not horrible nor great

Load of rubbish!!

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

I've been a fan of Watchmen ever since I first saw the movie in March.I have since read the graphic novel, bought a Rorschach poster and watched this short.I personally did not care for it when it was in the original graphic novel, so I was skeptical about watching this.It's a short 25min animated feature about a man who'se crew gets murdered by these evil demonic pirates on a "black freighter"(hence the title).The pirates then go to the hometown of the man, to slaughter the people there, which include this wife and child.So, he follows them, intent on saving his family and taking revenge on the pirates.The animation is the best part of this short. It's simply excellent.The story is kind of hard to follow, and I personally never saw how it fit in with "Watchmen".It's decent enough, if you're a fan of 300, Watchmen or any violent animation, then this is worth a look.Apparently, this short will be inter-sped into the "Watchmen" film for the Ultimate Edition DVD.

It was a while after I watched Watchmen that I got around to getting this companion film – essentially put together from the reading of the comic of the same name within the comic of Watchmen. Not being a massive defender of the comic, I am not petty about it nor do I wish to debate for hours about how the film works without it, how the changes in the film affect this film, how you must be an idiot if you think this, or how you must be an idiot if you don't think that – and so on. No, instead I came to the short film knowing its parallels with the main story/film and yet also keen to see how it works as a film full stop.The answer is that it works very well because it produces a really gaudy depiction of the story with a much clearer link to the mental journey of Ozymandias and/or Rorschach – again I cannot be bothered to debate it on the message boards, for my money it works for both. The film is really well animated but not to the point that it is stylised to the point where it doesn't feel real. Instead, the gore and horror is made to feel very real and very horrible – not "owh gross" horrible in the way teen slasher films are, but it is really quite tangible how awful events are from start to finish. The story is quite simple but, because the horror is so well captured, it doesn't really matter if you watch this with Watchmen in mind or not – although of course it is meant for you to do so as well. The delivery is generally strong as well thanks mainly to the impressive delivery from Butler as the captain in narration. His haunted and nuanced voice is a great fit with the graphics – in particular the captain showing on his face what we are hearing.It is ironic because, while I thought that the full film of Watchmen struggled because of how it stuck to the events in the book to the detriment of the heart of the book, the Black Freighter appears to have captured both. I'll let others argue it out but for me it was best to strip this out of the film and, while it works well in the comic spread out over the telling of the main story, it works equally as well here as a companion short film.

As you will know from reading my earlier review of Watchmen, I wasn't overly impressed. Snyder's attempts to shoehorn as much of the book into his film resulted in a confusing mess. At least he was smart enough not to try and fit 'Tales of the Black Freighter' in too. Instead, it was made into this 25 minute animation by Mike Smith and Daniel DelPurgatorio.The story originated as a comic book within a comic book, read by a kid who uses the same news stand as Rorschach. It follows a Mariner (Gerard Butler) whose ship is blown to smithereens and whose crew are all slain by Pirates from the dreaded Black freighter. He makes his way to a nearby deserted island, just in time to watch the bloated corpses of his crew wash up on shore.Whilst there he figures that the pirates are most likely pillaging his home town and his family are in danger. He decides to build a raft from trees and a sail that he finds his friend wrapped in. He grimly realises the swollen, gas filled bodies lying on the beach will provide him with the perfect ballast to keep him afloat. And be begins tying them to his raft.Sailing on his grotesque vessel, he heads for home. Eating any seabirds who fly down close enough trying to peck at the eyeballs of his building material. He perilously drinks handfuls of sea water, sending him further and further into delusion. His dead friend counsels him from beyond the grave, telling him it's too late to save his family back home and he should go back. But like a certain character in the main book, the Mariner is intent on his mission. It's no mistake that the bloodied sails on his raft resemble an ink-blot.After surviving a shark attack and washing up on familiar shores, he has convinced himself that the Pirates have been and plundered his town. So convinced that he murders innocents he suspects have betrayed his people to the pirates. He stalks into his own house, believing that pirates lie in the beds of his wife and daughters and prepares to kill them.Unlike the main book, Black Freighter is complex in its simplicity. You have the simple story of a man heading home to save his loved ones, who, through self-delusion, becomes the very monster that threatens them. The complexities lie in the confused and tortured Mariner. His soul is polluted and corrupted by the vengeance in his heart, so much so, that he becomes worse than his enemy.Gerard Butler, offered the role because Zack Snyder couldn't find him a part in Watchmen, fits perfect. His nuanced Scottish growl starts off simpering and self-sympathetic before ending with the lunatic howls of a madman. There is no better voice.The animation is similar in style to Fist of the North Star, the 1986 movie, with dark shadows and a lot of high contrast visuals. The sea is as black as ink and the sun crimson on the horizon. It feels very old school compared to modern anime's like Appleseed and Ghost in the Shell.In 25 minutes this film achieves what Watchmen couldn't do in nearly three hours. A chilling, competent and compelling adaptation of Alan Moore's work.Verdict 8/10 Better than the film it accompanies.

So I haven't seen The Watchmen yet, nor have I read the graphic novel.This was a very cool, well done little piece of psychological horror.In the vein of Hitchcock or The Twilight Zone with copious amounts of blood and gore, and with pirates. There is a very nice sense of tension throughout the story and there are more than a few shocking moments.Even though animated, I still found myself unintentionally cringing at some points. The animation is done well, I'm glad its not done in an Anime style. It reminded me a little of Ralph Bakshi which was nice and the twist or climax at the end left me satisfied.I will definitely be recommending this to everyone I know. Especially the ones who enjoyed The Watchmen. I was planning on seeing it soon and this has certainly added to my anticipation. But whether Watchmen turns out to be awesome or not, this is a great piece of animation and absolutely stands on its own. Even if you didn't like the movie this was extracted from you should check this out.