Blu-ray Movie Reviews

Someone's killing our super heroes. The year is 1985 and super heroes have banded together to respond to the murder of one of their own. They soon uncover a sinister plot that puts all of humanity in grave danger. The super heroes fight to stop the impending doom only to find themselves a target for annihilation. But, if our super heroes are gone, who will save us?

Snyder did a brilliant job bringing Frank Miller's epic graphic novel 300 to life for the big screen. Well once again he proves that he is the premiere choice in bringing this kind of material to theaters with Watchmen. Once again the film translates the source material nearly perfectly. This film is quite different than his last one but remains a refreshing adult venture that doesn't pull punches in its message or imagery. Warner Bros was brave to allow this kind of film to be made given its budget and themes but the end results are brilliant. This Blu-ray includes a director's cut of the film that runs nearly an hour longer. But I honestly didn't think much changed. There is a bit more character development and a few short sequences are added, but there is nothing new added that changed the scope of the film or its characters. In other words, the added length doesn't really add anything that needed to be there. Supposedly there is another edition of this film coming by year's end on Blu-ray but I'm not sure if that cut will add even more.

The video transfer is easily one of Warner's best. The film has a very dark look with deep blacks and outstanding contrast. This is one of the darkest films I've seen on Blu-ray lately but the shadow detail holds up quite well. I was actually surprised how dimensional the image still looked being this dark. You'll definitely want a high contrast display for this one. Fine object detail is excellent throughout though you will see some smoothness associated with the heavy effects used to stylize the film. Colors also have a strong yet dark appearance and add to the overall contrast. This Blu-ray looked far better than the two digital presentations I saw of the film in theaters.

The DTS-HD Master Audio (a first for Warner) soundtrack is quite the experience and really lends to the impeccable visuals throughout the film. The score provides a really rich atmosphere and I loved the song selections scattered throughout the film. The overall volume is a bit inconsistent at times and some may turn it up quite a bit in the quieter passages only to find the action sequences blaring. This wasn't a glaring issue, but my wife commented on it more than once. Spatially the mix is quite engaging with plenty of surround activity and a rich front soundtage. Bass response is impressive, but just short of the best the format has to offer.

Warner has pulled out all the stops on this one with a great supplement package for the film. The most impressive is the onscreen commentary by the director complete with split screens as the film goes on. This is a really cool feature that allows the director to comment on the film as it goes on along with production footage that follows it. You also get an extensive look at the Watchmen production, its history and its journey to screen. The video journals from the production are all here along with a music video. This is also BD-Live enabled disc and includes a digital copy of the film.

I was surprised that the Director's Cut wasn't that much of a difference from the theatrical presentation. The back of the cover is a bit misleading in that it seems to say that both cuts are offered but you'll only find the Director's Cut. Still, this is a phenomenal film that despite a 3+ hour runtime never bores. The presentation is outstanding and the cutting edge features alone make this a must own for the film collector.