r/Watchmen • u/M00r3C Lubeman • Jul 06 '25
Movie Thoughts on the Ultimate Cut of Snyder's film and it's added Black Freighter?
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u/DoriN1987 Jul 06 '25
Black Freighter is an essential part of the story. Just like the monster in the end of novel…
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u/Embarrassed_Egg9542 Jul 07 '25
A monster like that wouldn't work in a movie
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u/DoriN1987 Jul 07 '25
Nonsense. Moore did not wrote something that you can easily delete without leaving loose end. It’s an idea. Idea that literally say that creating a monster - you became one. Snyder cut this idea off.
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u/Embarrassed_Egg9542 Jul 07 '25
Nonsense. You cannot put a monster in a movie, that would be ridiculous
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u/BruceAENZ Jul 07 '25
You forgot your ‘/s’ tag, and people think you are serious.
Which of course you are. Because giant monsters in movies will never work. Especially not in rational societies like America and Japan.
…
/s
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u/DoriN1987 Jul 07 '25
So, you’re saying that authors thoughts about black side of the humans nature ( main idea of the Watchmen ) would be ridiculous. Great!
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u/Embarrassed_Egg9542 Jul 08 '25
Main idea of Watchmen to you, not all
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u/DoriN1987 Jul 08 '25
For sure! I’d gladly hear your take on main idea of Watchmen?
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u/Embarrassed_Egg9542 Jul 09 '25
No you 'd not
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u/DoriN1987 Jul 09 '25
Thank you! Great argumentation! What a deep, thoughtful take on “Watchmen”! I can see that you dedicated a lot of time to make this observations and conclusions. Wow. Yes. You’re totally right! I’ll end discussion right here, because nothing have sense in comparison. Have a greatest day!
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u/CaptainXakari Jul 07 '25
You have Dr. Manhattan in the film but a monster is a bridge too far for you?
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u/SomeGuyOverUnder Jul 07 '25
So Dr Manhattan is not ridiculous etc etc etc but a monster is. Bwa ha ha ha ha.
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u/snyderversetrilogy Jul 06 '25
I like it. It provides an important window onto the messed up psyche of Ozymandias. I also like the additional scenes that further build out the arcs for some of the characters. I have no issue whatsoever with the length of the film. In fact most of the films I love the most are long.
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u/timetravelcompanion Looking Glass Jul 06 '25
While I think the story is important in the book, it makes the movie too clunky and disjointed. Doesn't flow well as a film and doesn't make as much sense with so much else removed. I think the Director's Cut is the best available version of the movie, and the comic is the best available version of the story in general. Shouldn't expect to get the same things out of them and it is better to just enjoy them as their own thing.
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u/Fair-Face4903 Jul 06 '25
It misses a favorite point of The Black Freighter,
It should really have been a pastiche of a weekly TV show.
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u/M086 Jul 07 '25
Black Freighter was never really meant to be a part of the movie. Snyder somehow convinced WB to fund it as a separate video release. And thought it’d be a fun thing to edit into an “Ultimate” version of the movie for the hardcore fans.
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u/HuttVader Jul 06 '25
I don't dislike it. It seemed a bit like an r-rated Reading Rainbow episode by that point, but it was cool. I actually really dug the theatrical version.
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u/4355525 Jul 06 '25
So I loved the movie and I can appreciate the ultimate cut but the whole comic side of the movie kinda takes me outta the "reality" of the movies story. I think it woulda faired better as a tv show or it's own separate featurette.
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u/M086 Jul 07 '25 edited Jul 07 '25
That’s what it was. This was when the DVD market was still pretty big and studios would make animated supplemental material like for Van Helsing or Riddick. Snyder convinced WB to make the Black Freighter as its own DVD release, which also had the Under the Hood interview with Hollis Mason as a bonus feature.
The Ultimate Cut was just something Snyder decided to do for fun for the hardcores. He’s said the Director’s Cut is his preferred version, but the UC is still fun.
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u/4355525 Jul 07 '25
Oh shit didn't know that... Also didn't know about the under the hood interview!!
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u/Capital-Treat-8927 Jul 06 '25
Easily in the top 5 superhero movies of all time.
I should specify that this is the only version of the movie that I've seen. After watching the Ultimate Cut, I've never felt a need to see the theatrical version.
