Watchmen: Tales of the Black Freighter & Under the Hood – Blu-ray Review

By Jeff Swindoll Mar 26, 2009, 18:24 GMT

Theyre in the book. And on this disc. From the director of Watchmen and 300 come two tales from the celebrated graphic novel that do not appear in the extraordinary Watchmen Theatrical Feature. Tales of the Black Freighter (featuring the voice of 300s Gerard Butler) brings to strikingly animated life the novels richly layered story-within-a-story, a daring pirate saga whose turbulent events may mirror those in the Watchmens world. Stars ...more

The tie-in to Watchmen continues as a long play sequence that has been cut from the film shows up on Blu-ray.  It’s joined by a mock documentary about the tell-all autobiography written by one of the characters.  

Any fan familiar with Alan Moore and Dave Gibbon’s comic will remember that during several issues a black teenager is reading a comic at a comic stand called Tales of the Black Freighter. 

It is the storyline of a shipwrecked captain making his way back to his loved ones and takes up several issues. It also parallels events in the main storyline.  The captain (voiced by Gerard Butler in this animated version) has to go through hell, literally, to make it back to his homeport before the Black Freighter, full of murderers, beats him back and kills everyone. 

However, his voyage is full of dangers and horrors that threaten to sink what little sanity he has remaining.  It was known pretty well on that Watchmen director Zack Snyder was going to have to jettison this portion of the film to get to the studio’s acceptable running time. 

Under the Hood is a mock documentary from a 1975 show called the Culpepper Minute.  It’s an update from that vintage show interviewing Hollis Mason (Stephen McHattie) who was once a vigilante superhero called the Nite Owl.  He’s long since retired and the Keene Act has outlawed masked heroics and has now written his autobiography, hence the interview. 

While Freighter is an excised bit from the film, though it can play as a standalone tale, Under the Hood appears to have been produced as promotional material for the movie, though based on excerpts of Mason’s biography that appeared in the comic. 

Both this and the motion comic are supposedly going to be part of a bigger special edition when Watchmen hits home video, so it may be a repeat purchase in a bigger Watchmen set. 

However, with the box office for the film not materializing I’m not sure if this will affect this fabled set that Snyder is hinting at. 

Tales of the Black Freighter is actually like a short film and you really don’t have to know much about Watchmen to appreciate its “Twilight Zone,” gory nature.  On the other hand, only Watchmen might need to apply to the mock-umentary and if you’re not too familiar with the film you might not have a clue as to what the participants are talking about.  

Tales of the Black Freighter is presented in a 1080p high definition transfer (2.35:1) and Under the Hood is presented in a fullscreen 1080p transfer.  Under the Hood is also made to look faded and more like a bad television broadcast. 

Special features include the 25 minute “Story within a Story” examining how both of these items fit into the film (in high definition). 

You also get the first chapter (26 minutes) of the Watchmen Motion Comic (in high definition).  There’s also a 10 minute first look at the upcoming Green Lantern animated direct-to-video film.  More special features are also available via BD-Live, providing that you have a player that can access the internet.  

It’s very nice to see Tales of the Black Freighter since it was cut out of the film.  This release could stand on it’s own as the Tale has the feel of a short film, but Under the Hood is only relevant if you’re familiar with the Watchmen film or graphic novel. 

Fans will definitely want to check both out, but you’ll probably be getting another copy when the extended version of the film comes out on DVD/Blu-ray in the future. 

Watchmen: Tales of the Black Freighter & Under the Hood [Blu-ray] is now available at Amazon. Visit the DVD database for more information.