happen to them.”
Indeed, the trailer takes the same form as the preview for 300: a montage of powerful images set to a moody pop song (Smashing Pumpkins, in this case, rather than Nine Inch Nails). I’m not even sure how much a teaser like this will appeal beyond fans of the comic. It’s clear to those of us who’ve read the original that Snyder’s going to recreate a number of its iconic scenes. But, for anyone else, it doesn’t provide much sense of what, exactly, the movie’s about (and, anecdotally, I talked to a number of non-geeks who were confused by it). I’ll admit: the trailer is very, very cool. But I’m also not convinced it’s much more than a fanboy dog whistle.
While Gibbons and the graphic designer who worked on Watchmen are certified geniuses, I think Moore’s story is second rate. For such an allegedly gritty series, it has to have had one of the goofiest endings this side of “The Stand”. I believe that Zack Snyder can only make the story better, not worse.
— mark · Jul 23, 06:20 PM · #
In Zack Snyder’s defense (I can’t believe I just typed that), I was just informed that he directed the recent “Dawn of the Dead” remake. Granted, any film with Ving Rhames is bound to be money, but I was pretty impressed by his directorial efforts.
— Will · Jul 23, 06:38 PM · #
This is absolutely true. I was fine with the trailer basically being a tonal piece (“Hey, the movie looks like this”) because I recognized some of the iconic panels and got excited. My wife reacted as I imagine most people who haven’t read Watchmen will react: “That looks really stupid, and I will not go see it with you.”
— KSE · Jul 23, 06:44 PM · #
I thought “Dawn of the Dead” was a pretty impressive debut. I think Zack Snyder will go down in film history as the director who could turn marginal, shrill, pinko agit-prop (the original Dawn of the Dead, the Watchmen comic book) into successful, entertaining, mainstream movies for a mass audience.
— mark · Jul 23, 06:59 PM · #
I agree with you DotD boosters — it was a much better film than 300. On the other hand, it was 300 that made Snyder a name and got him the Watchmen gig, and the trailer indicates that he’ll be repeating a lot of the stylistic tricks. My guess is that he’s being encouraged to follow the 300 model far more than the DotD model.
— Peter Suderman · Jul 23, 07:47 PM · #
I really to be that guy, but… I wrote about this on my blog.
http://lhote.blogspot.com/2008/07/watchmen.html
— Freddie · Jul 23, 08:08 PM · #
You say fanboy dog whistle like it’s a bad thing.
— Sam · Jul 23, 08:18 PM · #
I’m going to second Freddie’s confusion at the enduring popularity of the ‘Watchmen’ universe. Granted, I’ve only read the comic’s Wikipedia entry (I can already hear the howls of derision), but the plot summary sounds absolutely retarded.
Furthermore, who thought this particular graphic novel was begging for cinematic treatment? At least Batman and Superman enjoy pretty broad cultural currency. With ‘Watchmen’, only hardcore comic book fans are familiar with the source material.
— Will · Jul 23, 08:57 PM · #
Nobody’s mentioned this, so I will: that Smashing Pumpkins song is from “Batman & Robin.” This is not a good sign.
— Joseph F. · Jul 24, 12:53 PM · #
Will, I agree that Watchmen’s plot is not especially strong.
However, the characters, themes, visual design, dialogue ,layering of multiple narratives are all excellent.
However this is what makes me worry about the movie.
I think it will be near impossible to bring any of the complexity of watchmen to a 2 hr movie.
— Rajesh · Jul 27, 09:47 PM · #