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Watchmen (1-Disc) [DVD] [2009]
 
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Watchmen (1-Disc) [DVD] [2009]

DVD ~ Carla Gugino
3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (45 customer reviews)
RRP: £19.99
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Product details

  • Actors: Carla Gugino, Billy Crudup, Malin Akerman, Patrick Wilson, Jackie Earle Haley
  • Directors: Zack Snyder
  • Format: PAL
  • Subtitles: English, Danish, Finnish, Norwegian, Swedish
  • Region: Region 2 (This DVD may not be viewable outside Europe. Read more about DVD formats.)
  • Number of discs: 1
  • Classification: 18
  • Studio: Paramount Home Entertainment
  • DVD Release Date: 27 July 2009
  • Run Time: 156 minutes
  • Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (45 customer reviews)
  • ASIN: B00280LN5Q
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 329 in DVD (See Bestsellers in DVD)

    Popular in this category:

    #45 in  DVD > Action & Adventure

Reviews

Amazon.co.uk Review

Everybody's favourite graphic novel comes to the screen (after years of rumours and false starts), less a roaring work of adaptation than a respectful and faithful take on a radical original. Watchmen is set in the mid-1980s, a time of increased nuclear tension between the United States and the Soviet Union, as Richard Nixon is enjoying his fifth term as president and the world's superheroes have been forcibly retired. (As you can probably tell, the mix of authentic history and alternate reality is heady.) Things begin with a bang: the mysterious high-rise murder of the Comedian (Jeffrey Dean Morgan), a masked hero with a checkered past, puts the rest of the retired superhero community on alert. The credits sequence, a series of tableaux that wittily catches us up on crime-fighting backstory, actually turns out to be the high point of the movie. Thereafter we meet the other caped and hooded avengers: the furious Rorschach (Jackie Earle Haley), the inexplicably naked Dr. Manhattan (Billy Crudup, amidst much blue-skinned, genital-swinging digital work), Silk Spectre II (Malin Akerman), Nite Owl II (Patrick Wilson), and Ozymandias (Matthew Goode). The corkscrewing storytelling, which worked well in the comic book, gives the movie the strange sense of never quite getting in gear, even as some of the episodes are arresting. Director Zack Snyder (300) doesn't try to approximate the electric impact of the original (written by Alan Moore--who declined to be credited on the movie--and illustrated by Dave Gibbons) but retains careful fidelity to his source material. That doesn't feel right, even with the generally enjoyable roll-out of anecdotes. Even less forgivable is the blah acting, excepting Jeffrey Dean Morgan (lusty) and Patrick Wilson (mellow). Watchmen certainly fills the eyes, although less so the ears: the song choices are regrettable, especially during an embarrassing mid-air coupling between Nite Owl II and Silk Spectre II as they unite their--ah--Roman numerals. In the end it feels as though a huge work of transcription has been successfully completed, which isn't the same as making a full-blooded movie experience. --Robert Horton

DVD Description

A complex, multi-layered mystery adventure, Watchmen is set in an alternate 1985 America in which costumed superheroes are part of the fabric of everyday society, and the "Doomsday Clock"--which charts the USA's tension with the Soviet Union--moves closer to midnight. When one of his former colleagues is murdered, the washed-up but no less determined masked vigilante Rorschach sets out to uncover a plot to kill and discredit all past and present superheroes. As he reconnects with his former crime-fighting legion--a ragtag group of retired superheroes, only one of whom has true powers--Rorschach glimpses a wide-ranging and disturbing conspiracy with links to their shared past.

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Customer Reviews

45 Reviews
5 star:
 (21)
4 star:
 (7)
3 star:
 (6)
2 star:
 (3)
1 star:
 (8)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
3.7 out of 5 stars (45 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
18 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars 'Sometimes I feel like, somebody's watching me, and it ain't no fantasy', 17 Jun 2009
By Barney McGrew "Charlie" (UK) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)      
Coming to this film without prior knowledge of The Watchmen series, I found it to be an absorbing and disturbing experience. It's a bold movie that's for sure, super-heroes who are dark, deviant, amoral and who get a kick out of inflicting pain are not Hollywood bread and butter, but Zack Snyder's portrayal of a society that has embraced and then rejected its 'protectors' is a gleeful indictment on America's voracious appetite for screen violence, amongst other things.

Many fans and critics claimed that Watchmen was 'unfilmable' but I thought the director made a decent fist of it; my only (minor) grumble would be that it was over-long. I wouldn't have minded but the extra length wasn't used to further the plot or provide action (it is a superhero film after all, albeit an unconventional one!) but to pad it out. Too much time was spent on Dr Manhattan and his inability to empathise with 'ordinary' humans, while Rorschach's quest to find the killer of his fellow mask, The Comedian, could have been developed further.

