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by R.J. Carter Published: March 12, 2009
For those unfamiliar with the graphic novel (and if you are, this DVD is quite likely not for you), both of these features played an integral part to the shaping of the environment in which Watchmen played out. "Tales of the Black Freighter" was the title of a comic book written by an author who had gone missing (important to the graphic novel, completely eliminated from the film) which was occasionally glimpsed during visits to the corner news stand (also important to the graphic novel, and only mostly eliminated from the film). Here, the comic within a comic has been fully animated and directed by Daniel Delpurgatorio and Mike Smith, and it fully earns the R rating it's given. Blood and dismemberment is one thing -- corpses bursting from internal gasses is quite another, and the animators don't shy away from the graphic ugliness of it. Gerard Butler provides the bulk of the narration for this high-seas adventure which follows a shipwreck survivors descent into madness and ultimate soul-shattering tragedy. Of course, readers of Watchmen only caught the occasional glimpse of action, so the writers had a lot of work to do filling in the gaps with dialogue. To their ultimate credit, the finished product rings true to form, and what you see here should satisfy any hopeful expectations you might have had. Of far more interest to me personally (and, one would think, to Watchmen fans in general) is the live-action feature, "Under the Hood" (which carries a PG rating). Rather than being a dramatization of Hollis Mason's autobiography, director Eric Matthies instead approaches the idea through the paradigm of a 20/20-like news program. So what we have is The Culpeper Minute, which then self-recursively gives us a look back into its own archives for a 1975 interview with Hollis Mason (with Stephen McHattie reprising his role from the film. Through the interview, some of Mason's dialogue comes directly from the excerpted faux-book, such as his memories of being influenced by the appearance of Superman in the comics, and of Hooded Justice appearing in the headlines. Carla Gugino, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, and Matt Frewer are also interviewed in their alter-egos of Silk Spectre, Comedian, and Moloch, and the entire thing is given a further sense of verisimilitude by the insertion of retro-commercials for Seiko digital watches, Sani-Flush, and Nostalgia by Veidt. More than just a revisiting of Mason's book, the mockumentary proceeds to explore other events in the world of the Watchmen, up to and including the arrival of Dr. Manhattan, the HUAC hearings, and the introduction of the Keene Act that would outlaw costumed vigilantism. If you really need more "Watchmen," this is the feature you want to see. Bonus features on this disc include the documentary, "Story Within a Story." This feature, with comments from the actors as well as Watchmen co-creator Dave Gibbons and DC Comics honchos, really digs into they whys and wherefores of how the comic book appendices came into being, and touches on Alan Moore's borrowing from Kurt Weill's "Pirate Jenny" and how those lyrics parallel comments in Rorschach's journal. Wrapping up the bonus features is a sample episode from "Watchmen: The Complete Motion Comic" and an extended look behind the scenes of the next DC Universe direct-to-DVD project, "Green Lantern." Previews on this disc include "Green Lantern," "Terminator: Salvation," the 'Terminator: Salvation" videogame, the "Watchmen" videogame, and "Watchmen." |
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