Platypuschow Tales of the Black Freighter is set within The Watchmen universe but there are no superheroes to be found here.With Gerard Butler as the voice talent we see a tale of a mariner who is the sole survivor of an attack on his ship by pirates and his efforts at survival and getting home to his family.Standing at little over 20 minutes this little short actually manages to tell a story competently, but make no mistake it isn't a very nice one.Grim, dark and harrowing this is a tale of desperation and a tale of madness and there was never going to be a happy ending here.Depressing and hard hitting this is a watchable little piece but one that will stay with you afterwards and for all the wrong reasons.Watch at your peril.The Good:Well animatedVery well writtenThe Bad:Not the easiest viewingThings I Learnt From This Movie:This was an extra on the Watchmen (2009) dvd, I think it's better than the actual film

Horst in Translation ([email protected]) This is a 25-minute short film from six years ago and somehow connected to Zack Snyder's Watchmen movie. I have not seen this one, so I cannot go into more detail here about what exactly this connection is like. Anyway, there is a ship accident early on in the movie and everybody dies except our protagonist. Then, afterward, the Black Freighter, mentioned in the title becomes a crucial part of the story. Our hero tries to get home as quickly as possible on a raft, but realizes it is pointless to get there and warn everybody that the dead freighter is going to come as well, a ship packed with murderous undead pirates who are going to kill everybody. Yet, despite knowing he is too slow, he still decides to get home and see what happened to his village, to his wife and child. And he does succeed. but what is he going to find?I have to say I enjoyed watching this short movie. I liked how we heard the protagonist's thoughts (Gerard Butler's deep voice) during the entire 25 minutes. The animation is nicely done too and there is a final plot twist which wasn't really expected and that is also why you could watch this half hour several times. Recommended.

MisterWhiplash The Tales of the Black Freighter series in the book of Watchmen was linked to the actual plot of Watchmen with merely one line (I won't mention by whom, but it's by one of the main characters, towards the end) that ties into what and why the story is in the book thematically. But on its own the story and art in Tales of the Black Freighter is done in the source like a real old-style pulpy comic with the underlying lines going across the panels, touched up with some really gruesome images and a moral that is about next to none - the guy is sent to damnation. As a short animated film Zack Snyder and his team decided to up the ante on the style, to make it a 2-dimensional stand-alone effort with the translation almost identical to that of the source (save, perhaps, for Snyder's penchant for ridiculous amounts of bloodshed, which are more appropriate here than in the actual Watchmen film).The animation here is gorgeous, doomed, and totally haunted. It might be considered a horror movie in some moments - the main character is on a beach and ties a bunch of his fallen dead shipmates onto a raft with body parts falling off and gas rising out from the intestines - but it's also about insanity and an unamicable downward spiral. Even having read the book and knowing it was a sad and disgustingly surreal piece of work I was not prepared for how the animation kicked my ass, so to speak. It's a startling expression of a descent into hell, a poetic fever dream done with some striking flashes of color, character, violence, and the whole disjointed but logical mood of the sea itself; when the seagulls and sharks come around it brings some of the most memorably savage bits in recent memory anywhere. Only once or twice did the action feel a little stilted, as animation can sometimes be, but it overall was a kind of minor triumph (Gerard Butler, I should add, also did very well as the voice of the pirate).

necron99-5 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.