Product Details

• Directors: Zack Snyder
• Format: Color, Special Edition, Widescreen
• Language: English
• Aspect Ratio: 1.77:1
• Number of discs: 4
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Studio: Warner Home Video
• DVD Release Date: November 10, 2009
• Run Time: 251 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B002IYEQR4
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #134 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)

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  #1 in	Movies & TV > Action & Adventure > Superheroes > Watchmen
  #5 in	Movies & TV > Animation > Science Fiction
  #9 in	Movies & TV > Animation > Feature Films

• For more information about "Watchmen: The Ultimate Cut [Blu-ray]" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

The Watchmen: The Ultimate Cut is a new and final version of the blockbuster film from Zack Snyder. This version weaves Tales of the Black Freighter into the Watchmen Director’s Cut film that makes this the perfect gift for every die hard fan of the graphic novel.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

99 of 111 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What's included, September 24, 2009

By	J. Hunter Johnson (Centerville, OH USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Amazon Verified Purchase

I've held off on buying the Watchmen DVDs released so far, hoping for a "complete" set like this one (which I've now pre-ordered). What you get:

Disc 1:
* Watchmen: The Ultimate Cut Film (rated R), weaving together the "Tales of the Black Freighter" with the "Watchmen: Director's Cut". 215 minutes
* Audio Commentary with Zack Snyder and Dave Gibbons

Disc 2:
* The Phenomenon: The Comic That Changed Comics
* Real Super Heroes, Real Vigilantes
* Mechanics: Technologies of a Fantastic World
* Watchmen: Video Journals
* My Chemical Romance Desolation Row
* Under the Hood (rated PG)
* Story Within a Story: The Books of Watchmen

Disc 3:
* Digital Copy of the Theatrical Version. (The drawback: no Blu-ray version of the theatrical release. But I didn't take a star off for this.)

Disc 4:
* Watchmen: The Complete Motion Comics (this is split across two discs on the non-Blu-ray edition) 325 minutes

Blu-ray exclusive: Connect to Facebook through BD-Live. The content is not rated except where noted.

32 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The End is Nigh.. But at Least it's the Ultimate Cut, November 8, 2009

By	Dusty Bottoms "Dusty Bottoms" (Redding, CA USA) - See all my reviews

Finally, Zac Synder's vision as it was meant to be. I can't believe they milked the DVD release for literally ever last penny they could. Nevertheless, I am incredibly pleased to own 'Watchmen: the Ultimate Cut'.

The Set Includes:

Disc 1
- Watchmen, the Ultimate Cut (1080p/VC-1 Transfer, 215min)
- Commentary from Zac Snyder and Dave Gibbons (Explains everything from prop inspirations to plot alterations)
- BD Live

Disc 2
- The Phenomenon: The Comic That Changed Comics (HD 25min)
- Real Super Heroes, Real Vigilantes (HD 26min)
- Mechanics: Technologies of a Fantastic World (HD 17min)
- Watchmen: Video Journals (HD 36mmin)
- Under the Hood (HD 38min)
- Story Within a Story: The Books of Watchmen (HD 36min)
- My Chemical Romance, 'Desolation Row' Music Video (HD, 3min)

Disc 3
- Watchmen: The Complete Motion Comics (1080p/VC-1 Transfer, 325).
- Watchmen Video Journal, Dave Gibbons (HD 3min)
- Wonder Woman Sneak Peak (SD 10min)

Disc 4
- Bonus Digital Copy (Not Blu-ray)- Digital Copy of the Theatrical Version. (Not Blu-Ray, Expires November 2010)

WARNING:
- Disc 1 does not include 'Watchmen' WITHOUT 'the Black Freighter' integrated. The digital copy may somewhat compensate for this, but if you're still not satisfied, you'll have to purchase the 'Director's Cut' and 'the Black Freighter' separetely.

'The Ultimate Cut':

With 'The Black Freighter' interwoven into segments throughout the film, it extends the movie to over three and a half hours long and fills in the missing pieces from the graphic novel along with a few other small live-action scenes, that weren't in the 'Director's Cut' and that bookend the 'comic within a comic', making it all the more magnificently epic and unique. And the extra material is massive, analytic and comprehensive, which is only fair to the fans, who feel milked and cheated, or who just love the 'Watchmen'.

