It's a bad idea to spare expense on CGI! Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re counting down our picks for the most notable movie scenes that could have been awesome had it not been for the horrible CGI.
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00:00I promised you a demonstration.
00:02Now you will see the true power of Icarus.
00:06Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the most notable movie scenes that could have been awesome had it not been for the horrible CGI.
00:14Let me save you! Let me save you!
00:21Number 20. The Car Jump. Gone in 60 seconds.
00:25Get out of the car, man!
00:31Brains!
00:32Here's a tip for future filmmakers. If you're going to make a cool car movie, please use real cars.
00:37CGI car stunts never have been and never will be exciting.
00:41Take the awesome jump from Gone in 60 Seconds, which sees Nicolas Cage driving off a ramp and jumping numerous vehicles.
00:47This could have been a really cool Evil Knievel type stunt, but it's totally ruined by a weightless CG car that just kind of floats over the other vehicles.
00:55It's even worse because the beginning and ending of the stunt are practical, which allows the floating CG car to stand out like a sore thumb.
01:02I just stole 50 cars for you in one night.
01:05Alright, I'm a little tired, a little wired, and I think I deserve a little appreciation.
01:11Number 19. The Terminator Fight. Terminator Genisys.
01:17I've been waiting for you.
01:20We can't believe how badly the makers of Terminator Genisys messed this up.
01:24The concept of the Terminator fighting his past self in the first movie is infinitely cool.
01:29Too bad it's ruined by some of the worst CG work in recent memory.
01:32We understand that having Arnold Schwarzenegger fight a younger version of himself would be incredibly difficult to pull off.
01:38But come on, this is just laughable.
01:41The younger T-800 looks awful, with his textures appearing way too smooth and waxy.
01:46Points for the ambition, but ambition only gets you so far.
01:54Number 18. Young Jeff Bridges. Tron Legacy.
02:03Who are you?
02:09De-aging effects are still very iffy, never mind back in 2010 when the concept was still in its infancy.
02:15Jeff Bridges plays both Kevin Flynn and Clu, requiring the use of significant de-aging effects and placing his face on another person's body.
02:23The results were about as artificial as Tron itself.
02:26Young Bridges would have fit right at home in a video game, and absolutely no one would have complained.
02:31But as this was supposed to look real, as he was sharing the screen with real actors, he came across as way too digital.
02:37His face never looked quite right with the floaty head effect being perpetually distracting.
02:42Loved the concept, hated the execution.
02:45I'm not your father, Sam.
02:49But I'm very, very happy to see you.
02:54Number 17. Hell. Spawn.
02:57If you won't lead my army, then you must die.
03:06Going to Hell is always fun. Uh, in movies.
03:09It allows the filmmakers incredible creativity, and we love seeing what their imaginations conjure.
03:14But we hated this.
03:17In the climax of Spawn, both the titular hero and Coleostro are sent to Hell, where they confront the giant demon, Malabolgia.
03:24Neither the demon nor Hell itself looks particularly good.
03:28The visual effects are very janky, and they never combine to create a convincing depiction of the underworld.
03:33Copy and pasted JPEG soldiers, floaty animation, bad textures, all are present and accounted for.
03:39Yes, this was 1997, so we can't be too harsh, but CG clearly wasn't there yet.
03:45Bring me Spawn's head!
03:50Number 16. The Final Battle. Justice League.
03:58No! This cannot... Hey, you recognize that smell?
04:05Fear.
04:06Let's be honest, this was a mess of a movie from beginning to end. Literally.
04:11It started with the infamous Henry Cavill mustache fiasco, and ended with perhaps the worst climatic battle in the history of superhero cinema.
04:18This really could have been a thing to behold, similar to what the prior two Avengers films had accomplished.
04:23But it looked no better than a B-movie you'd find on the SyFy channel.
04:27Character models are wonky and computerized, Steppenwolf looks like a video game monster, and the green screen work is just amateurish.
04:34Apparently, this was the result of a messy shooting schedule.
04:37This is your big movie, Warner Brothers. Give it the time and care that it deserves.
