3/5 Faithful to a fault? Hardly.....
  by Adam Kennedy (Hollywood)
Its nice to see a director who is TRYING to get on the ball and follow beloved and long adored comic folklore with almost a religious respect for doctrine. But Z. Snyders adaptation of one of the most legendary is remarkably true to the text until THE END! At one of the greatest moments in comic book history his film-that was so true to a book that most of us who love it were willing to forgive dry acting and flat delivery of Allan Moores lines- completely CHANGED the end, blasted out one of the best points to ever be made in a comic series by making Dr Manhattan the cause of the earths cities destruction!!! Its no wonder Allan Moore didnt want his name attached to this project. There are so many things wrong with this change and so many questions it raises, especially since Americas enemies believed Dr Manhattan an American trick- there by negating the whole united front perspective. Ugh it was like eating the greatest meal of your life and then finding a cockroach in the last bite. If anything it will hopefully show Hollywood, as Iron Man 1 has, that the CLOSER u make these films to the books, the better they are. Good movie but the ultimate insult to real hardcore fans. So can the whole best adaptation reviews please.

5/5 Perfect Adaptation
  by Corey Merritt (Bethlehem, PA)
Until March 6, 2009, it had been almost ten years since a good movie was last released.

I say 'good' movie, not 'movie I liked,' because I've seen a few movies I liked in the spaces between 2000 and 2008. The last 'good' movie that was released was Mary Harron's adaptation of Bret Easton Ellis' "American Psycho," a movie that should have won an Oscar for best directing. But after that, I've been hard-pressed to see a movie that was truly 'good.' Post-9/11 movies seemed to tone down on story and crank up unnecessary special effects. Even the movies that won Oscars in the post-9/11 years weren't very 'good,' in the sense that they weren't memorable. I'll give you an example of a 'good' movie: The Godfather. The Godfather, whether you like it or not, is a good movie. There is no question that a high amount of care and love was put into that movie, and even if someone found it boring, or hated it, it is still a good movie, and nothing can change that. Regardless of what people may think, there is a very fine line between fact and opinion-- it is an opinion to dislike a film like The Godfather, but it is stone cold fact that The Godfather is a good movie, regardless of opinion. This brings me to the first good movie I've seen in the post-9/11 years...

Zack Snyder, best known for his adaptation of Frank Miller's "300," started directing late in life with his remake of George A. Romero's 'Dawn of the Dead,' now the Dawn of the Dead remake might not have been true to its source material, it may not have been a 'good' movie, but I enjoyed it, even more so than 300. But things started heating up in 2006, when Warner Bros announced a big-screen adaptation of Alan Moore's "Watchmen," a graphic novel that had been in the process of being made into a movie since 1988. The project went through several writers and directors, most noticeably writer Sam Hamm of 1989's "Batman" and director Terry Gilliam, who directed the movie 'Brazil.' Over the years the project was deemed 'unfilmable' by various directors, who all found themselves quitting the project. But finally, after a long uphill battle of writing and roundtable discussions, Zack Snyder was brought on board to do a rewrite of the script and direct the project. It was finished in 2007, but the film wasn't released until 2009, after a long lawsuit between Fox and Warner Bros, over who would get the distribution rights to the film. Thankfully, Warner Bros won the dispute, and Fox was cast back into the darkness, cut off from the Watchmen Franchise.

I saw the movie the day it opened, March 6, 2009. I'd read the graphic novel prior to seeing the movie, which made me a bit skeptic at the idea of adapting a project so massive and intricate, but after seeing the theatrical cut, I was blown away by the simple, yet complex film which told the story of the Watchmen in under three hours. It was, without question, one of the best book-to-movie adaptations I'd ever seen, and everything in the movie was done right (a lot of people dispute the slight ending change, but seriously-- a giant squid?) from start to finish. I've only seen maybe, one, other movie that was as true to its source material as Watchmen, it's called "The Godfather." All this I got from just the theatrical cut alone, which I saw in cinemas, twice. It had been ten years since I went to see a movie more than once in theaters, I enjoyed it that much. Since then a director's cut was released, but I did not buy it, because it was soon after announced that an 'ultimate cut' would be released, complete with the comic-within-the-comic as a cartoon, "The Tales Of The Black Freighter," sown back into it, making the film about three and a half hours long, the 'true,' version of Watchmen. Recently I ordered it, and am awaiting its delivery to my home. Watchmen is a shining example of both excellent writing and outstanding film-making. It's action-packed, thought-provoking, it has colorful characters and is set in a world of extraordinary circumstances. It's a good movie.

