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List Price: $35.99 | | Label: Warner Home Video
Salesrank: 253
Released: July 21, 2009 |
| Our Price: $14.40 |
| Used Price: $12.57 |
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MPAA Rating: R (Restricted)
Media: Blu-ray |
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Editorial Review:
Studio: Warner Home Video Release Date: 07/21/2009 Run time: 128 minutes Rating: R
Description of Watchmen (Director's Cut + BD-Live) [Blu-ray]:
Everybody's favorite graphic novel comes to the screen (after years of rumors and false starts), less a roaring work of adaptation than a respectful and faithful take on a radical original. Watchmen is set in the mid-1980s, a time of increased nuclear tension between the United States and the Soviet Union, as Richard Nixon is enjoying his fifth term as president and the world's superheroes have been forcibly retired. (As you can probably tell, the mix of authentic history and alternate reality is heady.) Things begin with a bang: the mysterious high-rise murder of the Comedian (Jeffrey Dean Morgan), a masked hero with a checkered past, puts the rest of the retired superhero community on alert. The credits sequence, a series of tableaux that wittily catches us up on crime-fighting backstory, actually turns out to be the high point of the movie. Thereafter we meet the other caped and hooded avengers: the furious Rorschach (Jackie Earle Haley), the inexplicably naked Dr. Manhattan (Billy Crudup, amidst much blue-skinned, genital-swinging digital work), Silk Spectre II (Malin Akerman), Nite Owl II (Patrick Wilson), and Ozymandias (Matthew Goode). The corkscrewing storytelling, which worked well in the comic book, gives the movie the strange sense of never quite getting in gear, even as some of the episodes are arresting. Director Zack Snyder (300) doesn't try to approximate the electric impact of the original (written by Alan Moore--who declined to be credited on the movie--and illustrated by Dave Gibbons) but retains careful fidelity to his source material. That doesn't feel right, even with the generally enjoyable roll-out of anecdotes. Even less forgivable is the blah acting, excepting Jeffrey Dean Morgan (lusty) and Patrick Wilson (mellow). Watchmen certainly fills the eyes, although less so the ears: the song choices are regrettable, especially during an embarrassing mid-air coupling between Nite Owl II and Silk Spectre II as they unite their--ah--Roman numerals. In the end it feels as though a huge work of transcription has been successfully completed, which isn't the same as making a full-blooded movie experience. --Robert Horton
Also on the Blu-ray disc
The extended director's cut restores 24 minutes of connective tissue to the 162-minute film, most significantly the last scene of Hollis Mason, the first Nite Owl. Other elements help restore and fill in details that had been in the graphic novel. Fans of the film will be glad for the extra footage but there's nothing momentous that will change anyone's basic like or dislike of the film.
By far the most interesting Blu-ray feature (in addition to the great picture and DTS-HD Master Audio sound) is the Maximum Movie Mode, which incorporates several features into the viewing experience. Director Zack Snyder periodically appears on screen in front of two large monitors, one continuing to play the movie and the other displaying special-effects shots or scenes from the graphic novel. Snyder talks about how he shot the film and points out details in a variety of scenes: the opening with the Comedian, Dr. Manhattan's lab, the Nite Owl ship, Mars, Antarctica, and the ending (and why it was changed for the movie). This feature is much more interesting than an audio commentary or a standard picture-in-picture commentary so it'd be nice if it had been done for more scenes. Also appearing in Maximum Movie Mode is a timeline contrasting events in the Watchmen world with the "real world," occasional picture-in-picture comments by cast and crew, still galleries, and a series of 11 "focus points" that allow you to exit the film to watch these three-minute featurettes (sets, costumes, the Minutemen, etc.). Worthy of mention is how easy the Maximum Movie Mode material is to find: Snyder's footage and the focus points are very visible (even in fast-forward), and you can also access the focus points directly from the main menu.
