Watchmen must-haves

[C.F. Kane]

Should a Watchmen movie ever get made (which looks more likely now that Vendetta is a hit), it's likely that things will get changed from the book to make it more suitable for a cinematic telling of the story.

Keeping that in mind, what must be done in the movie adaptation?

Here's my list:

- Rorschach cannot be watered down. They almost did this with V; he's less evil than he is in the comic, and that nearly hurt his screen portrayal. The movie Rorschach must be a right-wing nutcase. He must be paranoid. He must be an atheist who can't relate to people. He has to be cruel, callous, and devoted to his dogma.

- Keep the attempted rape scene. I heard once that the flashback to the Minutemen was taken out of the draft. But Watchmen was written to trash the belief of the perfect hero, and that scene was crucial in its development of the characters of both The Comedian and the first Silk Spectre, as well as its blow to the Golden Age of comics.

- Normally I'm not a fan of CGI, but I think that in order to work, Dr Manhattan has to be a CGI character. Not only would it look better than a naked man in makeup, it also works within the story. The other characters talk about how it's so difficult to get used to the impossibility of his presence, and by having a CGI presence, then the actors as well as the audience would subconsciously have trouble relating to this character.

- Most importantly, the ending has to be as gory, as shocking, as blood-soaked as it was in the book. It's that bold, sadistic ending that has made the novel the masterwork that it is, and the filmmakers can't afford to gloss it over.

Anything else?

 

[Sandman138]

-Adrien Viedt can't die. The ending must remain ambiguos. The world cannot be saved by the black and white morality of superheroes and the movie must acknowladge this.

-Viedt must remain an idealist. The draft that I read had him being a bit too much of a cookie cutter villian. Sure, he's egotistical and perhaps on his way to becoming a despot (exemplified by Mannahatan's line "nothing ever ends"), but he's not malevolent, he shouldn't derive joy from the suffering of others, ecspecially ones he considers friends (though not peers).

 

[Fused]

It's gotta be Rated R

 

[CrimsonMist]

i actually like the ending in the Hayter Script draft 3. It isnt this giant, exploding man made alien. It's this satallite laser beam that reduces you're body beyond ashes, leaving just a shadow of your body. I felt the alien ending of the book, where it was really good, was kind of...out there. Sure you have Doc Manhatten, and that could be the only reason to justify the alien ending, but the script version is more in line with the realism to the story. Not to mention, the laser affects are similar to those in Japan when the US dropped the Atom Bomb. Shadows of people remained, while the bodies were disintigrated. Which in my opinion, is alot more creepier and disturbing.


and Viedt dying, in Hayter's script draft 3, i really like what Hayter did with it. Because in the end, it still works out and it makes sense. Not to mention, i like the Beatles reference. But i believe in later drafts, things get changed around a bit. If The Guard pops up in this thread, im sure he can tell you what happened.

 

[Eddie Dean]

Wait... how does Viedt die in the script?

 

[Sandman138]

The Beatles reference is nice, but that ending is so simplistic and doesn't get at any of the themes that Watchmen was getting at. You can't have the superheroes save the day, the world doesn't work like that. Watchmen was about the inadaquacey of heroes. In a political/historical sense, the world of Watchmen was one in which the Star Wars (talking about Reagan's defence plans) style apocalypse that was a major fear of progressives in the 1980's, is used (actually appropriated by a progressive elite) to transcend the bounderies of nations/ethnicity/gender to find a greater sense of human unity. One in which the merger of technology/politics/and human inequalities (Nixon is still president, and there is an indication that the supreme court has granted him the powers of a monarch) has created a world where the super-hero is just another tool that the government appropriates as a means to exercise command and control. The world is only saved through ambiguity and the heroes greatest accomplishment is, as Adrien said, failing to stop Viedt from saving the world. Kill Viedt, and you lose that entirely.

 

[Eddie Dean]

How does Viedt die?

 

[Sandman138]

Nite Owl kills him in a very Hollywood underdog triumphs scenario.

 

[Eddie Dean]

Nite Owl kills him in a very Hollywood underdog triumphs scenario.

Thanks.

 

[CrimsonMist]

The Beatles reference is nice, but that ending is so simplistic and doesn't get at any of the themes that Watchmen was getting at. You can't have the superheroes save the day, the world doesn't work like that. Watchmen was about the inadaquacey of heroes. In a political/historical sense, the world of Watchmen was one in which the Star Wars (talking about Reagan's defence plans) style apocalypse that was a major fear of progressives in the 1980's, is used (actually appropriated by a progressive elite) to transcend the bounderies of nations/ethnicity/gender to find a greater sense of human unity. One in which the merger of technology/politics/and human inequalities (Nixon is still president, and there is an indication that the supreme court has granted him the powers of a monarch) has created a world where the super-hero is just another tool that the government appropriates as a means to exercise command and control. The world is only saved through ambiguity and the heroes greatest accomplishment is, as Adrien said, failing to stop Viedt from saving the world. Kill Viedt, and you lose that entirely.

yea i know what you're saying, and i fully agree. I was just saying that i liked what Hayter did, becuase it still works out. Everyone gets disintigrated, Veidt disapears....no one will investigate. People would just assume he was killed, that part was cool.

Im sure that's what happens in the book, although it's never said by any media or other characters on what happens to him. It's been a while, so correct me if im wrong.

but killing Veidt...eh. I didnt like the way it was played out. But like i said, i believe that was changed in later drafts

 

[Sandman138]

Well, the way it played out in the book didn't require Viedt to be assumed dead, and honestly, I don't see why he needed that cover in the script either.

