Watchmen Chapter 1 (2024) [4K Ultra HD]

Director: Brandon Vietti

Cast: Matthew Rhys, Katee Sackhoff, Titus Welliver (VOICES)

Release Date: August 27, 2024

A Review By: Kevin Lovell

Film Rating: 8/10
Disc Rating: 7/10

Synopsis:

Chapter 1: In an alternate world history set in 1985, the murder of a government sponsored superhero draws his outlawed colleagues out of retirement and into a mystery that threatens to upend their personal lives and the world itself.

‘Watchmen Chapter 1’ invites viewers into an alternate version of 1985 and explores the origins, activity and post operating world of a team of superheroes. A murder results in uncertainty when a government sponsored hero called ‘The Comedian’ is brutally murdered but no one in a position of power seems overly interested in solving the crime causing the no-nonsense hero dubbed Rorschach (one of the few still operating after superheroes have been officially outlawed) to take over the investigation personally. Before long the death results in ramifications across the city and beyond as past heroes must step up again and others must fight their way to the truth against all odds and risk their lives for hope, while a potentially bigger threat looms.

Produced and directed by Brandon Vietti (Batman: Under the Red Hood, Superman: Doomsday) from an Adaptation by J. Michael Straczynski (Babylon 5: The Road Home), Vietti does a nice job at the helm of ‘Watchmen Chapter 1’ guiding along the first installment in the animated adaptation with care, vigor and style. The film’s notable voice cast includes Matthew Rhys (IF), Katee Sackhoff (Justice League: Crisis on Infinite Earths – Part Three) and Titus Welliver (Batman: The Long Halloween), in addition to Troy Baker (TV’s Transformers: Earthspark), Adrienne Barbeau (Curious George: Go West, Go Wild), Corey Burton (TV’s Star Wars: The Clone Wars), Michael Cerveris (Ant-Man and the Wasp), Jeffrey Combs (Batman: The Doom That Came to Gotham) and more who each provide capable and fitting voice performances for the most part in their respective roles.

‘Watchmen Chapter 1’ delivers a tense, brutal and intriguing new adaptation of the beloved graphic novel that takes a stab at adapting the tale in animated form and succeeds for the most part in doing an impressive job of bringing the iconic tale to animated life and mostly going all out and not holding any punches, brutality or nude blue men in the process, while also finding a perfect point to split the tale in the middle. The characters within all stand out and even if some are granted more screen time than others, each is offered their opportunity to shine, and a well selected voice cast helps each come to life in a rewarding fashion.

While the approach and majority of choices work in its favor, the CG animation does leave something to be desired at times. It never looks horrendous by any means and as you progress further into the film it becomes easier to adapt to its style and appearance as well as allowing the viewer to appreciate its attempt at making much of the animation at least appear to have a hand drawn approach, but the CG always seems to glare over it and detract somewhat from the power of the film itself. Fortunately it’s never a deal breaker and the positive elements largely outweigh the questionable ones and result in a solid animated outing that’s to be commended.

Overall, ‘Watchmen Chapter 1’ is a promising and well-constructed first half of this new animated adaptation that stays quite faithful to the source material and benefits from a great voice cast, even if the animation style can be somewhat distracting at times. It’s always a challenge to adequately judge an adaptation like this with only having seen what amounts to the equivalent of half of the story, but ‘Watchmen Chapter 1’ certainly gets off to a rewarding start and does a commendable job of capturing the tone, heart and brutality of the story. If this first chapter is any indication of what the second installment will bring, it seems safe to say that fans will find a lot to love about this new adaptation of ‘Watchmen’ and will want to give it a fair shot, particularly diehard fans of the source material. If you’re already looking forward to this one whatsoever, then I would definitely recommend giving it a chance.

VIDEO:

The 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray release of ‘Watchmen Chapter 1’ features a full 2160p Ultra High Definition presentation with HDR-10, presented in its original 2.39:1 Aspect Ratio. The video presentation looks fantastic and provides a clean, richly detailed and vibrantly colored presentation that never suffers from any noticeable issues throughout its duration. Detail is great across the board with everything from character faces and clothing/costumes to the various interiors and exteriors looking tremendous for the most part, while the HDR addition does a wonderful job of contributing some richer and more lifelike colors throughout that stand out on various elements along the way; all nicely boosted by deep, rich black levels that don’t disappoint. Overall, this is a pretty stellar Ultra High Definition presentation that delivers nicely at every turn and should have viewers very satisfied.

AUDIO:

The 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray release features a 5.1 channel DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack. This multichannel soundtrack makes a splendid complement to the tale and offers a crisp, clean and frequently hard hitting audio presentation throughout. It takes advantage of all five available channels in order to send music, action and nature effects along with various other tidbits moving throughout the various speakers on a fairly consistent basis, while never causing any dialogue or other potential simultaneously occurring audio elements to become distorted or rendered inaudible in the process. Overall, this is a solid 5.1 DTS-HD MA soundtrack that does its job well and should have very little trouble keeping viewers pleased.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

The 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray release of ‘Watchmen Chapter 1’ features a couple of entertaining Featurettes that explore the process of bringing the iconic graphic novel to life. They include ‘Dave Gibbons and Watchmen: Worldbuilding’ (running approximately 9 minutes in length) and ‘The Art of Adaptation: Introducing the Story’ (running approximately 10 minutes).

*Please note: The above images are taken from the film’s Trailer and are not reflective of the actual 4K Ultra HD release or its quality. A standard Blu-ray copy of the film was not included in the release that could be used for screenshots therefore the above images were utilized. All content and images from the film are the property of DC, Paramount, Warner Bros. Discovery and any other respective owners.

–

Film Rating: 8/10
Disc Rating: 7/10

–

‘Watchmen Chapter I’ is Now Available to Own on 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray & Digital from DC, Paramount & Warner Bros. Discovery Home Entertainment

–

You can purchase Watchmen Chapter I’ on 4K UHD at Amazon HERE!

*Screen-Connections.com is an Amazon Associate that earns from qualifying purchases