- 2 days ago
These FX don't hold up.
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00:00When you see some next-level special effects, it can be a magical moment.
00:04So when you re-watch these scenes, you expect to have that same wonder ignited within you.
00:08But this isn't always the case.
00:10When you give some classic films another go, you'll notice the visuals aren't as great as you remember.
00:14At one point, these moments were impressive, even jaw-dropping.
00:18But it's time to take off the rose-tinted glasses and see these eyesores for what they really are.
00:23So with that in mind then, I'm Ellie with WhatCulture here with 10 groundbreaking movie special effects that aged terribly.
00:31Number 10. Poltergeist.
00:34Poltergeist has so many mind-blowing special effects.
00:36It's baffling how it didn't win any Oscars, although it did lose out to E.T.
00:40But after 40 years, you'd assume a lot of these visuals would be pretty ropey nowadays.
00:45Amazingly, most of these optical tricks still look top-notch.
00:49The way the house collapses into itself is one of the coolest visuals of the 1980s.
00:54The elongated corridor sequence is just as mesmerising now as it was when Poltergeist was released.
00:59But there's one scene that has aged worse than Mickey Rourke.
01:03When the parents open their children's bedroom door, they see all sorts of paraphernalia spinning throughout the room.
01:09As they gaze in horror, records twirl around, books fly towards them, and a lightbulb places itself into a lamp by itself.
01:16Although this scene should be scary, it feels like it was only put together to show off these gimmicky visuals.
01:21Not only that, the camera lingers on every shot, making the stop-motion and green screen painfully obvious.
01:27Because this scene doesn't add anything to the story, it feels self-serving.
01:31Also, did we really need to see a floating Hulk action figure riding a toy horse?
01:36Number 9. Total Recall.
01:38The CGI in Terminator 2 was so awesome, people forget Arnold Schwarzenegger starred in another film that pushed the boundaries of special effects the previous year.
01:47Total Recall.
01:49Paul Verhoeven's sci-fi thriller has some of the best animatronics ever put to screen.
01:53The X-ray sequence looks stunning, even though computer effects were in their infancy at the time.
01:58Ironically, what was once regarded as Total Recall's best visual effect is now perceived as the worst one.
02:04In one scene, Double Agent Quaid attempts to sneak through the immigration office on Mars by disguising himself in a hyper-realistic woman's costume.
02:12When the outfit malfunctions, the woman's head splits open, revealing Quaid.
02:16Well, it's supposed to be Quaid.
02:17In reality, it's an unconvincing dummy head of Arnie.
02:20Upon watching this scene for the first time, most people don't realise how fake this puppet looks because they're distracted by the woman's head disconnecting, which still looks amazing.
02:29But when you clock Arnie's paper-mache-looking noggin, it ruins this iconic scene.
02:33His eyes aren't even symmetrical.
02:35Also, why did this shot need a dummy head?
02:37Surely the real Arnold could have been behind the animatronic or something.
02:41Number 8. The Matrix Reloaded.
02:43The hype for The Matrix Reloaded was so overwhelming, there was no way the Wachowski sequel could live up to the expectations.
02:51And it didn't.
02:52The expository dialogue was repetitive, the performances were flat, the pacing was all over the place, and the ending was anticlimactic.
02:59But there was one element that received universal praise – the visuals.
03:02Even though the bullet-time technique popularised by The Matrix was groundbreaking, many believed the CGI in Reloaded was just as good, if not better.
03:10The harshest critics couldn't fault the VFX, especially during the burly brawl where Neo faces off against 100 Agent Smiths.
03:18However, the overuse of CGI is blatant if you re-watch the iconic fight now.
03:23While Neo batters the snarling agents, there's many shots where every character is obviously computer-generated.
03:29What's more annoying is that this problem could have been remedied if the scene didn't contain slow motion.
03:34By slowing down the action, Neo's rubbery texture and Smith's copy-and-paste faces are more flagrant.
03:39The choreography looks fantastic, but the fight starts resembling a cartoon once the actors have swapped out for their digital doppelgangers.
