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List Price: $34.98 | | Label: Warner Home Video
Salesrank: 1715
Released: July 21, 2009 |
| Our Price: $13.53 |
| Used Price: $11.75 |
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MPAA Rating: R (Restricted)
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
Studio: Warner Home Video Release Date: 07/21/2009 Rating: R
Description of Watchmen: The Director's Cut (Two-Disc Special Edition):
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 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.
The second disc has the documentary "The Phenomenon: The Comic That Changed Comics," 29 min.), which 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. There's also My Chemical Romance's "Desolation Row" music video and the 11 video journals that helped stir up excitement leading up to the theatrical run. No longer available is a Digital Copy of the film (compatible with both iTunes and Windows Media; download code expires July 21, 2010)l. --David Horiuchi
Watchmen: The Director's Cut (Two-Disc Special Edition) Reviews:
I wasn't familiar with the book,still aren't, film is fascinating 
2010-01-02 - I am a fan of the Watchmen movie.
Because I wasn't familiar with the source material , I could watch the film without preconceptions.
I first watched it without the sound on, just the subtitles - this was the Director's Cut.
Sleeping babies can affect your movie watching capabilities. I was able just take in the visual aspect of it - on that basis alone, the film succeeded for me.
Now, after watching the Director's Cut a few more times, I've begun to make more sense of it.
All the actors seem to fit their roles, the world of the movie is believable, effects work well and it is an
offbeat and long movie.
It is very dark and explores failure as a theme, similar to 'The Dark Knight'. Perhaps part of the reason the film got made is good timing - 'The Dark Knight' was very successful and took the superhero movie somewhere else.
I recommend you rent it to see what you think of it - whether you look at the source material is up to you.
If you bought a used copy like I did, you would then have time to watch it again as you felt able to 'take it in' over several viewings ,which is what worked for me.
You could call it a drama with a comic book aspect or vice versa.
I'm glad it got made and that it has caused such intense scrutiny.
I don't plan to read the source material - after all, some of us just want to see the film, not read the book.
Not your average comic 
2009-12-30 - I bought this for my husband for Christmas. We watched it yesterday and I was pleased to see it is not your average comic strip into movie thing. I really enjoyed it and will definitely watch it again and again. Oh, and since my husband is rather particular about comics and movies and such, it bears to mention that HE loved it too. Didn't complain about anything in the movie!! Well done!!
The Kind Of Movie That Reminds Us How Great It Is To Have Eyes
2009-12-30 - It's almost impossible to throw too much praise on The Watchmen. It is one of the 100 best films ever made and the greatest page to screen adaptation done in this century. It's a film for people who enjoy the art of making a great motion picture, it is a pleasure to behold, seeing it is a plain and simple awesome experience. It is also one of those rare examples of a movie actually being better than its original source material, which in itself was a brilliant act of innovation. All that said, The Watchmen also has some nice blue penis shots, and it's hard to go wrong with blue penis scenes. Seriously, though, if there is anything better than seeing The Watchmen for the first time in the big screen, it's seeing it for the first time on Blu-ray. Absolutely and unreservedly recommended to all. A bargain at many times the asking price. If you want to go to Heaven when you die, you'd better buy The Watchmen now, because the end of the world is coming and I hear it's God's favorite flick!
Can people really not see how stupid this is? 
2009-12-28 - I really enjoy THE WATCHMEN comic. I've read it a few times, over the years, since it first appeared. Terry Gilliam was going to direct a film version at one point. THAT would've been interesting. THIS is unbelievably STUPID. As BAD as the film of 300 was, they decided to give the director another stab at a comic book movie. This is absolutely terrible. The original is poking fun at the cliches of superhero comics and criticizing American politics, while still being a fun and challenging comic book. This is simply heavy-handed and dumb. If you think FIGHT CLUB is awesome(!!!!), you will love this film. If, on the other hand, you have had sex a few times and have friends who you actually hang out with, your brain will begin to feel like a Slurpee when all the colored juice is sucked out and only the ice is left. THIS FILM SUCKS.
Snyder: Perhaps the Most Evil of Cinematic Villains
2009-12-20 - Bah-humbug, I say; this film is the worst kind of filth. Hopefully this massacre of an adaptation won't frighten viewers from investing in the graphic novel, which is infinitely more intelligent and rewarding. The problem isn't just the script - which is bland, misogynist, overtly violent and dimwitted - it's the direction. Let's face it: Zack Snyder shouldn't be making movies, he should be making screen-savers. It's over-stylized nonsense, and it detracts from the maturity of the content.
So, in short, by turning Laurie into a self-centered bimbo, adding heaps of unnecessary violence, often hilarious dialog, and a side-splittingly out of place soundtrack, Zack Snyder has managed to turn an intelligent comic book (which is something of a rarity these days) into a moronic popcorn flick which has sold tens of thousands of chain-wallets and wristbands and beanies (which is tragically commonplace). Somehow, this disaster turned into a hit with a strange and decidedly 16-year-old fanbase. Well, you guys can have my copy - I think I'd rather just read it.
Zack, your attempts at sabotaging things that I think are cool have not gone unnoticed. I've got my eye on you, bub, and if you lay one finger on The Dark Knight Returns, well so-help-me-God I will write you the angriest of emails. And don't you forget it.
