WATCHMEN

DIRECTOR’S CUT
2 Disc Digital Copy Special Edition
Warner Home Video
RELEASE DATE 7/21/09

This has been available for download and DVD since July 21. I’ve wrestled with the review, caught between liking the film, and feeling somewhat indifferent about this mid-line version of it. With the five disc version of this film coming out in December the purchase of this one seems a little less urgent-especially with the general lack of special features. But then again the price is decent, the film is here now, and who wants to wait until December? Watchmen was, for many, the litmus test of whether comic book cinema was on the upswing. If Watchmen could be successfully adapted then anything graphic probably could be and would be. The good news is that this director’s cut of the film offering 24 extra minutes is even better than the solid theatrical cut and one can only imagine that, as faithful as Snyder has been to the original, the even longer cut, incorporating Tales From The Black Freighter, will be still better.

The story is nothing less than epic in its original form tracing the growth and development of real life superheroes through two generations to the forced retirement of same by a third term Nixon administration. Those left either serve the American government or function as all out vigilantes flying beneath the radar of a society that has grown cynical about the whole idea of superheroes. As world tensions mount, and middle aged spread hits the demoralized retirees someone starts killing off superheroes current and former. Why? It’s left to the decidedly psychotic Rorschach and a pair of washed up has beens to find out but the closer they get to finding out why, the more haunting the question becomes, “Who watches the Watchmen?”

On one level the answer to that question is ,“Nobody.” which is to say that a major flaw with Snyders otherwise slavishly faithful adaptation is that he cuts out the human element, if by human we mean the part of the planet that doesn’t run around in tights fighting bad guys. The day to day vignettes between average citizens that do so much to lend the original story some context are gone here. No relationship between the psychiatrist and his wife, no newsstand banter etc. The humans are ancillary, and thus by extension so are we, the audience.

Sure these superheroes have human enough problems but they seem narratively disconnected from the day to day lives of humans around them . This would work if they themselves were a little more humbled. But they all seem to be in virtually prime physical shape. Nite Owls famous middle aged spread is gone and everyone seems to have far more agility and strength than is explained by any other conclusion except that they are genetically more advanced. Don’t any of these peopel even get a little bit rusty from being out of practice? And doesn’t Rorschach seem a little too fit for someone with such bad hygiene? In the original story only Dr. Manhattan had any real superpowers, with Ozymandias displaying something like them near the end.

But even with that fairly crippling problem this film is immensely watchable and thoughtful. More than a mere adaptation of the comic this is a look at where movies were at the beginning of the new millennium in the struggle to adapt worthwhile graphic material preserving both narrative complexity and visual oomph.

And I had said earlier that the special features here were scant which may be a litle harsh. You do get a 29 minute doc on the original comic that is really well done, the 11 original video journals and a music video by My Chemical Romance. Folks who buy the version reviewed here get a bonus digital copy of the movie (good for PC or Mac)