04:41With Zack Snyder at the helm.
04:44So your genius move is dying. You really are out of your mind.
04:48Number 15. All Green Lantern scenes. Green Lantern.
04:53Ah! Green!
04:57Wow. I know, right?
05:00It's amazing to think that Green Lantern came out in 2011, not 2001.
05:04With Ryan Reynolds and some fun sci-fi concepts, this movie could have been a winner.
05:09Instead, it's widely reviled as one of the worst superhero movies ever made.
05:13A large point of contention is the physical design of Green Lantern himself, who comes equipped with a digital suit and mask.
05:19Reynolds told Empire that they wanted to use the CG suit to reflect its alien and otherworldly origins.
05:25We get it, and it could have worked with a more careful approach.
05:28But the effects didn't turn out, and every single scene involving the superhero was an exercise in distraction.
05:33What is this? Why is your skin green? Why are you glowing?
05:37What the hell is with that mask?
05:39Number 14. The vampire sword fight. Blade II.
05:50Two ninja vampires break into Blade's compound and get into a brief sword fight with the deadly Daywalker.
05:56The fight looks awesome when done practically, but the problem comes when the vampires perform superhuman feats,
06:01like moving with great speed or jumping high into the air.
06:04Unfortunately, all the hard work of the stunt performers and choreographers is for naught,
06:09as the scene is now widely maligned for its poor CGI.
06:12The superhuman stunts look ridiculous and contrast very poorly when they're edited together with the real performers.
06:18Even Guillermo del Toro hates how this turned out and criticizes the scene's visual effects in the DVD commentary.
06:25Number 13. Jabba the Hutt. Star Wars Episode IV. A New Hope.
06:40How cool would it have been if Jabba the Hutt was seamlessly integrated into A New Hope?
06:45It would have been a great bit of fanservice, strengthening the trilogy's sense of continuity.
06:49A New Hope was going to feature a scene between Han and Jabba at the docking bay,
06:53but this was cut for time and budgetary reasons.
06:55George Lucas reinserted the scene from the 1997 special edition,
06:59using CGI to portray Jabba rather than a practical model as seen in return.
07:03The results were staggeringly bad, and the scene was widely criticized.
07:07This is one of the earliest examples of a talking CG character, and yeah, we can tell.
07:13Number 12. Ghost Rider's First Appearance. Ghost Rider.
07:35A man's head starts smoking, fire erupts from his skin and eyes, and he turns into a flaming skull.
07:41How awesome would that have looked with good CGI?
07:43Unfortunately, Ghost Rider does not have good CGI.
07:47The starting stages look decent enough.
07:49Nicolas Cage certainly sells it with his wild, cagey-in screams of agony,
07:53but the flaming skull does not work in the least, with poor textures and a wonky integration with the torso.
07:59The transformation is also constantly interrupted with stock fireball effects,
08:03supposedly done to avoid narrating.
08:05The result is a mess of a scene, a poorly edited disaster with C-grade special effects.
08:16Number 11. The Burly Brawl. The Matrix Reloaded.
08:24It's arguably one of the most ambitious fight scenes ever conceived.
08:28Neo, at full Neo God power, fights dozens of Agent Smiths,
08:32and a lot of cool superhuman things in the process.
08:35The scene was actually considered too ambitious at first,
08:38and the visual effects team thought it would be almost impossible to create.
08:41They eventually figured it out, using a virtual camera, entirely CG settings, and many digital characters.
08:47Millions of dollars and untold hours were pumped into this scene,
08:51which is a shame, because the results are more than questionable.
08:54The fight definitely works at first, but it eventually devolves into CG nonsense,
08:58complete with rubbery, digital characters who don't look remotely real.
09:08Number 10. The Claws. X-Men Origins Wolverine.
09:19The adamantium claws are a huge aspect of Wolverine's character.
09:23In fact, it's probably the most important one, so you have to get it right.
09:27Believe it or not, they looked way better in a movie that was released nearly 10 years earlier than they did in Origins.
