Watchmen Blu-Ray “Maximum Movie Mode” takes Movie Magic, throws it out a window
Zack Snyder’s “Watchmen” is finally coming to Blu-Ray on July 21, 2009, and with it is what just might be the most comprehensive special feature set, well, ever.
Dubbed “Maximum Movie Mode”, it takes the idea of the director’s commentary to an entirely new level, in that the director walks into the shot and dissects the scene, literally giving a frame-by-frame explanation of how it was made. The highly detailed walkthrough plays like a tutorial, including behind-the-scenes video, prop and stunt explanations, and easter eggs (watch for Snyder’s cameo in the Comedian’s apartment during the opening scene.)
While ambitious and intriguing, I kind of wish this feature didn’t exist. I am truly fascinated by moviemaking, and when I buy the Watchmen Blu-Ray I’ll likely watch it with MMM on, but I feel like the more I know about moviemaking, the less impressed I am with the movie itself. It’s becoming harder and harder to suspend my disbelief, and I truly miss that. I find myself reverse-engineering every movie I see, and ironically, the lower-tech the movie, the more impressed I am with its ability to suck me into its world. It always me of the first time I was taken to a galaxy far, far away, I suppose. Now, in a time when anyone with a decent processor and a BitTorrent client can get the tools to render him/herself a “digital animator”, the last thing I want is for a true professional to reveal all his tricks a-la Penn & Teller.
I want my fantasies. Ignorance truly is bliss in this case.
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i guess in this version we can see frame by frame exactly how Snyder made this POS adaptation of the book…
LOL! We’ll see. I kind of enjoyed Watchmen (with caveats).
The Maximum Movie Mode sounds more like the “Zack to the Max” mode though. 🙂
The movie mode seems like a bit overkill, but who am I to talk, I produce about a 15-minute making of video for a *single page* of my comic book.
Overall, while you’re right that it can obviously interfere with ‘ignorant bliss’ (for all the blue-pillers who think that’s a worthy goal), being aware of film techniques and whether they are employed well helps you evaluate everything else as well. If a film is full of technical badness it usually does not take much scratcing at the story in order to realise that it pretty much sucks, too. Incompetence tends to spread into every part of a production.