 DVD Review: Watchmen: The Director's Cut
By Craig Byrne - KryptonSite Webmaster
Please note: This review covers the new "Watchmen Director's Cut" 2-disc DVD set. Standard and Blu-Ray versions are also available.
On Tuesday, July 21, Warner Home Video will be releasing one of the most immersive comic book adaptations onto DVD as Watchmen will be hitting the format.
This movie, based on the 1986 graphic novel by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons, takes a very adult look at the lives of superheroes, even in the years after they've given up their capes. The story itself takes place in an alternate-universe 1985 where Richard Nixon was still president and the world was at the edge of nuclear war.
And of course, there are the caped vigilantes. The murder of one of their own sets the ball rolling, and as the film progresses we see characters such as Nite-Owl, the Silk Spectre, and Rorschach and even meet some of the enemies they've had over the years.
This movie is most definitely not for children, but for grown-ups, it's a visual treat. The film has a very unique look and color palette with some of the best production design I've seen in a movie. There is a lot of attention to detail - right down to choices in costume design to emulate certain trends in comic book films in the past, and including signs and imagery based on what Gibbons had done in the graphic novel.
Having grown up in the 1980's, I was also really impressed by how well they managed to "get" the look of the time. Patrick Wilson as Nite-Owl particularly impressed me with his very 80's glasses frames and haircut. So often movies try to emulate another era and fail miserably; Zach Snyder and his crew really did something impressive here.
Also impressive were the make-up techniques used in the film's various flashbacks. As the mystery unfolds we take looks back to the pasts of these characters; we see the Comedian and the original Silk Spectre when they were young, which makes seeing them as older people later on all the more impressive. You wouldn't know from looking at the aged Silk Spectre that that was Carla Gugino under there!
I've already used the word "immersive" to describe Watchmen and that still is the top word I could use to describe this. Another element that really impressed me here was Nite-Owl's ship. It looks a lot like Blue Beetle's "bug" (surely intentionally), and the sequence where he and Silk Spectre go out and save some people from a burning building is something to marvel at.
Fans of Smallville might recognize three actors from the proceedings, although one is under so much makeup you probably won't realize it. Those three are Chris Gauthier (Toyman), Rob LaBelle (Dr. Frederick Walden), and... as Richard Nixon... you have Robert Wisden (Gabe Sullivan). So THAT's where he's been hiding!
The two-disc "director's cut" touts 24 minutes of footage that you didn't see in theaters. It's nice to have some additional scenes (we find out what happened to the original Nite-Owl, for example), but the movie still feels complete enough without it. I'm actually surprised the DVD edition didn't have the Tales Of The Black Freighter animation woven in. Even though I wasn't a huge fan of it, I'd still be curious to see how it would fit in to the overall narrative.
One thing I will also note from seeing a home video release is that I picked up on things and clues that are spread throughout the film as to who the "bad guy" turns out to be. When I first saw the film in March, I didn't know, so everything was shocking and new. This time around, I knew, but it still made it fun to look for the clues.
DVD extras are top-notch with a documentary on the history of the Watchmen graphic novel and leading into the production of the movie. All of the legal wranglings of past years are overlooked, but there is still some fascinating stuff. Also on the 2-disc set are a series of "video journals." When I saw this listed, I feared they might be somewhat boring or silly, as Bryan Singer's Superman Returns ones were, but no. ALL of these journals are more like interviews, taking looks at varied aspects of the production, and are highly recommended to watch. I was surprised, however, to see there's no commentary.
My only other recommendation for this? If you own a Blu-Ray player, do yourself a favor and pick up the Blu-Ray release. If you have a big-screen TV, that's even better. Watchmen is a movie that really belongs on as big of a screen as you can possibly get it on.
Even without those things, for me Watchmen was one of the best-translated comics-to-film adaptations of our time. Yeah, there's no giant squid, but what was here was good enough. As much attention and notice as The Dark Knight got, I feel Watchmen should have gotten similar attention.
Maybe the blue something-or-other scared everyone off. I still give this 2-disc DVD set 5 stars out of 5. In other words, I liked it a lot, and recommend it to anyone who will listen, provided you go into it knowing you'll see something a bit more serious than, say, Smallville. I usually don't have the patience for a really long movie, but this is definitely an exception. I just also hope a movie like this proves you can have a movie or television series with costumes and not have it look ridiculous. (On that note, Watchmen as a TV mini-series would have been awesome... but I digress). Definitely worth checking out.
Get Watchmen On DVD July 21: Director's Cut - Standard Edition - Blu-Ray
Also available with iTunes and On Demand
Check out the official site: www.watchmenmovie.com
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Watchmen: The Director's Cut
Warner Home Video
Available July 21, 2009 On Blu-Ray, DVD, iTunes, and On Demand
Starring: Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Jackie Earle Haley, Malin Ackerman, Patrick Wilson, and Billy Crudup
Director: Zach Snyder
Krypton Rating: 5 out of 5
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