03:467. Tron Legacy
03:48Tron Legacy failed to win critics over, nor did it make a splash at the box office.
03:54However, the long-awaited sequel was commended for its kaleidoscopic visuals, especially during the light cycle chases.
04:00But in hindsight, some of the visuals aren't up to par.
04:03The main villain, Clue, is a digital program designed to resemble Jeff Bridges' character in his 30s.
04:09Because Bridges was 61 during filming, the creative team utilised the same de-aging tech used for Brad Pitt in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.
04:17Sadly, Clue is rendered so badly, you swear the effects team did it on purpose.
04:22Now, you could argue that the de-aging technology wasn't perfected yet.
04:25However, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button has superior effects, despite coming out two years earlier.
04:30The difference is the production team behind Benjamin Button knew the technology's limitations, and obscured the titular character when he was de-aged.
04:38But Tron Legacy shows off Clue in all his glory, making no effort to hide how unfinished he looked.
04:44When you see the de-aging effects in films like Captain Marvel, Gemini Man, and Spider-Man No Way Home, Clue is embarrassing by comparison.
04:526. Spawn
04:54Even though CGI was considered to be potentially gimmicky at first, everything changed in 1999.
05:00After the release of The Matrix, The Phantom Menace, and The Mummy that year, moviegoers finally understood this groundbreaking technology was here to stay.
05:09However, people forget the superhero flick Spawn pre-
05:12The first films with fully computer-generated characters.
05:20Although critics loathe it, the special effects were regarded as Spawn's only positive quality.
05:25But when you watch it now, it seems inconceivable that anyone thought these visuals looked good.
05:30And it's not just one specific visual.
05:31All the CGI is terrible.
05:33Spawn's billowing cape is so appallingly rendered, you wonder why the crew didn't just make a real one.
05:38Because the actors can't see the cape, they have no reference point while looking at Spawn, making the visual even less believable.
05:45But that's not all.
05:4622 digital companies worked for 11 months to design the Hell dimension, and yet it looks like it was cobbled together in 5, maybe 6 minutes.
05:54But the worst aspect of the film's VFX has to be Hell's ruler, Malabolgia.
05:59This demon looks so incomplete because, well, he is.
06:02The visual team ran out of time before fine-tuning Malabolgia's design, so they didn't get a chance to make his mouth move when he talks.
06:10Number 5. Hulk
06:11Just because a special effect looks bad, doesn't mean the visual artist didn't work their arse off putting it together.
06:18And few films exemplify this fact better than Ang Lee's Hulk.
06:22This film was in development hell for 12 years, since the studio had to wait until they believed CGI had advanced enough to bring the mean green machine to life.
06:31During production, 180 technicians worked round the clock for 18 months to ensure the Hulk looked like a real creature, rather than a computer-generated image.
06:40Because 2.5 million hours went into creating the Jade Giant's movements, hair, muscles, and facial expressions, you'd expect the final product to be out of this world.
06:50Although the Hulk was impressive in 2003, the emerald-skinned monster pales when he's compared to his MCU counterpart.
06:57In the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the Hulk was brought to life with motion capture, making his movements far more realistic, especially in his face.
07:05But since the Hulk in this movie is a pure CGI creation, it moves unnaturally, even cartoonishly most of the time.
07:12Although most of the visuals have aged terribly, don't get me started on that mutant dog, the titular hero definitely looks the worst.
07:204. The Terminator
07:22With the Terminator's exemplary visuals, gritty action, and beautiful score, no one can contest this film is sci-fi at its best.
07:30Arnold Schwarzenegger's performance may be iconic, but that shouldn't take away from the blood, sweat, and tears that Stan Winston put into the special effects.
07:38Despite having little money and even less time, Winston's creations in the movie turned out flawlessly.
07:44Well, most of them.
07:45After the Terminator sustains heavy damage, he performs surgery on his face, exposing his metallic interior and laser eye.
07:53The puppet of Arnie's face took six months to construct, and yet it looks slightly more convincing than a melted mannequin by today's standards.
08:00But that's not all.
08:01Director James Cameron worried that using stop-motion for the T-800 would be unconvincing.
