Oh, I see. Yeah, I guess the same stuff superficially appears to happen!
Anyway, I would suggest dialogue. More character interaction. More scenes that are just good CINEMATICALLY and not good because you recognize it from the novel. More scenes where not only are people talking, but perhaps a bit of what the movie is, you know, ABOUT is conveyed to the viewer, because Watchmen is definitely ABOUT something, but you'd never know from the trailer. There was this tone that the world was building up to something throughout the novel and they didn't even bother to go after it in the trailer.
Say instead of having a random montage of superheroes looking cool shots, they started with panning over the city or something, and having a bit of dialogue that is maybe a bit telling of the situation or the tone of the setting, because god knows there's enough of it throughout the novel that they could've found a clip. Maybe show the Comedian getting tossed out the window, and cut to bits of Rorschach doing his thing, trying to investigate and find out who did it, maybe have a voiceover from him playing in the background, letting the viewer know how bitter and jaded he is about things. How much contempt he feels for the CITY OF SIN (heh,,.heh...) around him. Then they should show some of the friction and tension that's going on between the heroes and the general public/government, because that's definitely something that they could've touched on in a better fashion. Show Dr Manhattan, maybe how he was created, and more importantly than HIM KISSING SOMEONE or blowing some Charlie up, I would say show the bit where it is like "God exists, and he's an American" since I felt that was sort of exemplary of the ways in which the government used him. I would also say show other characters and maybe a bit of action, but it was a long trailer (longer than most, and more than long enough to do something good with), and I don't think I need to go over it POINT BY POINT, but yeah do that and fill the rest of the time with Nite Owl and Silk Spectre and their dynamic, and maybe instead of beginning with panning over the city, they could show a little background on how the current SUPERHERO CLIMATE came to be, with how the first people started wearing costumes and fighting crime and such a generation earlier.
I don't know man, I'm not a FILMMAKER, but they chose all the wrong shit to show basically.
Actually since this is coming out in like a whole nother year, I thought this was just like EARLY TRAILER #1, and they will make a second trailer more expanded later like they usually do. I was under the impression this was just a trailer to get the hype ball going and get people asking questions and give an excuse to make the Watchmen novel cost 25$.
so they just happen to have a bunch of fly action scenes made and none of substance whatsoever? I don't think they just happened to shoot it in a way that all the silly stuff was done when it came time for the trailer, but none of the scenes where people talk, interact, mood is set, and so on. Also note who is directing it, and remember that even from the earliest trailer, 300 looked exactly like what it ended up being. I don't think movies like this, from people like this, just come out radically different from the trailers. Like I said, he's a bit of a hack.
Also I kind of think if you are the type to see such a ridiculous trailer and be like gmmmm im intrigued....tell me more about this "watchmen" when it is honestly just EYE CANDY then you are not really a good judge of whether it was a worthwhile trailer to begin with.