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Watchmen Review - UK Blu-ray
Watchmen - 2 Disc UK Edition
Review Ratings:
Story / 9
PQ / 10
AQ / 9
Extras / 6
Introduction
This has to be the most anticipated adaption of a graphic novel (~ comics for people who actually read) ever: Watchmen by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons, the only comic to grace the list of the best novels of the 20th century compiled by TIME magazine. More than 30 years after its creation it is still unmatched in regards of complex & interweaving plot lines, formidable use of language, credibility and depth of its characters. In addition, Watchmen is carfully drawn and pictured: A timeless piece of art.
But despite – or because of this? – Watchmen never became a mass cultural phenomenon, whereas Batman, Spiderman and other pantyhose wearing wannabee superheroes have long become part of the zeitgeist and pop culture.
Story - 9 Points
Watchmen envisions a slightly alternative version of the 20th century. The Cold War is at its peak and headed for catastrophy: Russians and USA are armed to the teeth with weapons of mass destruction, nuclear war is only a question of time. But there is still hope. Dr. Manhattan, former member of the Watchmen and nearly omnipotent superheroe, is employed by the US government and has the power to prevent nuclear holocaust.
But events unfold as the Comedian is killed; he too was once a member of the Watchmen – a group of people who worked as vigilantes to preserve law and order.
Rorschach is another former Watchmen - and the only vigilante who hasn't retired yet - investigates: Why should anyone kill the remaining members of the once famous and now obsolete Watchmen when the world is looking into the abyss of nuclear war? But the real question that emerges in the course of Rorschach’s investigation is: What is demanded from a superheroe who actually wants to save the world, what is more important: Justice for individuals or the good of society?
The deeds of the Watchmen as masked heroes sprang in equal parts from the sense of duty to serve justice, craving for attention and childish behaviour – and the conviction that the Watchmen are needed to make a difference in the fight between good and evil. Over the years their reasons and intentions have been instrumentalized and corrupted by society: Now the Watchmen don’t help to make their neighbourhood safe, instead they fight demonstrations and civil uprising as brutal as they helped the US to win the Vietnam war.
Although Zack Snyder filmed Watchmen as close to the story as he could, his film shines most when he leaves the original behind and uses it only as a template: The breathtaking beauty of the title sequence is poetry in motion. Here he manages to condense the extensive exposition of the watchmen predecessors (Minutemen) in a few minutes – superbly done. But this doesn’t apply to the whole movie. Although Snyder creates some scenes of nearly lyrical visual beauty, and the action is hard, impressively choregraphed and brutal – still: Snyder lacks some directing chops. The pacing of the movie is off and the film is too long. He overuses cut-backs to remind the audience again and again what has happened in the film already – that’s neither elegant nor filmic is it proof of artistery. Watchmen only pays off big time if you watch concentrated and let yourself be drawn into the story – then the film reaches new heights and shows what a superheroe movie really can do – it surpasses genre conventions, it is a philosophical action film.
Picture Quality - 10 Points
Zack Snyders movie features a 1st rate transfer. The AVC-Codec uses high bitrates (>30 Mb/s) to fill the Full HD resolution and the 16:9 aspect ratio of 1:2,35 with life.
The PQ is nearly faultless, very sharp with a good impression of depth perception. The reduced colour palette (nearly complete abandonment of strong primary colours) is due to the source material and works well to give the impression of a slightly alternative version of reality as we know it. It produces a soft, dirty look which seems to have sprung to life from the graphic novels pages.
Flesh tones are natural and only sometimes a little waxy, but the level of details is very convincing – in close ups as well as in and shots from a greater distance. The three dimensional impression ist fantastic, Snyders artistic use of slow motion in fast paced action scenes produces an almost physical impact with audiences. Graining is used as a method of bridgebuilding, it is present, but very weak and utilized to achieve a better unification of CGI and naturally filmed scenes – the transition is natural and creates a distinctive look which doesn’t seem too artificial. Blacklevels and contrast are outstanding too and enthuse blu-ray fans with deepest blacks and finest shades. This is a modern blockbuster production which reaches reference levels.
Audio Quality – 9 Points
The english audio track is a lossles Dolby TrueHD 5.1 track - and it is exceptional. It already starts with the the splintering and shattering of glass, shards producing spatially effects and crystal clear sounds of unbelievable dynamic which put the effect speakers to the test; effects are phenomenal throughout:
Be it retracting steps, background noise in a restaurant or the booming sound of a gun all surround speakers are audible and present. The subwoofer is restricted and not so much powerful as it is precise and strong but without overdoing it like Bay&Co - it always serves the action and storytelling and makes use of the whole palette of acoustic techniques to support the plot.
Some minor problems appear with some of the dialogue, though that is more due to some actors which articulate (pronounce?) themselves not very well. It is especially noticeable in scenes with the comedian or Silk Spectre, i.e. the scene in the rain where she sits in a taxi and talks to Dreiberg who ist standing in the rain. A little finetuning of center speaker settings gets rid of that, otherwise the transfer is without flaws. That doesn’t appeal to the soundtrack where Snyders choice of music is at times more than questionable (Nena – 99 Luftballons) or downright distracting like the use of Leonad Cohens Haleluljah for the millionfold time. In that regard the scoring of the movie is to restraint and the filmmakers should have risked a little more originality.
Extras – 6 Points
Boredom in HD – plain and simple. There is only one feature which deserves viewing and that is the piece which gives background information on the graphic novel. The rest which include another – involuntary humorous – feature and some weblogs of the viral marketing campaign, a musicvideo and more belongs to the see and forget category.
Conclusion
PQ and AQ doesn’t leave much to be desired, Watchmen features 1st rate PQ and AQ. The extras are not worth their money (although in HD) but the lack of deleted and cutted scenes of the Director’s Cut hurts.
Watchmen polarizes, extremely so: While unprepaired viewers often get lost and loose interest in the complex story and plotlines, fans of the graphic novel cheer it as a filmic Nonplusultra which almost no one dared to hope for. Despite that Watchmen is a very, very good film but not a masterpiece because it lacks qualities which endure it to broader audiences than ist own target group.
Chances are that if you are well educated and know your 20th century history you’ll like it a lot more than if that isn’t the case. Because only then the movie reveals it subtext and political, philosophical and social comments to you. That only indicates one thing: Watchmen isn’t for everybody, whatever it is – one thing it clearly isn’t at all: A Superheroe movie.
(Dude - fb)
Story / 9
PQ / 10
AQ / 9
Extras / 6
Sharp Aquos 46" Full HD, 24p, 100Hz
Blu-ray Player: Pioneer BDP-LX91
Marantz SR5003
Beyer Dynamic Headzone Home-System
Blu-ray Notebook: HP HDX 16
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