These FX don't hold up.
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00:00 When you see some next level special effects, it can be a magical moment.
00:04 So when you rewatch these scenes, you expect to have that same wonder ignited within you.
00:08 But this isn't always the case.
00:10 When you give some classic films another go, you'll notice the visuals aren't as great
00:14 as you remember.
00:15 At one point, these moments were impressive, even jaw-dropping.
00:18 But it's time to take off the rose-tinted glasses and see these eyesores for what they
00:22 really are.
00:23 So with that in mind then, I'm Ellie with What Culture here with 10 groundbreaking
00:27 movie special effects that aged terribly.
00:31 10.
00:32 Poltergeist
00:33 Poltergeist has so many mind-blowing special effects, it's baffling how it didn't win
00:38 any Oscars, although it did lose out to E.T.
00:41 But after 40 years, you'd assume a lot of these visuals would be pretty ropey nowadays.
00:45 Amazingly, most of these optical tricks still look top-notch.
00:49 The way the house collapses into itself is one of the coolest visuals of the 1980s.
00:54 The elongated corridor sequence is just as mesmerising now as it was when Poltergeist
00:58 was released.
00:59 But there's one scene that has aged worse than Mickey Rourke.
01:03 When the parents open their children's bedroom door, they see all sorts of paraphernalia
01:07 spinning throughout the room.
01:09 As they gaze in horror, records twirl around, books fly towards them, and a lightbulb places
01:14 itself into a lamp by itself.
01:16 Although this scene should be scary, it feels like it was only put together to show off
01:20 these gimmicky visuals.
01:21 Not only that, the camera lingers on every shot, making the stop motion and green screen
01:26 painfully obvious.
01:27 Because this scene doesn't add anything to the story, it feels self-serving.
01:30 Also, did we really need to see a floating Hulk action figure riding a toy horse?
01:36 9.
01:37 Total Recall
01:38 The CGI in Terminator 2 was so awesome, people forget Arnold Schwarzenegger starred in another
01:44 film that pushed the boundaries of special effects the previous year.
01:47 Total Recall.
01:48 The poor Verhoeven sci-fi thriller has some of the best animatronics ever put to screen.
01:53 The X-ray sequence looks stunning, even though computer effects were in their infancy at
01:58 the time.
01:59 Ironically, what was once regarded as Total Recall's best visual effect is now perceived
02:03 as the worst one.
02:04 In one scene, double agent Quaid attempts to sneak through the immigration office on
02:08 Mars by disguising himself in a hyper-realistic woman's costume.
02:11 When the outfit malfunctions, the woman's head splits open, revealing Quaid.
02:16 Well, it's supposed to be Quaid.
02:17 In reality, it's an unconvincing dummy head of Arnie.
02:20 Upon watching this scene for the first time, most people don't realise how fake this
02:24 puppet looks because they're distracted by the woman's head disconnecting, which
02:27 still looks amazing.
02:28 But when you clock Arnie's papier-mâché-looking noggin, it ruins this iconic scene.
02:33 His eyes aren't even symmetrical.
02:35 Also, why did this shot need a dummy head?
02:37 Surely the real Arnold could have been behind the animatronic or something.
02:41 8.
02:42 The Matrix Reloaded
02:44 The hype for The Matrix Reloaded was so overwhelming, there was no way the Wachowski sequel could
02:49 live up to the expectations.
02:51 And it didn't.
02:52 The expository dialogue was repetitive, the performances were flat, the pacing was all
02:56 over the place, and the ending was anticlimactic.
02:59 But there was one element that received universal praise - the visuals.
03:03 Even though the bullet-time technique popularised by The Matrix was groundbreaking, many believed
03:07 the CGI in Reloaded was just as good, if not better.
03:11 The harshest critics couldn't fault the VFX, especially during the burly brawl where
03:15 Neo faces off against 100 Agent Smiths.
03:18 However, the overuse of CGI is blatant if you rewatch the iconic fight now.
03:23 While Neo batters the snarling Agents, there's many shots where every character is obviously
03:28 computer generated.
03:29 What's more annoying is that this problem could have been remedied if the scene didn't
03:32 contain slow motion.
03:34 By slowing down the action, Neo's rubbery texture and Smith's copy and paste faces
03:38 are more flagrant.
03:39 The choreography looks fantastic, but the fight starts resembling a cartoon once the
03:43 actors are swapped out for their digital doppelgangers.
03:46 7.
03:47 Tron Legacy
03:49 Tron Legacy failed to win critics over, nor did it make a splash at the box office.
