Watchmen: The Black Freighter & Under the Hood

Movie Running Time: 66 minutes
My Running Time: 60 minutes
Elliptical Revolutions: 3294
Calories Burned: 778
My Mass: 190lbs, 86.2kg (-0.0lbs, -0.0kg)

The Black Freighter and Under the Hood both existed as supplements to the main story in the original graphic novel of Watchmen. The Black Freighter was a story from a pirate comic being read by a secondary character. Under the Hood was published as excerpts from the autobiography of Hollis Mason, the first Nite Owl, and was presented often in single spaced text at the end of an issue. To adapt these two stories into a film version of Watchmen is difficult at best, and director Zack Snyder took his best shot at both.

The Black Freighter was originally supposed to be a live action 300-esque production, complete with Gerard Butler playing the lead role. Due to the projected $20 million that would have been needed to make that portion, it became an animated film, though it retained Gerard Butler as a voice actor for the lead role. The story of the Black Freighter is meant to mirror the moral dilemma proposed by Adrian Veidt in his attempt to scare the world into peace. In the Black Freighter, the lead character struggles to get home and save Davidstown after his ship is sunk by the infamous freighter. Instead he turns himself into a murderous monster when he accidently kills his wife and two other residents, believing them to be crew members from the Black Freighter. In the end he is welcomed into the rotting arms of the freighter’s hideous crew.
I think if inserted into the Director’s Cut of Watchmen these animated portions will be too jarring. The production quality of the animation is subpar for Warner Brother’s animated material, almost looking as poor as the Motion Comic chapter included with this release. If it had been live action, I think the comparison would have been more appropriate, between the “real” comic book world that the Watchmen exist in, and the “fake” comic book world of The Black Freighter.

Under the Hood presented an even more difficult adaptation. Other than directly filming the events described in the text of the autobiography there really isn’t any other way to convey the information. The solution arrived at was to make Under the Hood an interview television special with Hollis Mason, where the host discusses the actual book with him, and some other interviewees. The most enjoyable part of this production is seeing the vintage footage of the original Minutemen, whether its in their golden years of retirement, or in old newsreel or promotional material. It highlights the attention to detail Snyder and the rest of his crew had, and gives a bit more screen time to characters that were more fleshed out in the graphic novel.

If you plan on buying these films in any form, skip the Blu-ray edition. The production values of both films do no warrant High Definition in any form, and the cost is far too extreme for 66 minute runtime of the two films together. I recommend either renting this movie, or if you have the know how, buying it for only $4.99 on the US iTunes store as a digital version.

Now that I’ve waited, or forgotten to review Watchmen for nearly three weeks, it has given me time to more accurately reflect on the movie. Hopefully this will eliminate any knee jerk reactions I would have had upon writing when I originally anticipated.
Having read the graphic novel in the fall of 2008, I had a decent idea of what to expect from this movie. My first reaction before seeing it was how misleading the advertising for this film really was. I honestly don’t believe Watchmen to be really action infused story by any means. There are action scenes, but not in the volume that one would be lead to believe. I’ve always viewed the story as a very complex murder mystery, that just so happens to involve Super Heros.
There really isn’t any way to review this movie without comparing it to the source material. But in a vague attempt, it does stand well without having prior knowledge of story, but I can definitely understand where people unfamiliar with it could be easily lost. This may explain the eight people that left the viewing I attended.
Adapting the source material must have been a difficult job, and one that would inevitably fall under very close scrutiny. The writers along with director Zach Snyder did an admirable job, and stayed as true to the original dialogue and progression of the story as they could. Admittedly they extended several scenes far longer than their graphic novel counterpart ran. This in particular hurt the pacing of the film in several places. Then once this pacing became an issue, it seems they tried to hold the scene in place with 80’s pop tunes, that just somehow didn’t quite fit.
The choice of not including a Giant Squid at the end of the film was probably a wise one, though after three hours, I get the feeling even the most casual audience wouldn’t have been too phased by its appearance, but setting up such a set piece would be difficult story wise.
There are several places where I wished material had not been cut and replaced with extensions of weaker scenes, but that was not my choice to make. I hope that there is some room for change as the film progresses from Theaters to Blu-ray and DVD. Next week marks the arrival of The Black Freighter, as a supplement story to the main Watchmen material. Reviews I have read so far indicate that is stands well on its own separate from the main feature, and does help show thematic similarities. The second feature on The Black Freighter is an interesting interpretation of what was a tell all autobiography in the graphic novel. On DVD is becomes a poorly filmed 80s expose all TV interview. This feature helps flesh out some characters that only make real appearances in passing.

