Watchmen: Midnight (Updated version!)

[Renpatsu]

I was enjoying watching this today but after the attempted assassination of Veidt the video promptly switches back to the begining of the movie again. It seems that all the VOB files after 4 are just re-encodes of the first half of the movie. Is there a problem with the iso file that I downloaded or did my download just corrupt itself in this bizarre fashion?

 

[Flix Capacitor]

felipemeyer, you read my mind. i agree 100% with everything you said, except your critique. I like the UTH segments in there where they are, but my one nitpick is I'd like to see the same treatment with the Black Freighter (I now trust this editor can do something much better than the so-called "Ultimate Cut"). Flixcapacitor, do you have any plans to make, maybe, "Watchmen: Ultimate Midnight" with said additions? If not, oh well, you've done a great job already. Cheers, mate!

Thanks!

I experimented with adding the "Black Freighter" portions of the motion comic into the edit, because I like the original art style more than the animation they used in the Gerard Butler version on the DVD. However, the motion comic follows original comic book by overlapping narration from "Black Freighter" and weaving it into the main Watchmen story and I was concerned that I wouldn't be able to fit all the pieces into the flow of the live-action movie since there are already some major changes from the original comic. It's really well done in the comic book because it draws these great parallels between the two story "worlds" but for this edit I wanted to try it without the Black Freighter bits. I think it would be fun to experiment with adding that to the movie in the future... "Watchmen: Ultimate Midnight" would be a great title!

 

[Flix Capacitor]

Just finished watching and dude, what a blast.
Much closer to the comics and much, much more enjoyable.
If I could make a critique, i would say that putting the UTH segments inside a tv screen didn't work for me. Some segments were too long, and watching it inside that small frame got really boring at times. Also, the division in chapters made me realize something: i see lots of people making movies out of TV series, like Prison Break and Smallville, but i'm yet to see someone do the opposite and edit a movie into a TV series, or a mini series. And i guess this edit would work like a mini, each chapter being an episode.
All in all.. i would give a 9 out of 10
Good work!

Thanks for your feedback -- glad you liked it

You know, I always thought that if Watchmen was made into a movie it should have been a mini series -- much like the Motion Comic. Early on in my edit I thought about breaking up this movie into episodes since it was originally published as a monthly comic book. I decided to keep it as a single film because I wanted it to play like a filmed version of the collected graphic novel format rather than an episodic format. However, if I eventually revisit Watchmen and attempt to add "Tales of the Black Freighter" in a satisfying way as addiesin suggested, I think it might be interesting to split it up into "issues." With the Black Freighter incorporated into the narrative, with the Under the Hood parts, there would be so much variety of content that it might be smart to split it up so viewers don't get overwhelmed.

 

[Flix Capacitor]

I was enjoying watching this today but after the attempted assassination of Veidt the video promptly switches back to the begining of the movie again. It seems that all the VOB files after 4 are just re-encodes of the first half of the movie. Is there a problem with the iso file that I downloaded or did my download just corrupt itself in this bizarre fashion?

That's strange... I haven't had that problem and nobody else has mentioned experiencing something like that. Maybe the iso got corrupt in the extraction process? The assassination attempt on Veidt is the scene with the dual-layer break point, so that might have been the culprit. You could try re-extracting a new iso from the RARs or (unfortunately) redownloading it... I hope it works out

 

[Flix Capacitor]

I do wish there was an avi version tho so I could review before committing to 8GB of download looking forward to seeing this dood!

I'm thinking about rendering an avi or mp4 version but that might still be 1-2 gigabytes. I don't want the compression of this 192 minute movie to kill the image quality. That's the reason I haven't made a SL DVD, too. This dual layer disc is nearly full! haha

 

[Renpatsu]

That's strange... I haven't had that problem and nobody else has mentioned experiencing something like that. Maybe the iso got corrupt in the extraction process? The assassination attempt on Veidt is the scene with the dual-layer break point, so that might have been the culprit. You could try re-extracting a new iso from the RARs or (unfortunately) redownloading it... I hope it works out

Well, this is sad.
I actually redownloaded it in its entirety and I've got the exact same result.
>And all the parts pass the md5 check.
So I'm fairly certain it's not me causing an anarchic fluctuation of the rar's structure. Is there any other way to get this edit without going through megaupload?

