Watchmen (Blu-ray)

UK Theatrical Edition Blu-ray:
Let’s start off by saying that it’s bloody annoying that while in the US you get a choice of whether you want to buy the theatrical cut of Watchmen or a 24-minute longer Director’s Cut, in the UK we’re only getting the Theatrical version (so far at least). Fans of the film will no doubt also feel frustrated that the makers are already working on an even longer Ultimate Edition, to be released in the US at the end of the year, which will incorporate parts of the animated version of the Tales Of The Black Freighter comic (which was in the original graphic novel), that was released separately on DVD and Blu-ray when Watchmen came out at cinemas.

However even if we have only got the Theatrical version on Blu-ray so far in the UK, it’s certainly worth a watch (for a look at the Director’s cut, go to the bottom of this review).  To be honest, no Watchmen movie was ever going to please everyone. The graphic novel by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons is so beloved by some that any tinkering with it is going to raise the ire of many fans. Likewise the way the story is told in the graphic novel doesn’t lend itself to easy film adaptation.

It’s a book that takes long diversions, has pages of people talking about philosophy and ideas, spends a huge amount of time on numerous back-stories that are thematically important but don’t necessarily move the main plot forward, has lots of main characters and takes a rather nihilistic view of humanity. Not only that but it’s set in an alternate version of 1985, which was fine when the comic was first published in 1987, but is in danger of seeming redundant in a film released when there is no Soviet Union and we don’t appear to be on the precipice of Nuclear War.

With all those issues to deal with it’s little wonder that Watchmen’s journey to the screen has seen an endless series of false starts and fruitless attempts before it finally all came together with Zach Snyder at the helm. The result is probably as good a movie as you could expect, and far more faithful than you’d have ever expected a big budget Hollywood Watchmen movie to be.

Watchmen opens with an introduction to this alternate 1985 and how the presence of a genuine superhero, Dr Manhattan, has shifted the balance of power, so America won in Vietnam and the US and Russia are now poised on the edge of mutual nuclear annihilation. Against that background a costumed adventurer (a normal person who dresses as a superhero and fights crime) called the Comedian is murdered. A sociopathic masked vigilante, Rorschach, decides that someone is out to kill masked adventurers and sets out to find who it is. While that’s the basic set-up, against this are numerous other stories about other heroes, as much exploring why someone would put on a mask and fight crime, and how doing so could affect you, as it is about moving the plot forward. This is a film that explores the dark, more psychologically complex side of the superhero, with characters that make Christian Bale’s Batman look jolly and care-free.

There’s also a lot of philosophising about the nature of humanity and what it would take to pull mankind back from the precipice. To be honest, I’m not entirely convinced by this aspect of either the book or the film, as there’s a slight schoolboy philosophy aspect to it, especially to the post-human Dr Manhattan, whose amazing quantum powers and ability to simultaneously see both his past and future give him a very different outlook on life, but it’s one that’s not half as profound as it’s presented to be. However this is only a minor point, as there’s still a hell of a lot more to think about than in most films.

The Watchmen film retains a lot more of the graphic novel than you might expect, and that goes to the visuals as well, where Snyder has almost used Dave Gibbons' original artwork as a storyboard. It means there’s a lot of striking imagery, and thankfully he doesn’t go as over-the-top with things as he did with the rather vacuous 300. However one thing he does hold onto from 300, which some people won’t like, is an almost reverential treatment of violence, ensuring there are a few moments that seem unnecessarily grisly. The problem is that it seems to take joy in the gore rather than questioning it.

A few people might not like the film’s alterations to the ending of the graphic novel, although the way they’ve done it is pretty smart. It means they need to spend far less time standing around talking (which they do a bit in the film, but a hell of a lot more in the graphic novel). To be honest the ending of the book never quite seemed to fit with the rest of the story, at least in terms of the mechanics of what happens, so the change here is actually a positive.

Thankfully, a film that’s so invested in its visuals gets a fantastic transfer onto Blu-ray. The HD picture is virtually flawless, and is particularly strong on blacks and shadow detail. While it has a deliberately stylised palette, Watchmen is set in a dark and grimy world of dimness and shadow that the Blu-ray really brings out in a way that’s faithful to the source footage. It may not be a sparkly, bright Blu-ray experience, but it is an incredible looking one, with HD being the best way to experience it.

