Under the Hood (2009) (V)

User Rating:

7.1/10   

Director:

Eric Matthies

Writers:

Dave Gibbons (graphic novel)
Hans Rodionoff (writer)

Release Date:

24 March 2009 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure

Plot Keywords:

Autobiography | Husband Wife Relationship | Superman | Interview | Cigar Smoking

Cast

Jay Brazeau	...	Bernard / News Vendor
Frank Cassini	...	Lawrence Shexnayder
Glenn Ennis	...	Hooded Justice
Matt Frewer	...	Edgar Jacobi / Moloch the Mystic
Ted Friend	...	Larry Culpeper
Carla Gugino	...	Sally Jupiter / Silk Spectre
Erik Johnson	...	Commercial Narrator (voice)
Rob LaBelle	...	Wally Weaver
Alexander Martella	...	Young Robin
Vincent Martella	...	Robin / Jason Todd
Niall Matter	...	Mothman
Stephen McHattie	...	Hollis Mason / Nite Owl
Jeffrey Dean Morgan	...	Edward Blake / The Comedian
Dan Payne	...	Dollar Bill
Darryl Scheelar	...	Captain Metropolis
William S. Taylor	...	William Long
Apollonia Vanova	...	Silhouette

Also Known As:

The Culpeper Minute: Under the Hood (UK) (long title)
Watchmen: Under the Hood (USA) (working title)

MPAA:

Rated PG for mild thematic elements, brief violent and suggestive images, and smoking.

Runtime:

USA:38 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Certification:

UK:15 | Brazil:12

Company:

Warner Premiere

Trivia:

The commercials used in-between segments of this feature are genuine commercials from the 1970s, except with newly recorded voice-overs. The exception to this is the first commercial (Veidt Nostalgia), which ties in with the character of Ozymandias from the main Watchmen movie.

Movie Connections:

Spin off from Watchmen (2009)

nifty but not very memorable extra/short-doc on Hollis Mason's "Under the Hood"

Like with the DVD release of the Dark Knight, though this time much earlier to coincide with the theatrical release, DC put together this short documentary as a companion piece cum extra to the "source" of the film, which itself is a take-off on the in-between chapters of the Watchmen book. Hollis Mason, the original Nite Owl in Watchmen, writes an autobiography chronicling the history of the costumed heroes that are a big deal in the 40s, then becoming less of a "fad" in the 1950s and then being outlawed, all with the prose of who was originally a NYC police officer. It's a series of interviews doen in faux 1970 style TV (even includes a few "vintage" commercials, one of the three actually quite funny), with an interviewer who gets the actors playing the characters to improvise (or maybe it's all written, I can see that very well being the case as well) on the subjects posed and raised. It's fun to watch and a little clever, but is mostly a cookie- it's got not much else really substantial out of it unless you have read the book. Certain characters pop up that are not in Snyder's theatrical cut of Watchmen (i.e. Captain Metropolis), and it doesn't run too long to over-stay its welcome. This said, the other little 'goodies' presented by Snyder and company - the other fake news segments on the likes of Dr. Manhattan that appeared online - were better.