Though technology is advancing at a pace that waits for no man, cinemagoers have lately been grappling with a strange phenomenon in the form of lackluster computer-generated imagery, as if the very VFX industry is experiencing a de-evolution of sorts and growing less immersive every year.
You may have noticed it in a lot of different films, too, but the MCU offers us the biggest case study at the moment. The last few Marvel Studios projects — Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Thor: Love and Thunder, and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania — have all come under fire for their terrible CGI, not to mention the numerous television outings on Disney Plus, which also suffered from the same unappealing fate.
The insipid state of Marvel’s VFX work is so overbearingly conspicuous that even the artists themselves have had to address it on occasion, with some going so far as to accuse Kevin Feige and the other execs of overworking and bludgeoning them into impossible deadlines.
With so many projects in cue, we don’t really blame the producers for some inevitable quality dips along the way, but at the same time, we can’t help but wonder if the powers that be realize the kind of legacy they’re leaving behind, both for the MCU and cinema at large. You might think this issue is exclusive to the MCU, but when you look at the parent company’s larger body of work, you begin to realize that the VFX problem isn’t just plaguing the superhero genre, but even another story set in a galaxy far, far away.
During the recent Star Wars Celebration 2023 in London, Lucasfilm unveiled numerous teaser clips for upcoming Star Wars projects. One of them, depicting Ahsoka, even got an official online release, and immediately garnered controversy for its wonky lightsaber effects.
People were quick to point out that Ahsoka is suffering from the same technical mistake that afflicted Obi-Wan Kenobi as well, in that the lightsabers don’t actually cut through everything they touch the way they’re supposed to. The Mouse House’s “elegant weapons for a more civilized age” tend to bounce off of objects they hit, whether it be the cold hard ground or the armor of a Stormtrooper on guard.
When a younger Obi-Wan and Anakin were sparring in the Jedi Temple, their blue lightsabers hit the columns and the ground constantly, but instead of leaving a molten shape in their wake, they’d just elicit a few sparks as with a welding machine.
Then there was that scene of Obi-Wan rescuing Leia from Fortress Inquisitorius, where he casually struck at a Stormtrooper with his lightsaber from the side. Instead of cutting him in half, though, the lightsaber hit the white armor like a stick and dropped him.
It’s not just the fact that Disney is getting its lightsaber lore wrong. The VFX simply don’t hold up, especially when compared to the movies. That’s also true of The Mandalorian, wherein blaster shots don’t seem to really register on a person’s body or armor.
In this age of content diversity, streaming platforms are in fierce competition to churn out enticing works of entertainment on a regular basis. A company like Disney, despite its vast resources, will ultimately end up being stretched too thin with all the franchises it juggles at the same time.
And of course, there’s only so much the VFX industry can do to keep up with the demands of more than a hundred different works that are in production at any given time. What’s becoming increasingly apparent is the fact that CG artists are living through a nightmare of rough sketches, unfinished edits, and cruel deadlines, all resulting in movies that more often than not seem to lack that extra polish, that little bit of detail, which makes them believable and immersive.
We wouldn’t be exaggerating if we said that many genre films — even dating back two decades — used to have better CGI. When revisiting older works, it’s no longer a matter of them holding up to modern standards, but actually superseding them in a lot of instances.
To think that what George Lucas did with the prequel trilogy almost two decades ago trumps what Disney can come up with now — at least so far as CG imagery is concerned — puts things into a disconcerting perspective. But perhaps this is where we start to course-correct, by speaking about it and bringing it to light. The MCU fandom has already done this to a large extent, so now it’s time for the Star Wars community to take a stand as well, lest we end up with rubber lightsabers and even more subpar set pieces a few years down the line.