What Will They Say About The Watchmen?

Posted by Brian C. Gibson (brian@filmschoolrejects.com) on March 6, 2008

It looks like the Holy Grail of comic/film adaptations is finally moving in the right direction: towards actually being completed. Just because it is heading in the right direction, doesn’t mean that it is heading in a good direction though. Exactly one year to the day of release, Zack Snyder has given us a look at the Watchmen from his official blog.

While Snyder has built quite a reputation during his short span of films, which mostly includes adaptations, The Watchmen looks to be his most difficult project yet. Not only does the marketability of the source material come into question, the attention to detail is also going to be an issue. This is the first real test for Snyder and his Watchmen. Can he appease the comic gods, fans and Alan Moore, while making a film that succeeds both commercially and critically? Maybe this is a situation where Snyder is just giving us a taste, but won’t let us in on the buffet until he knows everything is just right. I sure hope so.

Click any of the character photos to enlarge.

Matthew Goode as Ozymandias	Jeffrey Dean Morgan as The Comedian
Patrick Wilson as Night Owl	Malin Ackerman as Silk Spectre
Jackie Earl Haley as Rorschach

After looking at these photos for a while, I have come to be a bit confused on what it is that Zack Snyder is doing. He stated at Comic-Con last July that he planned to keep the timeline and the source material intact for the most part. The fact that Ozymandias and Night Owl look very polished, sleek and rubber kind of scares me. What scares me even more, is the fact that Ozymandias’ suit has nipples. For right now, I’m pretty happy that the film is a full year away. Now to judge for best costume…

Rorschach is easy, I’m sorry. They could have stuck almost anyone into a trench coat and everything would have been awesome. It’s kind of like when they were trying to cast The Thing for Fantastic Four. I wonder how hard the audition would be for “Big guy, willing to wear prosthetics and perform lines.” So far it looks like Rorschach’s audition would be for “Small guy, willing to wear sock-like mask and perform lines.” Sorry for being a party pooper here, but Rorschach would have looked cool no matter what Zack Snyder would have done. Rorschach looks cool though, I digress.

Malin Ackerman, you make The Watchmen worth seeing due to your thigh-highs and mean girl face. I think we all knew that Snyder would sensationalize these characters to a certain degree, but Silk Spectre came out better than we could have hoped for. We obviously don’t get to see her in action yet, but if you shake your laptop she will dance for you. Creepy, yes. Nonetheless, This is a two for two Snyder so far. Rorschach and Silk Spectre look just ask good on screen as they did in the comics.

Ozymandias and Night Owl look like Batman and Robin. Not cool. Not only does Ozymandias’ suit have nipples, but Night Owl looks like he robbed Wayne Manor. I won’t lie, Ozymandias wasn’t exactly my favorite character and I always thought that his look was kind of goofy. So it’s nice to see that Snyder wants to put a spin on these characters, except he spun them right out of the Bat-cave. Of course they look cool, but they don’t look like anything different or original. Like I mentioned before, the timeline is confusing. In the comic, Night Owl and Ozymandias’ suits looked soft and colorful. In these stills, their suits look sleek and monochrome. I think these two suits are the losers of the bunch.

Holy awesome, The Comedian is ready for the big screen. Jeffrey Dean Morgan would not have been my first choice, but after this still…he would be my only choice. This still is one of the reasons why I am happy that this project was never made, and is now in the hands of Zack Snyder. The Comedian looks amazing. He looks sleek and modern, but still maintains the style of the comic. This still makes the film worth seeing, and then some. I will confidently call this the best costume and casting choice.

So now that these photos have surfaced, everyone is sure to have their own opinions. I know I do. So let’s hear yours…

Watchmen hits theaters on March 6, 2009.

Sound Off: What do you think of these new stills? Are you excited for The Watchmen?

Read more articles by Brian C. Gibson