- yesterday
Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re counting down our picks for the most disappointing movie scenes that were ruined by terrible CGI.
From laughable effects to immersion-breaking visuals, these scenes had potential — but the VFX didn’t live up to the hype.
Our countdown includes moments from “Die Another Day,” “The Flash,” “Alien 3,” and more!
💬 Did the bad CGI ruin these scenes for you, or do they still hold up?
Let us know in the comments below!
From laughable effects to immersion-breaking visuals, these scenes had potential — but the VFX didn’t live up to the hype.
Our countdown includes moments from “Die Another Day,” “The Flash,” “Alien 3,” and more!
💬 Did the bad CGI ruin these scenes for you, or do they still hold up?
Let us know in the comments below!
Category
🎥
Short filmTranscript
00:00I promised you a demonstration. Now you will see the true power of Icarus.
00:06Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the most notable movie scenes that could have been awesome, had it not been for the horrible CGI.
00:14Let me save you! Let me save you!
00:21Number 20. The Car Jump. Gone in 60 Seconds.
00:25Get out of the car, man!
00:30Here's a tip for future filmmakers. If you're going to make a cool car movie, please use real cars.
00:37CGI car stunts never have been and never will be exciting.
00:41Take the awesome jump from Gone in 60 Seconds, which sees Nicolas Cage driving off a ramp and jumping numerous vehicles.
00:47This could have been a really cool Evel Knievel type stunt, but is totally ruined by a weightless CG car that just kind of floats over the other vehicles.
00:55It's even worse, because the beginning and ending of the stunt are practical, which allows the floating CG car to stand out like a sore thumb.
01:02I just stole 50 cars for you in one night.
01:05Alright, I'm a little tired, a little wired, and I think I deserve a little appreciation.
01:11Number 19. The Terminator Fight. Terminator Genisys.
01:14I've been waiting for you.
01:20We can't believe how badly the makers of Terminator Genisys messed this up.
01:24The concept of the Terminator fighting his past self in the first movie is infinitely cool.
01:29Too bad it's ruined by some of the worst CG work in recent memory.
01:32We understand that having Arnold Schwarzenegger fight a younger version of himself would be incredibly difficult to pull off.
01:37But come on. This is just laughable.
01:41The younger T-800 looks awful, with his textures appearing way too smooth and waxy.
01:46Points for the ambition, but ambition only gets you so far.
01:58Number 18. Young Jeff Bridges. Tron Legacy.
02:03Who are you?
02:07De-aging effects are still very iffy, never mind back in 2010 when the concept was still in its infancy.
02:15Jeff Bridges plays both Kevin Flynn and Clue, requiring the use of significant de-aging effects and placing his face on another person's body.
02:23The results were about as artificial as Tron itself.
02:26Young Bridges would have fit right at home in a video game, and absolutely no one would have complained.
02:31But as this was supposed to look real, as he was sharing the screen with real actors, he came across as way too digital.
02:37His face never looked quite right, with the floaty head effect being perpetually distracting.
02:42Loved the concept, hated the execution.
02:44I'm not your father, Sam.
02:48But I'm very, very happy to see you.
02:54Number 17. Hell. Spawn.
02:57If you won't lead my army, then you must die.
03:05Going to hell is always fun.
03:08Uh, in movies.
03:10It allows the filmmakers incredible creativity, and we love seeing what their imaginations conjure.
03:15But we hated this.
03:16In the climax of Spawn, both the titular hero and Coleostro are sent to hell, where they confront the giant demon, Malabolgia.
03:24Neither the demon, nor hell itself, looks particularly good.
03:28The visual effects are very janky, and they never combine to create a convincing depiction of the underworld.
03:33Copy and pasted JPEG soldiers, floaty animation, bad textures, all are present and accounted for.
03:39Yes, this was 1997, so we can't be too harsh, but CG clearly wasn't there yet.
03:45Bring me Spawn's head.
03:50Number 16. The Final Battle. Justice League.
03:58No! This cannot...
04:02Do you recognize that smell?
04:05Fear.
04:06Let's be honest, this was a mess of a movie from beginning to end.
04:10Literally.
04:11It started with the infamous Henry Cavill mustache fiasco,
04:14and ended with perhaps the worst climatic battle in the history of superhero cinema.
04:18This really could have been a thing to behold,
04:20similar to what the prior two Avengers films had accomplished.
04:23But it looked no better than a B-movie you'd find on the sci-fi channel.
04:27Character models are wonky and computerized,
04:29Steppenwolf looks like a video game monster,
04:31and the green screen work is just amateurish.
04:33Apparently, this was the result of a messy shooting schedule.
04:36But this is your big movie, Warner Brothers.
04:39Give it the time and care that it deserves,
04:41with Zack Snyder at the helm.
04:43So your genius move is dying.
04:46You really are out of your mind.
04:48Number 15. All Green Lantern Scenes.
04:50Green Lantern.
04:51It's amazing to think that Green Lantern came out in 2011, not 2001.
05:04With Ryan Reynolds and some fun sci-fi concepts,
05:07this movie could have been a winner.
05:09Instead, it's widely reviled as one of the worst superhero movies ever made.
05:13A large point of contention is the physical design of Green Lantern himself,
05:17who comes equipped with a digital suit and mask.
05:19Reynolds told Empire that they wanted to use a CG suit
05:22to reflect its alien and otherworldly origins.
05:25We get it, and it could have worked with a more careful approach.
05:28But the effects didn't turn out,
05:29and every single scene involving the superhero was an exercise and distraction.
