Definitely Not Work Safe*

[trinityvixen]

*...unless you're me.

Entries like this one Wikipedia exist solely to test the boundaries of what I can get away with reading at work. I swear, the only thing more likely to get me in trouble that I've actually looked at at work are the Horrors of Porn and Hentai Game reviews at SomethingAwful.

*

But back to more ogling of the stills recently released from The Watchmen movie coming out next year....

For serious, y'all, the Comedian is perfect. I hadn't seen Jeffrey Dean Morgan in anything before hearing he was cast, and yet? I know his vague shape and appearance (surprise, surprise, IMDB-brain!), and I was like, "Yes, okay, that works." NOW I SEE THE PICTURE AND I KNOW IT DOES. Holy shit. Something that came out of reading The Watchmen again recently was a newfound respect for the Comedian. His is the story that catapults us into the novel, and yet? Never really cared for him. I still don't like him, but he makes sense now. I get it. And that's what you get from the still. Someone on that shoot (very probably the actor) GETS IT. Let's just hope that translates and is brought across in a dynamite script. ::IhopeIhopeIhopeIhopeIhope::

Alas Rorschach is, appropriately, hidden in shadow, or I could say more about him. He's my favorite (he and Nite Owl, I think) in the graphic novel, and it's really, really, OH-SO-INCREDIBLY REALLY important that the film gets him right. Because if the Comedian is why the story begins, why the story moves is Rorschach. (And Nite Owl, I suppose, but mostly Rorschach.)

As for the others? I was a little pissed that Nite Owl is so Batman-like (though he is supposed to be, a tad) and not quite as ridiculous looking as he is in the graphic novel. But what I dislike most? Is that he's too fit-looking. Dan Drieberg has an adorable, middle-aged paunch in the comics, and I loved that. I love how very atypically middle-aged he was. He wasn't old, he wasn't 30-something. He's that missing half of life that people spend being neither old nor young. That part of life that Hollywood (hello!) tends to ignore. The costume is too much of an attempt to make him look badass where he should, story-wise, look a little silly. Sigh.

Ozymandias is growing on me though. feiran thinks he looks like a twerp when Ozymandias is, Comedian aside, the most physically fit and largely muscled guy in the novel. I can't help but agree. And yet? It's working for me. There's a definite attitude about the man's face, his stature, his whole image that very forcibly evokes classical mythology. He is a Greco-Roman godling or champion. You can see that. And I love the interweaving of that look with the Egyptian symbolism of the pseudo-shift tied about his waist. Ozymandias' hero is Alexander the Great, and you understand why, just from the picture.

The only entirely unsatisfactory picture is that of the Silk Spectre. For starters, she looks like a less-well-done version of Elastigirl from The Incredibles. It must be the texture of her costume and the pose, I guess. But the hair? Ugh, can we talk about that? How much MORE like a wig could they have made that look? I think you'd sooner believe that Rorschach's mask is his face than that that hair is growing off that head. I can't work out what her shot is supposed to tell us. The Silk Spectre has a seriously problematic history in the graphic novel. It's hard to pinpoint in a shot what her philosophy is (as you could with the Comedian, Rorschach, and Ozymandias). So instead you make her generic superheroine in a scandalously impractical costume. But that's just it. Part of the Silk Spectre's story is how ridiculous her outfit is and how little, originally, she wanted to fill it out. You don't get that by a) hiding how scandalous the outfit is (if it is--I dunno what it says about the movie that the 1980s drawn version was more risque than this bumblebee wetsuit look), or b) by showing her possessed and determined to fight. Sigh some more.

