Watchmen: Director's Cut Digital Copy Special Edition Combined Blu-ray Disc and DVD Set Review

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Title: Watchmen: Director’s Cut: Digital Copy Special Edition Blu-ray Disc DVD Sets

Media: Blu-ray Disc & DVD (Sold Separately)

Blu-ray Disc Region: A/ DVD Region: 1

Genre: Graphic Novel Inspired Science Fiction Mystery Drama

Stars: Malin Akierman, Billy Crudup, Carla Gugino, Jackie Earl Haley, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, and Patrick Wilson

Writers: David Hayter and Alex Tse

Based On The Graphic Novel Co-Created By Dave Gibbons And Published By: DC Comics

Director: Zack Snyder

Feature length: 186 minutes

Blu-ray and DVD Extras: The Phenomenon: The Comic That Changed Comics: The Original Graphic Novel’s Groundbreaking Impact Documentary, 11 Watchmen Video Journals, My Chemical Romance Desolation Music Video, Digital Copy For Portable Media Devices

Blu-ray Disc Extras And Exclusives: Immersive Maximum Movie Mode With Director Zach Snyder, Real Super Heroes, Real Vigilantes Documentary, Mechanics: Technologies Of A Fantastic World Featurette, Blu-ray Disc Live Extra Features, Which Can Now Be Shared On Face Book

Blu-ray Disc Languages: English DTS-HD MA 5.1 Surround Sound and French (Dubbed In Quebec) Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound

DVD Languages: English and French (Dubbed In Quebec) Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound

Subtitles: English Subtitles For The Deaf And Hearing Impaired and French and Spanish Language Subtitles

Blu-ray Disc Packaging: Three Disc Elite Blue Case

DVD Packaging: 2-Disc Amaray Keep Case

Chapter Stops: 44

Sound: DTS-HD MA 5.1 (Blu-ray Disc Only) and Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound

Year of Theatrical Release: 2006/Blu-ray Disc Release: 2008

Theatrical Distributor: Warner Bros. Pictures

Home Video Distributor: Warner Home Video

MPAA Rating: R

Reviewer: Mark A. Rivera

After 24 years since it’s original publication as a limited series by D.C. Comics, Filmmaker Zack Snyder (the 2004 remake of Dawn Of The Dead, 300) bought the most acclaimed graphic novel of all time to the big screen utilizing state of the art technology and a few lessons he learned from his big screen version of Frank Miller’s 300 graphic novel. The impact of the book changed the entire medium of how comics are perceived to a general audience and enabled other people in the comic book industry to take well known characters and do things that had never been done before while perhaps one of the biggest things to come out of the book series’ publication and subsequent unification of the individual issues into the one graphic novel that most associate Watchmen now is simply, it portrayed masked avengers in an adult manner and explored the psychology of what drives heroes to do what they do and the sociology of the society that at once embraces them and vilifies them at the same time.

For some the effect of seeing Watchmen left them depressed because they were not interested in seeing a film where the heroes are flawed and in many cases more flawed than the audience watching them and for some the effect of Watchmen did not live up to the graphic novel’s reputation because the reality is it has been more than twenty years since the book was published and themes explored in the book have been explored in a similar fashion in many films, TV shows, and books in various genres. None of this is Zack Snyder’s fault. In fact even for those who might not have liked certain changes made in the film, myself included with one piece of dialogue that unfortunately I cannot go into because of potential storyline spoilers, but overall I think the movie was very faithful to the book and in the end, the graphic novel still exists and nothing in the film can change that.

Warner Brothers wisely released Watchmen in March of 2009, which is a good period of time when people can appreciate something more serious than the holiday theatrical releases and yet a bit more fantastical than the typical fall dramas that are released as Oscar bait by the distributors. If Warner Brothers had released Watchmen in July of this year to parallel last year’s big screen hit The Dark Knight, I do not believe the film would so as well because as famous as Watchmen is, it is not an icon of American culture like Batman and it never will be. So March was the perfect release month for the film and has been a good luck charm for Zack Snyder in the past since 300 and the remake of Dawn Of The Dead were both March releases and both were hits when they were released that have had a profound impact on their respective genres and other ones alike.

I personally had no problem with any of the casting for the film, though I think actor Danny Woodburn, who was hired to play Big Figure was not menacing enough for me to take seriously that this is a crime kingpin with enough connections in jail to command others. Perhaps someone less recognizable would have been better. Standouts in the film go to Jackie Earl Haley as Rorschach, Patrick Wilson as the second Night Owl, Jeffrey Dean Morgan as The Comedian, Stephen McHattie as Hollis Mason AKA the original Night Owl, and Matt Frewer is just a terrific character actor in everything he does. While some people wrote negatives comments about Mathew Goode’s performance as Adrian Veidt AKA Ozymandias, I liked his characterization because he brought a certain subdued smugness to his character that I have seen sometimes in certain people who may be gifted or not, but feel they are somehow entitled more than others.

