Mad Max and Terminator: Genisys – CGI vs. Live Action

By Connor Bethel

            Computer Generated Imagery (CGI) has come a long way since its beginnings in the late 80s and early 90s. Originally used for small elements in throwaway B movies, CGI use has increased in such a fast manner that even movies that do not take place on some alien planet in the future have used CGI. Remember The Wolf of Wall Street? Did you catch the numerous CGI backgrounds Scorsese utilized in his stock market epic? While CGI has only gotten better over the years, there are still some fundamental rules that many filmmakers (even well established and respected ones) do not follow. The primary one is this: live action film-making still looks better than even the best CGI.

“twows14” by arrant_artifact is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

The two movies that ultimately set the stage for the influx of CG are ironically films that boast even more impressive live action effects. Terminator 2 and Jurassic Park set the stage by showing audiences the wonders of worlds, creatures, and machines that were impossible to create without the help of advanced computers (for the time). The key aspect of both of these movies is the fact that they are both over twenty years old (24 for Terminator, 22 for Jurassic Park) and both of them have aged gracefully. Jurassic Park’s rerelease in 2013 showed the special effects were on par if not better than most of the special effects-heavy movies released in the last few years. Terminator 2’s effects look significantly better than the effects featured in Terminator Genisys, the fifth film in the franchise. The reason why? Both of those films, while featuring state of the art computer technology, relied heavily on practical effects. Most of the dinosaurs in Jurassic Park were models created by special effects artist and legend Stan Winston. The Terminator make-up prosthetics and models of the T-800 and T1000 were also created by Winston. See a running theme here?

The best recent example of this is Mad Max: Fury Road, the reboot of the 1980s Australian film series originally starring Mel Gibson. The main difference between the Mad Max reboot and the Terminator reboot is that Mad Max used mostly practical effects, while Terminator relied heavily on CGI created machines and set pieces. All the cars in Fury Road were custom built to serve a specific function within the film, whether that was holding war boys, or providing a stage for the scene-stealing guitar-wielding maniac chasing after Tom Hardy’s Max and Charlize Theron’s Furiosa. While Genisys is credited as using animatronics, the majority of the effects for the Terminators were clearly done in post production on a computer. The result: Mad Max: Fury Road is one of the best reviewed films of the summer and one of the most visually memorable films released in recent years; Terminator Genisys, on the other hand, received lackluster reviews and features mostly forgettable action scenes.

“Fury Road” by Craig Duffy is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0

The list of this trend continues. John Carpenter’s The Thing still scares audiences to this day. The Thing remake of 2011 features CGI alien monsters that look incredibly fake. The Lord of the Rings trilogy has aged gracefully over the times due to its brilliant mix of CGI, practical effects, and camera trickery. The Hobbit trilogy was an eyesore of CGI blandness draining any fun and cleverness out of Middle Earth. Practical effects require months of planning and rehearsing. CGI, while an art in and of itself, can be a quick way out for a lazy or rushed production. The reason many of these CG filled films look so forgettable is there is no sense of weight. The environment or the characters can feel flat and lifeless, simply part of a fake background.

Conversely, there are numerous examples of excellent CGI. The CGI in The Lord of the Rings is phenomenal, with the CG created Gollum being one of the most praised features of the both the latter two Lord of the Rings and first Hobbit movie. Rise of the Planet of the Apes and its sequel both feature incredibly expressive and realistic CG created apes. Both of those franchises feature king of motion capture performance Andy Serkis and both of his performances in these films were seen as being some of the best of the year, worthy of an Oscar nomination. It is still worth remembering that the special effects house behind both of these franchises, as well as Peter Jackson’s King Kong remake among other things, is WETA in New Zealand. What is unique about WETA though is they do have a foot in the live action department as well as the computer part. They do make real props, costumes, and puppets as well as models of creatures they’ve created and scanned.

“IMG_5162” by Robert is licensed under CC BY 2.0

The point to take away here is the fact that no matter how good CGI is, how much money is put into it, or how talented the visual effects artists are, there needs to be a practical element to the effect or the audience will not believe. Mad Max: Fury Road is the best example of this practice as each car has a distinct look, a weight to them, and presence that would not be the same without something real being a part of it. Hopefully, more filmmakers will follow George Miller’s example and embrace practical effects as much they embrace CGI.

Follow us on Twitter @AberrantLit