Sets from the Watchmen movie

[Crowskie]

Link (http://gizmodo.com/376560/screw-computer-graphics-watchmen-world-gets-built-for-real)

Wow, Just, Wow. Zack Snyder is going all out. Everything I have seen has looked like he has his stuff together, and he will be able to make Alan Moore proud(or at least acknowledge that it's not bad.).

[KN]

No one has ever made Alan Moore proud

[Crowskie]

And probably never will.

[Thefremen]

There is no way a good version of The Watchmen or any Alan Moore comic will come to the silver screen.

They missed the point in V, they murdered all that was good and true about League of Extroidinary Gentlemen (and ladies) and I'm betting The Watchmen will somehow end up being like a film version of JLA.

[Tollwutig]

There is no way a good version of The Watchmen or any Alan Moore comic will come to the silver screen.

They missed the point in V, they murdered all that was good and true about League of Extroidinary Gentlemen (and ladies) and I'm betting The Watchmen will somehow end up being like a film version of JLA.

While they may have missed the point in V they made a different point, and a valid one. I haven't read the comic, but the point carried in V for Vendetta was a valid one and they made it pretty clear.

[Crowskie]

There is no way a good version of The Watchmen or any Alan Moore comic will come to the silver screen.

They missed the point in V, they murdered all that was good and true about League of Extroidinary Gentlemen (and ladies) and I'm betting The Watchmen will somehow end up being like a film version of JLA.

Have you been following the production at all, or are you just saying that? Zach Snyder has shown he is making his best possible attempt at making a worthy adaptation of Watchmen. Coming off 300, he has a near limitless supply of money. Look at the sets, look at the costumes. They are going for detail. They will not cover every layer of the complex story, but I am now convinced they will stay true to the most prominent themes. A book is a book, a movie is a movie. Like games, they have their unique potential for greatness. This is not a money-grab, IMO. Now Wanted... the trailer for that movie makes me sad.

[Thefremen]

Have you been following the production at all, or are you just saying that? Zach Snyder has shown he is making his best possible attempt at making a worthy adaptation of Watchmen. Coming off 300, he has a near limitless supply of money. Look at the sets, look at the costumes. They are going for detail. They will not cover every layer of the complex story, but I am now convinced they will stay true to the most prominent themes. A book is a book, a movie is a movie. Like games, they have their unique potential for greatness. This is not a money-grab, IMO. Now Wanted... the trailer for that movie makes me sad.

Is he working independantly of all studios? If not, they'll edit it until it's another stupid super hero movie devoid of any of the original thematic elements.

[Conejo]

Is he working independantly of all studios? If not, they'll edit it until it's another stupid super hero movie devoid of any of the original thematic elements.

the days of big studios LCD-ing comic-based movies are fading. 300 and Sin City have proven that being more faithful makes for a better film.

this isn't a movie for children, and nobody making it thinks so.

[Hannah]

the days of big studios LCD-ing comic-based movies are fading. 300 and Sin City have proven that being more faithful makes for a better film.

this isn't a movie for children, and nobody making it thinks so.

I'm actually afraid of them trying to make it too cool. One of the appeals of the comic book was just that all the heroes were kinda lame. Oh, sure, they did some cool stuff, but their humanity was what made them interesting.

[Conejo]

I'm actually afraid of them trying to make it too cool. One of the appeals of the comic book was just that all the heroes were kinda lame. Oh, sure, they did some cool stuff, but their humanity was what made them interesting.

what i mean is, people are trying to be more true to the source now than ever.

[Ace_ofspade]

While they may have missed the point in V they made a different point, and a valid one. I haven't read the comic, but the point carried in V for Vendetta was a valid one and they made it pretty clear.

Yeah, in the graphic novel, V's less of a clear cut hero, and more of an insane, mentally deranged, homicidal anarchist. OK, that's exactly what he is. It's supposed to make you choose between living in an oppressive totalitarian government and total anarchy.

Wheras the movie was nonstop BLOO BLOO BLOOING about teh evil Bush and all of his evil Republicans. Entertaining blooing, but blooing nonetheless.

[Hannah]

Yeah, in the graphic novel, V's less of a clear cut hero, and more of an insane, mentally deranged, homicidal anarchist. OK, that's exactly what he is. It's supposed to make you choose between living in an oppressive totalitarian government and total anarchy.

Wheras the movie was nonstop BLOO BLOO BLOOING about teh evil Bush and all of his evil Republicans. Entertaining blooing, but blooing nonetheless.

Bah, Nazis make much better bad guys than Republicans.