I think to truly appreciate what Watchmen has to offer, there is a certain amount of dedication required. You have to want to enjoy this film, and surround yourself in the information that is available to you. Is the film perfect? No it is far from it. Is the film enjoyable? Definitely.

I’d be terrified to total up the amount of Time, Money, Energy, and Gas used in my purchasing and traveling to Ryden’s Border Store in Grand Portage. I mention this as I realize in the next week alone I personally have four packages arriving there. The total value of this trip in particular is in excess of $300 CAN.

1) Absolute Watchmen by Alan Moore
I read this recently, on loan from The BookShelf when it came in in Trade Paperback form. It was a weird read, but not something I didn’t enjoy. I’ve read a small amount of work by Alan Moore, and every time he’s thrown me for a loop, this book being no exception. A review I once read, and totally agree with states that this is a book meant to be digested several times over a large time-span. Having only read it once, I figured for the next 20 reads, why not have it in a beautiful oversize hardcover edition. This edition also features newly recoloured artwork by the original art team, oversized images and plethora of special features. Along with a sewn in bookmark and a cardboard slipcase. In Canada this would retail for over $100, on eBay i got my copy for $50. Currently its sitting on the shelf at Ryden’s just aching to be brought home and read again, and again, and again.

2) All Star Superman Vol 1 by Grand Morrison
This story proved to be one of the most interesting I’ve read in years Comic Book wise. Morrison took the entire sixty odd years of back story and shackles that have been applied to the character of Superman, and threw them right out the window. This story exists in its own little corner of the universe, away from all the trappings of continuity, and coming back from the deadness that has been dragging most Comic Book titles to an early grave. This story features a Superman who is actually dying, and not in some weird shot with a Kryptonite Bullet kind of way. He is a plausible and serious character to read, and the story unfolds as a nearly End of Superman kind of event. I read this series originally in regular issues, and now have sold those on ebay, and upgraded to beautiful Hardcover editions. I already have volume two waiting on my bookshelf at home next to all the other unread graphic novels, but it won’t be going anywhere until this beauty comes home from Ryden’s.

3) Samsung BD-P1500 (see its not all graphic novels)
This beautiful piece of drool worthy tech is my second Blu-ray player. Last year I purchased a Sony PS3 with Ryan, and love the little bugger to pieces. But sadly it does not reside at my house, its at Ryan’s. This isn’t a problem as I spend a Lot of time over there, and get to watch my fair share of stuff on the PS3. But there are plenty of occasions where my taste in movies just doesn’t quite match up with that of my better half. So I do my best not to watch those titles when he isn’t around. The other occasion of conflict is the time I actually spend at my own house in front of the 52″ HDTV there that only has a DVD player hooked up to it. For those occasions I made this purchase for the benefit of not just myself but that of my family too. So I sold what proved to be an DVD recorder worth $130, and some other odds and ends around the house I found while we were moving. After a little ebaying, voila, enough money to fund this purchase, and that of item number 4. This player just recently got a good review from CNET, now that it has been updated several times by Samsung with firmware. All things are looking up for this purchase, so I can’t wait to get it home. My parents are puzzled by it with the question of why buy it when we don’t have any Blu-rays? My thoughts, we don’t have any because we didn’t have the player.

4) HDMI Cable
If I’m going to buy item 3, then obviously this essential piece must be purchased too. Also screw you Future Shop for daring to charge over $50 for an HDMI cable, I got mine for $10 with free shipping online. No reason this stuff should be so expensive, it makes me sick. Also don’t ever buy anything made by Monster Cables. There stuff isn’t any better than the rest of the stuff available cable wise. If I ever find it, I’ll post the link where they had sound experts fail to notice a difference between a stereo wired with Monster Cables, or patched together with plain copper cables and duct-tape type setup.

As you can see, these kind of trips get to have large values and large quantities of items. This one honestly pales in comparison to some previous trips I’ve made. Surprisingly they don’t know me by name there yet, but I doubt I’m the most active customer they have there.
To top all of this off, Ryden’s charges $3 US in handling fees per package when you pick them up. You can’t tell me they don’t make a killing by accepting peoples mail for them. Though slightly more stringent pickup procedures would be nice, as I could waltz in and grab whatever I wanted as long as I know the persons name.
Anywho, I accomplished my goal of making a long, meaningful post that actually has pretty pictures in it. Hope you all enjoyed.