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Written by CeeScott
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Wednesday, 06 January 2010 11:43 |
 In my original review of the Watchmen film theatrical release, I gave the movie a thumbs up with a few reservations. Overall I felt the violence was ridiculous, and due to the constraints of time, I believe too much was jettisoned to make the behemoth fit into an approved package for release to theaters.
For Christmas I received a copy of Watchmen ULTIMATE on Blu-Ray, and I finally got the chance to sit down and watch Zack Snyder's full "We don't need no stinkin' time constraints" vision of the film. This version of the movie pulls from 3 sources, the original theatrical release, the extended director's cut, and the Black Freighter animated sequences - putting them all together in a 215 minute mega movie.
I'll say right from the start, some of the trouble I felt with the original release is still front and center. Rorschach's "moment of truth" scene was no better and still feels mishandled. Some of the places Snyder picks to ignore the source material and go his own way are still boggling to me. And that love scene between Silk Spectre and Nite Owl, ugh, I will never be able to listen to Leonard Cohen again without that etched in my mind.
BUT! (You knew that was coming.) For the comics fan who walked away feeling that tinge of bittersweet "I'm glad this finally made it to the big screen...but that's all I get?" after seeing this film for the first time, coming back to the Ultimate Cut is well worth your time.
Where the original felt rushed here and there, and where Snyder had footage to support and explain that got cut - in the Ultimate version, the timing and the pace of the whole thing is heads and shoulders better than the original cut. I ended up watching it in two sittings, and as I was putting it back up on the shelf I had a much more satisfied feeling than I did with the original version. I really enjoyed getting our two Bernie's back, and though I was a little concerned about how it would feel with the Black Freighter in place, it does end up playing well as a juxtaposed commentary on events in the main story, just as it does in the original comic format.
If you haven't yet had the chance to go out and find this, I highly recommend it! Well worth the price of entry to have a more complete version of one of the all-time greats in comics.
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