X-Men Days of Future Past – 2014
The visual effects for this movie were good, but not great. There were moments that were absolutely fantastic, but there were others that were… just ok. Unfortunately, at this level, especially when I compare this movie to its competitors in the category, I expected more. I read an article about the visual effects, and the major points that were brought up were Quicksilver’s Time in a Bottle scene, the Sentinels, both the past and future versions, Beast and Mystique’s transformations, Magneto moving the stadium, and the various mutant super-powers like Sunsopt’s fire, Iceman’s ice, and Storm’s Lightning.
I think the best of these effects was the Time in a Bottle scene. They were in a circular room. There were sprinklers showering the room with water droplets, metal utensils and cookery floating everywhere, flying bullets, splashing soup, nine guards, and three heroes, all frozen in a 3D environment that is seen from many different angles. Then there was Quicksilver moving at normal speed. The attention to detail was amazing! Not only was he able to move any object in the room he desired, but he left a wake of clear space behind him that was even free of water drops. His feet left cracks in the tile of the curved walls on which he was running. His hair was waving as if being blown back because of his super-speed. It all blended together to make a perfectly executed scene that was stunning to watch.
But on the flip side, the worst effects were the future-Sentinels. They had a look that greatly reminded me of CGI biped forms from back in the early 90s. Sure, their textured rendering and movement was far superior to those early digital efforts, but I think it was their fundamental design that made them look somewhat antiquated. I’m not even sure that’s the right word to use, but there you have it. The past versions of the Sentinels were ok, simply because, as part of the plot, they were supposed to be less advanced and more robotic.
The CGI fire-man and the CGI ice-man came dangerously close to falling into the same category. They looked a little too cartoonish, though I’m not really sure how else they could have been represented on the screen. In other words, they didn’t look quite right to my eyes, but I don’t know how they could have been improved.
Mystique and Beast had body transformation that were cool to watch. I liked how Mystique had little scales that seemed to flip over in sequence to reveal her altered appearance, while Beast had a more organic change with his color and shape seeming to emerge from inside him. There was a cool shot in which Mystique changed from a Vietnamese officer into her blue body suit. The blue arms and legs changed first and she started fighting the men around her. Then as she twisted and turned, the rest of her changed. That was a cool shot. And finally, Magneto moving the stadium was done well, but felt a little unremarkable. Actually, that statement might just encapsulate my feelings about the effects for most of the movie. I was a bit underwhelmed, and I don’t think I should have been.