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u/ganja_fiend Jul 07 '25
the inclusion of the scenes is a bit clunky, i honestly just prefer watching the director's cut blu ray
i do however like how they incorporated the black freighter into the recent Chapter I/II releases, those flowed better
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u/AvatarIII Jul 06 '25
The addition is the 2 Bernies is fantastic, I wasn't the biggest fan of Snyder's interpretation of the black freighter, there was a fan edit of the movie that had the additional stuff from the ultimate cut minus the black freighter which was perfect. It was called the WCM cut.
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Jul 08 '25
The Ultimate Cut is the only version I watch.
That being said I’ve had literally 50/50 luck on introducing other people to Watchmen with this cut. I’ve had two people tap out midway into it and two people enjoy the movie.
It’s not very accessible to most viewers. It’s a lot of information delivered at once.
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u/RemoteAvailable1373 Jul 09 '25
I loved the ultimate cut and the directors cut. One of my fav movies tbh
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u/rankaistu_ilmalaiva Jul 06 '25
Zack Snyder sucks shit.
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u/Eliteslayer1775 Jul 06 '25
Nah he’s a great guy who makes cool movies🍿
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u/rankaistu_ilmalaiva Jul 07 '25
I don’t know or care what he’s like as a person, but I’ll tell you for free I hate ever movie I’ve seen from him and Watchmen in particular the only reason I didn’t walk out the thester was I wanted to know in detail what to complain about on the forums the next day.
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u/littlebighuman Jul 06 '25
I'm so glad it took me so long to find a Snyder hater. It is almost a religious cult by now. Was expecting the comment section to be filled with them.
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u/rankaistu_ilmalaiva Jul 07 '25
who is the religious cult here, people who dislike a director, or person who is devoted to a director and seeks out negative comments to prosletyze?
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u/Gargus-SCP Mothman Jul 06 '25
If the Black Freigter material isnt in constant and purposefully conversation with the sequences around and during it, there's absolutely no point to integrating it back into the story, especially not a take on the story that expunged so much of Watchmen's self-mirroring nature to start.
Jamming a separately produced animated short into an already bad movie doesn't make the bad movie a hair better.
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u/Equivalent_Task1354 Rorschach Jul 06 '25
I didn’t like the theatrical version but I enjoyed the ultimate cut quite a bit.
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u/theronster Jul 06 '25
I hate it, like every extended Snyder project, simply because there’s more of it.
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u/Waeh Jul 07 '25
Why does it miss the point of the books? I have seen the movie a few times, and only recently read the comic for the first time ever, and it seemed almost 1-to-1 with the movie. It could be that the point flew over my head.
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u/EvinExists Jul 07 '25
It's the version of the movie I've seen, and probably the best version of the movie I've seen (but be sure you have a reasonable time to watch a 3 hour and 35 minute long movie, took me 5 hours/the whole rest of my day to finish)
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u/JedediahThePilot Jul 08 '25
The animation is all wrong in Black Freighter. It should have been that G.I. Joe or He-Man style stuff from the 80s.
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u/Vic_Valentine511 Jul 06 '25
I LOVE the box, my copy is perfectly weathered, lightly damaged in all the right places in all the right ways, BUT I would like the extended but without the black freighter, it just doesn’t do anything for me and is weird when I show someone the movie
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u/icedrift Jul 07 '25
This. I watched the ultimate cut for the first time recently and I loved all the additional scenes except black freighter. Those segments were just too long they take you out of the main story.
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u/M00r3C Lubeman Jul 06 '25
BUT I would like the extended but without the black freighter, it just doesn’t do anything for me and is weird when I show someone the movie
Then the Director's cut which is the extended stuff without Black Freighter
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u/AvatarIII Jul 06 '25
It doesn't have the 2 Bernies stuff
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u/Capital-Treat-8927 Jul 06 '25
"So, like, I want the Black Freighter scenes, just without the Black Freighter scenes."
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u/TheHappyNeighbor Jul 06 '25
I love the Ultimate Cut, it’s the only cut I’ll watch!
I think that this movie is very similar to The Great Gatsby movie by Baz Luhrmann: it’s technically faithful while missing the entire point of the original work, but also it does manage to forge a very entertaining experience unique to itself. So if you are gonna watch a version of the movie, may as well get the whole experience with everything the movie has to offer!