Watchmen: Midnight

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9.4
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9.8(21)
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9.4
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7.0
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10.0
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10.0
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10.0
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10.0
Really excellent ! I love all the work done on this fan edit, only "default" for me is to have modified almost the entire soundtrack otherwise everything is perfect.

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Overall rating
 
10.0
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10.0
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10.0
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10.0
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10.0
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10.0
Watchmen Midnight is a 3.5 hour magnum opus and easily my new preferred way to watch the Watchmen (which I haven't seen since theaters).

Much of the stated purpose is to bring the film closer to the original graphic novel, and it achieves that in spades. Re-editing the film so that the Black Freighter and pieces of the Under the Red Hood documentary at the end of every chapter, the depth and density of the novel and it's themes are fully encapsulated. We look back into the past as well as the present, we fully understand this world and the pull of vigilantism on the greatest generation. It's not unlike looking at WW2 and Vietnam, the original minutemen of WW2 era had it cleaner, simpler, good vs. bad, while this new world is gray. The film jettisons some weak pop cultural music choices (Halleluiah and the gratuitous sex scene is gone) to make this whole thing more powerful. Also gone are the feats of superhuman violence, everyone here is human except the one and only super, Dr. Manhattan.

The meta commentary on superheros, along with commentary on media, politics, and society all come to a head far better in this version. Certainly the Black Freighter material still feels superfluous and primarily it's because we rarely see the character who the allegory is about. But once one extends that allegory to represent the world rather than a single character and some neat intercutting with the world helps, it becomes a bit more powerful, but only a bit. The added depth of more scenes with the original Nite Owl, and the history of the superheroes in this world with the mockumentary, show how we move through both the past, present, and future, not unlike Dr. Manhattan, seeing all things at once.

The movie is so much stronger for many of the changes, Jackie Earl Hayley and Jeffrey Dean Morgan stand out the most as the two most bizarre characters, but the rest of the cast is also very strong in their roles. By re-editing the whole sequence on Mars with Silk Spectre and Dr. Manhattan as one sequence rather than intercut with other activities it works far better. And people don't give enough credit to the Dr. Manhattan scenes in general, his origin in particular. Jeffrey Dean Morgan's The Comedian is an enigma, a scary one, a psychopathic killer and rapist that got caught up in his own power and the scenes with him are powerful. And obviously Rorschach, the man who only believes in justice, to the bitter end. Nite Owl and Silk Spectre's relationship is also stronger and in a way sweet, Dan's neuroses really coming through, the only regular guy in this wacky bunch of weirdos. This is an incredibly dense psychological and sociological study of the world of vigilantism and it remains fascinating.

Certainly this film is a bit slower, as we extend a lot of scene and lose some of the action, so from a pacing perspective there's something to be desired. But I loved every minute of it, because it's absolutely so thematically dense, that if you're paying attention there's just so much to see and unravel. The juxtaposition between the Under the Red Hood mockumentary and the present is just so vivid, and the different characters' neuroses and issues - just so beautifully realized. I love this version.

One thing that didn't work for me, were the titles, I didn't like them overlayed in the movie itself. It didn't feel necessary.

Finally the beautiful opening credits are popped in at the end, it's the one choice that I'm not a fan of (especially since we lose The Comedian killing JFK), but I understand it and can appreciate the execution, particularly that now we have the context we review everything that happened that got us to this point, much like Dr. Manhattan.

What a movie. I'll probably try and watch my blu-ray of the Director's Cut at some point to compare as I haven't seen a version of this film since theaters. But thank goodness this version exists!

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(Updated: June 25, 2020)
Overall rating
 
9.8
Audio/Video Quality
 
9.0
Audio Editing
 
10.0
Visual Editing
 
10.0
Narrative
 
10.0
Enjoyment
 
10.0
Straight out the gate. This fan edit has its spot in the magnum opus fan edit universe.

The TV show is miles away better than the movie. But also it's not the same, it has a different story and acts as a sequel to the movie.

So let's go back to our review. This fan edit has been more globally comprehensive and attempts to reshape the theatrical version of Watchmen to more closely resemble the narrative structure and characterizations of the comic book.

Regarding the editing, I really enjoyed the new from “chapter” narrative structure of the original comic book. Also, the colors have been heavily changed to be more like in the comic book.

