The book is... odd. It's a pretty pedestrian comic with *thousands* of little things that make it interesting. People can and have written doctoral theses on it and the difference that masked vigilantes and The Doctor Manhattan Project made in that world.
It's not exactly "pedestrian" in any sense of the word. It changed the potentials and possibilities of the superhero genre, and heroes as characters in a realistic world setting.
It's a movie that's based on a comic that questioned the tropes of the Golden and Silver Ages. Do you think that's going to make the transition to "comic book movie," especially 20 years later?
It looks like they've removed the digressions and metatextual analysis, improved the writing, and just made a movie out of the main story.
Which could be quite good. Very, very different from the comic, but still could be good.
The way I see it, I'm going to see this film on the first day on the strength of my wife stabbing me if I don't go with her. So I might as well enjoy the bits that look good and hope the rest of the movie is going to match up with it.
More to the point, it's something created by Alan Moore, and given past history on his works being translated to film (V for Vendetta, From Hell, and League of Extraordinary Gentlemen), it's going to... well, if not suck outright, at least be substantially different from the comic.
Speaking as the wife who's going to be doing the stabbing:
Yes. Because in addition to questioning the tropes, it's also a decently written conspiracy that with engaging characters, and all the "comic book" part of it is going to do is give an excuse for the grandeur of the plot.
(Pleasegod pleasegod pleasegod.)
It acknowledges the four-colour world and then contrasts it with a grimmer one (done most beautifully, I think, in Hollis Mason's final scene), but I don't think you need to know the four-colour world to appreciate the work, or even notice that the old comic tropes specifically are being questioned. It's very much a story about of ideals clashing with reality and prettied-up public memories being contrasted with the actual events behind them, and I think that'll carry through.
It might not suck all THAT hard. In 300, Zack Snyder showed that he could transliterate a comic book into a film, and I am given to understand that he fought against the worst heresies of David Hayter's original script. Like Peter Jackson's treatment of LotR, it might well tell *a* good story and ignore that the source material is eight good stories woven together.
I'll be happy if the movie is good enough to lead people to (re)read the graphic novel, which is one of the most notable stories of the twentieth century. I agree with Time Magazine that Watchmen did for the superhero genre what The Maltese Falcon did for pulp detective fiction. Plus it is so infused with incidental detail that nearly deserves credit as a piece of hypertext fiction.
Huh, I guess I didn't mind it so much aside from the Senate conspiracy subplot which was insipid even by Scooby Doo standards. Still, my point is that if I were to describe 300 in a single word, it would be "faithful".
Fox were suing, but it's a multi-hundred-million dollar project for Warner Brothers. There's *zero* chance of it not coming out. There's only what it takes for WB to shut Fox up - and, given that Fox's suit is apparently frivolous, that may not be much.
Note: I make no claims as to the content after the first sentence as I did not want to be spoiled and more than I had been with that first sentence. And the first sentence already makes me irritated if it's true.
Looks very neat, though I flinch slightly at the beautifully done but theme-breaking shifting of Rotscheck's mask. Doc Manhattan was intended to be the only one with any kind of actual verifiable powers and the mask thing, while incredibly cool, messes with that theme a bit.
The mask thing which is explicitly from the comic, and which is explained in the comic? The mask thing which is explicitly explained in his back story, in the issue where that poor psychiatrist is trying to analyze him? The mask which is tied back to Kitty Genovese?
"Someone had ordered dress, made from new Dr Manhattan fabric, and decided it was ugly. Black and white sandwiched between two layers of plastic. Always shifting, never mixing. No grey. Not ugly. Beautiful.
"Took it home. Learned to cut it with heated implements to reseal the plastic. When I had cut it enough it didn't look like a woman anymore.
And after he reads about her murder--which you can look up, as it's an RL event--
"Knew, then, what we are. Went home and made myself a face I could bear to look at in the mirror."
Is any of this ringing a bell? I mean, good god, it's *Rorschach's[1] mask*. It's not like it's exactly an untouched-on point for the character.
