Few scenes in movie history rival Kurt Russell being de-aged for Guardians of the Galaxy 2. This scene took several months of work from a team of experts using professional de-aging technology.
Digital de-aging effects have become an increasingly prevalent technique used by Hollywood movies. But how exactly does it work?
The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button (1999)
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is an American fantasy drama film directed by David Fincher and adapted by Eric Roth and Robin Swicord from F. Scott Fitzgerald’s 1922 short story with the same name. Starring Brad Pitt as Benjamin Button – an individual who appears to be ageing backwards while everyone else around him continues their lives normally – Cate Blanchett serves as his love interest during his lifetime.
The film explores time in an uncertain world marked by an inversion of traditional gender roles and racial tensions, exploring themes such as physical age and psychological life and using gaps or discrepancies as ways of creating narratives.
The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button stands out as an adaptation of a literary text because of its innovative use of gaps as an essential device to read its theme of reverse aging. Both in its short story form and on screen, Benjamin’s gap between physical age and psychological lives acts as a metaphor for his process of adapting.
Medovoi asserts that the film’s use of gaps mirrors that employed by Fitzgerald’s narrator to construct and then erase his memory narratives. Both parties utilize gaps to explore different issues about epistemological role of novel, its relationship to historical time etc.
This film stands out for its seamless blend of special effects and human performances. Although some critics have criticized its treatment of reverse aging too far, overall this Hollywood blockbuster with philosophical undertones stands as one of the most successful examples ever produced in its genre due to outstanding acting from all involved, particularly Cate Blanchett who delivers flawless performances as various women across her lifetime.
Gemini Man (2001)
Though the plot may now seem outdated, at the time the concept was revolutionary: an older movie star being pursued by a younger version of himself was intriguing and novel. Additionally, this may have been one of the first movies that used high-frame-rate technology (HFR) to de-age actors for an unusual look.
Early reviews lauded Gemini Man’s technological achievements; however, critics were less enthusiastic about its storyline. Will Smith plays Henry Brogan, an ex-Force Recon Marine sniper who finds himself being pursued by a younger version of himself he believes to be himself.
Young Henry (known as Junior) has been recruited by his elder self’s former employers to carry out a series of deadly hits for them. Unfortunately, when Junior realises that these operations are run by corrupt company executives he decides to turn on them and turn against his supporters.
Action sequences of Henry hunting down clones are enjoyable, yet its pace and script fall short. Junior’s revelations lack emotional punch, while dialogue often makes me cringe–especially when trying to explain them to an emotional Danny.
Even with the best efforts of both Smith and Mary Elizabeth Winstead, this film never quite manages to overcome its numerous weaknesses. Though director Ang Lee has produced several stellar movies like ‘Brokeback Mountain’, ‘Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon’ and ‘The Ice Storm’ before, this one seems disappointingly dull and wasteful of an interesting idea that had great potential to bring together old and new elements; with better writing and plot development it could have become an engaging example of “old meets new”. Instead it becomes just another big budget sci-fi thriller worth watching just because of special effects alone.
The Irishman (2006)
Martin Scorsese returns to mob violence with an intriguing character-driven drama that explores an intimate tale of loyalty and betrayal spanning midcentury American history.
At this point, however, the movie hasn’t generated as much of a stir due to its high-octane set pieces or De Niro and Pesci’s reunion as ILM’s de-aging technology, which renders septuagenarian characters as younger versions of themselves in flashback sequences of the film.
Effective technique used effectively throughout this film. As you watch, it becomes less surprising that older actors appear as their younger selves; over time you lose track of makeup effects taking place; though initially De Niro seems somewhat strange when attacking store clerks in some early scenes.
Scorsese utilized this revolutionary technology in order to explore Sheeran’s progression from Hoffa’s trusted confidant to murderous accomplice during its runtime. This allows him to explore Sheeran’s transition and is therefore key in providing an arc for Sheeran that takes up much of its runtime.
This film offers a dense narrative, with many themes and events that require multiple viewings to fully appreciate. Thanks to an outstanding cast and innovative technological approaches, this marks another high point in one of cinema’s most revered directors’ long and distinguished career.
Tron: Legacy (1982)
The original Tron was an innovative digital world decades ahead of its time, featuring a dreamscape Netscape filled with blacks and blues featuring disc-duels between “programs” and neon-lit “discs.” While enjoyable and captivating today, its sequel can be frustrating: an ultimately humorless search through the computer “grid” by son in search of digitally disembodied father (accompanied by some serious script and direction issues).
As with many sci-fi films from the ’80s, Tron isn’t as child friendly as it initially appears. The plot echoes The Flintstones: inside computers live little guys who work as programs; this might have seemed plausible to audiences of its day but is less so today. Additionally, some scenes contain rather awkward dialogue (such as Sam’s mother being murdered and viewing video footage of Sam) which make this film less than kid-friendly.
Jeff Bridges shines as Clu in this movie and looks fantastic throughout, yet most of the supporting cast falls flat and the editing and title cards strain too hard to tell the tale. Home footage becomes distracting and comically an elaborate light cycle race takes place atop an old discotheque ruins!
The Blu-ray restoration of this film is truly outstanding, looking as good as when it first hit theaters. This was an ambitious undertaking with great results: families can discuss how animation and live action movies have developed over time; along with discussing advancements in computer animation technology as well as compare ’80s special effects with modern high definition visuals.
Captain Marvel (2016)
Carol Danvers is the first female Captain Marvel. An Air Force pilot and Kree-human hybrid, she possesses superhuman strength, flight, laser vision, telekinesis and has an intense connection to the Tesseract which gave her her powers following exposure during an experiment. Carol currently works with Nick Fury and Maria Rambeau to aid the Avengers against an alternate version of Thanos as part of a fight back strategy following The Snap.
Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck’s film was directed from a screenplay written with Geneva Robertson-Dworet by them and stars Brie Larson as Carol Danvers alongside Samuel L. Jackson, Jude Law, Clark Gregg, Djimon Hounsou Lee Pace Lashana Lynch Annette Bening as part of its cast. It became the first female-led superhero movie ever to surpass $1 billion worldwide during its theatrical run.
Lola VFX had already made their mark de-aging actors for Marvel Cinematic Universe films by the time of Captain Marvel, but they really raised their game for this one. To create the flashback sequence where we see Star-Lord as a younger boy with his mother, Lola needed to remove over three decades from Kurt Russell’s face through various techniques including body doubles and months of makeup/hair work.
This film is also notable as being the first Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) movie to include a transgender lead character as part of its narrative and theme of female empowerment for young women. Producers took a risk with this decision but ultimately, it proved one of the biggest successes for a female-led film in comic book history.