[Crowskie]

Yeah, in the graphic novel, V's less of a clear cut hero, and more of an insane, mentally deranged, homicidal anarchist. OK, that's exactly what he is. It's supposed to make you choose between living in an oppressive totalitarian government and total anarchy.

Wheras the movie was nonstop BLOO BLOO BLOOING about teh evil Bush and all of his evil Republicans. Entertaining blooing, but blooing nonetheless.

I took the movie's primary message of being the whole "one man's freedom fighter is another man's terrorist" thing and the fallacies in capitalism. Yes, the dictator was an obvious representation of Bush, Rove, and Cheney. Yes, his party is representative of the (then and mostly now)current Republican party. The entire setup of the fascist government is a mixture of the rise of the rise of the neo-conservative christian right and the fear mongering tactics of the Bush administration. There is even criticism of the media and the newscaster guy's death is symbolic of the death of responsible journalism. Another message that seems to be overlooked even though it is so obvious, is the concept of taking personal responsibility in keeping your government in check.

Now, I am not arguing GN vs movie here. I am saying that although it is not a prefect translation from the book, the movie itself can stand by itself as a great work and it is not just 132 minutes of bitching about Republicans. It does a fine job of fighting apathy and motivating those who feel powerless, that is something in itself.

[Crowskie]

Bah, Nazis make much better bad guys than Republicans.

There's a difference?

[Hannah]

There's a difference?

Yes, Nazis have better uniforms and march music.

[Ace_ofspade]

Yes, Nazis have better uniforms and march music.

Their language sounds cooler, too (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Q-6H4xOUrs)

[steelcobra]

Their language sounds cooler, too (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Q-6H4xOUrs)

You can ask for directions and sound awesome in German.

[Thefremen]

I took the movie's primary message of being the whole "one man's freedom fighter is another man's terrorist" thing and the fallacies in capitalism. Yes, the dictator was an obvious representation of Bush, Rove, and Cheney. Yes, his party is representative of the (then and mostly now)current Republican party. The entire setup of the fascist government is a mixture of the rise of the rise of the neo-conservative christian right and the fear mongering tactics of the Bush administration. There is even criticism of the media and the newscaster guy's death is symbolic of the death of responsible journalism. Another message that seems to be overlooked even though it is so obvious, is the concept of taking personal responsibility in keeping your government in check.

Now, I am not arguing GN vs movie here. I am saying that although it is not a prefect translation from the book, the movie itself can stand by itself as a great work and it is not just 132 minutes of bitching about Republicans. It does a fine job of fighting apathy and motivating those who feel powerless, that is something in itself.

I won't agree that point, the movie is certainly better than anything that fat **** has made.

[KN]

Calling it now: They're ruining Rorschach

btw it's "A BLOO BLOO BLOO BLOO"

[Tollwutig]

You can ask for directions and sound awesome in German.

You can order cake and sound awesome in German. Hell even talking about the weather sounds awesome in German.


Anyways to the points being made GN /= Movie.. they two are entirely different medias and will never translate true from GN to a movie, anyone expecting it to do so should just shoot themselves now. (looks at zippy) The main reason is, that to truly make a graphic novel into a movie the movie would have to be 3-4 hours long, and that means only serious followers of the graphic novel itself will watch the movie. Despite everyone's optimism that is in reality a very small following. In order for a movie to make money it needs to clear millions in production costs. ( I can rant on that if you like). This means that in order to be successful the movie version of a graphic novel must have more mass appeal than the graphic novel itself, and several hours of back story isn't going to win that.

Basically you can think of it like this:

Graphic Novel - production costs in the thousands of dollars range. You only have to pay the author, artist, inker, etc. More than likely the artist is the author, and is probably the only one getting any residuals on additional printings. Printing itself is very cheap, especially with today's technology. At $5-$20 a copy a graphic novel can turn a profit for the publisher with just a couple hundred thousand copies sold.

Movie - production costs in the millions. You're paying for screen writers, directors, actors, production assistants, stunt people, probably some pyrotechnic experts, set designers, costume designers, a composer, a symphony, a special effects company, an entire sound crew, camera men, an editor, a few miles of film, and a lot more. Unlike graphic novels better technology costs more, so do better special effects. At $7 a ticket (shared with the theater owner after opening weekend), $3 a DVD rental, and $20 a DVD purchase to turn a profit you have to sell a few million theater tickets, a few million DVDs and have the movie rented out.

Thus making a Movie that appeases a relatively small number of Graphic Novel fans will never happen.

[KN]

Movies are also usually never envisioned as anything more than distillations of the source material, and sometimes good comes of that. See Fight Club and (depending on who you ask) Lord of the Rings.