WATCHMEN

WATCHMEN – DIRECTOR’S CUT: Does anyone really want to know about Batman’s battle with impotence? Or see what Superman looks like underneath his tighty-whities? Because like it or not, Zack Snyder’s adaptation of Watchmen is going to go there, challenging the very idea of what audiences expect from the term “comic book movie.” As a graphic novel, Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons creation was a seminal piece of work, dealing with mature themes wrapped into a complex story structure that strained the very staples of the format. But much of what made Watchmen unique has already been absorbed into comic book culture, making Snyder’s challenge of producing a culturally relevant film next to impossible. What he does produce is a fanatically faithful version of events set in an alternate-reality 1985 where masked crimefighters have been outlawed, leaving humanity on the brink of global thermonuclear war. Although you’d be hard pressed to pick any of them out of an acting line-up, Watchmen’s cast does a terrific job of making Moore’s heavy-handed dialogue sound believable, particularly Jackie Earle Haley as the sociopathic Rorschach. Long sequences of the film are hypnotically beautiful to watch, like the emotional origin story of the god-like Dr. Manhattan, made all the more impactful by the tragically emotionless narration of its main character. But for every subplot he drops to make the story accessible, Snyder still allows the source material to guide him, rather than taking the reins himself. The result is a remarkably successful adaptation of the graphic novel that fails to evolve into a remarkable film. Warner gives it their all and then some on this Blu-ray edition, sporting a “Maximum Movie Mode” that allows Snyder to perform a play-by-play on certain scenes. Other extras include a featurette on real-life vigilantes, background info on the original graphic novel plus a digital copy of the film.