NOT ALL THERE

NOT ALL THERE:

How CGI leaves movies feeling flat

By: Lee Rice

New advances in technology have always made tasks easier for people. However, the major problem with those same advances is that they have the potential to make people lazy. CGI, the new and much loved tool of the Great Hollywood Movie Machine, is no different.

When it was first created, CGI was an exciting new tool for filmmakers. It allowed directors to create effects and environments that might have proved impossible with practical effects. Examples abound, from the ‘water-tentacle’ sequence in "The Abyss," to the unforgettable ‘T-1000’ in James Cameron’s "T-2: Judgment Day."

Who can’t remember seeing those movies for the first time and marveling at the realism of those effects? Impressed by what had been achieved, it was easy to assume that films were going to experience a renaissance, full of filmmakers being given the unprecedented ability to create unforgettable images that were limited only by the scope of human imagination.

For a time, that assumption seemed right. Stephen Spielberg wowed us with "Jurassic Park", and "What Dreams May Come" brought the beauty of impressionist paintings to searing, vivid life. We saw things that nobody had ever seen before with a clarity and realism that no one could have imagined even 10 years before.

Then, things began to change.

The first truly notable offender is none other than George Lucas, a man who single handedly revived the almost completely defunct sci-fi genre, only to put a bullet in its head with his 1999 stinker, "Star Wars: The Phantom Menace."

Fans had waited years for Episodes I-III, hoping to learn what could have driven a promising young Jedi to become one of the most memorable screen villains of all time. What they learned instead was that too much of a good thing can be absolutely deadly.

For those of you who have been hiding under a rock for the last 10 years, a brief recap: Two Jedi meet on a CGI space station, filled with a CGI droid army that they need to negotiate with to save the CGI planet below. The CGI droids betray them and they wind up on the CGI planet’s surface, where saving an annoying CGI creature leads them to an entire CGI city of annoying CGI creatures that give them a CGI submersible so they can get to the CGI city to save the queen. They eventually wind up back where they started, trying to infiltrate a CGI palace while the CGI droids battle the annoying CGI creatures on a CGI plain and the Jedi fight an awesome bad guy in a CGI power plant. Above them, an annoying 8-year-old kid that will grow into an annoying young man that will grow into an annoying version of Darth Vader pilots a CGI ship to blow up other CGI ships in CGI space.

The film was aptly titled, seeing as how pretty much everything but the actors was just that- a phantom. CGI effects are great, and when used properly can enhance a production. Sadly, they don’t have the same weight and substance as animatronics, or even scale models have.

Realism aside, CGI seems to be making filmmakers increasingly lazy. The recent "Indiana Jones: Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" stands as a monument to that fact. Another George Lucas venture, this entry is still entertaining but stands apart from its predecessors in one important respect. Whereas all the previous films took place on location or at least in an actual set, the majority of the second half sees Indiana duking it out in front of a green screen as Lucas pumps in the CGI cheese. One of the things that made the originals so brilliant is that you had the sense that the characters were really there seeing things that nobody had witnessed for hundreds, even thousands of years.

Don’t get me wrong, CGI has its place in filmmaking. One of the best examples of CGI usage in a film has got to be the "Jurassic Park" series. Spielberg used a brilliant blend of real life locations, animatronics, and CGI to create what is still one of the most believable movies people have ever seen. This, I mostly attribute to the fact that all of those elements intertwined, creating a near-perfect illusion of reality. Even the sequels do a reasonably good job of keeping those elements together. There is real artistry to be had in the creation of computer effects, especially on such a massive scale.

CGI is an enhancer. It should be used to bring the impossible to life, like in "The Matrix," "Iron Man," or any number of other films with the good sense to keep it down to a reasonable level.

The key is simple: Everything in moderation.

I’m looking at you Mr. Lucas.