11 Major VFX Errors You Won't Believe Were Missed
3. Manhattan's Glow - Watchmen
The Watchmen at the time was at the peak of heavily stylised, grounded comic book adaptations - with its gritty look accompanied by some exceptional lighting and superb colour grading, but throw in the curveball that is VFX-heavy, giant blue, glowing Doctor Manhattan and it's not too surprising that capabilities were pushed to their limits.
This film has more style than not just most comic book adaptation, but most films in general released these days. Doctor Manhattan should've made this almost impossible though, with his bright blue glow almost certainly washing out every scene he steps into. But thanks to a combination of a light bright suit and industry leading VFX, he fit most of his scenes like a perfectly placed lamp, with the perfect amount of mood lighting.
It's not all perfect though, because in two scenes with Nite Owl and Doctor Manhattan, the latter barely if at all reflects on the former. Which is particularly confusing when Nite Owl has reflective surfaces on his costume.
Everyone and everything else in this film is literally lit up by his bright blue glow when he's in close proximity, but not Nite Owl. And on top of that, in one of the penultimate scenes, you can even see the light bright suit still in the reflection of Nite Owl's glasses.