Watchmen trailer

Admiral Valdemar · Post by **Admiral Valdemar** » 2008-07-18 07:55pm

Actually, the more I watch this, the more I love it. The style Snyder has fits, which I thought would be more of a Nolan thing given the source material. It gives me goosebumps watching Dr. Manhattan's watch glass thingy climb into the sky at the end, much like the teaser to Batman Begins lets fans in on something before everyone else goes "Oh, hey, it's Batman".

So after TDK this year, I've another year to wait for this! ARGH!

Rye · Post by **Rye** » 2008-07-18 08:15pm

Watching it again, a few things dawn on me. I totally missed the doomsday clock the first time round, but the intricate clock workings it keeps cutting to must be that. From the Silk Spectre's outfit alone, I had a suspicion that this was probably going to appeal to me and the way I would've done it.

This is definitely more a Snyder thing than a Nolan thing, for one, Nolan would've demanded they build an actual working amphibious owlmobile or whatever it's called, plus he would've built an actual moving blue colossus in Vietnam for the Vietnam sequences. I think Snyder's method will be good since it can reinforce the postmodern comic book story that the book has.

Havok · Post by **Havok** » 2008-07-18 08:41pm

That is infinitely badass. I got goosebumps watching that, and it may just be stock music, but that song fits the theme of Watchmen perfectly. It sounds and delivers a sense of finality. Awesome.

Big Orange · Post by **Big Orange** » 2008-07-22 06:30pm

In the trailer we've got Veidt in his Karnak stronghold, with his famous bank television screens behind him. Look at his body pose - could he be ready to hear Nixon announce a peace treaty with the Soviet Union, then yelling out 'I DID IT!!!'? And in an interview Goode (the actor playing Adiran) alludes to something attacking New York.

Other scenes that I like to see is Kovacs burning that paedophile child murderer alive.

Also Watchman's artist, Dave Gibbons, is very impressed by Snyder's movie and commenting how he got all the sets, props and costumes right. Of course the costumes had to be updated and Silk Spectre II clad in shiny rubber instead of a boring custard coloured fabric tunic is nothing to complain about.

Imperial Overlord · Post by **Imperial Overlord** » 2008-07-22 07:54pm

It's a good looking trailer, which is a different thing entirely than a good movie. Still, what we did see of the design choices looked good. I hope the rest of the work is as good.

Dargos · Post by **Dargos** » 2008-07-23 07:54am

Looks interesting...but if they used this (SPOILER WARINING)script they screwed the ending up big time.

McC · Post by **McC** » 2008-07-23 09:44am

Publius wrote:The visual designs seem more palatable now that they are seen in motion, although the Silk Specter's and Ozymandias's uniforms still seem questionable.

CaptainChewbacca wrote:Who's the chick in black vinyl? I don't remember that outfit from the comic.

CaptainChewbacca wrote:Then they should change her name to 'silk slut'. Good lord, its worse than Catwoman.

I'm not sure where all the Silk Spectre II costume-bashing (okay, more like questioning) is coming from.

Comic Silk Spectre II
Movie Silk Spectre II

If anything, the film version has less skin. The comic version has her wearing black panties, two straps covering her breasts, and then a more or less transparent yellow covering over that. The film version retains the sort of black-V-on-yellow design, but makes it far more sensible an acrobatic outfit (minus the heels, but that's a conceit I can live with that the comic version also has).

S'matter with you people?

Vendetta · Post by **Vendetta** » 2008-07-23 03:07pm

Have to say, the movie Silk Spectre costume was instantly recognisable as being her, which pretty much does the job really.

Also, Ozymandias' original costume was very gaudy and silly, I don't think it would work on screen.

CaptainChewbacca · Post by **CaptainChewbacca** » 2008-07-23 03:41pm

Yeah, from the lighting in the trailer, I didn't realize the parts of her costume that weren't black existed. I thought it ws strips of black vinyl and naked flesh, but if its black-and-yellow then I'm all for it.

Rye · Post by **Rye** » 2008-07-23 07:17pm

I'll spoilerise the next bit, it's a fairly minor point, but worth saying in regards to the Silk Spectre costume:

You have to remember that as shown through her romantic involvements in the story, on some level, she fetishises superheroes, she starts out with Doc Manhattan and moves on to Nite Owl. It takes an act of superheroism before she really makes her connection with nite owl. Making her appearance more sexy and fetishised via latex is a great stylistic choice.

McC · Post by **McC** » 2008-07-24 09:45am

Some fun Watchmen links:

Interview with Matthew Goode (Adrien Veidt) (spoilers for those who haven't read the graphic novel)
Watchmen video game (sounds terrible, no surprise)

Ford Prefect · Post by **Ford Prefect** » 2008-07-24 07:13pm

Vendetta wrote: Also, Ozymandias' original costume was very gaudy and silly, I don't think it would work on screen.

On the other hand, it didn't have a built in plastic eight pack. The original Ozymandias might have looked pretty goddamn silly, at least he didn't look like George Clooney in Batman and Robin.

