OVP: Best Visual Effects (2003)
The Nominees Were...
Jim Rygiel, Joe Letteri, Randall William Cook, & Alex Funke, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
Dan Sudick, Stefen Fangmeier, Nathan McGuinness, & Robert Stromberg, Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World
John Knoll, Hal Hickel, Charles Gibson, & Terry Frazee, Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
My Thoughts: Like I said earlier this week, the Best Makeup & Visual Effects were the same lineup of films in 2003. In the years before this category was five-wide for both fields, only the top contenders would rise above, and that was the case particularly for Best Visual Effects. It's hard to believe now when a different blockbuster opens virtually every week, but there was a time when effects-driven films were not commonplace, and indeed you could pretty much pick out the films that would be nominated a year-in-advance. This was the case to some degree for 2003, and certainly the case for our first film, which basically had already had their name plastered on the award two years prior.
The Return of the King, as I mentioned on Monday, is a bit of a challenge to judge when it comes to its effects. The film is building off of the gigantic effects work that dominated the first two pictures, both the immersive world-building of Fellowship and the signature achievement of the series, Gollum, in The Two Towers. But even if you subtract those pictures, it's hard not to point out the ways that Return of the King continued to exceed expectations. The marching elephants are fantastic, combining the fantastic & real world into an epic battle moment, and the Army of the Dead are a groundbreaking moment in CGI, combining real actors with an ethereal green light to make them feel like wisps of former men. Add in the entire sequence with the eye and the melting ring in Mordor (and Gollum's lifelike features just getting better & better), and you have a gimme nomination that feels well-deserved.
Pirates of the Caribbean feels like a default nomination in retrospect (it would be nominated for two of its sequels), but I cannot underscore what a big risk this felt like in 2003, coming off of The Country Bears and Cutthroat Island. One of the primary reasons that the film works is that while it occasionally has some camp/cheese with other aspects of the production, the visual effects themselves are taken very seriously. The work to make Geoffrey Rush part of another army of the dead (albeit totally visually unique) is glorious, and a great graphic. The rest of the film has some wonderfully-immersive crowd shots & action sequences, but it's the recurring theme of Rush & his crew as half-dead creations that really sells this picture.
The final nomination is also trading in realism, albeit in a less fantastical way. Master and Commander is beautiful, and filled with a strong combination of both CGI and practical effects. The film takes place both at sea (in reality), on a gigantic watery soundstage, and then in an immersive CGI world, but you'd never be able to tell. This is the sort of nomination that doesn't really happen anymore (or certainly happens less), which is a pity as it's classy, layered visual effects work-not all that showy, but totally story-aiding and beautifully-done.
Other Precursor Contenders: The Visual Effects Society splits its nominations between effects-driven films (the ones that generally get nominated at the Oscars) and the ones with supporting effects (which only rarely get cited with AMPAS, but are usually a more interesting lineup). The Special Effects film nomination went with Pirates of the Caribbean over Return of the King, while the non-effects driven trophy went to The Last Samurai over Bad Boys II and Master and Commander. BAFTA was five-wide far before Oscar, so they gave their trophy to Return of the King against Big Fish, Kill Bill Volume 1, Master and Commander, and Pirates of the Caribbean. VFX was still doing their shortlists in 2003, so we have some idea of who was in fourth place here: Peter Pan, The Hulk, Terminator 3: The Rise of the Machines, and X2: X-Men United were the contenders. This is a weird list because none of these films were cited in any other Oscar categories...my gut says it might have been Terminator 3, just because the second one won the category, but X2 was a big deal at the time so I'm not totally against this prospect.
Films I Would Have Nominated: In a three-wide race, this is honestly a great list. I think I would've let sentiment (and the more story-driven effects) get Peter Pan into this lineup, as it's one of my favorite movies & I do like the childlike wonder of the story, but this is not a list that Oscar should hang its head on.
Oscar’s Choice: Despite that Visual Effects Society loss, it seems improbable that the category that was the biggest risk for Return of the King's sweep was Visual Effects. An easy win.
My Choice: Yeah, I can't deny it either-Return of the King is a solid victory even against worthy competitors. I'll go with Pirates second and Master third.
And those are my thoughts-what are yours? Does anyone want to rock the boat here by picking well, the films that take place on a boat, or is everyone onboard with Return of the King? Why do you think it took so long for Oscar to expand this category five-wide? And who was in fourth place in a strange batch of also-rans from the bakeoff? Share below!
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