09:32The story goes that the prop claws did not look right on camera,
09:36so the VFX team was forced to hastily throw together some CG claws.
09:40The results were widely derided and mocked, even by the most ardent X-Men fans.
09:45The worst example can be found in the infamous bathroom scene,
09:48with the claws looking like they were rendered from the Nintendo 64.
09:51You know, I'm not proud about the way things ended between us.
09:54Conversation's over.
09:56Number 9. The Corridor Chase. Alien 3.
10:07David Fincher wants nothing to do with Alien 3, and has since told The Guardian,
10:11no one hates it more than me.
10:13Its flaws are many, up to and including the janky visual effects.
10:17This is especially egregious coming on the heels of Aliens,
10:20which set a new benchmark for practical effects.
10:23Fincher made the Alien with a combination of CGI and puppetry,
10:26but the results paled in comparison to what came before.
10:29This is evident in the otherwise stellar Corridor Chase.
10:32The scene is effective, until the alien shows up when all tension is sucked away
10:36thanks to poor compositing and bad color correction.
10:39It has so obviously been superimposed into the live-action footage,
10:42and couldn't look more ridiculous.
10:51Number 8. The Plane Crash. Air Force One.
11:03How did Air Force One come out the same year as Titanic?
11:06James Cameron just can't stop showing them how it's done.
11:09While Titanic revolutionized the use of CGI,
11:11Air Force One contains one of the worst examples of its integration.
11:15In what should be a stellar and exciting sequence,
11:18the titular plane goes down and crashes into the ocean.
11:21Instead of a jaw-dropping crash, we're treated to a CGI mess that looks absurd
11:25and ruins any sense of drama the scene is trying to create.
11:28The model looks painfully flat, moving in a weightless, unrealistic manner,
11:32while sending fake bits of debris hurtling towards the camera.
11:35Nothing about it is convincing.
11:43Number 7. The Emergence of the Dante Beast.
11:47No!
11:52Not the whole thing.
11:59A bad guy named Dante drinks Dr. Jekyll's transformation serum,
12:03turning himself into the massive and frightening Dante Beast.
12:06The introduction of the monster is ripped straight from the horror movie playbook,
12:10complete with thundering booms and a human claw emerging from around the corner.
12:14And finally, the reveal itself, complete with a blood-curdling roar.
12:24Nemo, run!
12:28This is effective stuff and always has been.
12:31Unfortunately, the reveal is completely ruined by the subpar CGI.
12:35The monster's design is certainly creative,
12:37but the horrible texturing and lighting ruin any sense of fear that he might elicit in the viewer.
12:42If there's one thing he's eliciting, it's laughter.
12:51What is that thing?
12:53Needs me on a bad day.
12:57Number 6. T'Challa vs. Killmonger. Black Panther.
13:01What's up, princess?
13:03You'll never be a true king.
13:06T'Challa!
13:08T'Challa!
13:10Superhero movies need to end with a bang.
13:13While Black Panther did a lot of things right,
13:15its climactic battle was not one of them.
13:17With both donning fancy nanotech suits,
13:20T'Challa and Killmonger fight inside Wakanda's huge and seemingly endless Vibranium Mine.
13:25This would have made for a jaw-dropping spectacle if the visual effects had been adequately completed.
13:30As it is, it looks like a cutscene from a PS2 video game.
13:33There is little to recommend about this fight.
13:36Not the animation, not the lifelike visuals, and not the setting,
13:39which looks far too artificial to mine any sense of wonder.
13:42It's certainly one of the MCU's weaker efforts.
13:45You will destroy the world, Wakanda included.
13:47The world took everything away from me.
13:49Everything I ever loved.
13:51But I'm gonna make sure we're even.
13:52Number 5. The multiple cameos. The Flash.
13:56Up in the sky, it's a bird.
14:00It's Super Flash!
14:042023 was the year of terrible-looking superhero movies.
14:07The Flash was arguably the biggest offender,
14:09as some otherwise fun and creative scenes were ruined by appalling CGI.
14:13Like bringing a ton of dead actors back to life for some post-mortem cameos.
