Watchmen

[Triplewolfe]

So, I've recently finished Alan Moore's masterpiece Watchmen. I really crave some good discussion of it and ask you fine, cultured, and generally intelligent people to help me fill that request.

[Dhavaer]

This would probably be better put in the Comics board.

But yes, it's awesome. Ozymandias FTW.

[Triplewolfe]

There's a comics board? Man, I don't come here often enough... Well, you're probably right. Maybe I should relocate. Then again, don't you think that comic is a bit petty of a descriptor for Watchmen?

[J_Muller]

Ozymandias? For shame. Rorschach is clearly the best character ever from a comic. Slightly better than V, Gambit, or the Goddamn Batman.

[Triplewolfe]

I don't know about that. Maybe it's my fondness for dumpy old men who's hearts are in the right place, but I'm rather partial to Nite-Owl. Although the newsman is a great character, and a brilliant plot device. He is clearly the "John Q. Public" sitting in the audience of The New Frontiersman's political comic.

[The_Cardinal]

I heard they were finally getting around to making a movie of Watchmen. Wikipedia is a good source of information about Watchmen, but its a good book to read, re-read, and then re-read slowly.

[Jibar]

A movie just wouldn't be able to grasp Watchmen. So much would be left out the characters awouldn't be as real as they are, unncecessary action sequences would be added and we'd lose that ending that seperates Watchmen from the regular stuff.#
Rorscarch is amazing yes. As is Nite Owl. I was also very fond of the Comedian, despite him being dead and all.

[Shadow of the Sun]

I feel this movie will be like V for Vendetta- a good movie, as movies go, but as an adaption it will be despicable.

[Elliot Kane]

Watchmen is widely regarded as the best comic ever written, but it's still a comic :)

Along with Frank Miller's Dark Knight Returns it is credited with transforming the US comics industry from being almost entirely written for children to the more adult approach taken today.

Moore himself is probably the greatest writer in the history of the medium. While Watchmen remains arguably his finest hour, stuff like V For Vendetta and From Hell are also deeply complex and multi-layered works.

Watchmen itself rewards multiple reads, as there's always more to discover.

[bosssmiley]

So, I've recently finished Alan Moore's masterpiece Watchmen. I really crave some good discussion of it and ask you fine, cultured, and generally intelligent people to help me fill that request.

"...fine, cultured, and generally intelligent people..."? :smallconfused:

One aspect of "Watchmen" that really pays re-reading: the inter-chapter text sections (the extracts from the original Nite-Owl's bio', the Ozymandius interview, the analysis of Dr Manhattan as strategic weapon, etc.). Those, and the "Tales of the Black Freighter" comic sections, basically presage the whole story.

Moore was obviously channelling epic win when he wrote "Watchmen". Of course, he'll disown any movie version that's made; it's what he does. :smallcool:

[Monkee]

I heard they were finally getting around to making a movie of Watchmen.
It's the same guy that did 300, that's going to direct it. A shame, really - 300 is a good action movie, but a Watchmen movie should be so much more than just cool action scenes.

The comicbook really changed american comics in the 80's, along with Frank Millers Dark Knight, and it's one of my favorite superhero comics (allthough it's really not a superhero comic, only 1 or 2 of the characters have real powers).

I like Night Owl the most - and Ozymandias, of course, but all the characters are cool. What really sets this one apart from a lot of other comics are all the stories from the heroes "glorious" past, that fits in perfectly with the main story. The charaters really comes to life this way, and I think it's near impossible to do this in a 2-hour movie.

[Megalomaniac2]

I just finished reading it, and now require a word more forceful than 'masterpiece'. Simply a triumph of artistry and storytelling... though now I can't stop drawing parallels between Rorschach and a certain ex-paladin...

[Stagger Lee]

First of all, shouldn't this be on the comic books board?




One aspect of "Watchmen" that really pays re-reading: the inter-chapter text sections (the extracts from the original Nite-Owl's bio', the Ozymandius interview, the analysis of Dr Manhattan as strategic weapon, etc.). Those, and the "Tales of the Black Freighter" comic sections, basically presage the whole story.

Yeah, TotBF mirrors the arcs of Dr. Manhattan and Ozymandius. Also, do I spy a Sandman reference in your username?

[Nevrmore]

A movie just wouldn't be able to grasp Watchmen. So much would be left out the characters awouldn't be as real as they are, unncecessary action sequences would be added and we'd lose that ending that seperates Watchmen from the regular stuff.#
Rorscarch is amazing yes. As is Nite Owl. I was also very fond of the Comedian, despite him being dead and all.
As I've said before, David Hayter, the guy responsible for the first X-men screenplay, also wrote the screenplay for Watchmen. Apparently it's being heralded as the closest comic-to-movie translation ever.

[J_Muller]

As I've said before, David Hayter, the guy responsible for the first X-men screenplay, also wrote the screenplay for Watchmen. Apparently it's being heralded as the closest comic-to-movie translation ever.

Really?

