> >The reason is obvious: while adaptations don't have to be and shouldn't be an exact duplicate of the original material, it's annoying when a movie seems to ignore the *spirit* of the original work. It usually ends up seeming like some producers just wanted to make a quick buck and decided the easiest way to do that would be to license something with an existing fanbase.
>
> I'd just like to point out that you're assuming the spirit of the original work was ignored based on about three minute's worth of trailers with edits every five seconds and very little dialogue.

You're completely right; I tried to make this point in my post but perhaps I wasn't clear. Trailers are often poor representations of the final product ("Dark City," one of my favorite movies, had one of the worst and most confusing advertising campaigns I could imagine). Few people would be happier than me if the actual movie turned out to be in the spirit of the comic books. But... I dunno. Even if we can't get much a sense for any individual scenes, the tone still seems completely off.

I have a little hope. I was excited when I read about the movie going into production. James Robinson wrote the screenplay, and he was responsible for the most recent run of "Starman" which was an amazingly hip and intelligent superhero story (about a guy who wasn't really a superhero). The director is Stephen Norrington, whose "Blade" was a great comic book film, full of style and wit. Unfortunately, the trailer really makes "League" look like a Blade/Matrix knock-off, which would be a butchering of the source material.

> (I'm also reminded of the legion of comic book fans who where incensed that Michael Keaton was going to play Batman. When the movie came out, he didn't stink on ice counter to fanboy predictions.)

Well, come on! Michael Keaton? Who would've guessed he wouldn't suck? If I had told you that Michael Keaton would be better at Batman than Val Kilmer before you saw the movies, would you have believed me?

Oh, but I was totally right about Clooney sucking. Ditto for Arnie as Freeze.

> The only thing I didn't like about the trailers is the movie makers apparently think that "extraordinary" begins with the letter "X".

Yet another sign the movie is in trouble when the marketing campaign has sunk to such a low. Ugh. What bugs me is that it would be relatively easy to do a really cool campaign based around the story: what would a movie trailer look like for a movie released in 1898? I could imagine a very clever trailer playing with the style of late-Victorian advertising found throughout the comics. Heck, even one that really accentuates who the characters *are* would be better than the action-mishmash of the current trailer.

Stephen