Finally, the Tales of the Black Freighter edited was well dispersed throughout the movie.

Fantastic job. Just wish there as an HD version :)

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Yes
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DVD
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Overall rating
 
9.6
Audio/Video Quality
 
8.0
Audio Editing
 
10.0
Visual Editing
 
10.0
Narrative
 
10.0
Enjoyment
 
10.0
Absolutely spectacular stuff. The 215 minute running time is perfect for the Watchmen story, the tone and structure are captured flawlessly, and you've managed to pull off the definitive film version of the brilliant graphic novel with flying colors. Jaw-droppingly good.

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(Updated: August 22, 2014)
Overall rating
 
10.0
Audio/Video Quality
 
10.0
Audio Editing
 
10.0
Visual Editing
 
10.0
Narrative
 
10.0
Enjoyment
 
10.0
O U T S T A N D I N G ! ! ! !

I could stop there......but I won't

If you have seen Watchmen (any version namely, Theatrical, Directors or Ultimate Cut
THIS EDIT IS FOR YOU !
If you only read the graphic novel, buy a legit version coz
THIS EDIT IS FOR YOU !!
If you ain't seen Watchmen coz you think its another superher namby pampy flick - WRONG - Buy it coz
THIS EDIT IS FOR YOU !!!
So lets dig in
________________________
I have had the extreme pleasure of watching version 1 and 2 of this back to back this week and I'm knocked out. All comments refer to either edit unless noted.
AV Quality -
Yes its DVD (and an HD revision is coming), but its flawless
Visual Editing -
Flawless. I will expand however. I have not seen any version for a few years. I have no clue where any changes were made since I do not read cutlists until after my viewing, and I can attest that this is as good as any professional job (in fact better than many pros) as you will see. aesthetically version one has the chapter captions over black, version 2 over the movie. I preferred version 1's approach here...but that is my preference only. Importing them from the DVD comic is genius and allows and frames the restructure. The removal of nearly an hour from the ultimate cut is just un-noticeable. I did not miss a thing, and I have recently read the graphic novel twice. Truly bravura work!. The gratuitous material that was excised just does not need to be there...and its an improvement...I'll come to that. I have nothing more to add.
Audio Editing -
Flawless; however, and this is now personal comment and not criticism, I would have carried over some of the ambient sound or music over some of the chapter captions for a more natural flow, but that is no biggie. The music replacement was breathing taking in timing, choice of music and in re-setting the tone of the piece PERFECTLY. It just grounds the whole darn thing where it needs to sit. This is a dark world, flawed characters on the brink of annihilation. The music in the official versions is often out of place, at best a distraction or cute, at worst appallingly misguided (Vietnam) and Flix C nailed it - BRAVO
Narrative -
Get the F**K outta here!!!
This could not follow the source material more closely unless you reunited the cast and shot additional material. The intermingling of Under the Hood and Matting into Holis Mason's TV is again, GENIUS. This is pur bonus and I'm STUNNED that it was not done for the official versions. It frames the plot, fleshes out character and further grounds the tome and mood of this tragi-hero epic marvellously. I'm jealous that I did not see the potential and that's coz in theatres I enjoyed the film, but was not knocked out. NO I AM. Personal choice; I was ont a fan of the Black Freighter in the Novel, and I'm not here either. FlixC does redeem it with its structure, but for my taste version is superior (and would be even better if some of the other tweaks in V2 were in V1 sans Black freighter)...So I'm doing that for myself since its an nice puzzle to unpick (I won't be releasing it since I do not tread on other Faneditors toes). Also I prefer the opening to V1 from a music and narrative perspective. I understand FlixC reasoning in V2 to move the opening credits to the end, but film is a different medium, and framing the backstory for the new viewer must be in a filmmakers mind..but that's my POV - Nothing to add. 10 here too.
Enjoyment -
TOTAL, ABSOLUTE and Complete.

Final Word
I literally would have stopped above the line but I'm so impressed and so enjoyed this I wanted to share the joy and some personal preferences for viewers and FlixC.

If you only see one fanedit in 2014,
WATCH THIS ONE....TWICE.
W
(now, where's my BluRay Ultimate cut and butchers knife) ?
PS
Thank you for the detailed cutlist





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