 

[TV's Frink]

Are you burning a DVD or trying to watch on PC? What media/program are you using? Need moar info plz.

 

[STANKPAC]

^^ What Frink said! More info. needed, please. If I am understanding this correctly that this edit when downloaded and completely extracted is an .Iso, then if you want to watch on a PC you would have to run it through your file extracting program again, e.g. WinRar, 7Zip, etc., to get the VIDEO_TS folder and then you can play on whatever player you choose. Also, you can use that same VIDEO_TS to burn to disc using ImgBurn, Nero, etc.! ;-)

 

[Kal-El]

Neglify already reviewed this edit and didn't mention an issue of that kind. I call local issue

 

[Neglify]

And it worked for BlueYoda, Waslah, felipemeyer and addiesin. And I don't think we have super-computers or anything.

 

[havok1977]

Very, very interesting! Including the Under the Hood segments is what I would have expected for the ultimate (or whatever they called it) version of Watchmen; I only got the Director's cut on blu when it came out and just skipped that Black Freighter forced cut. And I'm curious as to how the chapters attempting to resemble the original issues works out.

Will be downloading and reporting back when I get a chance, and congrats on being approved Flixcapacitor!

 

[Renpatsu]

Okay, well, long story short I got it to work by mounting the iso onto a virtual drive so that's good.
I'm guessing there is something wierd that happens when I use Winrar to extract the iso into the AUDIO_TS and VIDEO_TS folders separately to play in Media Player Classic though - never had that happen before now though so *shrug* I suppose.

 

[Neglify]

The upside is you got it to work! Now you can enjoy this flippin' fantastic edit!

 

[addiesin]

Hmm, I was unaware that winrar even extracted iso files. I know you got it working but you could have done what I did, drag n drop the whole untouched iso file into VLC Player's playlist.

 

[STANKPAC]

Hmm, I was unaware that winrar even extracted iso files.

 

[jelio]

I actually at about the halfway point through the edit, and so far so good!
Ive been waiting for this type of treatment of Watchmen for awhile now and im really happy with what i see so far.

 

[Flix Capacitor]

VLC can also natively play .iso files like a live DVD.

The reason I released the edit as an .iso was to ensure the placement of the the dual-layer break point on the disc. I've found that break points can be tricky, especially with long features like this that almost fill the disc.

Anyhow, I'm glad the playback issues were resolved for those who had problems

 

[Flix Capacitor]

Will be downloading and reporting back when I get a chance, and congrats on being approved Flixcapacitor!

Thanks and I hope you enjoy!

 

[edit0r]

I have yet to see this, but I would be interested why you didn't include an all-new-preiod-piece-OST for this, as I thought 99 Red Balloons etc. was a bit... well, lazy, and there could have been far better choices (both for the film and the context/atmosphere).

Also, is there a way to restore the famous "It's not fate..."-speech (or did you manage to do it)?? If so, that would be utterly amazing!! I'll never get why he excluded that one in the theatrical cut (is it even in the DC??)...

So all in all, I am really looking forward to your cut, but I think the more time invested into WATCHMEN, the better the outcome, so please don't see me as a knowitall, just thinking out loud what could work for a revisitation.

 

[Flix Capacitor]

I have yet to see this, but I would be interested why you didn't include an all-new-preiod-piece-OST for this, as I thought 99 Red Balloons etc. was a bit... well, lazy, and there could have been far better choices (both for the film and the context/atmosphere).

I agree that some of Zach Snyder's music choices could be called lazy (such as "Ride of the Valkyries") but I liked his use of certain tracks like "99 Luftballoons" and "I'm Your Boogie Man." For "99 Luftballoons" I think the song fits when Dan and Laurie see each other at the restaurant because the first part of the scene gives the characters some fun before returning to dark and serious business. I liked how their conversation gradually changes from light hearted (with "99 Luftballoons") to ominous and uncertain (with Tyler Bates score).

Also, is there a way to restore the famous "It's not fate..."-speech (or did you manage to do it)?? If so, that would be utterly amazing!! I'll never get why he excluded that one in the theatrical cut (is it even in the DC??)...

Do you mean the "It's not fate..." speech that Rorschach makes to the psychiatrist while in prison? If so, it's still in the movie