Yesterday, Empire Online released exclusive portraits from Watchmen (tread carefully, those who fear minor spoilers). As with every promotional release from the studio, these photos prove two things: firstly, that the movie is being made with obsessive care to spirit of the graphic novel; and secondly, that the filmmakers are working from a vision that is uniquely their own. It is a necessary but dangerous dichotomy; even I am afraid to praise appearances too highly until I’ve had the chance to see the movie and shake my fist furiously at the changes I don’t like.
Sometimes, those two principles exist in harmony and you get Rorschach, whose costume is so perfect he looks almost disconcertingly like an illustration out of the novel, from the curve of his coat collar to his hat band.
Sometimes, those two principles diverge, and Nite Owl ends up covered in submarine hull and mesh, peering out of the frame like George Clooney’s Batman on a steampunk bender.
I won’t talk smack about Matthew Goode as Veidt, since I have more faith in Goode’s acting than I do in his jawline, and I feel like he’ll be able to pull it off at the last second. (Don’t make a liar out of me, Goode.) However, am I the only one who has growing concerns about Billy Crudup? Considering that Jeffrey Dean Morgan seems poised to turn in the most compelling, sandpaper-abrasive performance of the film, Dr. Manhattan will have to work just to hold his own. On the other hand, a certain stiff distance is necessary for the role; maybe Crudup will, to some degree, simply be playing himself?
No matter how it turns out, though, these pictures prove Crudup didn’t have the worst of it: at least he’s not in thigh-high PVC garters, which is more than some of them can say. Ackerman, I’m looking at you.
VIEW ALL BY · Friday January 30, 2009 11:05am EST
The picture of the Silk Spectre is better than that first one where she had the bangs that didn't move and you could tell it was a wig. I think there's also something to the PVC look. I don't love it, but it makes as much sense as Laurie's other costume and it has its own sex appeal, which is arguable Laurie's only real source of power
The only thing that concerns me is that in giving her a costume that is more powerfully sexy than the blousy number in comics they are seeking to "legitimize" the heroes. The point of the graphic novel is that it's ridiculous for real people to dress up and play hero. The Minute Men should look ridiculous, not quasi-bad-ass the way they've made Nite Owl up. They should look like cliches and hyperexaggerations of masculinity (Rorscach; the Comedian). They shouldn't look cool, not objectively. The should look like what they are--desperate, not a little bit silly (OMG Silk Spectre's heels, wtf?), juvenile (Ozymandias, wow). If they've "improved" the costumes to make the point that even when you look bad-ass you're still pretty pathetic, that's fine, and that's a powerful statement of its own. I just hope they're not going to ignore the inherent patheticness of these heroes.
VIEW ALL BY · Friday January 30, 2009 11:09am EST
VIEW ALL BY · Friday January 30, 2009 12:22pm EST
And yes to both comments; the sleeker costumes might just be a reflection of the more "realistic" trend in costumed-superhero movies overall (as in Batman Begins and Iron Man), or it could be an attempt to make the Watchmen genuinely badass, which...might not be such a good idea.
VIEW ALL BY · Friday January 30, 2009 04:09pm EST
Or probably not, but I need to believe on this one. It's the only way to explain the PVC and a 100-lb-featherweight Ozy.
I don't think Crudup is terrible as an actor, though I'm not necessarily a fan. As long as he's going to be CGI and not just painted blue, he can be as lifeless as it comes, which is sometimes the point. I worry more about Patrick Wilson as Nite Owl. (Rorschach looks great and is played by a fairly awesome actor, so I think he's good, and they're the two I worry most about because I like them best, so neiner neiner rest of the Minute Men!)
VIEW ALL BY · Friday January 30, 2009 09:16pm EST
VIEW ALL BY · Friday January 30, 2009 11:25pm EST
Also, where is the smiley button on Comedian? Details, people!
VIEW ALL BY · Saturday January 31, 2009 07:41am EST
The sort of silly long-underwear costume designs and unremarkable physiques many of us wanted to see *are* being done with the 40s era characters. The 80s heroes are (I think) cleverly redesigned for an audience that has come to superheroes through film rather than comics: women's fetishwear, sculpted muscle-suits, prominent codpieces, and nipple studded chestplates in all their hyper-sexualized idiocy. I think this is just as funny and even more appropriately pathetic given some of the sexual undertones of the story.