Wow. This is going to be the most acid-trippy movie in the history of ever. Or at least the most acid-trippy movie that does not actually include an acid-trip sequence.

[Gavin Sage]

While I respect Watchmen as an extremely well written piece of literature and a ground breaker in terms of getting comics taken seriously, I left the book wanting the throttle the author. For such a mature book it is really very juvenile in its political content I think. Before getting the conclusion I very much enjoy it.

A movie while if even a 1/10 of Watchmen will be good (if not nessecarily any more politically mature) however I consider capturing maybe a tenth all it can hope to achieve. Despite the intial common sense idea, there is a vast difference between a movie and a comic. At least one like Watchmen.

(And for the record Sandman is better :smallbiggrin: )

[....]

Just to play devil's advocate:

I found the art in Watchmen to be a little less than awesome. Not the blocking or anything, just the general way it was drawn and colored, like V for Vendetta, it just seemed to be missing something.

[Stagger Lee]

While I respect Watchmen as an extremely well written piece of literature and a ground breaker in terms of getting comics taken seriously, I left the book wanting the throttle the author. For such a mature book it is really very juvenile in its political content I think. Before getting the conclusion I very much enjoy it.

A movie while if even a 1/10 of Watchmen will be good (if not nessecarily any more politically mature) however I consider capturing maybe a tenth all it can hope to achieve. Despite the intial common sense idea, there is a vast difference between a movie and a comic. At least one like Watchmen.

(And for the record Sandman is better :smallbiggrin: )


If you wanted to make a functional movie off Watchmen, it would have to be six hours long. A good one would be at least thirty. Anything less would be crap. Also, Sandman has some filler, IE "Fear of Flying", pretty much all of "A Game Of You", that one story with the cats. Watchmen has no filler.

[Nevrmore]

Guys, I'm usually the cynical one, believe you me, but I think that if Hayter wrote the screenplay it is going to be pretty good.

[Tyrant]

There's considerable discussion about some points of the book in this thread http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=46531

[Gavin Sage]

If you wanted to make a functional movie off Watchmen, it would have to be six hours long. A good one would be at least thirty. Anything less would be crap. Also, Sandman has some filler, IE "Fear of Flying", pretty much all of "A Game Of You", that one story with the cats. Watchmen has no filler.

A fair bulk of Watchmen is background that could be kept minimal in a movie, and would get hard to present anyways. It wouldn't be something that could appease a typical hardcore fan reaction, but if Watchmen had never existed as a comic it could be a complete movie in a time a studio could accept.

(And Sandman has parts that are stand-alone, but they are not filler. They are not there buying time for some central plot, Sandman is a series not a tight graphic novel telling a tight story from start to finish. You could never make a Sandman movie for example. Most of the series is only loosely connected to the actual ending)

[Nerd-o-rama]

I enjoyed the first X-men flick enough to trust Hayter to do a good comic conversion; it had a few problems, but mostly in unimportant dialog. Plus, there's this subtle feeling that if I disapprove, he'll sneak up behind me and snap my neck.

[Nevrmore]

I enjoyed the first X-men flick enough to trust Hayter to do a good comic conversion; it had a few problems, but mostly in unimportant dialog. Plus, there's this subtle feeling that if I disapprove, he'll sneak up behind me and snap my neck.
I think he's great as Snake's voice and all, but I just want to see him try to pull off Snake in MGS4, after all the cell degeneration...Can he do an old man Snake? Christ, what would that sound like?

But anyway, to stay on topic...Nite Owl has a dumb costume. There, I said it.

[Jibar]

As I've said before, David Hayter, the guy responsible for the first X-men screenplay, also wrote the screenplay for Watchmen. Apparently it's being heralded as the closest comic-to-movie translation ever.

Sorry, but I just don't think a Watchmen movie would work.

One of the joys of Watchmen is how fleshed out everything is, and how much attention is paid to characters who only have a few panels. In the dialogues and pirate sections, you get so many little bits that really make the whole thing worth reading.
You just couldn't get that in a movie.

I'm also worried about the ending. I believe I can trust Hayter with it, but it's the big wigs who might step in about it.

[bosssmiley]

A movie just wouldn't be able to grasp Watchmen. So much would be left out the characters awouldn't be as real as they are, unncecessary action sequences would be added and we'd lose that ending that seperates Watchmen from the regular stuff.#
Rorscarch is amazing yes. As is Nite Owl. I was also very fond of the Comedian, despite him being dead and all.

QFT. 2+1/2 hours wouldn't be able to convey the slow, gradual, claustrophobic build-up to the final crisis inherent in the plotting of "Watchmen".

Although I'd fanboy "Squee!!!!!!" to see Dr Manhattan's clockwork palace on Mars I'd be left with the 'could have been better' thing I take away from all Allan Moore film adaptations. :smallfrown:

[Megalomaniac2]

For such a mature book it is really very juvenile in its political content I think.

You mean how the United States is like "Soviets have invaded Afghanistan? Okay, break out the nukes, never mind conventional warfare."