Watchmen: Midnight

December 31, 2011 @ 10:12 pm

Just finished watching this last night, and I wanted to put in a few words about what I liked and didn’t like. Please don’t expect a review per se, I can only speak to my response to the fanedited movie.

First off, I did watch the original movie first, then the fanedit, so I think I got a good before and after look. I thought the original movie, while the most interesting and different superhero story I’ve ever seen, was about a B+ as a movie. Maybe a straight B. After watching the fanedit, I wobbled a bit, but eventually settled on B+ as well. It’s different, and much is improved, but some things don’t play as well too, so in the end, it kind of evened out.

Here’s the things I really liked about the fanedit:
1. The recut of the opening and further exposition during the movie. Brilliantly done, it was much better than the original.
2. The cuts to the sex scene and some of the violence. I couldn’t watch the original with my friend, as he has teenage kids who are too young for that kind of graphic sex scene, so removing that put the movie right back into their range. The exclusion of the extremely graphic arm scene in the prison was a great choice too, and the way you did it was perfect.
3. The added non-backstory footage about the original Night Owl. Why did they cut that? It was amazingly well done and one of the most powerful scenes in the entire movie. Kudos for putting that back in!
4. The additional dialogue and footage throughout the movie. I didn’t see anything that didn’t work perfectly well. I’m assuming it was all cut for reasons of viewing time and theater scheduling.

Now, here’s the things I didn’t like so much:
1. Not sure what you call them, but the black screen and white-letter messages that were shown fairly often seemed to me like “editorial comments”. They broke up the flow of the movie and (no offense) seemed very heavy handed, like planting a sign saying “BTW THIS IS WHAT THINGS MEAN RIGHT NOW, JUST IN CASE YOU DIDN”T CATCH IT”, when in reality, I think most people would have the sense of what was happening. Those dropped the movie one full grade for me :(
2. Not your fault on this, but the additional backstory provided by the TV set, while a great addition to the movie, had no means of connection to the movie. I didn’t realize it at first, but I found myself wishing those were in the context of a scene where a character were watching them, so the flow of the movie wouldn’t be interrupted. No points off though, it was a wash.
3. The removal of some of the action, in particular the all-out SS+NO vs everyone in their way scene in the prison, really stood out to me as a loss. Except for that, we never really see SS or NO as “real” superheroes, costume and all, going all out kicking bad guy butt, and I think that was an important scene. It just seemed to clinch the deal for those two as partners, as well as setting the bar for the future fight with the big O and being pretty exciting in its own right. Also, it seemed like some of the Big O fight was missing. Maybe just me since I only watched the first movie once, but I didn’t really get the same tension and suspense from the fight as I did the first time.
4. Back to the sex scene, while much improved as I said above, I did think that it came off as very rushed. The beginning of the scene, where the characters meet eyes and connect through the charge of the experience they just had, was a good moment and a defining one for their relationship. A more paced beginning would have been good, before the cutaway that brought the show into PG territory.

Those are my thoughts. I’d like to thank you for making this fanedit, it must have been an incredible amount of work, and I did enjoy it very much. Re the rest of the review ratings, here they are:

VIDEO PRESENTATION: Beautiful, couldn’t tell it from the original. (5/5)

AUDIO PRESENTATION: Perfect to me. I know music was replaced, but I noticed no distracting cuts and the music worked fine for me. (5/5)

EDITING: Technical perfection. Couldn’t tell a bit where things were added/removed. (5/5)

STORY PRESENTATION: Plus six of one, minus a half dozen of the other, plus .5 bonus points for the additional footage of the (major) story point about the original Night Owl. (4.5/5)

OVERALL RATING: WATCHMEN: Better than the original for storytelling and character development, but lack of context for the backstory footage and some directorial editing choices that didn’t work for me take it down two notches. (8/10)

Keep on editing and I’ll keep on watching!

W

October 23, 2011 @ 9:29 pm

Firstly I want to say say how disappointed I was with Snyder’s Watchmen. He completely missed the point of the comic and tried to make an ultra-super-look-how-bad-ass-I-am-movie. My brother-in-law loved the movie though and bought me the Ultimate Cut to try and prove how awesome it is. I never watched it.

Now, onto the real review:

Video/Audio quality: Perfect. Nothing looked or sounded off at all. 10/10

Editing: Nearly flawless. Seemed pretty damn seamless. The only noticeable error was a quote title card fading away too fast. I believe it was the quote at the end of “Watchmaker”. On a personal note, I would have enjoyed fading in out between the title cards instead of cutting to/from black, but it didn’t detract from it at all. 9.5/10

Entertainment: Without going into too much of what scenes I liked and didn’t like, I’ll say that there were still a lot of scenes that made me shake my head. I was VERY happy to see the deletion of the opening scene with Nixon and the fight scene in the Comedian’s apartment. As well cutting the overlong prison riot/fight scene was excellent. IMO you could have cut Night Owl swooping out of Archie as well, but that’s my opinion.

