9. The Rat - The Departed
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=V3f9UJTmgd0#t=0s Granted, animal CGI is a lot easier to achieve than human-based effects, especially when a) its of a small animal whose face we dont see and b) the animal is a dark colour, but that does little to detract from this impressive, tickling little flourish placed at the end of Martin Scorseses crime masterpiece, The Departed. Given that the entire film is about so-called rats that is, snitches in both a crime organisation and the police force its telling that the films final shot has a rat scuttling along a window frame moments after Matt Damons Colin Sullivan has been blown to pieces by Mark Wahlberg. The simple assumption was that Scorsese had an animal trainer on set who let the rat out across the window sill at the correct moment, but alas, its some sly CGI, an impressive testament to how far weve come in just a few years, that small animals at a medium distance really look indistinguishable from the real thing.
Shaun Munro
Contributor
Frequently sleep-deprived film addict and video game obsessive who spends more time than is healthy in darkened London screening rooms. Follow his twitter on @ShaunMunroFilm or e-mail him at shaneo632 [at] gmail.com.
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