14:18A good idea in theory, and one that could have got the tears flowing if delicately and respectfully handled.
14:24Well, we saw how that went.
14:26Frankly, these are some of the worst-looking CGI humans we've ever seen.
14:30Poorly detailed, and inhumanly waxy.
14:33Like Madame Tussaud's figures brought to life.
14:35Ugh.
14:36We're clearly still not there in making digital counterparts of real people.
14:41Just look at what's happening.
14:44These worlds.
14:49Number 4. The tidal wave. Die Another Day.
14:52The western spy runs, but he cannot hide.
14:58And here we come to the scene that nearly killed James Bond.
15:01By the time Die Another Day rolled around,
15:03even the producers realized they had gone too far,
15:06and performed a hard reboot with Casino Royale.
15:08It's mostly thanks to nonsensical stuff like this.
15:11Bond, surfing on a giant tidal wave created by a melting glacier,
15:15after it was blasted by a satellite,
15:17is stretching the limits of credulity.
15:19But sure, we could have bought it.
15:21Bond isn't exactly known for its grounded realism.
15:24Unfortunately, the CGI is agonizing,
15:27with heinous texturing,
15:28and some of the worst green-screen work in a major blockbuster.
15:31We've seen made-for-TV movies that look better than this.
15:37It's a terrible thing.
15:39Number 3. The aliens.
15:41The aliens are the worst.
15:43It's a terrible thing.
15:49Belief, Dr. Jones, is a gift you have yet to receive.
15:54My sympathies.
15:56Oh, I believe, sister.
15:58That's why I'm down here.
16:00Aliens are Steven Spielberg's bread and butter.
16:02We don't know what went wrong here.
16:04The very concept of aliens in an Indiana Jones movie is divisive,
16:08with some thinking it was a welcome addition to the mythical saga,
16:11while others thought a hard sci-fi approach was inappropriate.
16:13Even the fans who welcomed the addition of extraterrestrials
16:16left disappointed after seeing how they turned out.
16:19What could have been an awe-inspiring scene among Spielberg's best
16:22was ruined by a derivative alien design,
16:24bad green-screen work,
16:26and the usual sin of throwing a bunch of swirling beams on the screen.
16:29It's kind of sad when the 30 years old or close encounters
16:32looks better than this.
16:37Number 2. The ending.
16:39I Am Legend.
16:51It doesn't matter if you're watching the theatrical ending or the director's cut.
16:54Both are impacted by poor CGI,
16:56and both have lessened emotional power because of it.
16:59The theatrical ending is quite fierce and antagonistic,
17:02with the vampires feeling rage and attempting to kill Neville.
17:05The director's cut is far more pensive and emotional,
17:08with the head vampire showing what appears to be fear
17:10and taking the test subject home.
17:12No matter what ending you watch,
17:14both are tarnished by the sloppy CGI work on the vampires.
17:17This is a problem throughout the entire film,
17:20but it becomes painfully noticeable once they are required to show emotion
17:23and humanistic tendencies.
17:39You have the option to be notified for occasional videos or all of them.
17:43If you're on your phone, make sure you go into your settings
17:46and switch on notifications.
17:49Number 1. The Scorpion King.
17:52The Mummy Returns.
18:00If it was done well,
18:02the climax involving the Scorpion King could have been
18:04one of the coolest sequences in movie history.
18:06As it is, it's one of the most widely derided.
18:09All the ingredients are there for a perfect introduction,
18:12from the dramatic door opening to the slow emergence
18:14of the giant scorpion from the shadows.
18:16Unfortunately, all drama and sense of wonder
18:19are instantly evaporated once we see
18:21the farcical CG face of Dwayne Johnson.
18:23As we've learned throughout this list,
18:25making CG human faces is unbelievably difficult,
18:28even now.
18:30Doing this in 2001 was magnificently ambitious,
18:32maybe naively so.
18:34So yes, it was a big swing,
18:36but unfortunately, also a historic miss.
18:49Did the bad CGI ruin these scenes for you?
18:51Or are they still awesome?
18:53Let us know in the comments below.
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