As I wrote in Dial H for History last month, one of my biggest concerns about the Watchmen film was that it played like a typical action-laden superhero film. However, Japan’s trailer for the new film now posted on Trailer Addict makes me wonder about my earlier assertion.
For those of your keeping score, we not only saw Richard Nixon in this trailer, but also witnessed Fidel Castro and the Kennedy assassination — as well as the revelation of the mysterious second shooter on the grassy knoll. Hint: Lee Harvey Oswald has nothing on this embodiment of the American Dream. But if the political undertones are as heavy as in the trailers, this might very well be a deeper film than we ever expected from Zack Snyder.
January 7th, 2009 at 2:39 pm
Wow! Looks even better. I’m glad he is including many layers.
January 7th, 2009 at 4:40 pm
With all the talk about not having enough time to include everything from the book, I’m surprised to see elaboration on stuff that was only hinted at or insinuated.
January 7th, 2009 at 4:44 pm
here’s also a new very cool segment featuring the Minutemen! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YHFAds4Wnds&fmt=18
January 7th, 2009 at 6:36 pm
What looked like a fantastic superhero movie now looks to be a fantastic movie. Period.
Sure hope it comes out when/as planned.
January 8th, 2009 at 12:08 am
Who is killing heroes?
BEAR IS KILLING HEROES!
HOW CAN THIS BE?
January 8th, 2009 at 12:22 am
“Lee Harvey Oswald has nothing on this embodiment of the American Dream.”
It’s character assassination on a national scale to refer to the Comedian in that way, and, even for alternate-reality fiction, Moore’s book is despicable — and, it must be said, the very opposite of ground-breaking and courageous — in the way that it conforms to the myth that JFK was the victim of, as Supreme Court Chief Justice Earl Warren put it, “the hatred and bitterness that has been injected into the life of our nation by bigots.”
Lee Harvey Oswald was a Communist who killed Kennedy because of his opposition to the Castro regime. Period. Full stop.
Efforts to indict America and its culture for the Kennedy assassination are only slightly less repulsive than the theory that the Holocaust is a fraud perpetuated by Zionists. In both cases, the victim is assaulted twice, first by the crime itself and then by the wrongful accusation of being the guilty party.
But, by all means, let’s discuss the “deep” political commentary found in Watchmen.
January 8th, 2009 at 5:08 am
@AuH20 -
The fictional America of Watchmen is obviously a much darker place that the real America. Nixon got in for a third term, need I say more?
January 8th, 2009 at 11:30 am
@AuH20 -
“Full stop.” HAHAHAHAHA
Have you ever actually watched the footage of the Kennedy getting shot? Back and to the left. Physics trump your anti-lock breaks.
January 8th, 2009 at 12:28 pm
AuH20, do you not understand the concept of an ‘alternate history’ or do you think Alan Moore genuinely believes a costumed American superhero assassinated JFK?
Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve just finished reading ‘Man in the High Castle’ and I’m off to find a Philip K. Dick message board so I can castigate the man for being a Nazi supporter.
January 8th, 2009 at 12:35 pm
And for the record, since when was Watchmen a political commentary? It comments on superheroes and comics, morality and idealism. Mostly it tells a good story with well realised characters. If you were trying to read it as political commentary then more fool you.
January 9th, 2009 at 2:14 pm
@AuH20 is reading the wrong comic. Look no further than 100 Bullets to learn that the actual killer of JFK was Joe DiMaggio. Duh.
January 10th, 2009 at 12:34 am
Wasn’t JFK a suicide? Wasn’t he killed by time agents from the future to prevent the holocaust of ‘65? Isn’t Watchmen a comic book?
PS: Psyched for the film.
January 11th, 2009 at 1:51 am
AuH2O: The bottom line is that this is a film based on a comic book. It might be a terrible film, it might be a great film, in all likelihood it’ll fall somewhere in between. I felt the Watchmen was an incredible comic, mostly because it did things that hadn’t been done before and managed symbolism to a degree rarely realized in any medium. Your mileage may vary.
Complaining because either doesn’t mesh with your idiosyncratic world view neither contributes to the discussion nor offers new insights. It just comes off as somewhat pathetic and intellectually stilted. Acting as if somehow your opinion ought to carry unquestioned weight says more about your level of confidence than the level of your argument.
P.S. Drop the Goldwater reference, kid. Your rhetoric just tarnishes his name.