Tales of the Black Freighter + Under the Hood

I just picked up copy of the Blu-Ray and I have to say I was quite impressed.

The original graphic novel of Watchmen features a story-within-a-story called Tales of the Black Freighter. The story is originally intertwined with scenes of a character reading the comic book, within the Watchmen universe in multiple chapters in the story. Due to super heroes being "real" there's no interest in super hero comic books – pirate stories apparently have taken their place.

The story presented in Tales of the Black Freighter is a story of a young seaman who attempts to return home to warn his town of the coming of the Black Freighter. His ship is destroyed and he is marooned on an island. To escape he must use means that slowly drive him more and more mad. His madness ends up being his undoing. The film ends with the song "Pirate Jenny", from "The Threepenny Opera." Gerard Butler voices the main character of the story, "Tales of the Black Freighter."


Under the Hood was a wonderful compilation of the appendix material found in the graphic novel. It takes material not only from Hollis Mason's Under the Hood excerpts, but also some of the other interview material as well. It's all presented in a well-presented mockumentary fashion.

I was quite impressed by the wealth of visual material on display, from interviews, to faux archival footage, black-and-white photos, and newspaper headlines. The short film really dug deeper into the history and universe created and only hinted at in the Watchmen film. The short film features the characters of Hollis Mason (who wrote the book Under the Hood), Sally Jupiter, Wally Weaver, Sally’s ex-husband, The Comedian, former villain Moloch, and others.

This ends up providing the same basic aid to the story that the excerpts provided in the graphic novel helped expand the Watchmen universe. In many respects I would almost suggest this to someone who has not read the graphic novel, as they would be introduced to the world, some of the characters, and have a sense of history to go with it. The downside is that it may only be interesting to someone who already is familiar with these characters, as it plays the documentary angle extremely straight. In other words, people may find it "boring" since they’re not invested in the characters and history already.

I’m hoping that much of this footage somehow makes its way into a future extended release, or at the very least is provided as a recommended companion piece when the ultimate edition comes out.

While I did not expect a lot from Under the Hood, I ended up being more impressed with the short film than I did with Tales of the Black Freighter. Both were good, and something that should be looked into if you enjoyed Watchmen.

Black Freighter - *** out of *****
Under the Hood - *** 1/2 out of *****

Malin Akerman Tour?

Watchmen Tour with Malin Akerman from Malin Akerman

Watchmen

Well, I've just returned from the 12:01 IMAX showing in Alexandria. The night started off pretty good, first with two co-workers of mine, Lance and Jeremy, headed over to Rustico, a wonderful restaurant/bar that serves an excellent array of beers. The downside was, however, that when we eventually arrived at the movie theater, there were no three adjacent seats - except in the first row. Well Jeremy would have none of that, so he found a pretty comfy seat about mid-way up the middle section. I settled in in the second row, and Lance had to settle for a close seat when no other free seats were available higher up in the theater.

The movie's trailers started and we were provided the months old Star Trek trailer, a trailer for Night at the Museum 2 and Transformers 2.

Well, coming from someone who had already seen the work - I was impressed. My two co-workers had seen the film already as well, and appeared to be as well. I really can't say how I'd find this film if I had not read the work to begin with. I'll just have to see if I can wrangle up anyone else who may want to see the film, and see how a person who has not read the graphic novel reacts.

The acting from the principle cast is great. They nail the characters perfectly.
Jeffrey Dean Morgan did an excellent job, Billy Crudup, and Jackie Earle Haley. Haley nails Rorschach.

The attention to detail, not only for what appeared in the graphic novel, but what technology existed in 1985 (though slightly tweaked due to certain changes from our history), is dead on.

I'd have to say so far the only part that I'm slightly frustrated with is the rushing towards the resolution that occurs in the film. It just "happens" - not horribly, but far faster than other elements in the story progress. Then again, I'm not hating the "changes" made to the ending. The huge fear was that the film would be unable to cope with such a "drastic" change to the original story, that the film would fall apart. Personally, with other parts completely removed, the shift in the plot-'twist' suits the film's needs as a self contained story and not just an arm of the graphic novel.

Aside from the obvious major change for those familiar with the story, the film is extremely faithful to the source material. Some parts have been excised, but will apparently be added back into the film when it makes its way onto DVD.

They didn't change the gender of any of the characters. They didn't add in completely new characters. They didn't eliminate any of the main plot points (just the means in one particular case). They didn't have some characters live and others die instead. They didn't cut out entire swaths of the film to fit a specific run time. If less competent people had been running the show, it would have been worse. They would have eliminated Rorschach's entire incarceration, they probably would have killed other characters. They would have made it an actual "happy ending." Trust me, it could have been far worse. And the film is still being skewered.

I loved the original ending. However, upon exiting the theater, I heard more than a few people discuss whether or not what Veidt did was right. As I've heard another person say about the matter... Mission Accomplished. The ending still works.

What I'm finding hilarious is that almost no two critics that are being critical of the film can agree. Just based off the first two short synopses I can across on Rotten Tomatoes, one calls the film "overlong" the next says that the film is too short. You have reviewers that show a complete lack of focus, and are ignorant when they eventually write the review, calling characters the wrong thing, analyzing things that didn't even appear in the movie (perhaps they were complaining about something they saw in a trailer before the film). You also have reviewers that complain that the film is not an accurate adaptation of the source material. Few films are. Sin City perhaps is the most "faithful" adaption in the last few years. Watchmen is more faithful to not only the plot, but the characters than Peter Jackson and crew were to the story and characters in Lord of the Rings. Few film adaptions in the last 100 years are even halfway faithful to the original works.

Then again, some of the people who are unable to get past the graphic novel are also the same people who don't want the graphic novel to become "popular" - either because they're unable to make emotional bonds with well known works of literature or art, or because they like to be ironic and complain about how not enough people "know" about something and that popularizing such a thing would ruin their complaining.

I generally agree that the consensus of critics on a given movie is usually the correct one, but not in this case. The critics either don't get it, or are so far absorbed into the graphic novel that they just will not accept anything that is missing or is deviating from the plot.

I can't really say if this film will be a hit - since almost all IMAX showings such as the one I just was at are sold out, even if the film ends up coming in at #8 for the weekend. However, the audience, not the critics will end up being the determining factor in whether people look on the film favorably, or unfavorably whether it be one week, one month, or years from now.

It was a great night, with a film that did not disappoint like my last foray into the 12:01 Friday morning premiere - Indiana Jones.

Tales of the Black Freighter Trailer

This is going to be interesting to see as well.

I'm more stoked to see this get integrated into the actual Watchmen film, and see how exactly it all plays out, as one, huge epic 3+ hour film. This is of course, assuming that Watchmen will be good. I don't go in assuming that it won't somehow be a complete failure, but if it does not deliver, it may end up being the biggest disappointments I have ever had with a film in recent memory. Less than 23 and a half hours to go...

Real men use Veidt

Nostalgia by Veidt

Veidt Airlines

Watchmen tie-ins

For the young ones.

I wish I had owned these when I was a kid

Ozymandias action figure:

Fox sues WB over "Watchmen" rights

Apparently Fox is claiming that Warner has infringed on its copyrights when Fox had acquired the rights to the graphic novel back in the 80s.

Watchmen, set in 1985, is an alternate history of the United States where costumed adventurers are real.

For more: New York Times: Fox Is Allowed to Press Warner Over Rights to ‘Watchmen’