This is the best article title ever... and all too true.

He wrote the best version of it, which Snyder then pretty much tossed away and had a new version made from scratch, which then had enough similarities to Hayter's version that they had to give him a co-writer credit.

And I thought I was the only one that doesn't suddenly consider Zack Snyder a genius, just because the trailer calls him a "visionary director".

I liked 300...does that make me a bad person?

Of course every shot in the trailer is in slow motion because it's a teaser designed to go with the smashing pumpkins song (and intertwined particularly with that song as most shots have been specifically slowed to so that actions are in tempo) that is simply introducing the film not showing any content yet. And of course non of the myriad of things he has done right with reproducing what's on the page matter because see, angry nerd is angry.

Really the film could go either way but to call it now is fanboy bullshit.

Also few people have said Watchmen can't be filmed (except Moore buthe's a crazy person that hates everything). They've just said it's too long to film(Gilliam on record as saying it would make a great mini series). Take it as it as you will but currently the director's cut is reportedly 4 hours+. Of course that's probably cause it's all in slow motion AMIRITELOLCAT PEW?!@

Loved me that trailer. :) Can't wait for the movie to come out so I can watch the big guy and Comedian blow away some commies!

Since I have a low opinion of movie-games and episodic content I have no expectations for a Watchman style game.

I've read Watchmen multiple times, and from everything I'd seen and heard up to viewing the trailer, I shared Anthony's sentiments. But I must say, after viewing the trailer, I've come about face and now think that the movie will be amazing. I know that Moore hated V for Vendetta, too, but I liked that movie as well.

I would never have thought that a movie adaption of this insanely groundbreaking novel could ever be done and serve its source material any justice, but I now think differently.

The proof will be in the pudding, though.

I've not read the Watchmen. I've always been interested in it, But I'm not going to read it before I see the movie.

Know why?

Because I don't want to be one of those motherfucking comic nerds who sits there and whines, whinges and cries over the fact that `OMG IT NOT PERFEKT. IT NOT NO GOOD.`

There, I said it.

ive been saying snyder's overrated since 300...dawn of the dead he was lucky because that was an excellent kick in the pants remake, but he lost it all after doing all the stupidest cliched things with 300. watchmen looks terrible as well and im sure alan moore is sobbing at night plotting snyders death as we speak.

@Rev and crew: No Prob ;)

I love how this thread instantly turned into a hate-in on Zack Snyder, instead of talking about the more damn games! ;D

I am pretty keen for the movie, but I agree that the games seem like a bad idea.

Don't worry you can always start an internet petition if you hate it that much ;)

omg I actually liked 300. I am so hardcore!!!!

If this fails, Alan Moore will disembowel somebody.

In the words of Neil Gaiman, who also knows something about the movies, the man is a "yeti in a suit".

I'm a huge fan of Alan Moore's work, and have recommended Watchmen to damn near everyone I know since the first time I read it over 10 years ago.

With that said, Alan Moore is a fucking crybaby when it comes to film adaptations of his work. Granted, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen was awful, and From Hell was damn near unrecognizable, but I have faith in Snyder's vision for the movie. Alan Moore has a deep hatred for Hollywood in general, especially when it comes to movies based on comic books. The guy is a genius, no doubt, but he's also reactionary and irrational. And he looks like he's been detained in Guantanamo Bay for the last three decades.

Hayter's version, if I recall, didn't even take place during the 80s, which I think is fairly important to the tone of Watchmen.

Snyder has exactly two moviues under his belt. TWO. Let's not go crazy and assume that he's going to use the same techniques for every movie he does. Don't jump to the conclusion that Watchmen is going to be just like 300, because that just won't be the case. Do your homework - dman near everyone associated with this movie has stated they're using practical effects and sets as much as possible. This isn't going to be like Sin City or 300 where the whole movie is shot in front of a green screen.




But with all of that said, the games are a fucking stupid idea.

dude did you guys ever saw alan moore in person,he could like eat you alive in a milisecond

Zack Snyder is a good director, 300 was an excellenet adaptation of the book, and David Hayter's original script was going to take the story and set it in modern times and Zack made the call to nix that and set it back in the original 1985 of the book. Saying the movie's going to suck because there's some slow motion in the trailer and the Night Owl isn't chubby enough is a pretty silly way to judge the movie's quality at this point.

The Watchmen film exists in some nebulous realm of adaptation where it needlessly updates certain things in the most pointless manner possible (sexy new suits for everyone) but leaves most things be, diminishing the very point of making it. C'mon now, the Cold war is so relevant to today's audiences. How dare you try to update a 20 year old story to modern times, David Hayter, you cad.

Aside from those complaints, I look at the trailer and it looks so damn cool. But that's never what I thought when reading the comic book. I never thought "OMG DR. MANHATTAN JUST VAPORIZED THE VIET CONG!" I don't feel any horror about that moment, any sense of the world changing. I just don't feel like Snyder understands one iota about the subtext or authorial intent of what he's Xeroxing. When people asked him about the myriad ethical issues in 300, he just kinda shrugged his shoulders and basically said "Look, alright, I copied off of Frank Miller. Take it up with him."