 

[The Question]

Yeah, killing Veidt would kind of ruin it. The whole point of the book was that, while a vigilante or whatever could save lives, at the end of the day, the world's not going to get too much btter because of it.

 

[Sandman138]

I like the sattalite scenario, as it harks back to Reagan's Star Wars plan. However, the whole black box thing takes away from it. I thought what was great about Veidts plan was that it was so monumentall that all these waring factions came together of their own volition rather than through overt coercion.

 

[The Question]

Yeah. And really, what better way to shock the world super powers into getting along than faking an alien invasion?

 

[cerealkiller182]

Watchmen changes (a new out-look):

-The only narration should be Rorshach dictating his journal

-THe alien creature should be changed to something else. Not a laser beam either. A UFO or missile. Something more realistic.

- Origins and supporting character subplots should be shortened to the must-know facts. So you know the characters, and feel for the supporting characters at the ending explosion.

-Viedt's tiger should probably be a real tiger, not the wierd alein thing.

-GIve Dr. Manhattan some shorts (LOL). MAybe a Namor style costume. Anything to make the character easier to put on screen.

-Instead of Hayter's constantly moving CGI(?) Rorshach mask. Make a lot of masks with different ink blots that change with each camera angle just like it did with each new comic panel. That way instead of making it look like the changing is intential, it metaphorical like a ink blot test should be.

-Split the movie into volumes, Kill Bill style so that the bulk of the comic can be semi Sin City style (from paper to screen). A cut off point should be the arrest of Rorschach. THe last image should be Silk Spectre II handing Nite-OWl the paper with Rorschachs real face on it with a sensationalized headline.

- Nite-Owl's mask and cape should be more form fitting rather than clunky.

-Supporting characters such as BG superheroes during meetings should be removed. Keep it to Comedian, Nite-Owl I and II, Silk Spectre I and II, Dr. Manhattan, The Hooded Justice (?, whoever walked in on the rape scene), and Ozy.

- The first time you see Doc's Mars castle should be the same time Silk Spectre II sees it.

-Dan and Spectre's first sex scene should be intercut with Rorschach fighting the cops before he is arrested. Because I believe sex scenes slow down the plot. Also, take out all the sounds and find a really good song or score to play over the two scenes.

I feel pretty confidant that these changes can make the film work better while staying loyal to the source material.

 

[The Question]

-THe alien creature should be changed to something else. Not a laser beam either. A UFO or missile. Something more realistic.

No. The whole point of the alien was that it was something completely unexpected that shocked the world into cooperation.

 

[Sandman138]

All those changes either would detract from what Watchmen is about, or are just unnessecary.

 

[cerealkiller182]

No. The whole point of the alien was that it was something completely unexpected that shocked the world into cooperation.

I know, it just looked real stupid.

All those changes either would detract from what Watchmen is about, or are just unnessecary.

I understand that they might be unnessecary, but I do not see how they detract from what Watchmen is about.

 

[Sandman138]

Making Rorschach into a main character and ignoring the socio-political implications of the other characters stories (ecspecially Dr. Manhattan and The Comedien) would definetly detract from what Watchmen is about.

 

[cerealkiller182]

Making Rorschach into a main character and ignoring the socio-political implications of the other characters stories (ecspecially Dr. Manhattan and The Comedien) would definetly detract from what Watchmen is about.

I dont want to completly ignore Doc and Comedien. I just think that Doc Manhattan's origin is rather drawn out.

I also do not want Rorschach to be center stage, I just do not see the point of anyone else's inner dialogue/narration. I feel like their narration were pointless and only used so that their wern't pages and pages of just facial expressions. I think their inner feelings should be made apparent through acting, plus the pirate comic was rather boring and cluttered the story even though it was parellel. I thought Rorschach's journal was most interesting narration and was the only one important to the ending, seeing as its sent to the newspaper.

 

[CrimsonMist]

Watchmen changes (a new out-look):

-THe alien creature should be changed to something else. Not a laser beam either. A UFO or missile. Something more realistic.

well, as i said, the lasor beam is actually really realistic in the effects it causes. The same affects occurred when the atom bomb was dropped on Japan. Just the shadows of people remained. Which is very very disturbing. But the alien thing is justified...all due to the existence of Doc Manhatten. If he can exist, so can a fake alien causing enemies to befriend one another.

-Viedt's tiger should probably be a real tiger, not the wierd alein thing.

nah, it's fine. With the existance of Doc Manhatten, really almost anything "out there" is justified.

- Nite-Owl's mask and cape should be more form fitting rather than clunky.

i agree. Get rid of the cape piece coming out of the head. Make the cape come out of the shoulders. I heard that concept art for his costume during Greengrass's time with the film was pretty cool looking.

 

[cerealkiller182]

^^^Not that those things arnt justified i just think they would look silly and stupid on film.

 

[The Question]

I know, it just looked real stupid.

Who cares how it looked? There was a point behind it. It was so absurd and yet so absolutely horrible at the same time that it chocked the world msuper powers into getting along. A laser beam doesn't have the same effect.

 

[cerealkiller182]

I care how it looks because I do not think the general public will take it seriously with a big goofy alien, unless its supposed to be a big goofy alien (then I'll have to go back and reread) but I'm fairly certain than any cataclysmic event from what seems to be from another world could be subsituted.

 

[The Question]

The reason it's a "big goofy alien" is to shock the world into cooperation with a completely shocking and unheard of event that they would have no way of defending themselves against. There's absoultely no reason to change it. Besides, it doesn't look goofy. It looks pretty creepy.