8 Recent Movies That Grossly Over-Estimated What Their CGI Could Do
8. TRON: Legacy
The first TRON had effects that place it inescapably in the early eighties, but sticks close to its key concept it doesnt mar viewings thirty years on. Set in computers of the time, obviously everything would be in stark colours and built out of vector graphics; its a sound internal logic. This can on a first look be applied to the belated sequel, TRON: Legacy, which likewise has much of the action set in a computer realm. The vehicle design is an updated version of the first films and everything feels it's on the same plane of realism. The problem is Clu. A digital clone of a young Jeff Bridges, he never once looks real and for some of the movie you suspect that could be the point; hes a computerised version, not the actor himself. That logic falters a bit when all other inhabitants of this digitised realm all look realistically human, but, hey, might as well go with it. Except we see young, non-evil computer Jeff Bridges a few times and he looks equally unrealistic. So its just incredibly flat de-aging animation; great.. Suddenly the other effects simplicity doesnt seem as purposeful.