08:06Sadly, he was spot-on.
08:08When the endoskeleton is a puppet, it looks brilliant.
08:11But when it switches to the janky stop-motion model, you can tell the Terminator isn't really there.
08:16Even though these visuals looked astounding in the 1980s, the superior special effects in Terminator 2 utterly put them to shame.
08:23Although people debate which movie is superior, there is no question that the sequel is superior when it comes to visuals.
08:303. Final Fantasy The Spirits Within
08:34Final Fantasy The Spirits Within was a massive deal upon its release, since it was the first CGI film with photorealistic characters.
08:42It took so long to make the visuals look right, the development team had to redo the earliest visuals again to ensure they were on par with the latest rendered shots.
08:50After all the animation was completed, the footage was fed to a separate render farm, where the textures were sharpened further.
08:56It may have been an exhausting process, but it was worth it in the end, since the visuals in The Spirits Within were considered indistinguishable from real life.
09:04People got so hyped by the movie's animation, there were rumours that digital performers could become commonplace in cinema.
09:11There was also speculation that the Spirits Within protagonist Aki could appear in other movies alongside real actors.
09:17But if you put the photorealistic characters beside actual people, it's clear the special effects aren't as seamless as they first appeared.
09:24This is demonstrated on the DVD bonus feature when Aki interacts with the film crew.
09:29The visuals on the characters' facial expressions are excellent, but it's clear the technology had yet to perfect certain features such as eyes, teeth and hair, making most characters look soulless and creepy.
09:402. The Lawnmower Man
09:43The Lawnmower Man was torn apart by pretty much everyone when it came out.
09:47It also didn't help that Stephen King sued the studio, forcing them to remove his name from the title.
09:52The trippy sci-fi flick was criticised for its wooden performances, slow pace and the done-to-death Frankenstein plot.
09:58But there was one element that the harshest disparager couldn't fault.
10:02The psychotropic visuals were truly awe-inspiring.
10:05Because the story centres around virtual technology that can enhance the human mind,
10:10the filmmakers injected the movie with as much psychedelic effects as they could.
10:14Even though the film was badly received, these kaleidoscopic images were regarded as mesmerising and dazzling.
10:19Critics from Empire magazine went so far as to call these computer-generated displays genuinely visionary.
10:26But the years have been unkind to The Lawnmower Man.
10:28When you look at the VR scenes now, you would think they were from a 1980s movie or a Sega Saturn game.
10:33Even though these variegated sequences were once perceived as The Lawnmower Man's only redeeming feature,
10:39they are now viewed as the film's most glaring flaw.
10:42Number 1. Star Wars The Original Trilogy Special Edition
10:47Do you know what the saddest thing is about the Star Wars Special Edition trilogy?
10:51Originally, it actually sounded like a great idea.
10:54Even though the visuals in George Lucas' work were light years ahead of every movie in its heyday,
10:59some special effects have aged very badly.
11:01So when Lucas announced he would re-release the Star Wars movies with refined effects,
11:06added CGI, unseen footage, and newly recorded dialogue, fans were over the moon.
11:11And when you first watched the Special Edition versions, it was nice to see fully rendered CG characters
11:16rather than an amateur-looking puppet or a crummy animatronic.
11:19But when you look at these sequences now, the computer-generated imagery feels forced and jarring.
11:24What's most infuriating is how the majority of these effects are utterly redundant.
11:29Why was there a music number in Return of the Jedi?
11:31Did we need to see a Stormtrooper ride a dewback?
11:33And why did Lucas feel obligated to insert more rocks in the scene where R2-D2 hides from Jawas?
11:39The only good thing that came about this experiment is that movies should be left untouched,
11:43even if they seem outdated.
11:45And that concludes our list.
11:47If you can think of any that we missed, then do let us know in the comments below.
11:50And while you're there, don't forget to like and subscribe and tap that notification bell.
11:54Also, head over to Twitter and follow us there at WhatCulture.
11:57And I can be found across various social medias just by searching Ellie Littlechild.
12:01I've been Ellie with WhatCulture.
12:02I hope you have a magical day and I'll see you real soon.
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