The Story
Credited alongside Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns as the comic book that forever changed the industry in 1986, Alan Moore's Watchmen truly deserves the oft-used, loftier distinction "graphic novel," telling as it does a rich and complex story with unprecedented depth and maturity. Zack Snyder's feature film recreates it with actors, costumes, props and sets, but for timing reasons if nothing else, much of the original twelve-issue series is bound to be lost. And so this unusual "motion comic" approach breathes life into the original pages of Dave Gibbons' artwork, relying upon the verbatim dialogue to recount the events leading up to a turning point for the entire human race. This version, originally debuted on iTunes, is about as close as any dramatization could come to the real thing.
The Picture
I was expecting a bit of panning or tracking across the page, and was pleasantly surprised to discover just how much "animation" was introduced. In fact, this comes up just short of a full animated rendition of the graphic novel as it incorporates shifts in facial expression, doors opening and closing, figures moving through the 1.85:1 frame, focus pulls, zooms, all brought to life digitally and so the transitions are extremely smooth. They even took the time and trouble to keep the black blots on Rorschach's white mask in constant motion, as they should be. The colors are faithful to John Higgins' emphasis on secondary shades, and even the look of the Ben-day Dots printing process of old comics is preserved as we read along with Tales of the Black Freighter, the "story within the story." Faint film grain is overlaid on flashback scenes, and I was about to comment negatively on a weird buzzing across Dr. Manhattan's blue skin until I realized that this was a deliberate effect added to suggest his superhuman energy, an effect that could be lost on less-than-HD playback
This is happily a rather active track, as the effects--much like Lennie Moore's continuous, inspired musical score--do their part to keep the story moving forward. The Dolby TrueHD 5.1 track feels effortless, as everything here is crystal clear, from little details such as the gentle sizzle of cigarette being lit to an all-encompassing rainstorm with thunder to a flock of seagulls hovering off to the rear during the Black Freighter scenes. Underneath, it has the vibe of an audiobook, with some slight overacting to compensate for the fact that a single performer is reading all of the parts. That might be the greatest weakness of this experimental motion comic, although Tom Stechschulte does an admirable job, and the presence of the word balloons helps to distinguish who is speaking.
The Extras
BD-Live connects us to a high-quality streaming version of the prison break scene from Snyder's feature film, late in what promises to be one of the movie's most exciting sequences. Also online is a trailer for the upcoming companion disc, Tales of the Black Freighter, review due shortly. "Watchmen Production Diaries #4: Dave Gibbons" (three minutes) delivers perhaps the single most fitting of the video podcasts created to promote the film, presented here in high-definition. And the 10-and-a-half-minute preview for the animated Wonder Woman, released on disc the same day, is here too.
The second disc, a DVD, carries a Digital Copy of the Motion Comic for Windows Media Player and compatible devices only, no iPod support, likely in an effort to maintain the iTunes store's exclusivity.
Final Thoughts
To be fair, reading the Watchmen graphic novel is a commitment, not just because of its length but its density. This motion comic is a great alternative to lugging the book around and leafing through, either in preparation for or as a revelatory follow-up to the feature film. Only the original backup content--faux book excerpts, magazine articles, company memos, etc. that added another dimension--are missing. The indisputable quality and excellent value (iTunes sells the series for two bucks a chapter, 20 clams for all twelve) make this Blu-ray a great investment for once and future fans.
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