Love it or hate it, WATCHMEN is now out on Blu-ray and DVD. Running out to get the Blu-ray version, I discovered it contained the absolutely coolest, most jaw-droppingly great feature: Maximum Movie Mode.
Watching the film with MMM turned on, you are treated to countless seamless transitions from the film to a variety of additional information, all in context. More than “pop-up videos”, the film shrinks down to a picture within the picture and director Zack Snyder walks on and offers commentary on what’s going on. He’ll often pause the movie (playing behind him on single and double screens) to point out interesting and amusing production details and anectdotes. And when he’s done, the picture-in-picture readjusts and you’re back to watching the movie once more.
Beyond this, you frequently get a timeline view of “Our World” and “Their World”; what was happening for real at various times compared to the alternate reality of Watchmen’s time.
Capping it off are invites to watch production videos as they become relevant to the story, and frame-to-scene comparisons between the film and the graphic novel. All seamlessly presented.
Maximum Movie Mode is definitely NOT the way to watch the movie the first time around, however for a second viewing where one wants to dig into the mind and craft of the filmmakers in a more contextual way than the typical “making of” videos, MMM is worth running out and buying a Blu-ray player for.
— Jeffrey Alan Schechter
