Just seen it

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I posted this on the Watchmen board but realized it would probably be more appropriate here. I saw it and really liked it as well:

Under the Hood was a wonderful compilation of the appendix material found in the graphic novel. It takes material not only from Hollis Mason's Under The Hood excerpts, but also some of the other interview material as well. It's all presented in a well-presented mockumentary fashion. I was impressed by the wealth of visual material on display, from interviews, to faux archival footage, black-and-white photos, newspaper headlines, and more. The amount of detail on display was actually quite astounding. It also greatly expanded on many of the ancillary characters in the film, notably Hollis Mason of course, but also Sally Jupiter, Wally Weaver, and others.

the sheer wealth of complementary visual material is amazing. We get to see archival footage of the heroes fighting crime, we see them being tried by the House of Un-American Activities, we see Sally Jupiter posing for a centerfold photo shoot, we see various newspaper headlines and archival photos. There are so many visual details to soak in, which is not only great for us Watchmen fans, but it also really sells the fact that this is a real documentary in that world. I just find it so cool that they actually took the time to film all this extra stuff with the actors and what not.

The other thing that I was quite impressed by is the acting. After all, mockumentaries aren't the easiest thing to pull off, especially when you want them to come off as serious. In the case of Under the Hood, we have actors pretending to be hero characters who are pretending to be interviewed off-the-cuff. No small task, but they do a great job. Hollis Mason in particular is extremely believable, and hearing him speak certain lines from the interstitial chapters is wonderful. Hearing him say "it all comes down to three small words: we've been replaced, and not just us masked avengers, but humanity. We've been replaced" when talking about Dr. Manhattan, it sounds so raw and true. I know I didn't quote it verbatim, but you guys know what I'm talking about. There are several moments like that which communicate from page to screen so effectively. The other actors come off with varying degrees of success, but by and large, it's all very well acted.

All in all, I thought Under the Hood fit its purpose perfectly. In the graphic novel it was meant as a literary companion piece to the graphic novel that would add depth to the history and characterizations. This version of Under the Hood does the exact same thing for the film except in a visual form. In fact, I would almost suggest watching Under The Hood as a prologue to Watchmen, as it adds a lot more context and backstory. Most importantly, it adds more of the layers that some people thought were missing from the movie. I don't know if it will ever be included in any form in a future extended cut of Watchmen (like Black Freighter), but either way, it has me excited for how the film version of Watchmen is opening up into an even more detailed universe akin to the graphic novel.

"I grew up watching TV and I turned out TV." - Homer Simpson

It works pretty well. One of the things missing from the Watchmen movie was the material that appeared as text in the back of each issue of the comic which was as integral to the story as the main continuity. This restores some of that.
An important criticism, maybe it's an overly geeky nit-pick, but there was a lot of reference to existing comic book heroes (even Blue Beetle on who Nite-Owl is based) and costumed heroes in comic books were never supposed to have been popular in the world in which the graphic novel takes place.