03:54 However, the long-awaited sequel was commended for its kaleidoscopic visuals, especially
03:59 during the light cycle chases.
04:01 But in hindsight, some of the visuals aren't up to par.
04:03 The main villain, Clu, is a digital program designed to resemble Jeff Bridges' character
04:08 in his 30s.
04:09 Because Bridges was 61 during filming, the creative team utilised the same de-aging tech
04:14 used for Brad Pitt in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.
04:17 Sadly, Clu is rendered so badly, you swear the effects team did it on purpose.
04:21 Now, you could argue that the de-aging technology wasn't perfected yet.
04:25 However, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button has superior effects, despite coming out two
04:30 years earlier.
04:31 The difference is the production team behind Benjamin Button knew the technology's limitations,
04:35 and obscured the titular character when he was de-aged.
04:38 But Tron Legacy shows off Clu in all his glory, making no effort to hide how unfinished he
04:44 looked.
04:45 When you see the de-aging effects in films like Captain Marvel, Gemini Man, and Spider-Man
04:48 No Way Home, Clu is embarrassing by comparison.
04:52 6.
04:53 Spawn Even though CGI was considered to be potentially
04:57 gimmicky at first, everything changed in 1999.
05:01 After the release of The Matrix, The Phantom Menace, and The Mummy that year, moviegoers
05:04 finally understood this groundbreaking technology was here to stay.
05:09 However, people forget the superhero flick Spawn predates all those movies.
05:13 Released in 1997, Todd McFarlane's comic book adaptation was one of the first films
05:18 with fully computer-generated characters.
05:21 Although critics loathed it, the special effects were regarded as Spawn's only positive quality.
05:25 But when you watch it now, it seems inconceivable that anyone thought these visuals looked good.
05:30 And it's not just one specific visual.
05:32 All the CGI is terrible.
05:33 Spawn's billowing cape is so appallingly rendered, you wonder why the crew didn't
05:37 just make a real one.
05:38 Because the actors can't see the cape, they have no reference point while looking at Spawn,
05:42 making the visual even less believable.
05:44 But that's not all.
05:46 22 digital companies worked for 11 months to design the Hell Dimension, and yet it looks
05:51 like it was cobbled together in 5, maybe 6 minutes.
05:54 But the worst aspect of the film's VFX has to be Hell's ruler, Malabolgia.
05:59 This demon looks so incomplete because, well, he is.
06:02 The visual team ran out of time before fine-tuning Malabolgia's design, so they didn't get
06:07 a chance to make his mouth move when he talks.
06:10 5.
06:11 Hulk
06:12 Just because a special effect looks bad doesn't mean the visual artists didn't work their
06:16 ass off putting it together.
06:18 And few films exemplify this fact better than Ang Lee's Hulk.
06:22 This film was in development hell for 12 years, since the studio had to wait until they believed
06:27 CGI had advanced enough to bring the Mean Green Machine to life.
06:31 During production, 180 technicians worked round the clock for 18 months to ensure the
06:36 Hulk looked like a real creature, rather than a computer-generated image.
06:41 Because 2.5 million hours went into creating the Jade Giant's movements, hair, muscles,
06:46 and facial expressions, you'd expect the final product to be out of this world.
06:50 Although the Hulk was impressive in 2003, the emerald-skinned monster pales when he's
06:55 compared to his MCU counterpart.
06:58 In the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the Hulk was brought to life with motion capture, making
07:02 his movements far more realistic, especially in his face.
07:05 But since the Hulk in this movie is a pure CGI creation, it moves unnaturally, even cartoonishly
07:11 most of the time.
07:12 Although most of the visuals have aged terribly - don't get me started on that mutant dog
07:17 - the titular hero definitely looks the worst.
07:20 4.
07:21 The Terminator
07:23 With the Terminator's exemplary visuals, gritty action, and beautiful score, no one
07:27 can contest this film is sci-fi at its best.
07:30 Arnold Schwarzenegger's performance may be iconic, but that shouldn't take away from
07:34 the blood, sweat, and tears that Stan Winston put into the special effects.
07:38 Despite having little money and even less time, Winston's creations in the movie turned
07:43 out flawlessly.
07:44 Well, most of them.
07:45 After the Terminator sustains heavy damage, he performs surgery on his face, exposing his
07:50 metallic interior and laser eye.
07:53 The puppet of Arnie's face took six months to construct, and yet it looks slightly more
07:57 convincing than a melted mannequin by today's standards.
08:00 But that's not all.
08:01 Director James Cameron worried that using stop-motion for the T-800 would be unconvincing.