The second disc has three documentaries. The first, "The Phenomenon: The Comic That Changed Comics," 29 min.), looks at the original graphic novel and its themes, and interviews artist Dave Gibbons, DC Comics executives Jenette Kahn and Paul Levitz, and cast and crew, illustrating its points with scenes from the movie, panels from the graphic novel, and parts of the motion comic. The next two are only on the Blu-ray disc but are less interesting and of varying relevance to the movie. "Real Superheroes, Real Vigilantes" (26 min.) examines real-life vigilantes including the Guardian Angels and New York subway gunman Bernard Goetz and compares them to Rorschach. "Mechanics: Technologies of a Future World" (17 min.) spotlights a physicist who served as a consultant on the movie. He talks about his experiences then discusses whether elements from the movie, such as Dr. Manhattan, the Owl Ship, and Rorschach's mask could really work. There's also My Chemical Romance's "Desolation Row" music video , and BD-Live offers even more making-of material. A third disc with a Digital Copy of the film (compatible with both iTunes and Windows Media; download code expires July 21, 2010) was included with early shipments of the Blu-ray disc but is no longer available. --David Horiuchi
Watchmen (Director's Cut + BD-Live) [Blu-ray] Reviews:
Songs 
2009-12-10 - The song choices for this movie were spot on perfect. Placed the scenes in the right moment of time.
Fans will enjoy 
2009-12-10 - My friends and family hate this movie. It may be an acquired taste. I enjoyed repeat viewing of this film. Great PQ & AQ.
Just loved it
2009-12-07 - SPOILERS BELOW.
I just loved this movie. Bear in mind that I usually do not like movies like Transformers, 2012, the Michael Bay ones, Con Air, Mission Impossible (the second part is the worst of all) stuff like that. Also, I also go for comic adaptations with suspicious. But, after "IRON MAN", I thought they could really work.
I was in the middle of part five of the graphic novel (yes, that's a sin, never read it before), when I watched the movie. I don't know if it was the good mood I was in the day, whatever, but the movie got me by the opening sequence and I never got bored or disappointed. I just loved it, every single bit of it (and, like it semms to be the case with many fans, Roscharch was my favorite character.
First, up until I had read the novel, I thought it was a faithful adaptation. Second, the cinematography was spectacular. Casting and costume design were on the spot, it was like the comics were alive. And, thankfuly, the editing was great. You could see the fights, see what's happening, instead of these modern lightning-cut editing tha people seem to enjoy today.
The adpaptation was clearly handled with care and affection by people involved; However, I can understand some negative points mentioned by some reviewers. We must remember director Snyder was behind cameras in DAWN OF THE DEAD and 300 (which I did not like at all). So, he clearly enjoys some gore. But, overall, given the lenght of the movie and the potential scenes to use graphical gore, he kept his instincts at bay... He only goes for it with full throttle in the scene when Roscharch kills the raper. Also, thre is Dr. Manhattan pulverizing Vietnamese people, The Comedian killing a pregnant woman,the overall annihilation of a number of cities around the world. But these last ones are done without so much graphic description. And, remember: the scenes (or at least the idea) ARE in the comics!
Like I said, I loved this movie.
I'm truly shocked at how much I liked this
2009-12-07 - I am a huge fan of Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons's astonishing masterpiece and had been really upset about learning that the comic to end all comics was being made into a movie. I had hoped that if it was going to be made at all, it would be as the miniseries that Terry Gilliam has briefly hoped to make. But a two or three hour movie? How could that take place without becoming a travesty? Then I heard and read all the reviews when the film came out. The film was passionately hated by huge numbers of fans of the book. So I decided to avoid the film. Almost as an afterthought, however, I put the Blu-ray on my Netflix queue. Even after it reached the top of my queue and arrived in my mailbox, for several days I avoided watching it. But when I finally put it on to watch, I was pleasantly -- indeed, very pleasantly -- surprised at how much I enjoyed it. Was it as good as the book? An absurd question. Of course not. Was it a truly great movie? No. But by the standards of today's big budget movies, which are as a rule pretty mediocre affairs, I thought WATCHMEN a very good movie indeed. I think most of the people hating it do so out of a misguided devotion to the book, to an unconscious and mistaken idea that to enjoy the film would somehow be an act of infidelity to the original. I enjoyed the film. I might even put it on the list of the ten best superhero movies I've ever seen. It may not be a masterpiece like the book, but that doesn't mean that it isn't a good film in its own right.
