Watchmen: Director’s Cut

Filed Under: Film, Reviews | Article Tags : DVD review

By: The Dweeb

DVD Features Video: 2.40:1 Audio: Dolby Digital 5.1,French Dolby Digital 5.1 The Phenomenon: The Comic that Changed Comics Watchmen: Video Journals My Chemical Romance Desolation Row Includes Digital Copy of Watchmen For Portable Media Players Theatrical release: 3/06/2009 DVD released on 7/21/2009 by Warner Bros. Running time of 186 minutes Starring: Carla Gugino, Malin Akerman, Billy Crudup, Patrick Wilson, Matthew Goode, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Jackie Earle Haley Director: Zack Snyder Plot: Someone’s killing our super heroes. The year is 1985 and super heroes have banded together to respond to the murder of one of their own. They soon uncover a sinister plot that puts all of humanity in grave danger. The super heroes fight to stop the impending doom only to find themselves a target for annihilation. But, if our super heroes are gone, who will save us?

This is definitely not your average comic book. No, certainly it transcends the very idea. Although its only a twelve issue run, it is one epic, deep, complex and dark story. So complicated that it took years to finally adapt this monumental material into a film that didn’t last six hours. Certainly, there are some that say that it should not have been made (most notably the original writer himself Alan Moore) because its just way too much to fit on the screen. Zack Snyder, after adapting another graphic novel with much success with 300, took on the challenge to bring us the story of The Watchmen.  Certainly, some material had to be cut but to those of us unfamiliar with the comic we would not notice. There is just so much going on already in here that it will take repeated viewings to take it all in. And now that the director’s cut is out, the story fleshes out even more for us. Be prepared for the long haul, as the film clocks in at 186 minutes, a definite bladder buster. For those of you completely unfamiliar, I would suggest doing some homework and viewing Tales Of The Black Freighter & Under The Hood supplemental DVD first(which should have been included in this disc set if you ask me).

Watchmen is not your younger brother’s spandexed hero’s variety of comic book, at least for the most part. The film, and the comic books, are more about the characters and the world they inhabit than the actual plot, richly detailed and at times visually stunning.  There are still plenty of moments one would expect from a superhero, but here most are like Batman (the exception being Dr. Manhattan) self made everyday people deciding to fight crime in some sort of costume. They are not perfection, they are still human and still adhere to having flaws like everyone else, even the transformed superbeing Dr. Manhattan.  That’s what makes this film so engaging, and Zack manages to explore in great detail what makes each one of them tick and provides enough background information and screen time on each of them throughout the film to get a fuller picture, hence the really long run time. But you won’t seem to notice as its such a richly detailed film you’ll get sucked right in, even though its a really dark film and exceptionally violent. This movie is meant for adults. Seriously! Not one for the kids unless you want to explain why that blue man has no pants on or watching a man get his forearms sawed off among other items to gross to think about.  The film relies more on exposition than spectacle, and when there is some action it gets really intense.

The reason the film, and the comic before it, just resonates with the audience is that this world set in 1985 seems so much like ours, and yet is completely different. The opening sequence sets the tone mixing in historical events with the characters from the film. Its such an interesting look at the what ifs in history creating an alternate history that parallels much of what we are experiencing today, which is sort of an odd coincidence if you think about it considering this was written in 1985. The world The Watchmen inhabit is on the brink of nuclear war, society’s structure is breaking down, the President has overreached his powers, corporatism and corruption are running amok.  The film and the comic both deal with topics that are very much relevant today. Its this connection I think that really clicks with the audience.

Thankfully, just like in 300, this ensemble film is not cast with A list actors who tend to add their own stamp to things in films. This is a cast of fairly unknown people, so we are not distracted by the actors presence as they just blend in and fill the characters shoes. Its hard to pick out a favorite but the two who really stand out for me are both The Comedian (Jeffery Dean Morgan) and Rorschach (Jackie Earle Haley).  Man those two guys probably had the best roles of the movie, both of them are just really pissed at the world. The Comedian is completely off his rocker and to him society, people, his life, and everything is a big joke. While Rorschach thinks along similar lines, he just believes society is in the toilet, and everything to him is in black and white, but mostly black. There is no gray area, although its ironic being that this character goes around breaking peoples faces even though he supposed to be a ‘good’ guy. In this movie, there really is no good guy to begin with, just individuals to take it upon themselves to think they are the ‘good’ guys.

This is of course the DVD version which although has excellent sound and picture, still won’t look as good as its high def cousin. Thankfully, Warner Bros. does not screw the DVD consumer over as much as it could have and includes many of the same features found on the Blu-ray version. Actually I was quite surprised to see this much because lately studios are placing all the goodies in the Blu basket.  The introduction on the history of this graphic novel and impact on comics and films is a great primer to start with. From there is goes into a lengthy breakdown of different aspects of the film, the characters and the production. Its a really well put together disc. Also included is a music video as a promo for the film. What’s a music video? They still have those? Anyways, as I said before it would have been nice to include the Under The Hood featurette as well.

Overall, I think this is an excellent film, even if the comic book thing is not for you. It definitely rises above the genre, as someone said it is the Citizen Kane of the comic book world. I don’t think it will disappoint.

Reviewer’s Opinion: BUY IT!!