OVP: Best Visual Effects (2021)
The Nominees Were...
Paul Lambert, Tristan Myles, Brian Connor, & Gerd Nefzer, Dune
Swen Gillberg, Bryan Gill, Nikos Kalaitzidi, & Dan Sudick, Free Guy
Charlie Noble, Joel Green, Jonathan Fawkner & Chris Corbould, No Time to Die
Christopher Townsend, Joe Farrell, Sean Noel Walker, & Dan Oliver, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings
Kelly Port, Chris Waegner, Scott Edelstein, & Dan Sudick, Spider-Man: No Way Home
My Thoughts: We're heading straight into Visual Effects right now (yesterday was Best Makeup, links to all past contests at the bottom of the page), and what might be a fun conversation about the state of Visual Effects in 2021. In a post-Covid era, it seems at once that most films have visual effects that have any sort of cultural relevance (that's been true for 10 years if you look at the Box Office Top 10's, but is especially true post-Covid), but it also feels like visual effects are kind of, well, ugly in this era. This is largely driven by the biggest name in movies right now, which got two nominations here, and we'll get into both of them first: the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU).
Spider-Man: No Way Home was really fun, and a good reminder of why you go to movie theaters. I was in one of the theaters opening weekend of this movie, and was flabbergasted by what it was like to hear a roaring crowd just eat up every new appearance or character...I loved it. And the effects were, truly, fun in some scenes. There are moments in the battle sequences where you see all three Spider-Man's, and it feels like the moviemakers knew they were making a film that would be celebrated across the globe. But the rest of the movie is also littered with visual effects, and it feels gross. City streets, shots in mansions & houses...all of them read like green screen soup, and it's really ugly. Spider-Man is a weird conundrum, because when it's good I'm like "yep, definite Oscar bait," but during the regular scenes...it feels cheap (did they actually film any scenes in New York with any of the actors, because it feels like they didn't?).
This is also true in much of Shang-Chi, where we have some splendid (particularly the fight scene on the bus), special effects, but as the film continues it becomes green screen soup (I've fallen in love with that phrase, and am now claiming it as my own). The film is more convincing than Spider-Man that certain scenes were shot on location (perhaps because they actually were), but the dragon effect at the end is unsuccessful, and given its importance to the climax of the film (and how weird it is that Harry Potter and The Hobbit a decade earlier were so much better at creating an onscreen dragon), I struggle to not dock points for totally botching your biggest attraction.
All of this is to say "thank god for Dune" to remind us that visual effects are supposed to be filled with splendor. It helps that Dune shot on location for key scenes, so that you have realism to go with the less organic aspects of the movie, but it's also because there's an artistry to the effects that Shang-Chi and Spider-Man simply ignore because they know that the visual effects are secondary to the caped superheroes. I loved the crowd scenes, which feel like they're a dystopian version of Star Wars, and the way that every scene is working in cooperation with the production designer & cinematography. There's a cohesion that makes it look like one holistic idea, rather than lanes in a race track that never entirely intersect.
No Time to Die is not necessarily the most impressive James Bond film (I didn't nominate it for VFX at the time because that category was much more competitive in 2012, but Skyfall is the best-looking Bond film of the Craig era), but it uses practical effects really well, and has the best action set-pieces of any movie in 2021. The combination of visuals and practical effects in the scenes in Havana are really thrilling, and combine stunt effects with CGI and practical shoots quite well. I was impressed, and in a year of bad computer work, it was refreshing not to watch the lines in a movie.
This is also the case with Free Guy. I initially liked some of the effects of this movie, and I still enjoy the commitment to a video game motif that it has (and that it's giving us an original character-kudos!), but parts of it feel so phoned in & busy. As the film progresses, it becomes a case of most effects, and the roided-out version of Ryan Reynolds is a cheap stunt that I know is intended to feel like it's fake...but I can't stop kicking the feeling that it's meant to look fake because they couldn't find a way to make it look real. Another movie that feels like it has too much CGI, and not enough of it stands apart.
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). For the effects-driven films, they went with six nominees, giving the trophy to Dune, and having it beat Godzilla vs. Kong, The Matrix Resurrections, No Time to Die, Shang-Chi, and Spider-Man, while supporting effects went with Last Night in Soho against Candyman, Nightmare Alley, The Last Duel, and The Tragedy of Macbeth. BAFTA also gave its statue to Dune, and kept Free Guy & No Time to Die while also adding Ghostbusters: Afterlife and The Matrix Resurrections to its nominees. Visual Effects is a category that has a shortlist, so we know one of the runners-up was either Black Widow, Eternals, Ghostbusters: Afterlife, Godzilla vs. Kong, or The Matrix Resurrections. I kind of think it was Godzilla, to be honest-Oscar hates Godzilla (they've never cited the franchise somehow), but they also adore King Kong (this is the first big studio film he's been snubbed in this category for when they've had the category), so I assume he was close.
Films I Would Have Nominated: If you're going to nominate Marvel (and generally I don't-I've only cited five MCU films in this category to Oscar's thirteen), I don't understand on any level why they didn't go with the glorious work happening in Eternals. Say what you will about the film (I really enjoyed it, but I understand those who didn't), but the costumes actually become part of the effects-it's genuinely part of the same story, and there's an identity behind the work. Maybe the most creative MCU effects since the first Iron Man, and Oscar couldn't bother!
Oscar’s Choice: Dune won, continuing the bizarre streak of MCU totally biffing with this category (as otherwise this would've been hard to skip Spider-Man for given the box office).
My Choice: Like with Makeup, it's Dune again, and by a wider margin this time. Behind it I'd put No Time to Die for sure, and then...Spider-Man, Shang-Chi, and Free Guy, in that order? Yeah, I'm comfortable with that.
And those are my thoughts-what are yours? Does anyone want to make an argument for something other than Dune, or are we all comfortable on that victory? Which of the four MCU films in 2021 had the best overall effects? And why do you think Oscar hates Godzilla? Share below!
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