'Doctor Strange' Director Calls 'Watchmen: The Ultimate Cut' His Favorite Superhero Movie

Watchmen may be a divisive film for many, but the big screen adaptation of the DC Comics [...]

By Nicole Drum

Watchmen may be a divisive film for many, but the big screen adaptation of the DC Comics miniseries can count Doctor Strange director Scott Derrickson as a major fan. The MCU director says it's his favorite comic book movie.

Derrickson took to Twitter yesterday to declare that, despite being a DC film, Watchmen: The Ultimate Cut isn't just his favorite comic book adaptation, but also called it the Blade Runner of superhero cinema. That's pretty high praise and you can check out Derrickson's tweet below.

It's a big comparison and big praise for Watchmen. Based on one of the most acclaimed comic books of all time, Watchmen was a property that took a long time to make it to the big screen. After years of going from filmmaker to filmmaker, Warner Bros. finally brought in Zack Snyder to make it. His take on Watchmen was released in theaters in 2009 but was met with polarizing reactions from both audiences and critics. While there were many positive reviews, there were also major criticisms as well and the film ultimately had a disappointing box office run. Three versions of Watchmen were later released for home viewing: the theatrical version, a "director's cut" and the "ultimate cut" Derrickson referred to. The ultimate cut included the director's cut of the film re-edited to contain Tales of the Black Freighter, an animated film, into the story as it appears in the graphic novel.

As for the comparison to Blade Runner, it's fitting. Blade Runner, considered by many to be one of the best science fiction films ever made, also didn't perform as well critically or at the box office as expected and also has various cuts available. And, when it was released, some felt that Blade Runner was a film ahead of its time, something that has been argued about Watchmen as well. Earlier this year, Watchmen star Malin Akerman told Variety that people who "get" the movie really enjoy it.

"I actually feel like that was like a big-budget indie film," Akerman told Variety in the video above. "It's like a little niche of people who really get it. I almost feel like you have to have read the graphic novel in order to really get the density of it…. I think a lot of people thought it was just going to be a superhero film, but it's as so much more than that."

"I don't know if it's before its time, or if it's just familiarity," Akerman added.

Do you agree with Derrickson that Watchmen: The Ultimate Cut is the Blade Runner of superhero cinema or do you have another opinion? Let us know in comments!

0comments
Start the Conversation

of