It's good though to see that no discussion of negative impressions of advance press materials can occur on the internet without someone decisively pressing the question: "Well, why don't you just wait and watch the movie first, Mr. McJudgementalPants?!?" The predictably of people, amazing.

"It's good though to see that no discussion of negative impressions of advance press materials can occur on the internet without someone decisively pressing the question: "Well, why don't you just wait and watch the movie first, Mr. McJudgementalPants?!?" The predictably of people, amazing."


Can't that same logic be applied to those of us who enjoyed the trailer and feel good about the upcoming film? Are negative opinions the only acceptable ones?

People need to remember that this was was a teaser trailer. Most of the shots seen in the clip represent near exact replicas of panels within the Watchmen graphic novel. I do not believe the scene in which they show Dr. Manhattan vaporizing the soldier was intended to illicit a feeling of horror. Perhaps it was simply a product of the slow motion and the Smashing Pumpkins song.

I was wary of the film too, before I saw the trailer. I think Snyder's attention to detail will make this film great, and I prefer the story to stay in the 80s.



The best thing about Snyder working on this movie is that the studio considers him a proven money maker. They know Watchmen fans will go, but they can hook everyone else with that "From the director of 300" tag line. With so much studio support, Snyder is free to make the movie his way, without the studio trying to change (i.e. ruin) the film.

300 rocked. It set out to be a testosterone-fueled, stylized action movie that was fun to watch, and it succeeded easily. I've never read anything Watchmen-related, but the trailer looked good(read:entertaining), and that's all I want from my movies really.

Surprising to see such an inflamed response to what I considered to be a great teaser trailer.

I read the comic book long before the movie started production, and its announcement worried me, even though I enjoyed 300 for what it was, a great adaptation of a great testosterone driven graphic novel.

Of course the Watchmen is a much more serious, more important piece of work than 300, and it requires the utmost respect from whoever is taking it to the screen.

It seems we are getting just that, since the teaser trailer was great:
Roscharch's voice was perfect, nearly every scene was taken directly from the book, and while I'll agree that Nite Owl and Silk Spectre's looks are a BIT different from the book, the Comedian's range of designs that have been so far mirror the book in practically every detail and that should be congratulated.

We've seen the photo of an older Comedian, with greying hair, and in the teaser we're shown three other looks the Comedian sported in the book, and they all look pretty faithful.

Since we haven't seen or heard much dialog from the characters besides Roscharch's great voice, that could be a point where the movie fails. But in my opinion it proves to be bit unreasonable to discount a movie because two characters aren't being portrayed as pot bellied heroes in their late years. We've yet to see the Nite Owl outside his costume, and the most important part of his character was his personality and character development throughout the book. You can't judge that based on slow moving (probably that way just for the trailer) images.

I'll explain why I'm surprised to see such a reaction from you, Rev. Anthony: your preview piece on Fallout 3 proved how much you're willing to let go to enjoy a good piece of action, even if it completely denies what made your "so called favorite RPG" Fallout tick. So it's funny how you're reacting to the Watchmen movie like how I reacted to the Fallout 3 travesty.

Good show.

According to Entertainment Weekly, Patrick Wilson actually put on a lot of weight to play Dan Dreiberg/Nite Owl. It doesn't show in the teaser, but I imagine it'll be more apparent once more trailers come out.

Nite Owl, Silk Spectre and Ozymandias have only undergone minor changes as far as costumes go, and all those changes I think will probably prove necessary for the movie to fit more into reality.

I thought the trailer looked quite promising. I wanna see some good Rorschach psycho crime fighting :)

Seriously though, the only thing I've sorta thought was lame about the trailer was that nobody seems to be that old. Where's Nite Owl's gut?

I will agree that the games will suck ass, but there's a distinct difference between comics and movies. Both have elements that don't work in the other medium, so change ALWAYS has to be made. That's why they're called 'adaptations'.

How about we look at Christopher Nolan's masterpieces. Is either Batman Begins or The Dark Knight a word for word, scene for scene transcription of a specific comic? Fuck no. Does that make the movies any less pants-wetting awesome? Fuck no.

Anyone who expects a movie to be equal to the story it's adapted from is a retard. You put them on both mediums because they're great stories, but the mediums aren't necessarily comparable. I hear people bashing V and The League for literary heresy, but the movies by themselves were still good. They just weren't the original stories... too much was changed.

And so far people are dismissing this film because... Silk and Owl aren't fat enough? Because Ozzy isn't wearing his gold gay tunic outfit? Because a fucking teaser is in slow motion? Never mind that the scenes are nigh EXACT replicas of the graphic novel otherwise. Good lord, overreact much?

I'm a HUGE Watchmen fan and I thought the movie trailer exceeded my every expectation, which were all terrible.

But I've never seen 300 as I wasn't that big a fan of the comic.

Could it suck? Definitely. But I'm remaining optimistic. DEAR GOD, OPTIMISM ON THE INTERNET!? NEVER!!

But the games do sound like an awful idea. What would you even DO? There isn't much action in the comic. And who would be the cannon fodder enemies? It's ridiculous.

Getting EVERYTHING that the Watchmen says into a feature-length movie won't work, obviously. I hope that they'll probably just stick to a couple of the prevailing themes of the book throughout the whole movie.