Comments on: A Lesson Learned: Fans Want Familiarity

By: James Bradford

James Bradford — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 16:51:19 +0000

I find all of the articles and comments referencing 300 rather funny. The central conceit being that somehow Watchmen and 300 were similar books and thus would be similar movies with similar fan bases, audiences and draws.

This is nonsense.

300 is the kind of book that Hollywood should be adapting, its basically an awesome storyboard with the scripting already inserted. 300 is not a deep character piece using super-heroes to meditate on the duality of mankind staring into the abyss, its about 300 tough dudes kicking some ass.

Its not difficult to judge which one will be a huge draw. 300 and Sin City are very cinematic in book form, and for the most part exist as a whole on the plot level without delving into the philosophical places that Hollywood films abhor (outside of award season).

Watchmen, however, does not. As has been stated many times in the past few weeks the plot is really secondary to what it evokes in the characters and in the reader itself. This is something that is difficult to translate via celluloid– especially to an audience who (fans aside) are expecting "slow-motion superhero action" .

For me I guess that means I still am unsure of how I feel about this movie, so as said before me, I guess I'll wait for the directors cut.

By: James Bradford

James Bradford — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 16:51:00 +0000

This is nonsense.

For me I guess that means I still am unsure of how I feel about this movie, so as said before me, I guess I'll wait for the directors cut.

By: Jeff

Jeff — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 23:05:55 +0000

Familiarity is not necessarily a bad thing though. Heck, even playing the "I am not part of the herd" card is pretty much being part of the herd these days. I did not care for the Watchman Novel so I am not feeling an urge to rush and go see it in theaters.

Curious about the movie though??? Yeah sure

The fact for many (and its not a bad thing) we want our "Good guys" and we want them to be THAT GUY. It seems like almost every "Good guy" these days has to die even if its a remake (3:10 to Yuma) or they have to wear a black hat and have some serious "Issue" which in my opinion is REALLY getting lame. Yeah…Ok I get it.

Once again Adam a great article, if I go see Watchman I will give you a call or something. Pat might be seeing it tonight. (I warned him about "blue man junk" lol

By: Jeff

Jeff — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 23:05:00 +0000

Curious about the movie though??? Yeah sure

Once again Adam a great article, if I go see Watchman I will give you a call or something. Pat might be seeing it tonight. (I warned him about "blue man junk" lol

By: Aleric

Aleric — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 18:49:31 +0000

Agreed, you could tell who had read the comics by those that were shocked at seeing a big blue naked guy. The response at my local theater was positive, some were confused it wasn't a "Super Hero' film but no one left early or booed. I would have told them to shut the hell up if they had, not that I was a big fan of the book, but the fact that it stuck to the source material impressed me.

By: Aleric

Aleric — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 18:49:00 +0000

By: _Christopher_M

_Christopher_M — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 16:20:49 +0000

I agree that Watchmen should have been an HBO mini-series…on the other hand we have yet to see the director's cut along with the version that has Black Freighter added to it…you never know it could be a different experience when viewing those other versions…

By: _Christopher_M

_Christopher_M — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 16:20:00 +0000

By: Adam_Sweeney

Adam_Sweeney — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 16:04:29 +0000

I think that's a good point that you bring up. When did every sequel automatically have to be as good as the predecessor? If the first film is quality, that creates quite a bit of pressure for the following projects, especially if there are seven more of them (Deathly Hallows being cut into two.). Haha.

By: Adam_Sweeney

Adam_Sweeney — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 16:04:00 +0000

By: dragonmum

dragonmum — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 15:36:55 +0000

I absolutely loved LOTR: Return of the King, but I think this mentality is why it won every Oscar for which it was nominated. Not that it didn't deserve them, but it just would not have gotten the attention it did if it hadn't been part of a series. But at the same time, the "more of the same" mindset means that we expect (or at least hope that) sequels will be at least as good as their predecessors. I've lamented about Harry Potter sequels on this board before, but they're perfect examples. They come from a book series, so we already have high expectations. The first movie was an excellent translation, so that raised our hopes even higher. Second movie, third movie… not quite as good, but still pretty decent. Fourth movie… much too short, subplot threads went nowhere. Fifth movie… every kid actor forgot how to act (which I firmly believe was the director's fault). It's as if WB has decided we'll watch every last movie no matter how bad it is… like ERoBB said, they EXPECT us to be lemmings and watch whatever crap they throw at us. And gods forgive me, when it comes to Harry Potter, I probably will. lol

By: dragonmum

dragonmum — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 15:36:00 +0000

By: Adam_Sweeney

Adam_Sweeney — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 07:02:38 +0000

I enjoyed the film, for sure. I don't want it to seem like I don't. At the same time, I don't think the film from a directing perspective was risky. I am happy Snyder stuck to the script. Did he do it at the sake of letting the film itself breathe? I think so. I would still say it was about as good as you could make Watchmen, which should have been a mini-series, in my opinion.

By: Adam_Sweeney

Adam_Sweeney — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 07:02:00 +0000

By: _Christopher_M

_Christopher_M — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 06:48:04 +0000

he didn't want to alienate the fans…and wanted to respect Moore's vision…like you said it's a double edged sword…people have been saying this for years it's a graphic novel that really works best as a comic rather than a movie…it's going to gain that cult status because we're more than likely going to be flooded with the same ol' cookie cutter superhero movies from now on…it was nice to see a film try to break the superhero archetypes…good, bad or just ok the film was a different take on the genre…

By: _Christopher_M

_Christopher_M — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 06:48:00 +0000

By: Adam_Sweeney

Adam_Sweeney — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 04:55:54 +0000

Filmmaking isn't an exact science. If nobody thought Watchmen was going to make a lot of money, why are there so many articles saying that it is shocking that it didn't outperform 300?

By: Adam_Sweeney

Adam_Sweeney — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 04:55:00 +0000

Filmmaking isn't an exact science. If nobody thought Watchmen was going to make a lot of money, why are there so many articles saying that it is shocking that it didn't outperform 300?

By: SgtZim

SgtZim — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 04:48:41 +0000

You're right, Adam, no studio in history has ever bet large on a movie they weren't 100% sure of. That's why there have never been any huge studio bombs.

By: SgtZim

SgtZim — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 04:48:00 +0000

You're right, Adam, no studio in history has ever bet large on a movie they weren't 100% sure of. That's why there have never been any huge studio bombs.