Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Watchmen Movie Designs: Schumacher Would Be Proud

So, the Watchmen movie character photos have been released. Was there anyone out there who wasn't scared from the odd parallels to Schumacher's Batman movies?

I mean we do have it all:

-Plastic domino masks with black painted eye shadow underneath for that extra 'brooding avenger of the night' feel



-Anatomically impossible fake kevlar abs chiseled on the costume



-Ill-fitting masks that just look ridiculous



-- and of course... NIPPLES, shaped on the costume


Effing up the Watchmen designs for the screen must have really taken some effort. These are super-heroes who were dressed in actual fabrics instead of spandex! It takes some imagination to get from A to B in this fashion.

Ozymandias
is the worst example. A fairly simple and elegant costume, turned into a malformed muscle-freak. The sheer width of the chest and shoulders compared to the actor's puny neck and head looks ridiculous. Could we cover it up with some fabric please?

And then you have Nite-Owl. Supposed to be an out-of-form super-hero getting back on the game, Dan was never supposed to be Batman, he had a belly and a lot of extra pounds on him when he put the costume back on. He looked somewhat sad in it, and that was precisely the point. Now we get a different kind of sad, a sad attempt to copy the Batman costume, with a nod to Dr Mid-Nite. Thankfully Warner owns all of the above characters so at least they don't have to fear any lawsuits.

The Comedian and Rorschach are the only ones who look decent, but then a fedora and trenchcoat are even hard to screw up. Fearfully waiting the first look at Smurfy-blue Dr Manhattan for final verdict now.

Seems to me they're more interested in selling action figures to kids than making a worthwhile adaptation of the most famous and beloved super-hero story. It's a shame. If we don't see some worthwhile changes in the next releases, I'm giving this movie a miss, and I'm predicting a flop the size of Schumacher's Batman & Robin.

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