hyped garbage

Good movie but grossly overrated

Absolutely Brilliant!

Tells a fascinating and unsettling true story, and does so well, without pretending to have all the answers.

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

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.

...as this pretty much proves the essential nature of comic books. Not having the pieces integrated puts the movie(s) at a decided disadvantage . This DVD also included an excruciatingly overlong Culpepper Minute...although I do like the irony of it being called a minute and lasting an eternity, perhaps it was named the same in Moore's Watchmen. I don't recall...I will say Stephen McHattie as Hollis Mason was outstanding in this.Anyways, to me the Black Freighter story here ends up coming across hackneyed, and hack-kneed (and twisted-head, snapped-off-arm, etc...). The shocking gore piles up, and the story in my opinion is just not strong enough to stand on its own. While I'm at it, the Watchmen movie was alright, but reading the whole piece, in episodic installments, truly was a better way to enjoy it.So Moore is right in that his art-form was superior, despite the clearly loving attempt at a cinematic treatment. And yet, many folks will just not pick up anything that is book like (even if candy bars came with pages and a spine, I sense people would flee), so having the Watchmen and related items released is not such a heinous crime. Better than writing greeting cards to supplement one's creative pursuits.Anyways, if you watched the movie, and have not read the book, I'd only seek this out if you truly dig the graphic dark side of human behavior, but you'd be better served by exploring the graphic novel side that holds it all together.Thurston Hunger 3/10

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.