'The Black Freighter' is a grim tale that parallels the lives of different Watchmen, particularly Veidt's and Rorschach's, and their compulsion to fight evil everywhere they think they find it, blinded to the consequences of their actions. Tremendously beautiful yet raw and simplistic animation and the voice of Gerald Butler, bring this intriguing and fan-favorite aspect of the story to life, but it's the effective and pragmatic interweaving of it, that reflects on the Watchmen and stays true to the original source.

In order to match the significance and caliber of the graphic novel, the cinematic version had to embody every thematic nuance and concept behind the 'Watchmen', yet still understand itself as a medium and push the limits of it's own boundaries. And if the 'Theatrical Cut' didn't than that's exactly what the 'Ultimate Cut' does.

The notion of a fluid time-line, explored by Dr. Manhattan's character and the story's complex degree of structuralism is as prevalent as ever. The dark realities of nuclear weapons and humanity's abuse of great power are portrayed in the film through the superhero genre as effectively as they are in Moore's literary masterpiece. The alternative chronology of Cold-War America, defined mostly by the social exceptance of costumed vigilantes, a mostly misunderstood superhuman, victory in Vietnam, an endless Nixon presidency and proliferating social rot, reflects upon actual history with profound relevance and cleverly parodies it as well. The cast of talented but unfamilair actors embraces the moral, emotional and psychological aspects of their characters, and the 'Watchmen' universe is equally fleshed out with elaborate and painstakingly detailed movie sets, that are literally straight out of the comic.

Inevitably, the plot is altered but constructed in a possibly more coherent manner, due to the controversial but practical trade of the bio-engineered squid fore an even more diabolical scheme to frame Dr. Manhattan. Also somewhat diverting from the novel, Snyder pays homage to the 80's inserting a few of his own era-specific grace notes via time-capsule references to Lee Iacocca and "The McLaughlin Group, the film's Reagan generation-friendly soundtrack, head-nods to films like 'Brazil' and 'Apocalypse Now, and capturing the fear and uncertainty felt during the Cold War .

The films depiction of brutality transcends the standard Hollywood repertory of effects; it is more like a cause, a principle.. an ideology. Snyder's marriage to violence exposes the shallow nihilism lurking beneath the intellectual and sophisticated pretensions of 'Watchmen'.

'Watchmen' is a post-modern tale about costumed vigilantes with complicated and true-to-life psychological profiles and a man with god-like earth-shaking powers, trying to function in a world without hope , and it was said to have been impossible to film. Some tried, and failed before they even began. It's probably a miracle it took decades to make the movie, Zac Snyder was the right man to do it.

The film is uncompromising, uncommercial, and unprecedented. It's the 'Watchmen' movie you always wanted, but never thought you'd get, but now, even more so. All the gritty crime-noir, political satire, superhero mythology and science fiction is still there, so unless you forgot or missed the most ambitious, most reverent, most obsessively faithful (to a point) cinematic adaptation of a graphic novel ever and all the stunning and innovative movie magic and gore-porn that went with it, then there won't be much else new for you to get your hopes up for.

O, except maybe for the 3 additional discs with extra material. The Box it comes in, is pretty snazzy and durable too.

I love 'Watchmen: the Ultimate Cut'. I'm glad I bought it. If you're a fan of the 'Watchmen', and need the complete version of the film, then you'll love it and be glad you bought it too.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A masterpiece, November 14, 2009

By	N. Durham "Big Evil" (Philadelphia, PA) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Amazon Verified Purchase

When the long-awaited adaptation of Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons' comic book masterpiece Watchmen was released, it proved to be, despite its flaws, undoubtedly the best adaptation that a fan of the comic could have ever hoped for. Those who found it boring, overlong, or just simply didn't "get it" need not apply here for this Watchmen: The Ultimate Cut edition, which pushes Zack Snyder's adaptation to a 3 and a half hour plus epic. Fully incorporating the animated Tales of the Black Freighter (intercut into segments) as well as deleted scenes from the first DVD and Blu-Ray releases of the film, Watchmen: The Ultimate Edition is a masterpiece of comic book to film adaptations that will not disappoint those who have long cherished the comic. The special features, which include commentary tracks from Snyder and Gibbons, as well as the brilliant Under the Hood segment, the various webisodes, and the Watchmen: The Complete Motion Comic, are worthwhile enough (though one may wish that more would and could have been included features wise), and as for the film itself, the same flaws do remain: including the various alterations in the story (such as Rorschach's origin and the ending), and the fact that the film just isn't for everyone or those expecting to see guys in tights fighting the good fight. Despite its flaws though, the Watchmen film remains a labor of love that does Moore and Gibbons' masterwork, and now that it's in its complete form, is more than worth your time.