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Studio:Paramount Home Entertainment

Director:Zack Snyder

Cast: Carla Gugino, Billy Crudup, Malin Akerman, Patrick Wilson, Jackie Earle Haley

Running Time:162 minutes

Product Description

Carla Gugino, Billy Crudup, Malin Akerman, Patrick Wilson, Jack Earle HaleyDirectors: Zack Snyder

Amazon.co.uk Review

Everybody's favourite graphic novel comes to the screen (after years of rumours 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

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Reviews

- From a 1 star opinion at the cinema to a 5 star revised opinion now that I've accepted the alterations.

Upon the cinematic release of Watchmen there was a scorch mark left along the pavement between my house and my local pictures. But my over excited and joyous expression was quickly replaced by one of pure incredulity by the time I returned home.

Quite a bit of time has now passed and I recently found myself walking past a shelf of DVDs where I happened to glance a copy of Watchmen marked at a reasonanle price. So I decided to give it another go. This time I tried not to focus on the negatives, and instead let myself appreciate the true dedication that went into making this adaption. I was rather shocked to discover that the imense 2 1/2 hours run time passed without my noticing as I was so absorbed in this extremely detailed and faithfully reproduced version of Alan Moore's 1980s New York. The amount of work that has gone into each and every set piece and costume is really quite commendable, and I am only grateful that I decided to take the time to give this film another shot.

The casting is absolutely perfect, with every performer giving their all to bring to life the already vivid characters so beautifully illustrated by Dave Gibbons. The Comedian in particular helped me to feel the frustrating sense of ambivalence required to make you truly appreciate the story. I wanted to hate him and at times I did, but there was always something about him that tricked me into understanding him. Though the fact I just can't help thinking he looks a little like Robert Downy Jr's sexy older brother does go someway to helping with that.

But the faults are still there. I just can not get past the fact that they changed the ending. I completely understand why they did it, the sheer amount of extra story that would have needed telling would have added another hour or so to the film. And I have to admit that when it comes down to it, the message was still the same, I can not fault the actual interpretation. But I was just so looking forward to that giant brain squid! But as I say, the meaning was the same. You want to disagree but in the end I'm sure everyone completely understands where (name removed to avoid spoiler) is coming from - you just can't fault his logic.

So over all I've decided that I do like this film. In fact I think I may even love it. I think with something like this you either have to love it or hate, there isn't really any inbetween. So comic book fans beware, this is not your usual superhero fare. And fans of Moore be wary of the alterations but don't let them spoil your experience.

- Vivid, authentic and memorable

First off, this is a review of this film, not some other version as that should be on another page that is for another version of the film! I haven't seen the 'Director's Cut' so the review is based on what I've seen.
Is it any good on Blu-Ray? Is it worth watching? Yes and Yes.

It was always going to be a signature movie for Blu-Ray. The first scene echoes all that is to come in standards as crisp outlines bedazzle and the special effects excel. This could have been the type of film Blu-Ray was made for.

Despite not being the best film ever the characters are intriguing and different as is the plot that doesn't rush to hammer home it's web of details. You spend enough time with each character to get to know them, there's action that is well choreographed, set pieces that keep you transfixed and plot twists that hit you on the blind side. It's not a superhero movie that compares to Spiderman or Batman, it's tries to be deeper than those. Whether it works or not for you will be for you to decide. Snyder has made a bold statement in his work here, taking a risk by making it so unique that you could love it or hate it. For me as an interpretation it's pretty good and as a film, yeah, it works real well too.

If there was one film I'd prefer to have on Blu-Ray it would be this one. Director's Cut or not.

- Directors Cut Review....Intellectual thrills and blood spills

What a shame that people's frustration has led them to express it on the product review page and while I totally agree with them about being shorted out by the film companies, the swathe of negative star ratings are a drastic misrepresentation of the actual movie, which in reality is one of this years most stunning films. So firstly let me begin by saying that if you are considering buying this then order it from the states to get the directors cut with the added 24 minutes of footage that you wouldn't get in the UK version. The disc is region free so will work on UK players and after exchange rate it wont work out that different to buying here.

