OVP: Best Visual Effects (2002)
The Nominees Were...
Jim Rygiel, Joe Letteri, Randall William Cook, & Alex Funke, The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
John Dykstra, Scott Stokdyk, Anthony LaMolinara, & John Frazier, Spider-Man
Rob Coleman, Pablo Helman, John Knoll, & Ben Snow, Star Wars: Attack of the Klones
My Thoughts: As I mentioned on Wednesday, the Oscars prior to the late 2010's used to mix it up quite frequently in terms of the number of nominations they'd have for each category, and in particular Best Makeup and Visual Effects were a hodgepodge. Makeup's exclusion I've always found weird (literally every film you see has makeup), but Visual Effects at least was somewhat new. After all, not every film had Visual Effects, and though it's hard to comprehend today when we live in a vast world of CGI to the point where every movie should go for Animated Feature, it used to be just a handful of blockbusters got nominated. So it's worth noting that 2002 represented only the second time (after 1999) where every one of these films was part of a franchise, something that would soon be pretty much a given.
The one film of the bunch that wasn't yet a franchise (though it would soon become a quintessential one) was Spider-Man. We've talked before about how Marvel has historically struggled to gain a footing in this category, but against this competition...it was just lucky to be nominated. The CGI ranges from the relatively impressive (some of the Spider-Man flying sequences have become mirrored in every film since for a reason), but other parts feel like it was made on the cheap (remember when Green Goblin eviscerates his corporate board and they turn into skeletons that look like they've been plucked out of a 1930's Betty Boop cartoon?). The CGI scenes feel like they were done to purposefully make you squint, mostly so you don't see how poor the work is.
I'm being overly critical because if you compare what's happening in Spider-Man with what Peter Jackson achieved in The Two Towers, they aren't even in the same hemisphere. If you just looked at the battle for Helm's Deep, Shadowfax, and Treebeard The Two Towers would probably have been unbeatable with Oscar. But what the film does with Gollum puts it as one of the great effects of all time. Shockingly realistic-looking, while never sacrificing the "fantasy" aspect of the movie, we get a richly-felt performance from Andy Serkis that is dueted with a creature that becomes the total standout of the film. You never doubt that Gollum is real to the other characters the whole movie, which is harder than it looks.
Some might quibble (I know people who hate this nomination), but I'm actually a fan of the citation for Attack of the Clones. Though it lacks the impossible prestige of Gollum as a contender (really, nothing else can compare), the alien work in this movie is solid & quite ingenious. I also think that the Star Wars prequels set the bar in terms of using CGI to create set design. It conversely spawned an entire generation of particularly ugly Marvel & DC movies where even the most casual of New York street corners has to be green-screened, but here I think the matte work is really lovely. I also think that it helps that the film's rougher effects (specifically those involving Yoda and the light sabers) feel like they are paying homage to Lucas's original trilogy in being a bit cheesy.
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). They were in the early years of the awards, and so they just had two films (Die Another Day and the victorious The Two Towers) going for effects-driven, while The Sum of All Fears beat Frida and Gangs of New York for supporting effects. BAFTA also gave their trophy to The Two Towers atop Gangs of New York, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Minority Report, & Spider-Man. The Academy did have bakeoffs in 2002, so we know one of Harry Potter 2, Minority Report, Men in Black II, and xXx was in fourth place, and given the previous Harry Potter couldn't get in with much less competition in 2001, my gut says that fourth place was likely Minority Report.
Films I Would Have Nominated: This isn't a bad lineup, but it definitely needs to go five-wide...Oscar was just being lazy given how many solid contenders are outside of the race. Minority Report, for sure, deserved mention here with the gorgeous blue-tinted future effects throughout that movie (such strong world-building) and I would've also included Chamber of Secrets. While Dobby isn't the same type of quality that Gollum had, it's remarkable to compare how well the two of them fare against virtually any other animated character that would be brought onto screens for the next ten years or so.
Oscar’s Choice: I suspect that not only did The Two Towers win, but it also was angling for 90% of the ballots.
My Choice: I'm not an idiot-The Two Towers, well, towers over the competition here and gets my vote. Star Wars is second, with Spidey at the rear.
And those are my thoughts-what are yours? Is there literally anyone who wants to go up and say that The Two Towers doesn't deserve this in a landslide? I had never realized how controversial the effects in Attack of the Clones was-are you pro or against it? And which two films would you add if we were in the five-wide years here? Share below!
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