00:00Welcome to WatchMojo and today we're looking at movies we wouldn't have any major qualms
00:12with if only it weren't for some truly distracting TGI.
00:24Number 10 Blade
00:32Blade was a milestone for comic book movies with the superhero genre ice skating uphill
00:38ever since.
00:39The film still holds up thanks to Wesley Snipes' charismatic performance, the gothic atmosphere
00:44and slick stunt work.
00:46Whenever the film incorporates CGI though, we're suddenly reminded that this came out
00:50in 1998.
00:52At least Blade doesn't drape itself in digital imagery like some other superhero movies at
00:58the time.
01:07This fleeting moments of dated CGI stick out like a pair of cheap vampire fangs however.
01:13The CG shoddiness is unfortunately at its most apparent during the final fight between
01:18Blade and Deacon Frost.
01:25As pumped as we are watching these two duke it out, Frost's bloody CG hand and explosive
01:30fate take us out of the climax.
01:37Number 9 The Matrix Reloaded
01:49With the original Matrix being such a special effects game changer, the pressure was on
01:54for its sequel to be even more ambitious.
01:56To an extent it was with the highway chase raising the bar.
02:01Then you have Neo's fight against a horde of Agent Smith.
02:12The setup is promising and the choreography is inventive.
02:16Once Keanu Reeves is replaced with a digital double though, we question if this was a scrap
02:21section from the Animatrix.
02:31Admittedly the burly brawl could have worked as a fully animated sequence.
02:35If the filmmakers wanted to go live action, they might have considered dialing back some
02:39of the more complicated shots.
02:41They tried to have it all with a mix of practical stunt work and CGI, but the technology wasn't
02:47Number 8 I Am Legend
03:03The I Am Legend marketing team wisely downplayed the mutants in the advertising.
03:08The premise and Will Smith's presence were already enough to get us into the theater.
03:13Only seeing glimpses of the mutants in the trailer helped build suspense.
03:16Then again, there might be another reason that the ads didn't show much of the infected
03:21dogs and darkseekers.
03:23They looked like PlayStation 2 characters when we had already moved on to PlayStation
03:273.
03:34Initially director Francis Lawrence wanted to take a practical approach, even shooting
03:38footage of the performers in makeup.
03:40Unable to get the look right, they opted to use CGI late in the game.
03:44CGI could have worked here, but there clearly wasn't enough time left in the production
03:49schedule to nail it.
04:02Number 7 Spider-Man
04:10Tobey Maguire made us believe he was Spider-Man, and Willem Dafoe became the Green Goblin.
04:15It's a good thing the casting for the first Spider-Man movie was so spot on, because the
04:20effects weren't quite on the same level.
04:22Don't get us wrong, many moments still make us feel like we're watching a comic book
04:27brought to life.
04:28Yet even in 2002, a handful of key scenes looked a little half-baked.
04:38The two most egregious examples are when Peter Parker tests his newfound abilities
04:43leaping from building to building, and when our hero first faces off against the Gliding
04:46Goblin.
04:47As awkwardly as some shots age, the filmmakers perfected their craft by Spider-Man 2, which
04:52won an Oscar for its effects.
05:00Number 6 Air Force One
05:10Air Force One lives up to its awesome premise of die hard on a plane, despite showing some
05:15cracks in the third act.
05:16Up until this point, most of the action has been contained to close quarters, creating
05:20claustrophobia as tensions rise.
05:24Once the characters are seen hanging out of planes, it becomes more obvious that they
05:28aren't really thousands of feet off the ground.
05:31While we give the movie credit for using multiple model planes, they went all in on CG for the
05:36climactic crash.
05:38Not exactly the money shot the filmmakers were hoping for.
05:47As VFX supervisor Richard Edlin described it, we couldn't get it more than maybe 80%
05:52of where we wanted to get it, and we just ran out of time.
05:59Number 5 The Irishman
06:14In an epic spanning decade, Martin Scorsese turned to de-aging technology.
06:19Throughout The Irishman, we see Al Pacino's character from age 44 to 62, and Joe Pesci's
06:25character from 50 to 83.
06:28Star Robert De Niro goes through the most phases, having to play a 24-year-old at one
06:32point.
06:33Even at this technology's most effective, this so-called kid looks like a middle-aged
06:38man.
06:39A late middle-aged man.
06:40It doesn't help when you compare the de-aged De Niro to his actual younger self in movies
06:44like Taxi Driver.
06:56As phenomenal as the performances are, the digital facelifts make us wish they'd just
07:00cast younger actors for these scenes.
07:03Or maybe they should've hired the people behind those deepfakes, which were surprisingly
07:07more convincing.
07:16Number 4 Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
07:25Watching the first Harry Potter movie, it truly felt as if we had been transported to
07:29Hogwarts.
07:30The sets, costumes, and casting were just as we envisioned when reading the books.
07:36We'd be lying if we said that some of the digital effects didn't suck out the magic,
07:40however.
07:41The Quidditch sequences would get more convincing as the franchise went on, but this first attempt
07:45struggled to fly beyond the green screen.
07:47The digital characters like Firenz the centaur and especially the mountain troll look more
07:52like animation tests by today's standards.
08:03Then there's Voldemort emerging from the back of Quirrell's head.
08:07This might've scared us as kids, but now we find ourselves snickering at the CGI and
08:12asking why Voldemort has a nose.
08:19Number 3 Black Panther
08:27To give credit where credit's due, the CGI in Black Panther can look impressive whenever
08:32used to showcase the vastness of Wakanda.
08:34However, the film begins to lose us whenever it replaces living, breathing characters with
08:39digital stand-ins.
08:41We get why they didn't employ real rhinos for the climactic battle, but it's only slightly
08:46less cartoony than Paul Giamatti doing a bad Russian accent.
08:55We could forgive that if it weren't for the final fight between Black Panther and Killmonger,
09:00turning what should be an emotionally charged showdown into something out of The Lawnmower
09:04Man.
09:06It's telling that a film this beloved was able to attain a Best Picture Oscar nomination,
09:15although Best Visual Effects is one category it couldn't break into.
09:26Number 2 Wonder Woman
09:36The DCEU finally produced a winner with Wonder Woman.
09:41Featuring an inspirational story, a touching romance, and rousing action, the film was
09:46super in virtually every department except for one.
09:50For most of its runtime, the effects in Wonder Woman are solid enough.
09:55They don't always look realistic, but it's not a huge distraction… until the third
09:59act.
10:10Once Ares reveals his true self, it no longer feels like we're fighting alongside Diana
10:15during World War I.
10:17It feels like we're watching actors make funny poses in front of a green screen.
10:22Speaking of silly, Ares' armor could have used a redesign.
10:26While we can't say it destroys the entire experience, it's a shame that the most important
10:30set piece is the most visually underwhelming.
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10:59Number 1 Star Wars Trilogy Special Edition
11:10The Star Wars Trilogy might be the most significant landmark in special effects history.
11:15When George Lucas gave the trilogy a digital makeover two decades later, it seemed like
11:19the next step in evolution.
11:34In the long run, though, the special editions would be a step backward.
11:38While some refinements were better received than others, most would agree that the CGI
11:43changes were the worst.
11:44A New Hope suffered the most, with pointless CGI shenanigans at most easily and a digital
11:50who looks better suited for the Clone Wars animated series.
12:02The additions to Cloud City and Empire admittedly look alright, but that musical sequence in
12:07Return of the Jedi is why we still have the original VHS tapes and 2006 DVDs.
12:25Which good movie do you think lost the most points for bad CGI?
12:29Let us know in the comments down below!
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