Bounty · Post by **Bounty** » 2008-07-26 09:16am

I've spent the last three hours reading through Watchmen just to know what the hell you people are talking about.

Now I need to see this movie.

Watching the trailer there's hardly a scene that doesn't look like it's lifted straight from a comic frame. If they find a way to squeeze the book snippets and letters in within making the movie grind to a halt, this can really work. Sure, the costume designs are tweaked, but even the comic itself makes fun of them; SS looks like a stripper, but she did so too on paper, and people in the story remarked on it.

One thing I'm not too sure about is the setting; are they still going to show the damage to NY after Ozymandias' plan? Or are they changing the location?

Havok · Post by **Havok** » 2008-07-26 12:19pm

I didn't see anything in the teaser that indicates that they are switching locations out of NY. Nothing I recognized anyway. The one shot of the NY they did show, had the World Trade Center still intact so at least they didn't update the movie.

Bounty · Post by **Bounty** » 2008-07-26 12:45pm

Ah, I didn't recognise the skyline. I wonder how they'll handle the ending then; using the same imagery as the comic will be a brave move.

The redesign of the Nite Owl costume actually looks better than the original; I wonder if they'll keep the snow version...

Havok · Post by **Havok** » 2008-07-26 12:53pm

Bounty wrote:Ah, I didn't recognise the skyline. I wonder how they'll handle the ending then; using the same imagery as the comic will be a brave move.

The redesign of the Nite Owl costume actually looks better than the original; I wonder if they'll keep the snow version...

Well Cloverfield trashed NY pretty handily and didn't receive any sort of backlash that I am aware of, so that shouldn't be a problem. I haven't read Watchmen in about a year... I'll check when I get home, but do they specifically destroy the WTC?

Bounty · Post by **Bounty** » 2008-07-26 02:07pm

havokeff wrote:
Bounty wrote:Ah, I didn't recognise the skyline. I wonder how they'll handle the ending then; using the same imagery as the comic will be a brave move.

The redesign of the Nite Owl costume actually looks better than the original; I wonder if they'll keep the snow version...
Well Cloverfield trashed NY pretty handily and didn't receive any sort of backlash that I am aware of, so that shouldn't be a problem. I haven't read Watchmen in about a year... I'll check when I get home, but do they specifically destroy the WTC?

I don't think so, I think most of the dead were from the psychic whatchamdoodle-blast, not the teleport.

Battlehymn Republic · Post by **Battlehymn Republic** » 2008-07-26 02:38pm

They can always do it to Chicago. Should have more of an impact now that Gotham City is Chi-Town instead of the Big Apple.

Spanky The Dolphin · Post by **Spanky The Dolphin** » 2008-07-26 03:03pm

Since they're keeping the alternate 1985 setting, I don't see why they would change it from being also set in New York.

DPDarkPrimus · Post by **DPDarkPrimus** » 2008-07-26 03:22pm

Since the set with the newsvendor's stand has been referred to as "Manhattan" multiple times, I would be extremely surprised to find out it was not set in New York.

Bounty · Post by **Bounty** » 2008-07-26 03:39pm

Works for me, it was just something that crossed my mind reading the comic.

Aquatain · Post by **Aquatain** » 2008-07-26 07:24pm

So did any of you catch the irony of the music?

bilateralrope · Post by **bilateralrope** » 2008-07-26 07:51pm

havokeff wrote:
Bounty wrote:Ah, I didn't recognise the skyline. I wonder how they'll handle the ending then; using the same imagery as the comic will be a brave move.

The redesign of the Nite Owl costume actually looks better than the original; I wonder if they'll keep the snow version...
Well Cloverfield trashed NY pretty handily and didn't receive any sort of backlash that I am aware of, so that shouldn't be a problem. I haven't read Watchmen in about a year... I'll check when I get home, but do they specifically destroy the WTC?

I don't remember any buildings getting destroyed, except for those around where the creature appeared. And they only got tentacles through them.

Bug-Eyed Earl · Post by **Bug-Eyed Earl** » 2008-07-26 09:31pm

Dargos wrote:Looks interesting...but if they used this (SPOILER WARINING)script they screwed the ending up big time.

Unfortunately, they did. After nearly two decades of rewrites, overhauls, and various screenwriters, they went back to the very first script ever written, way back in 1989.

OF COURSE that's not the shooting script! It keeps the ending, pretty much, except: Veidt's scheme is to vaporize several cities and make them think Dr. Manhattan did it and is forcing them to commit to peace. That, and though the heroes agree to keep Veidt, they kill him to see to it he pays for what he did; they even include Dr. Manhattan killing Rorshach

Peptuck · Post by **Peptuck** » 2008-07-26 09:56pm

Bug-Eyed Earl wrote: That, and though the heroes agree to keep Veidt, they kill him to see to it he pays for what he did; they even include Dr. Manhattan killing Rorshach

Wait a second; isn't the whole reason Rorschach demands Manhattan kill him because they let Veidt go?

Its been forever since I read Watchmen, so I might have forgotten something.