watchmen: tales of the black freighter

Watchmen addicts, rejoice. Tales of the Black Freighter presents the last pieces of the Watchmen universe in a new DVD, supplementing the film.

Tales is a story-within-a-story in the Watchmen graphic novel. Originally intended to be a part of the film, it was cut due to time constraints. Gerard Butler's powerful voice work and art that is as gruesome and stylish as the feature film highlight the sharp production values of this cartoon feature. At 25 minutes, however, the grotesque story seems a bit short for its own special DVD release. Although the comic-within-the-comic is well-written, its themes don't reverberate as they would have as part of the entire story.

The DVD serves as a reminder that writer Zack Snyder immersed himself in the Watchmen universe, but in doing so he bound himself too closely to the source material-, as evidence by the larger film which tried too hard to please everybody.

The straight-to-DVD set also includes "Under the Hood," a mock-60 Minutes interview with Hollis Mason about his tell-all book concerning his time as the original Night Owl. The comprehensive piece features a number of characters from the film and fills in the same gaps in plot and detail as the supplemental materials Watchmen novelist Alan Moore released with the original Watchmen chapters. Although the care with which the mockumentary is built matches the entire film, it falls slightly short on this disc.

The features on this disc are supplemental material that will be gobbled up by fanboys, despite only deserving placement as extras on the official Watchmen DVD.