I really enjoyed the Under the Hood segments intercut between the chapters. And you stopped that style at the correct point in the edit, letting the second half play out naturally.

I still feel that Watchmen is pretty terrible, but at least I was able to get through the whole movie and after two hours found myself just watching it without my inner commentary.

7/10 (original theatrical cut was 1/10)

Presentation: I loved the scene selections. Makes complete sense to break it up by chapters. 10/10

Summary: Technical quality was superb. Even though I still hate the movie, I hate this one way less.

The first time I hear about Watchmen I was handed the graphic novel and asked if I was interested in reading it. I said 'yes' and borrowed it with the intention of making it all the way through. Unfortunately, for me, I was bored and only made it about halfway through. When the movie was being released I went with a group of friends and still felt underwhelmed by what I saw. There just seems to be something missing from the story to really get me excited.

With that said, I gave it one more shot by watching this edit of the movie with the interviews with Hollis and the Black Freighter sequences inter-cut with the Ultimate Edition of the movie. While this cut doesn't always flow perfectly it is a far superior version than any of the previous cuts released to the public. By taking out a lot of the superhuman abilities (slow-mo) and focusing it more on the personal stories between characters I connected with it better than anytime I tried watching it before. I believe that this is the best version that can be constructed for the fans of Watchmen.

Thank you Flixcapacitor for taking the time to put this together. You have changed my mind on how I feel about the material presented. This is a more grounded version of the material and it really makes it so much stronger.

review posted 12 August 2011 in the forum

I really enjoyed this edit. The editing together of under the hood and the extended cut did indeed feel more like the graphic novel, and i appreciated the changes in music, although only the opening credits felt weaker to me. I really liked Bob Dylan there, but maybe I'm alone in this. Regardless, great choice using Phillip Glass and his haunting music.

The film felt better fleshed out, and I didn't find the headings/cuts to under the hood too distracting. The intermission felt unnecessary though. I just fast forwarded it, as others may do as well. We're used to long dvd's (aka lord of the rings) and I also found it odd that the under the hood segments abruptly ended. Did you try spreading them across the whole film? Perhaps that was distracting in the climax of the film. Removing the super human feats was also appreciated, and thank you very much for getting rid of the Halleluia sex scene! Talk about unintentional laughs.

One more thing, I would have removed the line after Rorschach says "gotta use the men's room", and silk spectre replies "aww you gotta be kidding me". Bad joke, poor delivery. But that's all. Very enjoyable edit, improved the original. Great work and congrats on Edit of the Month!

Who Watches the Watchmen?

Watchmen: Midnight is a unique and enjoyable take on revitalizing what made the graphic novel so breathtaking..

I am a massive fan of the Watchmen graphic novel and Alan Moore (and Dave Gibbons) work and love the original films greatly. I know the ins-and-outs of everything Watchmen - so I decided to dedicate 3 and a half hours to revisiting it in this masterfully crafted ode to the graphic novel, Watchmen: midnight.

Straight off the bat, the cutting in the opening sequence had me impressed. It tightened the scene and began instead on the investigation/crime scene and dialogue between the detectives. I think if this was my first time watching, I would be extremely invested in finding out what exactly happened - and the intertwining with The Comedians fight was suburb.

The first major difference with the edit I noticed right away was the removal of most graphic violence and gore aspects to fight scenes etc. I understand the reasoning behind removing them, but for me personally, I prefer seeing some blood and guts in action and hard hitting scenes. I feel it worked best during the Dr.Manhattan interview and alleyway fight better than the original however, due to the overall tone that takes place with the cancer plot arc reveal. So bravo. The weakest for me though, was definitely the 'Child Murderer' scene, I think the directors cut with the meat clever was a hard hitting conclusion to a very dark and emotionally engaging scene.

The second huge difference, as stated in the 'changes section', was the musical score. This version rocked it. I loved the removal of most of the songs as well as the ones kept (99 red Balloons is great!) However, one flaw for me was removing 'The Sound of Silence' which I thought fit the funeral scene and tone much better. The Vietnam scene was gripping and horrific - much like the visuals, so props there. Overall, the music score changes we're a great touch.

The film seemed more tightened at crucial parts. Ie. The Ozymandias fight at the end flowed better with the dialogue when compared to the original and the removal of the cheesy action moments and sex scene was a good move.

The last note on the edit would be my biggest grievance, and although not a massive issue, the opening Title Sequence with 'Time are a Changing' being replaced to the end of the film was not something I was a fan of. I love the opening title sequence and think it's one of the best opening sequence to any film and the song choice is perfect. I think leaving it would also enhance the 'Under the Hood' inserts a bit more - which at times, especially the first, felt a bit out of place. (But very unique and the idea is excellent. So thanks for keeping it in)

Overall, Watchmen: Midnight was a blast. I love Watchmen to Mars and back and will be recommending this edit to everyone who is as big a fan as I am.

Watchmen: Midnight scores,

- 8/10 -

reviewed by Ryan Michaels. (0zymandias)