If the viewer has seen Christopher Nolan’s excellent film about dueling magicians, he or she will know that when the Mariner arrives back in Davidstown, he experiences what is known as The Prestige. The consequences of The Pledge and The Turn become all to clear to the Mariner and he has only one resort, one course of action, one sanctuary left to him. If the viewer has read Alan Moore and Dave Gibbon’s 12-issue comic book series Watchmen, they know that Tales of the Black Freighter is a supplement to the events in those books. That fact allows this animated narrative to be viewed in two ways: as a stand alone short film (which has been done up till this point) or as an appendage to Zack Snyder’s Watchmen film (one of Rorschach’s mask symbols adorns the Mariner’s raft sail). When looked upon as an appendage of Watchmen, it is clear that this film parallels Adrian Veidt / Ozymandias (Matthew Goode) and all the events that surround him in that film. When Tales of the Black Freighter is integrated into an eventual special edition of Watchmen, Ozymandias’ storyline, which was almost the least developed in the Watchmen film yet grew in prominence in the 12-issue series until the final book was concluded, will be buttressed and given more depth by its implied implications.
Daniel Delpurgatrorio and Mike Smith’s Watchmen: Tales of the Black Freighter is a tightly packed and quick paced animated short film with a good enough story for a full length narrative, though I would not want to see this tale elongated artificially.
Rating: 8/10
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