Adapting Watchmen (plus the new trailer!)

Only a few months now until one of the most awaited movie adaptations ever finally arrives in cinemas. ‘Watchmen’, by Alan Moore, has been through so many permutations since originally being commissioned soon after the original graphic novel was published twenty years ago. Attempts by Terry Gilliam and Paul Greengrass came and went with frustrating hints at what might have been.

For the movie to finally appear long after most comic fans had given up hope only raises trepidation that it will either be an absolute turkey or the current legal troubles may still get in the way.

To whet appetites and whip all you geeks into a fervour, here is the latest, brand new trailer.

(Thanks to 'Get the Big Picture' for sending it to me.)

Adaptation

Adapting the unadaptable original novel is always going to attract critics – most notably Alan Moore himself. His hatred of Hollywood is well documented, but as he has no power over DC Comics selling the movie rights to his works, he has adopted a predictable routine of lambasting and boycotting film adaptations of his work as they near release.

Moore refuses to watch any of the adaptations of his work. Considering how bad ‘The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen’ was and how much ‘From Hell’ deviated from the accurate research Moore had poured into the book, one can hardly blame him. But ‘V for Vendetta’ showed that it is possible to adapt Moore’s work while maintaining the gut-wrenching genius of his ideas.

V for Victorious

‘V for Vendetta’ terrified me as an adaptation. I adored the book and failed to see how a film version could carry the same emotional weight and complex political and social nuances. Thankfully, the scenes and plot points I most cared about seemed to make it into the film almost shot for comic book shot.

I nearly cried on seeing the memoirs of Valerie dramatized on the screen. The chapter containing Valerie’s letter was the first installment of ‘V For Vendetta’ I read, when I discovered the serialized version in ‘Warrior’ magazine back in the 1980s. Therefore, it represented the emotional core of the film and demonstrated the incredible emotional range with which Moore can imbue his characters.

Zach’s the Man

Emboldened by such a sterling effort, I became excited by the announcement that ‘Watchmen’ would be finally realised by Zach Snyder. This is the guy who adapted Frank Miller’s ‘300’ so faithfully, using the original comics as a story board for his CGI powerhouse. Snyder’s approach is highly reverential to the source material. So much so that he has already prepared for the inevitable excising of the masses of material in the book. The original storyline is interwoven with ‘Tales of the Black Freighter’, an allegorical pirate comic strip read by one of the supporting characters. For two decades, ‘Watchmen’ fans have reached an acceptance that no movie adaptation could ever hope to retain this, or the extracts from Hollis Mason’s autobiography ‘Under the Hood’.

Snyder has confirmed that both are being filmed, in animated form, and will be released as a companion DVD for the movie. At a later date, an extended director’s cut may appear that correctly entwines these storylines together in an even closer approximation of the experience of reading the original book.

So far, the trailers have encouraged fans with their literal dramatization of key moments. Everything is looking good for a March release date as guys aged 30+ the world over drag girlfriends along to the opening weekend in an absolute geekasm of epic proportions.

Alan Moore, we love you. We know you will hate anything Hollywood does to your books, and I apologise on behalf of all of us Moore fans who want to see the movie anyway. It’s been twenty years. Disappointment is not an option.