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The Main Characters
--The Watchmen are a group of vigilante heroes living in a world of strife and chaos and a world where super-heroes are condemned by society. They include Rorschach (Jackie Earle Haley), The Comedian (Jeffrey Dean Morgan), Night Owl (Patrick Wilson), Dr. Manhattan (Billy Crudup), Silk Spectre (Malin Akerman), and Ozymandias (Matthew Goode).
The Setting
This takes place in a dystopian New York City in the year 1985 where Richard Nixon is still in charge and super-heroes have been outlawed as vigilantes.
The Film (3:06:13)
The joy of post-war America and its many colorful super-heroes (The Minutemen) gave way to the McCartyism paranoia of the 1950’s. Things just got worse as the 1960’s saw the US president assassinated and US fear of the Russians escalate. Throw in Vietnam and you have a really messy situation. Our history takes a slight turn from this one as Richard Nixon is elected to a third term and the US was on really rocky ground thanks to the presence of the Russians. Nixon is basically the perennial ruler of the US (as he’s in his fifth term by this point) and he’s forced out all super-heroes in a law called the Reed act. When former hero, The Comedian, is killed, things really start heading for a fever pitch. The Comedian was a member of the hero group The Watchmen. He was a human special ops soldier and was joined by Rorschach (a human with serious mental problems), Night Owl (a Batman type knock-off), Silk Spectre (a super-powered second generation heroine), Ozymandias (a super-intelligent human) and Doctor Manhattan (a human who got his powers from a radiation accident who is now omnipotent. Rorschach takes a special interest in his former ally’s death. He just knows something is up and goes to his former teammates, starting with Nite Owl. This begins a massive hunt for who is behind this and it goes much deeper than Nite Owl, Silk Spectre, Dr. Manhattan and Rorschach could even imagine. As the world stands on the brink of nuclear war and certain destruction, what chance to vigilante super-heroes each with their own failings have in saving anyone?
Movie Review
Director Zack Snyder went through every means possible to create a movie that was as true to the comic book as possible, just like he did with 300 and what was done with Sin City. I have read the 12-issue mini-series a few years ago and from what I remember, he did a pretty good job. The film opens with the death of the Comedian (as it should) and follows with an awesome title sequence done to Bob Dylan’s, “The Times They Are A’Changing.” In fact, the music that is used throughout the film was perfect. Every song conveyed the emotion of that particular scene and I can’t remember a better use of music in film in the past few years. Like I mentioned before, this stays very true to the comic book (except for the altered ending which I actually liked better). I like how loyal it stays to the book but I don’t know if that means it will have a wide appeal to non-comic book readers. The film didn’t perform that well in the box office (a little over $100 million in the US) and that may be because of the long run-time. I haven’t seen the original film but I know it ran about 2 hours 30 minutes. Does the extended edition make the film any better? Well, I can’t answer that. All I know is that you have one of the most faithful representations of a comic book this side of Sin City. It’s not a great film (I thought it had some pacing issues) but it is certainly one that all comic book fans will appreciate. It isn’t the type of comic book film that will appeal to a mass audience in the way that Spider-Man would since it is a lot darker and at times a bit harder to follow. I’d call it a great representation that a loyal fan would love but not one that works as a crossover film to appeal to all.
DVD Features
A) Extras
All the extras are housed on Disc Two.
1) The Phenomenon: The Comic That Changed Comics (28:45)
Member of the cast start this off with comments about the graphic novel and how influential it is. Gerard Way of My Chemical Romance talks up the original comic book maxi-series as well. It’s one of the most influential and well-regarded comic stories of all time. Dave Gibbons talks about the early origins of the mini-series and how the Charleston heroes were to be used. Dave and writer Alan Moore worked together, with some guy comparing them to Lennon/McCartney. That may be going a bit too far. We see clips of the Motion Comic that looks pretty cool. It ends with a short segment on the film being made.
2) Watchmen: Video Journals
---A) The Minutemen (3:36)
This takes a look at the original masked vigilantes of the Watchmen world, the Minutemen from the 30’s.
---B) Sets and Sensibility (3:57)
This is a look at the different sets used in the film. There were tons of sets used here and they definitely nailed the look from the comic.
---C) Dressed for Success (3:06)
As you can tell from the title, this is about the costumes.
---D) The Ship Has Eyes (4:22)
This is a really cool look at the ship of Nite Owl.
---E) Dave Gibbons (3:24)
Dave Gibbons is the seminal artist of Watchmen and the only one who helped create it who would partake in this film. Alan Moore is a recluse when it comes to his work making it to the big screen.
---F) Burn Baby Burn (2:15)
This details one of the stunts where a guy is set on fire. I wouldn’t want to be that guy.
---G) Shoot To Thrill (3:17)
This talks about shooting the film and Zack used one camera for the film.
---H) Blue Monday (3:02)
Now who in the film is blue? That’s what this video journal talks about.
---I) Attention To Detail (2:55)
We look at some of the more minute details from the comic book that made it into the feature film.
---J) Girls Kick Ass (3:06)
Here we take a glance at the two Silk Spectre’s.
---K) Rorschach’s Mask (3:46)
This one is pretty self explanatory.
3) My Chemical Romance – Desolation Row Music Video (3:15)
This was the music video for the movie. It’s a decent rocking number that reminds me a bit of the Sex Pistols. This is just a by the numbers punk-rock song complete with a pretty simple guitar solo, the angst-ridden lyrics and power chords. There are no clips of the movie, either.
B) Audio/Video
The audio here is presented in Dolby Digital and the video is shown in widescreen. Although the specs are not on the box it looks like 1.85:1.
C) Packaging / Liner Notes
This is housed in an awesome slip case, complete with almost holographic cover. It is a cover that really pops. There are three inserts included; one with instructions on using the Digital Copy, one with Watchmen merchandise (the graphic novel and the video game) and one that allows you to get a coupon for $10 off the Ultimate Watchmen Collector’s Edition that is being released in December of 2009. Well crap, if I knew that I wouldn’t have bought this! It is a 5-disc set with a new cut of the film (the director’s cut with Tales of the Black Freighter thrown in), commentary, and the complete motion comics.
D) Easter Eggs
None
Overall Review
We have some previews/commercials to start this collection off. We have a commercial for Blu-Ray (something I will pick up when the devices get under $100) that runs 1:42, and 4:14 worth of previews packaged into one (an anti-smoking ad, Observe and Report, a Watchmen online App, and the Watchmen video game). Incredibly, previews start off Disc Two as well. It’s one long preview that includes (Fringe, which recorded part of an episode literally up the street from me, Trick R’Treat, Watchmen Soundtrack, Score and Picture Disc, and Green Lantern First Flight). I am kind of torn in how to rate this DVD. As a comic fan I really enjoyed the film. As a fan of DVD’s I thought the collection fell way short. I understand that they are keeping everything for the big 5-disc collection coming out at the end of the year for the holiday season. Due to the lack of great content (I was hoping they’d include the motion comic or even a commentary) I have to go with a thumbs in the middle here.
Overall Rating
6.0
10.0 Perfect
9.0-9.5 Near Perfect, Highly Recommended
8.0-8.5 Really good disc, Recommended
7.0-7.5 Good DVD, Mildly recommended
6.0-6.5 Above Average DVD. Mildest of mild recommendations
5.0-5.5 Decent all around disc, but catch it on TV
4.0-4.5 Great Movie but horrible DVD
3.0-3.5 Horrible movie but great DVD
2.0-2.5 There’s at least some merit to this DVD, but not much.
1.0-1.5 Horrible DVD, don’t even bother
0.0-0.5 Worst DVD ever
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