'Watchmen' Movie... and Video Game?
I looooooved "300" the movie (despite some minor, nerdy nit-picks), but I'm extremely concerned about Alan Moore's brilliant book "Watchmen" being turned into a feature-length film. While "300" writer-director Zack Snyder was very capable of turning Frank Miller's epic into a silver screen hit, I think he might have more trouble writing and directing "Watchmen," which is far more complex in its wide array of characters and plotlines. I just don't see how Moore's intricate storytelling can be portrayed well on-screen (Remember "League of Extraordinary Gentlemen"? Although I thought "V For Vendetta" and "From Hell" were pretty good, considering).
I have even lower expectations for the “Watchmen” video game, since 300: March to Glory wasn’t exactly stellar. But as a gamer himself, Snyder has big aspirations for it:
The writer-director says he is exploring game options for his next project, "Watchmen." He says he'd like to see a PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 game based on the property, which was his original goal with "300" before time constraints limited that game to a PSP.
Snyder envisions the convergence of game and film allowing theatergoers to explore new chapters that weren't in the movie. The "300" game touches on this, allowing gamers to expand beyond the battles in the film.
Hmmm. What I see happening with "Watchmen," whose story could easily span a 10+ hour mini-series, is that it'll be crammed into a two-hour (maybe three-hour) flick, and anything cool and/or important to fans that doesn't make the cut will be put into a probably poorly executed video game. I may be overly pessimistic about this, but hey, if I go in with low expectations, I could be pleasantly surprised; in fact, I hope to be proved wrong, about both the movie and video game. After all, at least Snyder did a great job with the movie version of “300,” and even he is aware that he could screw up "Watchmen.” So my fingers are crossed... and Godspeed Zack Snyder, because you have a daunting task ahead of you...
'300' Hitter is Writer, Director and Developer [GameDaily]
[via GameLife]
Lazy Panda
Posted to Hot Stuff, Movies-DVDs, Video Games on 18 March 2007
· Comments (16)
Other stuff like this: 300, alan moore, comic book movies, frank miller, graphic novels, rant, rorschach, watchmen, zack snyder better not screw this up
I know how they will handle it! Dumb it down immensely... like they do with most adaptations.
Never really read Watchmen, so I can't really comment on that.
I will say though that I quite liked the LoEG movie. Then again, I hadn't read that before either.
Hi Nexus. I don't think LoEG was that bad of a movie, but the books are just sooo much better and almost completely different from the film. I recommend reading LoEG... and definitely Watchmen!
As long as we still get to see Dr. Manhattan's blue peepee!
I actually think of all the Alan Moore stories turned to film the best one was Constatantine.
Granted the story they used was not one that Moore penned (I think it was Garth Ennis) but the character was created by Moore.
It's going to be cut to ribbons. There's no other way you can do it as a theatrical film
No one, even the grand, most perfect God Joss Whedon could do it properly(in his infinite, perfect wisdom he would never attempt it in the first place :) )
I LOVED Watchmen. Not sure if it'll make a good movie, but the comic is excellent in any case.
"I actually think of all the Alan Moore stories turned to film the best one was Constatantine."
It's a bad sign when Constantine is at the top of *any* list.
I think the best way to handle a Watchmen movie would be to do it in the style of Lord o' Rings: film the whole 10-hour epic and release it in movie-sized chunks at regular intervals.
"snyder did a great job with the movie version of 300"?
please...please tell me you're joking.this was one of the most openly homophobic pieces of shit i've ever seen, and your boy snyder ADMITTED that he used homophobia to make his audience of stupid young straight boys feel creeped out.
I've said it a million times to do Watchmen right you need an HBO miniseries.
Openly homophobic? Apart from one comment early in the movie that insulted "Athenian boy-lovers" (which was more an insult to pedophiles...), I don't recall anything homophobic about the movie.
i'm tired of talking about this dreck, so this can explain it.
http://afterelton.logo-blogs.com/2007/03/11/300s-director-admits-using-homosexuality-to-scare-20-year-old-men/
Hey Snicks,
Thanks for the link. As people can read, there is a quite a debate about the homophobic or homoerotic content of the film. Each person is entitled to her/his opinion, and I personally did not find anything offensive about 300 the movie or the graphic novel, although I can see why people might be. Thanks for reading and sharing... LP
PS - Seems that the Iranians are offended as well: http://youtube.com/watch?v=rjHE3Z91jPI
i'm on your side, panda - i like 300 as well, but i liked it in the same way i liked sin city - it's very pretty, but when you actually put frank miller dialogue into the mouths of (not the greatest) actors, it sounds completely preposterous. but it was very pretty.
afterelton thinks *everything's* homophobic. i'm surprised they haven't done an article condemning me.
if you really want to be mad at someone about the "homophobic" content of 300, then get mad at frank miller. everything that people get squidgy with in the movie is there in the source material. do i think snyder's watchmen will be any good? no. absolutely not. essex is right about the miniseries - the only way you could come close (and still not get there) would be 12 one-hour episodes - an idea i think terry gilliam had thought about when he was tapped to direct.
even then, how do you translate the formal/structural beauty of "fearful symmetry" into film? you can't, that's how.
"afterelton thinks everything's homophobic"
um...what?
gimme a break.they pointed out that the director of the movie openly admitted to using homophobia to creep out his intended audience.believe me, i have enough contempt for zack snyder AND frank miller...it's not an either/or situation.
it pains me to go on forums and hear people say they don't care about the filmmaker's homophobic intent...as long as the movie "looked good".
open your eyes.
snicks, note that i didn't refute anything you said, or even anything afterelton said. hell, i didn't even rebut anything. simply commented on my general feeling of dis-ease with AE's general program of always finding exactly what they were looking for in everything.
i'm not going to bother to refute here, though there's an extended argument about why the headline "300’s director admits using homosexuality to scare 20 year old men" is patently false. snicks, you are more than welcome to hold zack snyder, frank miller, and anyone else who makes works of art with which you do not agree in as much contempt as you'd like. i respect your opinion though i may disagree.