THE FILM
This is the story of a band of heroes far from their ideological peak, just as Harvey Dent in the Dark Knight once said, "You can die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain". Rorschach is the psychotic hero on the FBI's top ten most wanted list who reminds me of the Question from the justice league, his high intelligence makes him seem very paranoid but he's right more often than not. NightOwl is interesting as a hero who's completely unconfident while not in costume but gradually gives into temptation to don the costume again to kick some butt to get that confidence back. Ms Jupiter is probably the least intriguing of the group, she basically lives in the shadow of her mother, not the most unique angle. The comedian is the analogy of those power addicted people in the world we know who think they have a passport to do anything they wish and pretty much get away with it. Dr Manhattan is the only real super powered being, with a complete mastery over quantum mechanics that enables him to do virtually anything he pleases, are rare character who has such enlightenment that he bears no connected grounded feeling for such a tiny rock like earth relative to the whole of the universe. He brings in some spiritual perspective, yet another reason why this graphic novel was so beyond other material at the time.

Snyder has excellently transcribed this to screen in my opinion. I can understand why some people have found this film hard to get into, it's a story of parts attempting to be a single movie, you come away remembering it in bits as opposed to a single story. But if the producers had remoulded the story to a more fast-paced film-friendly linear story, imagine the backlash that would have been received by fans of the original series, so really there is no win-win situation for the producers. Overall the strategy to stick with the source material seems like the optimal route, and its great he did, all the witty dialogue remains, the action is brutal and feels even more exciting being well balanced with equal amounts of non action scenes. Imagine if Michael Bay had done this with his own butchered "re-envisioning" (as he did with transformers!)

While many newcomers to the watchmen theme complain that even the theatrical cut of this film was too long, I considered the bigger problem to be slightly jerky cutting, where the film overall comes off as bits and pieces stuck together and not a complete flowing story. This directors cut of the film remedies much of that, its not adding whole 5 minute chunks of story, but virtually a line here and a line there, with the longest single addition probably only lasting about a minute or 2. In fact watching it now after I last saw it in the cinema I could initially barely identify which bits were added, the point is that this is not necessarily essential plot but the extra glue, the film overall is much more cohesive, and a much cleaner idealised version of the film, as a result you wont feel like your watching a film that's 24 minutes longer.

BLURAY QUALITY
The Bluray quality on this is probably some of the best I've seen, particular highlights are Rorschachs cloth mask and Dr Manhattan's skin, both are very vividly textured and a stark reminder of what Bluray can offer that standard definition cannot. Around Dr Manhattan you can see all the particles of dust that are individually illuminated and it really does provide a sense of realism, despite the outrageous blueness. Also noticeable is the detail within Manhattans eyes, a sort of mini light source contained within the eyeball illuminating its surface, something probably unnoticeable on SD. Much of the film is set in dark places, and hence Bluray technology pays off here, everything is clearly defined, no overshadowing or inability to see something important moving. Dark scenes and light scenes are managed just as well and this being quite a colourful film there's plenty of colours to really test the Bluray output spectrum, real eye candy if your TV is good at handling this.

Sound is up to scratch and while some of the songs selected for this film were maybe not of the right mood, a bit too light and happy, they still fit in their own kind of `black-comedy' way. Sound effects are all great and detailed, Nightowl's craft always had my sub resonating the room and the sounds of battle impact were hearty and wholesome.

CONCLUSION
The best comic movie ever made? Quite possibly but I know that would not hold true with everyone and that's understandable given the interwoven non linear story style involved here. The heroes aren't fighting the straightforward evil that batman or the Xmen would fight, in fact the total lack of an arch-villain here is a testament to how unique this comic is. It's a sublime production of a legendary novel, and ultimately the sort of visual masterpiece that Bluray technology was made for.

- FINALLY the superhero movie with A BRAIN that I knew would come one day

There's been a lot of negative writing here. "The talk is a bit heavy", "interminable", but in fact this movie should have the acclaim in the fantasy/fantastic area that the dumb Lord of The Rings took, with its remedial dialog and total lack of character depth. Then there's the pathetic Spiderman movies, with apparently absolutely no thinking behind them. Ditto X-Men etc. Matrix was the best superhero movie before this, which isn't saying a great deal, with its cod-philosophy and Keanu.

Watchmen brings the brilliant words of the graphic novel comic, in its detail and perception, its thought on the nature of humanity, and excels in the graphics to bring it alive. So the dialog is necessarily comic book style, but gladly so, being smart and witty without being glib. The characters have depth, their flaws being fleshed out for once in a superhero movie.

For once in the superhero genre, here is one of them for a lover of film, rather than a childish lover of fantasy or super powers.

- Excelente filme!

Excelente filme, mas com o final diferente em relação à história original dos quadrinhos! O que causou muuuuuita polêmica entre os fãs!