2005: BEST SPECIAL EFFECTS

The Visual Effects Society announced their nominations. As expected, those not in the Guild were ignored despite some impressive work. You can read their nominees here. (I like that they divide effects into categories now.) Here are my Top 10 Visual Effects Films of 2005.

10. THE MACHINIST
So the truth is, I only had 9 nominees and I didn’t feel like completing my list with something unworthy like HITCHHIKER’S GUIDE, THE BROTHERS GRIMM, KINGDOM OF HEAVEN or CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY. So I decided to give special mention to Christian Bale for his remarkable physical transformation in THE MACHINIST. (Yeah, I know…I’m honoring an actor for not eating.) Still, the effect was visually very striking, much better than Felicity Huffman playing a pre-op transsexual in TRANSAMERICA.

9. BATMAN BEGINS
Some films create whole new worlds, but others use effects to transform a known locale into something unique. BATMAN BEGINS combined giant stages with real Chicago locales and blended it all together using digital technology. Sweeping wide shots revealed estate country, a busy metropolis (with its massive above-ground railway system), and lakeside slums. BATMAN BEGINS gets mentioned for another effect that’s always looked incredibly fake on camera…digital bats.

8. THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA: THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE
NARNIA made the Guild’s final four, and the effects are better than I expected, but everything is about one pass off from really working. Aslan the lion was great, but it pales next to Kong, and it bothered me that the visual effects were movie quality, yet a lot of the effects make-up was at the level of “Xena: Warrior Princess”. My favorite effect was probably the Snow Queen’s little vial of fluid, from which anything you desire could be created.

7. WAR OF THE WORLDS
What a great year was it for visual effects when WAR OF THE WORLDS is only #7? The effects were great, it’s just that some others coming up were more diverse and creative. In the eye-popping department, my special mentions go to the people getting zapped into dust (actually the entire first attack is full of great effects). I also fondly remember the driving scene, with the camera freely moving in, out and around the car in one continuous shot.

6. SIN CITY
Some effects look like what they are, images created in the green screen (especially underwater shots.) But pick up the new DVD and be amazed at many effects you probably didn’t even know about. You get complex car crashes, that great shot of Miho getting splattered in the face with blood, but never blinking, and the little flashes of color that pop up throughout the story. How about the fact that Elijah Wood fights Mickey Rourke even though scheduling conflicts made it impossible for them to work on the same day? Here, artistic creativity far outweighs some technical sloppiness.

5. HARRY POTTER AND THE GOBLET OF FIRE
AZKABAN is regarded as the artistic Potter film, but that shouldn’t go against the numerous wondrous sights created for Harry’s latest adventure. It’s hard to single out a specific effect since the entire series exists in a world where magic is just an everyday occurrence. You barely have time to take in one effect before the next one glides across the frame. The high point for me (and most people) has to be the dragon fight, especially when the dragon claws across the roof of Hogwarts, ripping out tiles along the way.

4. STAR WARS: REVENGE OF THE SITH
The new STAR WARS trilogy relies so much on their visual effects, yet every year they're a couple of steps behind better artists. (Previous installments lost the Oscar to THE MATRIX and LORD OF THE RINGS). Still, the work is not to be casually dismissed and I think SITH has the best effects of the three. Highlights include the long opening shot, the sequence when The Emperor hurls the Senate at Yoda, and Yoda in general who’s finally reached a level of realism we expected from George Lucas two films ago.

3. CONSTANTINE
CONSTANTINE didn’t have as much work as some other films in the top 5, but this was an effects heavy picture and everything was really cherry. I can’t think of a single effect that was less than completely convincing, and quite a few would surprise (the opening, the bum made of bugs) and delight (the smashed bottles that refused to pour out liquid.) This has been completely ignored by both the Guild and the Academy. The same as…

2. KUNG FU HUSTLE
I wrote earlier about how KUNG FU HUSTLE will certainly be ignored for its extensive effects work. There’s really not much more to add. I liked the effects then, and I’m still impressed by them now. Even subtle effects like the evil gang that enters the city bringing dark clouds in with them. Just watch the musical assassins, and tell me you’ve seen more imaginative effects in a movie this year.

1. KING KONG
Back when Pixar made the animated MONSTERS INC. they talked about the headache of digital fur, and that was in an animated film. KING KONG is the Holy Grail that artists have been striving for, ever since THE ABYSS introduced us to digital effects. Nothing against Gollum, which played like peak technology at the time, but the work on Kong (and in particular the character animation provided by Andy Serkis) is proof positive that anything digital can be given true emotional life. You will believe a computer can make you cry.

Also, depression-era New York is the year’s best creation of a new world I talked about with BATMAN BEGINS. What’s funny is that some of the film’s other effects are kind of sloppy, especially stuff involving water, but Kong himself is the effects achievement of the year, and one of the benchmarks in the rapidly changing world of Visual Effects Technology.