Digital and 4K Review
Watchmen Chapter II
In "Watchmen Chapter II," former heroes have seemingly become targets. The Comedian has been murdered, the all-powerful Dr. Manhattan has been exiled to Mars, an assassination attempt has been made on Ozymandias, and the outlaw vigilante Rorschach has been arrested. Suspicious of the events ensnaring their former colleagues, Nite Owl and Silk Spectre are spurred out of retirement to investigate. As they grapple with personal ethics, inner demons and a society turned against them, they race the clock to uncover a deepening plot that might trigger global nuclear war. "Watchmen Chapter II" is a faithful 3D animated adaptation of the final issues of the legendary comic book maxi-series "Watchmen" written by Alan Moore, penciled by Dave Gibbons, and colored by John Higgins that throws in a couple surprises for fans of the source material. As of the publishing of this review, it has not yet been revealed when the movie will stream on Max but it is now out on digital and will release on 4K and Blu-ray on December 3, 2024. "Watchmen Chapter II" is produced and directed by Brandon Vietti, co-directed with Vinton Heuck, adapted by J. Michael Straczynski, and produced by Jim Krieg and Cindy Rago.
"Watchmen Chapter II" is not as slavish to the source material as the first movie was but the deviations don't stand out like past adaptations in the direct-to-video line. Like in the first movie, the cop duo Fine and Bourquin's role is minimized and the part when Fine visits Dan's apartment is absent. Nor will you see Bernard and the Jehovah's Witnesses. The New Frontiersman doesn't appear until the end credits. There a couple tweaks here and there, like Laurie putting on Nite Owl's googles then making the ravishing remark, even the cigarette smoking is excised, and when Laurie accidentally turns on the flamethrower the Nite Owl costume gets torched. You won't see the children discovering Hollis Mason's body (thank goodness) nor the Nostalgia bottle on Mars. Some of the pages of Tales of the Black Freighter are skipped over as the lead gets back home to Davidstown. A handful of characters like Gloria Long are omitted. Most of these choices appear to have made for pacing and to narrow the focus rightly so on the main cast. What works in a 12 issue comic book, slows a movie to a slog. The most noticeable rearrangement is Veidt's Island. The introduction to the island, Hira Manish, and Max Shea is moved to the beginning of the movie perhaps smartly to set up the feeling of dread that something terrible is about to happen whereas in the comic, all of the island scenes are in one issue, #10. Karnak and on remains mostly unaltered compared to the rest of the movie. All the changes does benefit the movie as it never felt like there were any lulls. It flows naturally into the conclusion without making the audience feel like they're being shoved headfirst into it. You wouldn't think this was an 89 minute movie but it is.
Just as the first movie was a visual feast thanks to the 3D animation techniques implemented, the textures, tones, colors, and interplay of light and shadow pretty impressive. Naturally, the one element I was most curious about going into this movie was Adrian teleporting the Squid to New York. In the source material, we see some citizens then a white flash then six full pages of the horrifying devastation. Thankfully, that was not 1:1 adapted into the movie as it would have felt hollow. Again what works in print, doesn't work in cinema. The movie audience has to see and feel the horror. Smartly, this is done but the full reveal is not until the aftermath like the comic. The telepathic shockwave and the gigantic tentacles crashing down and killing innocent civilians then the full reveal of the Squid was well done and provides a visual context for Adrian's madness later in the movie when he explains his plan to save the world. Matthew Rhys (Dan Dreiberg, Nite Owl) and Katee Sackhoff (Laurie Juspeczyk, Silk Spectre) were the stand out performances in an otherwise amazing cast. Rhys conveys the powerlessness and self-doubt plaguing Dan with perfection leading to him getting his groove back as Nite Owl. Sackhoff delivers the gambit of emotions needed when Laurie comes to the stunning realization of who her biological father is.
The shortest of the three featurettes is "Dave Gibbons and Watchmen: Endgame". It clocks in at 7 minutes, 15 seconds and is the typical taking heads segments you are used to this point with the direct-to-video movies. Dave Gibbons and members of the movie's crew reflect on the pressures of getting the work done, the role of Tales of the Black Freighter to convey the mood and metaphorical horror of the movie's content. Gibbons breaks down the intent that came with six full pages in a row to show the aftermath of the Squid in the graphic novel. Coming in just over 10 minutes, "The Art of Adaptation: Building to the Final Act" was a great making-of featurette that addresses the visual and tonal shift from a neo noir led by Rorschach to a bit of a love story with Nite Owl and Silk Spectre. Tales of the Black Freighter comes up again and creatives discuss how it relates to Adrian Veidt.
The last of the featurettes is "Designing Watchmen" and is the longest at 22 minutes. Dave Gibbons reflects on how he thought in three dimensions when he drew the comics. Feature producer/director Brandon Vietti, art director Jonathan Hoekstra, character designer Dusty Abell, artist Damon Bard, producers Jim Krieg and Cindy Rago, and one of the board artists Danica Dickinson go over the process of designing the characters. Abell did a three-quarter front view of every character which would later be used by the CG artists as an aide, Bard fleshed them out in 3D models, and Hoekstra would do a pass to finalize the "Gibbons lines". Vietti talks about how they had to do their research in picking the number of lines per character and how they couldn't do what Gibbons did in the comic and use less lines on background characters and more in close-up shots. Gibbons and the movie crew provides insight into designing the two generations of heroes, what inspirations were used, and the key elements of each hero. Vietti commends Gibbons on the craftsmanship of his work but notes it took a whole team of animators to pull off what he did by himself decades ago. All in all, this was a much better set of special features in comparison to the first chapter and more illuminating when it comes to the making of the comic and the movie and exploring the tones and themes of the story.
"Watchmen Chapter II" is a recommended purchase. While the first half of Chapter II has more omissions and rearrangements than the first movie, they are done for the sake of pacing and narrowing the focus on the through line to the shocking finale that remains largely unaltered. And to cement the changes, Chapter II presents a new version of the horrific deployment of... you know what. The special features are more in-depth compared to other recent animated DC movies but the absence of a commentary track to expand on these under 30 minute pieces are hard to ignore. Where Watchmen Chapter I prepared and cooked, setting up the world, introducing the cast, dropping in the conspiracy to rock the status quo - Chapter II is the feast, and we get to sit back and take in all the action, revelations, and a shocking and bittersweet finale.
Rating
Main Feature: 4 out of 5
Special Features: 4 out of 5
Overall Rating: 4 out of 5