So I watched the ultimate edition of Watchmen. First off, I loved that when I opened the case, I was greeted by beautiful portraits of Ozy and the Comedian from their character posters (the designs for the case and the box it comes in are spectacular), which is a wonderful way to begin the viewing process. Now I've rambled enough about this film on other occasions, so I don't feel that a thorough review is necessary.


With the director's cut, Laurie was fleshed out more, and though not as hardened and jaded as her novel counter-part, was given more to do and was more of a wounded innocent trying to find her way in the world. What I did not notice as a nice bit of foreshadowing, which I liked, was when Laurie was fooling around in Archie and started the fire. As she futilely attempted to put it out, Dan, trying to alleviate her embarrassment, recalled that the Comedian did the same thing in 1977.

This was also the first time I saw Tales of the Black Freighter, as I wanted to wait to see it edited into the film; I was not disappointed. It was appropriately grotesque, and Gerard Butler, whom my father and I have been following since Phantom of the Opera (along with Patrick Wilson), was excellent as the desperate mariner who descends into madness. Jared Harris was chilling as Ridley, whose rotting carcass haunts the mariner as he fights to get home. In the novel, the whole thing repulsed me and as a reference to the infamous E.C. comics, it worked perfectly, complementing key parts of the novel's storyline as it went along. In the film it did the same, with the added bonus of more of Bernie and Bernard along with the animation, which I was very grateful for, as Bernie became the Greek Chorus that he was in the novel. The animation itself was both striking and frightening and its style was very '80s, as it reminded me of Ralph Bakshi, Starchaser, and other such mature animated features from the decade.

As with the director's cut, I love having the extended scenes of Nixon and the underground bunker, as it helped to show the necessity of Ozymandias' plan.

I still cried over Hollis Mason.

And I still love Ozymandias and will forever love seeing him allow Dan to take his grief out on him. Something else I love even more besides Ozy? Manhattan and Billy Crudup's performance, who, along with Matthew Goode and Jeffrey Dean Morgan, amazed me; it was all the subtle movements and facial expressions, which you really have to keep an eye on (much as how Adrian can easily read Jon's expressions by his facial tics). In particular, it was the exchange in Karnak; the way Manhattan looked at Ozymandias nearly knocked the wind out of me (yes, I have always been into Manhattan/Ozymandias). And that little movement of his head after Dan told him, "Don't even think about it!" when Rorschach stormed out? Oof.
The way he looked to Ozy after that, as if wanting permission as well as to offer his assurance, and Ozy's silent acknowledgement was beautiful:

Sure, Jackie Earle Haley gets all the accolades, but Crudup and Goode were far more subtle, requiring the viewer to give them their full attention. Really, it's no wonder that the two of them have such an epic bromance.

Seriously, I need to put that scene, the elevator scene from Star Trek, and the projection booth scene from Inglourious Basterds all on DVD and watch them over and over. A review I had read some time ago stated that Watchmen was this generation's Blade Runner and I'm inclined to agree (especially with all the different DVD editions). If you've not seen Watchmen, get ahold of the ultimate edition, Zack Snyder's original vision, and watch it. The DVD also includes separate commentaries from Zack and illustrator Dave Gibbons, both of which I have yet to listen to.

I still need to post my Ozymandias fanmix, which is even more insane and obsessive than the ones I've been posting for Shosanna/Fredrick.

And because I can't embed it, have more Watchmen music with Tears For Fears: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YK9O30d_yiE

Pretend that you're Ozy in Karnak: