One of the more striking things about The Dark Knight and (Batman Begins before it) is how firmly rooted it seemed to be in what people who live on the internet refer to as “the real world” for a superhero movie.
Sure, those films didn’t start the trend -- you had X-Men, Spider-Man and most recently Iron Man, but with either unusual locations or bright costumes none of those seemed as “gritty” as the Batman films. Chris Nolan’s vision brought Batman into our world as much as he brought us into his.
But I think that Zack Snyder’s Watchmen is going to take that to a whole other level.
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Yes, the images we’ve seen from the film look very stylized and Snyder does have a reputation for unusual cinematography (he directed 300) but I think we’re going to be seeing a very real and believable world in the Watchmen movie. The trailers and commercials have shown more of the “flashy” side of the film, leading people to believe it would be more akin to Snyder’s 300 than Nolan’s The Dark Knight -- but that is not the case.
Based on descriptions of the 22 minutes of Watchmen footage that was screened to the press a few weeks ago and what follows, I think people will be in for a surprise.
We recently showed you a bunch of new Watchmen websites, and the latest one is TheNewFrontiersman.net. I described as similar to the Joker viral site WhySoSerious.com in it’s dingy and tattered look. It shows the contents of an open file folder with images that look like these:
The Minutemen from Watchmen
Masked adventurer Mothman being ‘admitted’ to a mental hospital
NYPD incident report for the murder of The Silhouette
Dr Manhattan photographs Neil Armstrong on the occasion of the Apollo moon landings
And if that isn’t enough, check out this video capture from the NBS Nightly News with Ted Philips, March 11th 1970:
Now THAT is pretty freaking sweet. 
I think that what will really make the movie impact the viewer will be the feeling of believing these superheroes actually exist in the our world… which will make them seem all that much more fantastic.
Watchmen opens on March 6, 2009.
Image source: Flikr
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26 Comments
i don’t think watchmen won’t be that good but i hope it is a good movie.
i feel that watchmen won’t be that good. but i hope its a good movie
This is a movie I have been waiting for for a long time.
I always liked the Xmen characters and such Marvel fare but Watchmen was a turning point for me in comics and just literature in general.
To date, it is the only “comic” that has made me reflect on my own life and choices that I have made.
Wow, that statement is kinda spooky!
Anyway, I am sure it will be a great flick.
Cheers!
It will be as realistic as TDK for the “real world” setting and I am looking forward to this movie very much..my most anticipated for next year…
yes, Batman felt real and serious enough
and WOW that news bulletin was awesome, I really believed it was authentic at first
No way! Watchmen even in the best of hands is too fantastic. I could never believe it could occur in my life. TDK, however, they did that so well that I believe it could happen in my life–that I could turn around one night and see some dude in a funky cape getup speeding by on a batpod. Never will I ever see a blue naked guy fighting America’s wars.
Ok, that video WAS pretty freakin’ sweet! XD
Batman Begins and (especially) The Dark Knight are the superior superhero films in regards to the cinematic war between realism and escapism. If Zack Snyder’s Watchmen indeed takes superhero realism to a whole other level, I’ll include it on my list of movies to go see in 2009.
Thats awsome!! I allways knew that a superhero movie could be done really realistic more than what we’ve seen. Nolans Batman is realistic but i’ve been upset at the fact that he wants to keep away from the “superpowers”. Just because you want to make it realistic doesn’t mean you have to have no super powers. It can still be shown very realistic. Now I hope Nolan considers it and make his Batman go into the rest of the DC movie world. I could so see him using villians with powers in his films,
like Man-bat or someone. My theory is that Batman is the first hero, the world is realistic, and when superman shows up the world isn’t normal anymore and bruce gets a idea of what its all about and it would be very mortifying for him, and the rest of the world.
I can’t believe how much effort they’re putting into this movie. It’s giving me all sorts of ideas for when I become a film director and all the different things i can do. Hope this movie doesn’t suck.
I did not realize how much was put into directing.
Hot damn! This movie is gonna be awesome. Final analysis.
re: Watchmen Will Trump The Dark Knight In Realism
Yeah, and they’re STILL managing to keep the comics suits. Or at least suits that LOOK like the comics suits (sans maybe Ozymandias, but even his is better than some of the Batman suits, nipples and all lol), while all the Batman films, including “the impeccable TDK” have had suits that are a major departure from the comics – this just again proves that it’s done for no other reason than to be stylistic. Go figure.
Oh, and let me add to that that there’s a god like character that has god like powers in the film along with many other extraordinary, sci fi-ish events. And the film will still be more realism grounded than BB & TDK. Hopefully this will change some of that “logic” that Superman, GL, The Flash, etc can’t be done just as realistic as Batman.
Oh, and GREAT post, BTW, Vic.
The Watchmen graphic novel defined “realism” in comic books and almost every writer of comic books during this period(and the time since the 80’s) have tried to copy it’s realism and bring all superheroes into a more realistic world..It has revolutionized the genre and it’s effect can still be seen in comics written today..I have said it before and I will say it again, that if Watchmen was not written (along side Miller’s Batman/Daredevil books) then the comic books genre would not be what it is today on film or artistically/story line…
I think it made the comic bool industry grow up and stop marketing these books to just kids and bring it into the mainstream so these stories could appeal to adults more so than kids..
I am sure it will be a good movie ,
But a physicist with blue skin and god like powers is considered REALISTIC?
I can’t stand the fact that despite being based in the 1970s, Ozymandias and Nite-Owl have costumes from the present day = not realistic.
ben = james?
I hope this is the best movie of the year.
@Gary
Remember… “realism” is an artistic style depicting subjects as they appear in everyday life while “realistic” is an adjective meaning an accurate representation.
Vic
Vic ,I see what you are saying.
I guess I prefer the realistic or the accurate reprsentation to the artistic style of realism .
But I am more then willing to become one of the converted once I see the film.
I’m really looking forward to the movie…but not it will not trump The Dark Knight in realism and yes I know the difference between realism and realistic. Even in the setting of the Watchmen movie Rorschach should not be able to leap up into that window the way he did in the trailer. He is after all even in the context of that film the Batman of that world, so he should at least be “realistic” among all the “realism”
All that being said I’m very much looking forward to the film, even more so with having an IMAX near me now…going to see The Dark Knight tomorrow night again on IMAX
looks like an awesome movie. who knows it could top TDK in realism it might not i dont care i just know that TDK was one of my all-time favorite movies of 2008 and watchmen will probably be one of my favorites of 2009 based on what ive seen so far
@Arrell – most of the clothes being worn today are copies of clothes that ere were in fashion when I was a teenager in the 70s. So the costume thing is not that unlikely.
TDK was 70s cinema version of realism which I’ve never been fond of. I hope Watchmen does a more modern version of realism.
@darkbhudda
Well considering that Watchmen takes place in the 70s (and I think early 80s), you might not get your wish.
Vic
I can’t wait to watch watman movie. Also, TDK is memorizing for decades to come unlike watchman movie—-therefore, it will be awesome but not surpass dark knight.
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