08:06 Sadly, he was spot on.
08:08 When the endoskeleton is a puppet, it looks brilliant, but when it switches to the janky
08:12 stop-motion model, you can tell the Terminator isn't really there.
08:16 Even though these visuals looked astounding in the 1980s, the superior special effects
08:20 in Terminator 2 utterly put them to shame.
08:23 Although people debate which movie is superior, there is no question that the sequel is superior
08:28 when it comes to visuals.
08:31 3.
08:32 Final Fantasy The Spirits Within
08:35 Final Fantasy The Spirits Within was a massive deal upon its release, since it was the first
08:39 CGI film with photorealistic characters.
08:42 It took so long to make the visuals look right, the development team had to redo the earliest
08:47 visuals again to ensure they were on par with the latest rendered shots.
08:51 After all the animation was completed, the footage was fed to a separate render farm,
08:55 where the textures were sharpened further.
08:57 It may have been an exhausting process, but it was worth it in the end, since the visuals
09:01 in The Spirits Within were considered indistinguishable from real life.
09:05 People got so hyped by the movie's animation, there were rumours that digital performers
09:09 could become commonplace in cinema.
09:11 There was also speculation that the spirits within protagonist Aki could appear in other
09:15 movies alongside real actors.
09:17 But if you put the photorealistic characters beside actual people, it's clear the special
09:22 effects aren't as seamless as they first appeared.
09:24 This is demonstrated on the DVD bonus feature when Aki interacts with the film crew.
09:29 The visuals on the characters' facial expressions are excellent, but it's clear the technology
09:33 had yet to perfect certain features such as eyes, teeth and hair, making most characters
09:38 look soulless and creepy.
09:40 2.
09:41 The Lawnmower Man
09:43 The Lawnmower Man was torn apart by pretty much everyone when it came out.
09:47 It also didn't help that Stephen King sued the studio, forcing them to remove his name
09:51 from the title.
09:52 The trippy sci-fi flick was criticised for its wooden performances, slow pace and the
09:56 done-to-death Frankenstein plot.
09:58 But there was one element that the harshest disparager couldn't fault.
10:02 The psychotropic visuals were truly awe-inspiring.
10:06 Because the story centres around virtual technology that can enhance the human mind, the film
10:10 makers injected the movie with as much psychedelic effects as they could.
10:14 Even though the film was badly received, these kaleidoscopic images were regarded as mesmerising
10:18 and dazzling.
10:19 Critics from Empire magazine went so far as to call these computer-generated displays
10:24 genuinely visionary.
10:26 But the years have been unkind to The Lawnmower Man.
10:28 When you look at the VR scenes now, you would think they were from a 1980s movie or a Sega
10:33 Saturn game.
10:34 Even though these variegated sequences were once perceived as The Lawnmower Man's only
10:38 redeeming feature, they are now viewed as the film's most glaring flaw.
10:42 1.
10:44 Star Wars The Original Trilogy - Special Edition
10:47 Do you know what the saddest thing is about the Star Wars Special Edition trilogy?
10:51 Originally, it actually sounded like a great idea.
10:54 Even though the visuals in George Lucas' work were light years ahead of every movie
10:58 in its heyday, some special effects have aged very badly.
11:01 So when Lucas announced he would re-release the Star Wars movies with refined effects,
11:06 extended CGI, unseen footage, and newly recorded dialogue, fans were over the moon.
11:11 And when you first watched the Special Edition versions, it was nice to see fully rendered
11:15 CG characters rather than an amateur-looking puppet or a crummy animatronic.
11:19 But when you look at these sequences now, the computer-generated imagery feels forced
11:23 and jarring.
11:24 What's most infuriating is how the majority of these effects are utterly redundant.
11:29 Why was there a music number in Return of the Jedi?
11:31 Did we need to see a stormtrooper ride a dewback?
11:33 And why did Lucas feel obligated to insert more rocks in the scene where R2-D2 hides
11:38 from Jawa's?
11:39 The only good thing that came about this experiment is that movies should be left untouched, even
11:44 if they seem outdated.
11:45 And that concludes our list.
11:47 If you can think of any that we missed, then do let us know in the comments below.
11:50 And while you're there, don't forget to like and subscribe and tap that notification
11:53 bell.
11:54 Also, head over to Twitter and follow us there @WhatCulture.
11:57 And I can be found across various social medias just by searching Ellie Littlechild.
12:00 I've been Ellie with WhatCulture.
12:02 I hope you have a magical day and I'll see you real soon.
12:05 (upbeat music)