The story takes place in a parallel universe where masked crime fighters are not the stuff of comic books, but are real and collectively they have had a major impact on world history. It is now 1985 and Nixon is still in the Whitehouse in his fifth term as President and Vietnam is the fifty-first state in the Union. The arms race has moved America and the Soviet Union closer to Armageddon and since the 1970s, outside of two heroes who work for the US Government, masked heroes who are not contracted directly by the Federal Government have been declared vigilantes and as such are subject to imprisonment as criminals. One masked avenger named Rorschach has never quit his crusade against those who break the law and he is relentless in his quest as well as considered by many to be insane. However Rorschach is investigating the murder of a fellow masked hero, The Comedian, which he feels could be the beginning of a wave of violence against other former masked crime fighters. Thus he continues his investigations while warning the rest of the group of what could be happening. As scientists push the doomsday clock ever closer to midnight in light of rising Cold War tensions, the real threat could be even more horrifying than everyone realizes.

Watchmen was released on Blu-ray Disc and DVD in July as a Director’s Cut that restores a few scenes from the graphic novel that help to provide greater scope to the world of the film while adding a bit more gore and exaggerated violence. The film is now three hours long. The Blu-ray Disc version features a stunning VC-1 encoded 1080p/24fps depending on the resolution and capabilities of your own home theater set up. Warner Home Video has provided a dynamic English DTS-HD MA 5.1 Surround Soundtrack and a French (Dubbed In Quebec) Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound mix as well. The DVD features the standard MPEG-2 16 by 9 enhanced widescreen presentation along with an English and French (Dubbed In Quebec) Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Soundtracks. Obviously the Blu-ray will have the advantage over even an upconverted DVD, which looks washed out compared to the BD, but on the merits of standard definition in a native 480i/p resolution, those who have not upgraded to Blu-ray will not be disappointed by the DVD version. The reality is though once you get into Blu-ray, you will not watch your old DVDs quite the same way again, and I mean it is like getting a prescription pair of eyeglasses if you are nearsighted. You think everything is clear until you put the glasses on and then you wonder how you ever got along without them. The scope aspect ratio recreates the theatrical experience as close as possible for home video users. English Subtitles for the Deaf and Hearing Impaired as well as French and Spanish Language Subtitles are encoded onto both media versions of the film as options.

Both the Blu-ray Disc and DVD feature the documentary The Phenomenon: The Comic That Changed Comics: The Original Graphic Novel’s Groundbreaking Impact (28:45), which is in 16 by 9 HD on the Blu-ray, but letterboxed on the DVD. The Watchmen webisodes covering The Minutemen (3:33), Sets & Sensibility (3:54), Dressed For Success (3:03), The Ship Has Eyes (4:20), Dave Gibbons (3:21), Burn Baby Burn (2:12), Shoot To Thrill (3:14), Blue Monday (2:59), Attention To Detail (2:53), Girls Kick Ass (3:03), and Rorschach’s Mask (3:38) are presented on the Blu-ray Disc as focus points that can be viewed individually or accessed while watching the film as picture-in-picture material and are in widescreen high definition, but DVD they only appear in standard definition letterboxed and are only accessible separately on the second disc. The My Chemical Romance music video for their song Destination Row (3:15) is also included on both the Blu-ray Disc and DVD versions along with a standard definition digital copy for portable media players.

Exclusive to the Blu-ray Disc edition is Warner Bros. Maximum Movie Mode, with Director Zack Snyder as the host viewers get access to interactive content while watching the movie that includes the picture-picture option noted above as well as side-by-side comparisons of the graphic novel and the film, timeline comparison between our world and the alternate parallel Earth of the film, photo and sketch galleries, and Zack Snyder appears on screen with scene analysis. Two more featurettes are included on the BD version as well and are presented in HD. These include Real Super Heroes, Real Vigilantes (26:17), which explores the fascination and psychology behind real-world vigilantes and even includes people who actually don costumes to make themselves appear as masked avengers while they try and fight crime. The Technologies Of A Fantastic World featurette (16:48) explores the scientific consultation that went into the making of the film and explains what would be plausible and implausible too. Finally the disc features BD Live enhancement for those with compliant machines and high-speed internet access to sample bonus content online that can be shared via Face Book and has already seen a group screening via BD live with Q&A with Director Zack Snyder at this past month’s San Diego Comic Con.

The seamless menus on the Blu-ray Disc work fine while the DVD version has an animated opening menu with subsequent standard still frame interactive menus and all are easy to navigate. Watchmen: Director’s Cut: Digital Copy Special Edition Blu-ray Disc DVD sets are available now, but sold separately at retailers on and offline courtesy of Warner Home Video.

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Buy Either The Blu-ray Disc or DVD Versions By Clicking On The Respective Icons Below!