As I’m sure many of you realize, the director’s cut of Watchmen was recently released in all of its 1080p goodness. What you may not know though, is that it packs in an additional 24 minutes of footage making this behemoth of a film a hefty 186 minutes.
I wasn’t utterly dismayed at the theatrical release of Watchmen, but being a fan of the graphic novel I can definitely see where some elements should have been fleshed out a bit more. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a fantastic movie that couldn’t have been cast better, but I could see where some people who were unfamiliar with the source material might feel a bit helpless amidst all of the information being thrown at them. Thankfully, the director’s cut does a great job at affording Watchmen‘s plot a little more breathing room without feeling like throwaway cuts that should have stayed out. I don’t want to go into too much detail lest I negate the need for you to check it out for yourself, but the added scenes have clearly been positioned with care and go a long way toward deepening an understanding of Watchmen‘s colorful (or drab, depending on your viewpoint) characters.
Aside from a more complete film, if you’re fortunate enough to check out the Blu-Ray transfer it looks fantastic. The contrasts are crisp and the black levels look good, especially with Watchmen encompassing so many dark scenes to begin with. Also the wide gamut of vivid purples, blues, and yellows that were so prominently featured in the original art really pop in HD. Maybe it’s just a problem with my sound system, but I did find it annoying trying to find a comfortable volume level. It seemed to me that much of the dialogue such as Rorschach’s raspy ramblings or Dr. Manhattan’s nearly whispered monologues were off too soft. Of course, when you turn the volume up to better hear them the action scenes become uncomfortably loud with explosions and such being almost deafening.
All in all, I feel Watchmen is one of if not the best comic book movie out there and it’s nice to see a full-on director’s cut right out of the gate. I’m sure that won’t stop the studio from releasing an ultra super fancy-pants special edition complete with a terrifyingly anatomically correct Dr. Manhattan bust at your local Best Buy in 6 months, but still. Amazon’s got a good deal on it currently you can check out here.
I was a huge fan of Kick-Ass and while it comes on plain old DVD as well, Amazon’s selling it right now for $22.99 which comes with the Blu Ray version as well as the DVD version and a digital copy to boot! I meant to preorder it but forgot so I’ll probably be running out to get it sometime tomorrow. It goes without saying that Blu Ray is a great format for action movies, but Kick-Ass in particular is such a colorful film that I can’t wait to see how it looks in HD.