WATCHMEN: Director's Cut or Ultimate Cut?

[radewagon]

If you like the Graphic Novel, definitely go with the ultimate cut. It does much more than just integrate Black Freighter into the story and even if it only did that, it would still be better than, as many have suggested, simply watching the black freighter by itself. In the comic, the BF is not supposed to be read separately. It is supposed to be integrated. I think it was nice of Warner to allow it to be viewed separately, but that was never really its purpose.
Also, a lot of people seem to be forgetting the most important addition to the Ultimate Cut. The life on the street segments with the two Bernies are absolutely necessary to the comic and it's nice to see some of that brought into the movie. I think the film used the doomsday clock to try and show the relative tension that was permeating the world. In the graphic novel, that tension is showed much more effectively through the dialogue of everyday people discussing world event's at Bernie's news stand. This footage, much more than the heavily publicized Black Freighter footage is what really makes the Ultimate Cut worth watching. Well, for Watchmen fans, anyway.