The lack of the Director’s Cut also means that we don’t get the picture-in-picture director’s commentary they’re getting in the US, which is kind of annoying. However this three-disc set (one disc for the film, another for features and a third that holds a digital copy of the movie) does include some pretty good extras. First up is a 17-minute look at the science behind Watchmen, Mechanics: Technologies of a Fantastic World, in which a physics professor explains how the world of the film is closer to the possible than you might expect, even down to why Dr Manhattan is blue. The best featurette is The Phenomenon: The Comic That Changed Comics, which spends half-an-hour exploring the creation of the original graphic novel and exactly why it was so revolutionary. The other main featurette is ‘Real Superheroes: Real Vigilantes’, which takes an interesting look at real vigilantes, including some rather nerdy costumed adventurers, and ties this into the flawed characters of the film.

Also on the second disc are 11 short Video Journals, which take a short look at different aspects of the movie, as well as a viral video of a fake new bulletin covering the 10th anniversary of the ‘birth’ of Dr. Manhattan.

It’s a very good selection, and if it weren’t for the lack of the commentary and the fact we don’t even have the choice of the director’s cut, this would be a great release. Even so it looks wonderful and for most people the two-hour and 40-minute theatrical cut will be all the Watchmen they want (some have felt it’s too long anyway, but I have to say I never felt it dragged at all and it’d have lost a lot if they’d cut much out).

However, if you’re amongst the people who don’t feel the need for a three-hour plus version of Watchmen, this Blu-ray looks absolutely superb. The film itself is violent yet engrossing and the features are a lot better than most discs offer. In my opinion you should indeed be watching the Watchmen, and Blu-ray is the way to do it.

US Director’s Cut Edition (Only currently available in the US):
Snyder’s adaptation of the dense and sophisticated original 12-issue comic book series is as smart as it is stylish, managing to construct and maintain a clear and engrossing narrative from the intricately plotted and complex source material. If there was one major flaw in Watchmen’s theatrical incarnation, it was the fact that the film was a tad too short. Though clocking in at a whopping 162 minutes, there were moments when the film felt rushed and cluttered, though fixing the problem is the new ‘Director’s Cut’, which adds an additional 24 minutes to the running time and allows both the story and characters a little more breathing room.

Apart from the key addition of Hollis Mason’s death, much of the extra content is subtly woven into the narrative. A little bit of extra dialogue here and there helps with denser characterisation. Malin Akerman gets a little more screen time, which manages to flesh out the character of Laurie Jupiter/Silver Spectre II a bit more, while supplementary narration and dialogue from Rorschach beefs up the proceedings with the elongated, Travis Bickle-like diatribes on a world gone to shit.

Though the additions are mostly small, the extra minutes see the film achieving the comic book’s overall sense of epic grandeur, and in its ‘Director’s Cut’ form, Watchmen takes one step closer to being the perfect adaptation of Alan Moore’s ‘un-filmable’ masterpiece.

Providing the thick, syrupy icing on the US ‘Director’s Cut’ Blu-ray cake is the inclusion of the disc’s ‘Maximum Movie Mode’, which boasts an interactive, multifaceted bombardment of information via visual commentary from Snyder and numerous pop-up behind-the-scenes featurettes, interviews and comic panel comparisons. The presentation is seamless, never dull, and offers the viewer an all-encompassing insight into the production in a fresh and exciting way. This is surely the future of all Blu-ray commentaries, and the perfect accompaniment to a truly brilliant film.

Overall Verdict: Whether you watch the theatrical or director’s cut, this is a different kind of superhero movie you ought to see.

Special Features:
‘Mechanics: Technologies of a Fantastic World’ Featurette
‘The Phenomenon: The Comic That Changed Comics’ Featurette
‘Real Superheroes, Real Vigilantes’ Featurette
Video Journals (Webisodes)
Viral Videos
'Desolation Row' My Chemical Romance Music Video
Trailers

UK Edition Reviewer: Tim Isaac
Director's Cut Reviewer: Lee Griffiths