I recently ordered and received a copy of The Ultimate Cut of Zack Snyder's "Watchmen." Needless to say, it's fantastic. It weaves together the Director's Cut of the movie with the animated segments called 'The Tales of the Black Freighter,' completing the Watchmen experience, making it a nearly literal adaptation of Alan Moore's wonderful graphic novel. Whereas the theatrical cut gave us an abridged look at the Watchmen and their lives, the Director's cut expanded upon that, and The Ultimate Cut expands even further, with the movie-in-movie cartoon, which symbolizes the journey that the characters go through individually and the struggles they endure.

In reference to the title of this review, the film is a perfect adaptation; it uses anachronisms skillfully in order to slim down the overall weight of the book and like any adaptation, it adds certain elements that are either not in the source material, or are merely hinted at in said source material. The most noticeable in this movie would be the scene where, and yes, we're talking spoilers, where Doctor Manhattan kills Rorschach and Nite Owl sees it happen, which throws him into a fit of rage, making him beat up Adrian Veidt, who concocted the whole scheme to blow up several cities full of innocent people around the world in order to prevent nuclear war. But even if a Watchmen fan didn't like these little anachronisms, they were indeed necessary to the film's development, especially for modern audiences, who watch movies like "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen," which have little to no plot or engaging material whatsoever. But I digress. As said, it's a perfect adaptation.

One thing you should know is, and a lot of people have complained about this-- is the ending is tweaked significantly. Allow me to explain. In the book, Ozymandias' grand master scheme was to send a genetically engineered squid into Manhattan to kill people in a giant explosion, thus uniting the world against a common enemy-- an 'alien' threat, but of course it wasn't really an alien, it was something Ozzy had created, but he intended for everyone to believe it was an extraterrestrial. In the movie it's a far more believable plot device: Adrian frames Doctor Manhattan and unites the world against him in order to prevent nuclear holocaust. The book and movie both end the same way, however, with Rorschach's journal in the newsroom of The New Frontiersman, where Seymour (maybe) picks it up and publishes it for all the world to see, possibly dooming humanity once more. In conclusion, Watchmen is one of the best movies I've ever seen, it has everything you could want in a movie, action, violence, romance, sex, good music and it's incredibly thought-provoking. If you've never heard of Watchmen, I suggest going to your local comic-book store and picking up a copy, then seeing The Ultimate Cut.

It's an experience you'll never forget.

5/5 A masterpiece
  by N. Durham (Philadelphia, PA)
When the long-awaited adaptation of Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons' comic book masterpiece Watchmen was released, it proved to be, despite its flaws, undoubtedly the best adaptation that a fan of the comic could have ever hoped for. Those who found it boring, overlong, or just simply didn't "get it" need not apply here for this Watchmen: The Ultimate Cut edition, which pushes Zack Snyder's adaptation to a 3 and a half hour plus epic. Fully incorporating the animated Tales of the Black Freighter (intercut into segments) as well as deleted scenes from the first DVD and Blu-Ray releases of the film, Watchmen: The Ultimate Edition is a masterpiece of comic book to film adaptations that will not disappoint those who have long cherished the comic. The special features, which include commentary tracks from Snyder and Gibbons, as well as the brilliant Under the Hood segment, the various webisodes, and the Watchmen: The Complete Motion Comic, are worthwhile enough (though one may wish that more would and could have been included features wise), and as for the film itself, the same flaws do remain: including the various alterations in the story (such as Rorschach's origin and the ending), and the fact that the film just isn't for everyone or those expecting to see guys in tights fighting the good fight. Despite its flaws though, the Watchmen film remains a labor of love that does Moore and Gibbons' masterwork, and now that it's in its complete form, is more than worth your time.

