Ranking Every De-aging Movie Effect Ever

As has become evident over the past few years of this de-aging tech growing increasingly popular in its use, a huge variable in the effectiveness of the technology is how a filmmaker decides to use it. Much like anything else in filmmaking, it is a tool that can be used or misused.

So in the hands of Brett Ratner, it's probably not going to work too well. But in the hands of an auteur like Denis Villeneuve? That's a different story.

In the midst of Blade Runner 2049's most emotionally charged sequence, wherein Niander Wallace is trying to break Rick Deckard's mind, Wallace introduces a new challenge. From the shadows emerges Sean Young's Rachael, Deckard's love interest from the original film, looking precisely as she did in that film.

Villeneuve and cinematographer Roger Deakins brilliantly build up the reveal, at first just framing her silhouette against revolving lighting in the room before allowing her to emerge fully. The other strength of this effect is its brevity. She spends so few shots in the movie that there was considerably less effects-work to be done to render her as a photorealistic character.

Also, Ford's performance is what positively sells this moment. His distress and anguish is palpable and it makes the effect all the stronger.