Johann
06-12-2012, 03:52 PM
WATCHMEN: THE ULTIMATE CUT
I recently bought the Watchmen Ultimate Cut DVD box set (used) and it is one of the best DVD sets I have.
It includes Zack Snyder's director's cut with "Tales of the Black Freighter" animated film integrated into it, a special features disc, a digital copy disc, and the 2-DVD set of the complete motion comic- which is a marvelous program.
Alan Moore had nothing to do with this movie and I understand why. He hates Hollywood, or specifically, Hollywood's treatment of his works.
The man is a Genius and he wrote the best graphic novel in world history with Watchmen.
That novel is so incredibly great that nothing will ever touch it. And I'll explain why.
Watchmen depicts an alternate 1985. Nixon was elected for a third term. His government is uber-extreme right-wing.
Dr. Manhattan or Jon Osterman, is a super-hero with God-like powers but he doesn't care about humans or earth. His experience of "Time" is outside of regular human grasp.
Nixon uses him to end the Vietnam War.
Society is fractured, and costumed heroes are trying to instill some law and order because the powers that be will not do it.
The people consider the Watchmen to be vigilantes, exacting justice on criminals when no one is asking them to- they are taking the law into their own hands, because society is so depraved.
Alan Moore gave us a world that is eerily similar to our own, and asks "what if?"
What if costumed heroes tried to make a difference? Who oversees their behavior? Are they morally better than anyone else?
Are they claiming the high ground, or are they just running amok, imposing their idea of "Justice" on anyone they feel like?
And the characters who make up the Watchmen render that question VERY topical.
The Comedian is a man that is hard to like, with a background that nobody would appreciate.
Rorshach is like Batman, but instead of handing criminals over to the police, he is like Judge Dredd- dispensing INSTANT justice to whomever he feels deserves it.
To him, it's black and white, right and wrong, and let's go bust heads! Society is asking for it!
(Needless to say, he is the most-beloved character in the novel. Show me a fan of Watchmen and show me someone who HATES Rorshach- they don't exist)
Silk Spectre (Laurie) is the daughter of the original Silk Spectre, the one who was a member of the MINUTEMEN in the 40's- the precurser to Watchmen.
She is in love with Dr. Manhattan but eventually ends up with Nite Owl- complex reasons for that-read the book or watch the movie for that.
Nite Owl (Dan) is my favorite character in the series- he's emotional, practical, and has a bitchin' ship: a ship named ARCHIE, or Archimedes.
Ozymandias (Adrian Veidt) is your villain of the piece, besides Nixon. A perfect foil for this kind of story.
Nixon's War Room is exactly like the one we saw in Kubrick's Dr. Strangelove, BTW.
I'm not going to get into the complexities of this movie until someone posts who wants to discuss it- you have to have read the book or have seen the movie many times in order to begin the deconstruction of this Massively Significant piece of Literature.
The themes are Universal, and they are damn important. But even more imporatnt than the themes is just how INTERESTING this is.
Alan Moore has a mind you would get lost in, I think.
So expansive, so...ANARCHIST. He's one of the most beautiful men to have ever lived, if you want my honest opinion of the Man.
No other piece of comics writing/art can match Watchmen.
If you think there is, let's hear it.
Because I know for a fact that I will never read another comic book series with as much depth and weight and sheer creative genius as this one.
Terry Gilliam called it "THE WAR AND PEACE OF COMICS". And it is.
I recently bought the Watchmen Ultimate Cut DVD box set (used) and it is one of the best DVD sets I have.
It includes Zack Snyder's director's cut with "Tales of the Black Freighter" animated film integrated into it, a special features disc, a digital copy disc, and the 2-DVD set of the complete motion comic- which is a marvelous program.
Alan Moore had nothing to do with this movie and I understand why. He hates Hollywood, or specifically, Hollywood's treatment of his works.
The man is a Genius and he wrote the best graphic novel in world history with Watchmen.
That novel is so incredibly great that nothing will ever touch it. And I'll explain why.
Watchmen depicts an alternate 1985. Nixon was elected for a third term. His government is uber-extreme right-wing.
Dr. Manhattan or Jon Osterman, is a super-hero with God-like powers but he doesn't care about humans or earth. His experience of "Time" is outside of regular human grasp.
Nixon uses him to end the Vietnam War.
Society is fractured, and costumed heroes are trying to instill some law and order because the powers that be will not do it.
The people consider the Watchmen to be vigilantes, exacting justice on criminals when no one is asking them to- they are taking the law into their own hands, because society is so depraved.
Alan Moore gave us a world that is eerily similar to our own, and asks "what if?"
What if costumed heroes tried to make a difference? Who oversees their behavior? Are they morally better than anyone else?
Are they claiming the high ground, or are they just running amok, imposing their idea of "Justice" on anyone they feel like?
And the characters who make up the Watchmen render that question VERY topical.
The Comedian is a man that is hard to like, with a background that nobody would appreciate.
Rorshach is like Batman, but instead of handing criminals over to the police, he is like Judge Dredd- dispensing INSTANT justice to whomever he feels deserves it.
To him, it's black and white, right and wrong, and let's go bust heads! Society is asking for it!
(Needless to say, he is the most-beloved character in the novel. Show me a fan of Watchmen and show me someone who HATES Rorshach- they don't exist)
Silk Spectre (Laurie) is the daughter of the original Silk Spectre, the one who was a member of the MINUTEMEN in the 40's- the precurser to Watchmen.
She is in love with Dr. Manhattan but eventually ends up with Nite Owl- complex reasons for that-read the book or watch the movie for that.
Nite Owl (Dan) is my favorite character in the series- he's emotional, practical, and has a bitchin' ship: a ship named ARCHIE, or Archimedes.
Ozymandias (Adrian Veidt) is your villain of the piece, besides Nixon. A perfect foil for this kind of story.
Nixon's War Room is exactly like the one we saw in Kubrick's Dr. Strangelove, BTW.
I'm not going to get into the complexities of this movie until someone posts who wants to discuss it- you have to have read the book or have seen the movie many times in order to begin the deconstruction of this Massively Significant piece of Literature.
The themes are Universal, and they are damn important. But even more imporatnt than the themes is just how INTERESTING this is.
Alan Moore has a mind you would get lost in, I think.
So expansive, so...ANARCHIST. He's one of the most beautiful men to have ever lived, if you want my honest opinion of the Man.
No other piece of comics writing/art can match Watchmen.
If you think there is, let's hear it.
Because I know for a fact that I will never read another comic book series with as much depth and weight and sheer creative genius as this one.
Terry Gilliam called it "THE WAR AND PEACE OF COMICS". And it is.