The film begins spectacularly and thereafter slows down a bit, even dragging a bit at the end. But overall the film does a nice job of translating a book into film, despite the conviction that the book was unfilmmable. I had heard the standard critiques of the film, that it left too much of the book out, that too much of it was merely a frame by frame recreation of the book, but while I knew that some parts were missing (I did get a kick out of seeing the kid reading THE TALE OF THE BLACK FREIGHTER by the newsstand), but I personally didn't feel that the missing parts lessened the narrative laid out before us. I loved the look of the film, though it had a great soundtrack (I especially loved the use of bits from Philip Glass's SATYAGRAHA during the Dr. Manhattan back story) and liked that they used Leonard Cohen's version of "Hallelujah" during Nite Owl and Silk Spectre's love scene when most films and TV shows use cover versions). And I especially enjoyed the cast. Jackie Earle Haley was extraordinary as the sociopath Rorschach, Patrick Wilson as the un-masculine Nite Owl, and Malin Akerman as Silk Spectre. There were a couple of misses. Matthew Goode was pretty flat as Adrian Veidt / Ozymandias and Billy Crudup was wasted as Dr. Manhattan, a role that required as little human emotion as possible. I was once again amazed by Jeffrey Dean Morgan, who is one of the most remarkable actors around, a complete chameleon who can play, apparently, any kind of role. In an age where most leading actors tend to play the same kind of role over and over, Morgan has no type. I love actors who can continually surprise you with what they are capable of. He is very fine here as the misanthropic and violent Comedian, the first of the former "masks" to die.
There are many who simply will not allow themselves to do anything but hate and detest this movie. But being objective, I think it was a lot of fun and a very decent movie. Perhaps those who, like me, are huge fans of the book and have been putting off seeing the film because of the bad press are perhaps the group of people who are most likely to enjoy the film I frankly enjoyed this so much that I now plan on buying it.
On a sidenote, if you are, like me, a fan of the TV shows filmed in Vancouver, it is pretty easy to recognize this as a British Columbia product. Once you see people like Allesandro Juliani, Jerry Wasserman, Robert Wisden, Don Thompson, Fulvio Cecere, and Rob LaBelle (all of whom, for example, appeared in BATTLESTAR GALACTICA), you know you are watching a Vancouver production. You almost never see any of these actors in Hollywood productions. But they all show up in shows like THE X-FILES, SMALLVILLE, DARK ANGEL, the STARGATEs, and EUREKA. It is like watching a ensemble theater troupe act out their plays.
Not Your Father's Superhero Movie
2009-11-29 - I could start out with the line from Dave Mason's classic song: "There are no good guys, there are no bad guys, there's only you and me and we just disagree."
Most superhero movies deal with people who are basically moral and upright, where the villains are usually evil, and where the focus is on PG-13 rated action. This movie blurs the distinction between good and evil, where the heroes are no less violent (and in some cases no less murderous) than the villains. The result in fairly nihlistic, that there is really no meaning to everything. In another sense, it is existential, where we create our own meaning.
I am giving this five stars. Why? Because it is a well crafted story. It gives you opportunity to know the characters psychologically rather than the typical two dimensional stereotypes where the emphasis is on the action instead of on the person. (The recent Batman series comes closest to this, with honorable mention to the X-Men Trilogy.) It is a long movie, but that's because it doesn't rush the story.
There were many reasons I could have knocked it down. Some are purely subjective, such as the dark and bleak outlook of the movie. Some are due to feeling this being R-Rated movie with a lot of vile language, too graphic violence, and going all out on the nude scene with Nite Owl and Silk Spectre -- a lot of that seeming gratituous.
This is, as just said, an R-Rated movie. Teenagers don't need to see this movie. Personally, I think they don't need to be exposed to that hopeless a philosophy any more than to the sex and violence. In other words, I long for the days of the Batman TV series. But maybe Silk Spectre I was right -- the future looks darker and the past looks brighter. I just would like to do more to brighten the future.
