DVD Review: Watchmen- Tales of the Black Freighter
The animated adaptation, “Tales of the Black Freighter” is based on the comic-within-the-comic in Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ epic tale “Watchmen”.
The story follows the trials and tribulations of a ship captain, voiced by Gerard Butler, who appears to be the sole survivor of a pirate attack. Washing ashore, the captain quickly realizes that he must return home, ahead of the Black Freighter, to rescue his wife, child, and the rest of the town.
With beautiful animation literally jumping off the screen, “Tales of the Black Freighter” is a pretty violent cartoon, loaded with gore and plenty of disgusting images.
As disturbing as some of the scenes are they do a fascinating job of presenting a more realistic vision of the struggles the main character had to persevere in order to achieve his objective, even if, in the end, he was a raving mad lunatic that realized the error of his ways, if only too late.
I’ll admit, the first time I read “Watchmen” I reached a point in the story where I began skipping over this comic-within-a-comic. I did not see any relation to the central Watchmen storyline, so I didn’t see the point of wasting my time reading a tale that I could not find joy in.
Fast forward several years, to the day “Tales of the Black Freighter” arrived in my mailbox. I didn’t ask for this movie, I didn’t even want this movie, I didn’t enjoy it when I first came across it during my reading of “Watchmen”, so what would an animated version do for me that the print version couldn’t? Make me a fan, that’s what. The story was captivating, the animation was fullfilling. It was a joy to watch from beginning to end, only if it lasted a mere 26 minutes.
Also presented on this DVD is a 40-minute feature, “Under the Hood”, the original Night Owl’s expose which adds quite a bit of back story to “Watchmen”.
“Under the Hood” mimicked a 1970’s style newscast, featuring plenty of back story that “Watchmen” enthusiast will definitely love. Including interviews with Hollis Mason (Stephen McHattie) and Sally Jupiter (Carla Gugino) as well as news footage of the Minutemen from the 1940’s. I don’t know, this feature just didn’t grab me as I had thought it would. Maybe I’m just Watchmened out.
I’ll revisit this feature in a few weeks and see if my feelings about “Under the Hood” have changed.
Special features on the DVD include:
Story within a Story: The Books of Watchmen: This special feature tells how “Tales of the Black Freighter” and “Under the Hood” connect and expand the world of “Watchmen”.
Watchmen Motion Comic Episode 1
First Look at DC’s Animated Green Lantern DVD
Details:
Release Date: March 24, 2009
Studio: Warner Premiere
Cast: Gerard Butler, Carla Gugino, Matt Frewer, Stephen McHattie
Director: Daniel DelPugatoria and Mike Smith/Eric Matthies
Genre: Animated/Mock-Documentary/Overkill
MPAA Rating: R/PG
http://www.warnervideo.com
Watchmen Movie
Tales of the Black Freighter will be available on DVD and Blu-ray March 24, 2009.
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