5/5 The greatest honor any film could ever recieve.
  by Underground Reborn (ny)

I have already written a review on the original release of `Watchmen' on DVD. However, for you first time readers I have posted the original review of the movie along with my review of the Ultimate collection.


The comic book has now officially become the mainstream in the world of film. The major companies try to get their hands on every franchise they possibly can. The real question is once there is a movie in play how will translate to the big screen and who is the fan base? Well, we all have seen what `The Dark Knight' and `Spider-Man' have done. Still, what about the no so main stream novels such as `300'? There are directors out there that don't want to make a movie in their own vision, but yet they wish to bring the book to the screen word for word, page for page. That is the film 'Watchmen'.

'Watchmen' may be the biggest cult fan based comic book of all time. Written in an alternate reality in the 1980s, the Cold War is very much alive and all of Earth is extremely concerned about nuclear war. The heroes in this world are not ones special abilities or powers, and they are not liked by the people. Though, the costumed crusaders prevail to keep the people in line and keep order in the world. Suddenly one of them is brutally murdered and they are now the ones who fear extinction.


I made it my business to make sure I read the graphic novel before I went to see this film and it was a wise choice. This movie no doubt tried to remain as faithful to the comic as possible. The dialogue was melancholy, they characters were well cast and while there were not as many effects as a major comic book blockbuster it was still put together in a very artsy package. Though, this movie is truly not for the mainstream movie goers. Watchmen was definitely created with the true comic book fan in mind. The director Zack Snyder like on his previous work with `300' wanted to make a movie that was just as authentic as the pages it was first concocted upon. Those who read this story would definitely enjoy it even though it is a very slow movie dragged out story. There are a few major things that are changed for cinematic purposes, but after reading this story I believe that the changes made really made the story more believable and less confusing. The changing of the costumes was a positive thing because some of those characters really looked like pimped out hood ornaments in print. The actors chosen were not well known which a great thing is always. They each filled their roles perfectly and it really made me feel like the comic book was actually coming to life before my eyes. I believe that if you read the book definitely pick the movie up. If you are an innovative person who wants to see something different then you might enjoy it as well. But, I think if you are looking for the typical action super-hero flick let this one pass you by, you might not understand it. Alan Moore may have officially removed himself from any film that his work was to become, but I believe he needs to see this one, because it really has done him justice. Watchmen came out at the right time because Zack Snyder got it right.

Apparently I was not on target when I originally wrote my review, because now we have a 5 DVD Watchmen extravaganza. I have to say for one movie on its' own I have never seen such a package. This edition has everything that was made in honor of this film even dating before the movie itself was officially released in theaters! Before the movie came out where two animated films made for DVD release. The animated creation of `Tales of The Black Freighter', which is an essential piece to the Watchmen story. The special feature on that DVD included `Tales From Under the Hood'. In the graphic novel itself you see excerpts of that book and for DVD it is reinvented to be a television documentary complete with effects that make it look aged and its own advertisements. The other DVD release was `Watchmen: The Complete Motion Comic'. This was the graphic novel page for page narrated like a book on tape making the original comic book art look as if it was jumping right off the page. Thanks to this new Ultimate collectors edition these two projects are woven in to the film to make it more true to the novel and really give this film the honor and respect it deserves. Other features include the official video journals and incredible documentaries and commentary not to mention a digital copy of the original theatrical release. How can you possibly pass up purchasing this amazing DVD package? This package has it all...I am serious there is nothing missing from this film now! If you loved this movie you are going to love it even more when you officially have the complete story.


5/5 Definitely worth the wait....
  by T. Lawrence (Louisville, KY)
I was waiting for something like this come out. Hoped it would and BAM!!!
Thur It Is!!!
I agree with both dudes above 100%
Dedicate the whole day to this one.