Comments

[gryphonrose.livejournal.com]

Jeffrey Dean Morgan is an excellent choice for the Comedian, and of course guarantees that Ivy03 will see the movie. :)
I think Wilson isn't bad for Nite Owl--he's a little too fit, sure, but this is Hollywood, after all. And I think he can pull off the "good-looking once he removes the glasses" bit.
I never pictured Ozymandias as heavily muscled, personally, just very smooth and very in control and incredibly smart--it's less about muscle mass than anatomical knowledge and fighting skill. So he's fine.
Rorschach looks good so far. He's supposed to be in the shadows most of the time, really.
Silk Spectre--I agree, that's the weakest image of the bunch, and one of the weakest characters in the book. Her major purpose, I'd say, is the link between the past generation and the present, the Comedian and the original Silk Spectre, her mom and Dr. Manhattan, everyone and the Nite Owl. She's the glue.

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

I agree about Patrick Wilson. He a fantastic actor and he's malleable enough to fit into the different parts of Nite Owl's character. And, if you've seen Hard Candy you know he can pull off glasses well :)

Ozymandias is very muscled in the comic, and while I agree that he's not as burly as the Comedian, he's meant to be fluidly and flawlessly muscled. I think more of a swimmer than a weight lifter. The darkness of the costume for the movie has it receding into the cape, but if you look, you can see that despite the exaggerations of definition on his torso, he's quite slender. The muscle serves to remind that what he lacks in bulk, he makes up for in lithe grace. And smarts. Plenty of them. That's hard to bring across, which is why I like the classical aspect of his dress--it calls upon power from the respect due those periods of history and the demonstrable prowess therefrom.

Silk Spectre's a tough one. She has a rough time of it because she spends the time working out herself for herself while the rest of the crowd is either out acting (Rorschach, Ozymandias), avoiding the issue (Doc Manhattan for most of it, Nite Owl ditto), or is just too dead to be much more than a cipher throughout (Comedian). I like the idea of her as glue. As she pulls it together, so does the story.

[chuckro.livejournal.com]

But where are our pictures of Dr. Manhattan?

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

You know, I was wondering that all morning. I know they've got him in it (they'd need to), but why the secrecy? Who knows. I'm wondering if he's going to look more like a Smurf or like the Silver Surfer from that last Fantastic Four movie.

[chuckro.livejournal.com]

The Silver Surfer did look pretty sweet. F4-2 was a fluffy movie with gaping plot holes, but it was very pretty.

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

Except for Jessica Alba and Ioan Gruffudd, who apparently had roused the ire of the makeup and hair people such that they sabotaged their appearance for much of the movie.

But yeah, the Silver Surfer looked awesome.

[avram]

Nick Mamatas has the answer!

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

Well, erm, one part of that might be true...

[moonlightalice.livejournal.com]

Who invited Batman?

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

Apparently, he's actually more of an homage to the Blue Beetle. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Beetle) Or was supposed to be at least in the graphic novel. The fact that Nite Owl and Rorschach together make Batman is more a result of the Blue Beetle being absorbed by Batman in the long run.

[anirien.livejournal.com]

My initial gut impressions: The Comedian looks completely perfect, I always thought he was well cast. Night Owl is too Batman not enough middle-aged-man with a paunch in a silly suit. But maybe this is Night Owl in his prime? Ozymandias looks kinda like a dweeby mouth breather. But maybe his acting will win me over? He does not look like a man who has fitness videos and can catch a bullet in his hands. Ozymandias needs no rubber nipples. Rorschach look right. Silk Spectre... well I'm with you on this. I really hope they don't ruin or ignore her backstory.

...Where is Dr. Manhattan?

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

So basically, we are pretty much in full agreement except for Ozymandias. Hey, you never know, this might surprise us by being really good!

Or, well, erm...

As for Dr. Manhattan, I did hear rumblings about his being completely animated in some way. Let's hope for better than we've seen to date with animated main characters.

[anirien.livejournal.com]

I am perfectly willing to be pleasantly surprised by Ozymandius. And the whole movie for that matter, but I'm keeping skeptical just in case.

They do have Billy Crudup cast as Dr. Manhattan and he is a really brilliant actor. Hopefully they will utilize his acting skills to the utmost. They need to strike a good balance between cgi and acting, like LotR did with Gollum. Dr. Manhattan is too important to the story to come of as silly or cheesy.