(Jason, you understand if at this point I'm figuring you haven't actually read the comic, right? If I'm correct, you might want to do so before discussing what's in it.) --- [1] Not Rotscheck. Rorschach like the pysch test. Not Rotscheck like fear frenzy missing an 'r'.
Ahh, my memory is the shitty and the movie is awesome. I like that result. :)
I borrowed The Watchmen from you about 2-3 years ago and read it once. That plus my memory being lousy means that I forgot that particular gem. Sorry as well for my lousy german as well. :)
Yay for the beautiful mask actually being authentic. :) :)
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Date: 2008-10-24 01:47 pm (UTC)Which could be quite good. Very, very different from the comic, but still could be good.
The way I see it, I'm going to see this film on the first day on the strength of my wife stabbing me if I don't go with her. So I might as well enjoy the bits that look good and hope the rest of the movie is going to match up with it.
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Date: 2008-10-24 03:49 pm (UTC)Yes. Because in addition to questioning the tropes, it's also a decently written conspiracy that with engaging characters, and all the "comic book" part of it is going to do is give an excuse for the grandeur of the plot.
(Pleasegod pleasegod pleasegod.)
It acknowledges the four-colour world and then contrasts it with a grimmer one (done most beautifully, I think, in Hollis Mason's final scene), but I don't think you need to know the four-colour world to appreciate the work, or even notice that the old comic tropes specifically are being questioned. It's very much a story about of ideals clashing with reality and prettied-up public memories being contrasted with the actual events behind them, and I think that'll carry through.
(no subject)
Date: 2008-10-24 02:23 pm (UTC)I'll be happy if the movie is good enough to lead people to (re)read the graphic novel, which is one of the most notable stories of the twentieth century. I agree with Time Magazine that Watchmen did for the superhero genre what The Maltese Falcon did for pulp detective fiction. Plus it is so infused with incidental detail that nearly deserves credit as a piece of hypertext fiction.
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Date: 2008-10-24 02:26 pm (UTC)(Granted, it's a Frank Miller book, so there wasn't much to work with.)
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Date: 2008-10-24 02:36 pm (UTC)(no subject)
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Date: 2008-10-24 04:24 pm (UTC)u r destroyer of fun & laughter :'<
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Date: 2008-10-24 04:28 pm (UTC)(no subject)
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Date: 2008-10-25 03:37 am (UTC)(no subject)
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From:Though other arrangements can be made.
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Date: 2008-10-24 06:31 pm (UTC)Note: I make no claims as to the content after the first sentence as I did not want to be spoiled and more than I had been with that first sentence. And the first sentence already makes me irritated if it's true.
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Date: 2008-10-24 09:22 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-10-24 10:20 pm (UTC)A) not supernatural
B) from the comic
and
C) explained in the comic.
(no subject)
Date: 2008-10-24 10:50 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-10-24 10:41 pm (UTC)"Someone had ordered dress, made from new Dr Manhattan fabric, and decided it was ugly. Black and white sandwiched between two layers of plastic. Always shifting, never mixing. No grey. Not ugly. Beautiful.
"Took it home. Learned to cut it with heated implements to reseal the plastic. When I had cut it enough it didn't look like a woman anymore.
And after he reads about her murder--which you can look up, as it's an RL event--
"Knew, then, what we are. Went home and made myself a face I could bear to look at in the mirror."
Is any of this ringing a bell? I mean, good god, it's *Rorschach's[1] mask*. It's not like it's exactly an untouched-on point for the character.
(Jason, you understand if at this point I'm figuring you haven't actually read the comic, right? If I'm correct, you might want to do so before discussing what's in it.)
---
[1] Not Rotscheck. Rorschach like the pysch test. Not Rotscheck like fear frenzy missing an 'r'.
(no subject)
Date: 2008-10-24 10:54 pm (UTC)I borrowed The Watchmen from you about 2-3 years ago and read it once. That plus my memory being lousy means that I forgot that particular gem. Sorry as well for my lousy german as well. :)
Yay for the beautiful mask actually being authentic. :) :)
(no subject)
Date: 2008-10-24 10:41 pm (UTC)Now that I've recently re-read it this trailer makes me want to go to my bunk.