A brief follow-up on Watchmen

Because the Cap'n hadn't actually seen the first five minutes (or so) of Watchmen, and because of a combination of Borders Bucks and coupon action, I supposed it might not hurt to at least watch the beginning of the movie - if not the whole thing - since I could bring the damn thing home for free.

I'm on the record as saying that it wasn't some horrible disaster like I assumed it would be. On the other hand, not only did the film not live up to the considerable hype that comic fans and the internet raised it to, but the movie had a lot of other problems. The changes in story were dumb and kind of arbitrary, the music cues were mixed in a little too loudly, and the speed ramp-ing was a taaaad overused.

There was something else that bothered me about the movie, something that I couldn't quite put my finger on until I saw the beginning and skimmed through the beginning of the film again. When I realized it, I understood immediately why I had such a hard time getting into the world of Watchmen: the makeup appliances look horrible.

It's not just Nixon, who does look like a bad impersonation of an impersonation of Nixon; it's everyone. I think I mentioned in the other review that Sally Jupiter and the original Nite Owl looked bad, but it's not limited to the "old age" makeup. Castro looks terrible, Pat Buchanan is all but unrecognizable until Jim Lehrer (or a guy who barely looks like him) says his name. Kennedy looks awful and fake. The only person with a rubber (or latex) appliance that is even remotely convincing is Moloch (Matt Frewer), and I'm convinced it's because you don't notice the ears right away.

I spent 90% of the well-crafted opening credits alternating between settling into the world of the comic and being instantly pulled out by really shoddy makeup. I don't know why it's so bad but I had a very hard time buying into the story when such simple effects work looked so fake. The "old age" Comedian looked like he had piles of appliances dolloped on his face just before shooting, and it can really kill the mood. More than anything, this may be the reason I'm reticent to finish watching the Watchmen, even for free. That's a shame, because I might give the movie a fighting chance if I could get over such a simple mistake.