Ultimately though this is a strange but somehow satisfying movie experience.
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8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars The Manhattan Project, 19 July 2009
By James Poole (UK) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
Much has been made of the supposed difficulty of transposing Alan Moore's graphic novels into the medium of film. Previous attempts such as V for Vendetta and From Hell received mixed receptions from critics and audiences, but were both actually very good pieces of cinema. Moore's public disowning of the film imaginings of his work has harmed them, but it says more about his non-conformism than it does about the quality of the movies themselves.

Watchmen is a beautifully crafted and fascinating story (it is one of the New York Times top 100 novels of all time after all). Atmospherically shot, with gravelly narration by the disturbing and uncompromising Rorschach, the imersion into the alternative 1980s history is immediate.

Cold War paranoia has been racheted up and nuclear armageddon seems imminent and terrifying. In 2009 this has less intrinsic power than when Moore penned Watchmen in 1986. The Soviet giant has crumbled and nuclear proliferation has reduced, but the capability of humanity to destroy itself is still a hard truth of the world we live in. That's what makes the character of Dr Manhattan so engrossing. A man turned into a being of god-like power, his struggle to save humanity causes him to lose his own. The portrayl of Manhattan by Billy Crudupp is wonderful; quiet, regretful and absorbing. This is juxtaposed with visual representations of a towering blue giant, destroying human lives with a gesture. The parallel with the awful responsibility of controlling a nuclear button is clear.

The other characters are as well drawn as they need to be to lend support to the blue gargantuan, Rorschach being the most compelling, but Manhattan is the centrepiece. Given near infinite powers, the question settles in the viewers mind, how would I respond to the the needs of my loved ones? My country? The world?

Moore's story is ascerbic and engaging, the lines between good and evil are blurred. The thoughtful, compassionate Nite Owl partners with the uncompromising and brutal Rorschach. Ozymandias mixes intelligence with maeglomania and explains the true nature of sacrifice. Silk Spectre and the Comedian explore themes of human emotions and responses; the interwining of love and grief, exhaltation and regret. As a whole Watchmen is a rich, well textured story which provokes thought as well as entertaining. Watch it.

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3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars All Along the Watchmen, 28 Sep 2009
By Charles Vasey (London, England) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)      
I thought the film version stood up well to its attempt to be, as much as a film ever can be, faithful to what the director saw as the spirit of the original graphic novel. The whole look of the piece was remarkably true, in large matters like Dr Manhattan's light suit and in lesser ones too. The humble comic like the vampire story generating something much more serious than its origins might suggest. Perhaps the film was too much the whodunit for some? I enjoyed it in the round and was surprised how quickly the evening went.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Do not overlook this film
I had heard mixed reviews of this film. Some friends switched it off half way through, others made it to the end but didn't rave about it. Read more
Published 21 days ago by Metallica

5.0 out of 5 stars I Enjoyed the Graphic Novel and I Enjoyed This
I watched the watchmen, having already owned and enjoyed the graphic novel it is based on. I enjoyed it a lot. Read more
Published 24 days ago by Craig

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Film
I wasn't expecting this to be that good but i was pleasantly surprised.
The graphics are amazing, and the narrative is engaging and provocative. Read more
Published 28 days ago by C. Andrews

4.0 out of 5 stars Watchmen
I came to this film having never read the graphic novel and managed to enjoy it. Hugely. From what I had been told, I was expecting an overly complicated film that only die hard... Read more
Published 1 month ago by Omac

4.0 out of 5 stars Great but complex and possibly too long for many.
I had never read the comics (I have now) and contrary to many people suggesting that you need to have read them to enjoy this, I enjoyed it. Read more
Published 1 month ago by kogia

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the best films of recent years.
A skillful distillation of the classic comic book. The choice is between this Theatrical Cut and the Director's Cut, which has twenty-five minutes of additional material. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Dogtooth

3.0 out of 5 stars Not your average "Hero" story
Having had no prior knowledge of "Watchmen" I was a little disappointed when the first scene passes. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Ms. K. R. Weinert

5.0 out of 5 stars An underrated masterpiece
I absolutely loved this film. I nearly turned it off 20 minutes into the film because the first part has that Sin City feel which I hate, but the more I watched, the more the film... Read more
Published 1 month ago by Riaan

1.0 out of 5 stars Absolute rubbish
Everything said by everyone else who rates this only 1 star is absolutely right. I'm afraid I didn't even make it to the end of the film, although my husband did but was left... Read more
Published 2 months ago by Mrs. L. Andrews

5.0 out of 5 stars Impressed
Walked into the cinema with some friends thinking it looked terrible and came out very impressed. The only thing i didn't like was the blue guy.
Published 2 months ago by J. Murphy

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