Real Steel – 2011
If I’m being honest about the visual effects for this movie, I have to say, I don’t think they were that great. First of all, it was like a knock-off version of the earlier nominee in the category, Transformers, except without the transforming. And there were a few inconsistencies in the visuals that stuck in my craw. For the most part, the photo-realism was really good, so I’ll give them credit for that, but other than that, I wasn’t too impressed.
First of all, I’ll get the good stuff out of the way. The design of the various robots in the film were interesting, in a gaudy WWF kind of way, which was appropriate for the plot. Among others, there was the Japanese Samurai robot, the Roman Centurion robot, the Two-headed robot, and the big baddie robot named Zeus, that strangely didn’t even try to have visual references to the King of the Greek Gods. And lest I forget, the non-flashy, low-tech-looking, scrappy underdog robot, Atom. Yes, they all looked and moved realistically. But it seems like that was the movie’s only real draw. It’s what we all came to see.
Aside from that, there wasn’t much else except for some nice shots that created virtual environments that blended small sets with CGI. But by this time, it is an effect that just about every movie uses. It is usually cheaper than building massive live sets. So, nothing new there, nothing new or impressive.
And then there was the effect that looked like it was done wrong, but only some of the time, or at the very least, the difference was never addressed or explained. During the training montage, when Charlie is shadow boxing Atom, the robot should have been following his exact movements, right? But the robot’s movements were opposite. Charlie would punch with a right, and Atom would throw a left. But then in the final fight of the film, it reversed so that they were in proper synch. I don’t know why, but that really bothered me. I think the reason they did it is because during the training montage, it looked more synchronized if the movements mirrored each other like an actual mirror. But it made no sense.
Another thing that bothered me was that the robot movements were not an exact match of the actors. Of course, they used some pretty simple motion-capture techniques to make the bots mimic the actors, but then, I’m guessing the actors had to re-film their scenes and try to mimic what they had previously done for the motion capture. But they didn’t always match exactly, and it was sometimes obvious. An arm would be in the wrong position, or a leg would be out of place. I’m sorry, but I noticed, and it temporarily ruined the illusion.
There just wasn’t a whole lot about the visual effects that stood out to me as above average. And aside from the CGI robots, which were done well, there just weren’t that many interesting effects. And besides, we’ve seen giant robots before, and Transformers did it better. And as a side note, as much as I was unimpressed with the special effects, I wasn’t impressed with the predictable script either. Snooze!