05:33What is this? Why is your skin green?
05:36Why are you glowing?
05:37What the hell is with that mask?
05:39Number 14. The Vampire Sword Fight.
05:42Blade 2.
05:42Two ninja vampires break into Blade's compound
05:52and get into a brief sword fight with the deadly Daywalker.
05:55The fight looks awesome when done practically,
05:58but the problem comes when the vampires perform superhuman feats,
06:01like moving with great speed or jumping high into the air.
06:04Unfortunately, all the hard work of the stunt performers and choreographers is for naught,
06:08as the scene is now widely maligned for its poor CGI.
06:12The superhuman stunts look ridiculous
06:14and contrast very poorly when they're edited together with the real performers.
06:18Even Guillermo del Toro hates how this turned out
06:20and criticizes the scene's visual effects in the DVD commentary.
06:23Number 13. Jabba the Hutt.
06:33Star Wars Episode 4, A New Hope.
06:35Say it!
06:36Right here, Jabba.
06:39Been waiting for you.
06:40How cool would it have been if Jabba the Hutt was seamlessly integrated into A New Hope?
06:45It would have been a great bit of fan service,
06:47strengthening the trilogy's sense of continuity.
06:49A New Hope was going to feature a scene between Han and Jabba at the docking bay,
06:52but this was cut for time and budgetary reasons.
06:55George Lucas reinserted the scene from the 1997 Special Edition,
06:59using CGI to portray Jabba rather than a practical model as seen in return.
07:03The results were staggeringly bad, and the scene was widely criticized.
07:07This is one of the earliest examples of a talking CG character,
07:11and, yeah, we can tell.
07:13Look, Jabba, next time you want to talk to me, come see me yourself.
07:16Don't send one of these twerps.
07:18Han Han Maki Tisei.
07:20Number 12, Ghost Rider's First Appearance.
07:24Ghost Rider.
07:29Looking for someone.
07:33Back to hell.
07:34A man's head starts smoking, fire erupts from his skin and eyes,
07:38and he turns into a flaming skull.
07:40How awesome would that have looked with good CGI?
07:43Unfortunately, Ghost Rider does not have good CGI.
07:46The starting stages look decent enough.
07:49Nicolas Cage certainly sells it with his wild, cagey and screams of agony,
07:52but the flaming skull does not work in the least,
07:55with poor textures and a wonky integration with the torso.
07:59The transformation is also constantly interrupted,
08:01with stock fireball effects supposedly done to avoid an R rating.
08:04The result is a mess of a scene,
08:07a poorly edited disaster with C-grade special effects.
08:16Number 11, The Burly Brawl.
08:18The Matrix Reloaded.
08:19Surprised to see me?
08:22No.
08:22It's arguably one of the most ambitious fight scenes ever conceived.
08:27Neo, at full Neo God Power,
08:30fights dozens of Agent Smiths,
08:31and does a lot of cool superhuman things in the process.
08:34The scene was actually considered too ambitious at first,
08:37and the visual effects team thought it would be almost impossible to create.
08:41They eventually figured it out,
08:42using a virtual camera,
08:44entirely CG settings,
08:45and many digital characters.
08:47Millions of dollars and untold hours were pumped into this scene,
08:50which is a shame,
08:51because the results are more than questionable.
08:53The fight definitely works at first,
08:55but it eventually devolves into CG nonsense,
08:58complete with rubbery, digital characters who don't look remotely real.
09:01We are here because of you, Mr. Anderson.
09:04We're here to take from you what you tried to take from us.
09:08Number 10, The Claws.
09:10X-Men Origins Wolverine.
09:15Back here.
09:16Big here.
09:18Easy.
09:18The adamantium claws are a huge aspect of Wolverine's character.
09:23In fact, it's probably the most important one,
09:25so you have to get it right.
09:26Believe it or not,
09:27they looked way better in a movie that was released nearly 10 years earlier,
09:31than they did in Origins.
09:32The story goes,
09:33that the prop claws did not look right on camera,
09:36so the VFX team was forced to hastily throw together some CG claws.
09:40The results were widely derided and mocked,
09:42even by the most ardent X-Men fans.
09:44The worst example can be found in the infamous bathroom scene,
09:48with the claws looking like they were rendered from the Nintendo 64.
09:51You know, I'm not proud about the way things ended between us.
09:55Conversation's over.
09:56Number 9, The Corridor Chase.
09:58Alien 3.
09:59What if we get lost?
10:00This was our idea.
10:07David Fincher wants nothing to do with Alien 3,
10:10and has since told The Guardian,
10:11no one hates it more than me.
10:13Its flaws are many,
10:14up to and including the janky visual effects.
10:17This is especially egregious coming on the heels of Aliens,
10:20which set a new benchmark for practical effects.
10:23Fincher made the Alien with a combination of CGI and puppetry,
10:26but the results paled in comparison to what came before.
10:29This is evident in the otherwise stellar Corridor Chase.
10:32The scene is effective,
10:33until the Alien shows up when all tension is sucked away,
10:36thanks to poor compositing and bad color correction.
10:39It has so obviously been superimposed into the live-action footage,
10:42and couldn't look more ridiculous.
10:49This thing is really pissed off!
10:51Number 8, The Plane Crash.
10:54Air Force One.
10:56We're passing 3,000 feet!
10:59Impact in less than 2 minutes!
11:01Get the president out of there!
11:03How did Air Force One come out the same year as Titanic?
11:06James Cameron just can't stop showing them how it's done.
11:09While Titanic revolutionized the use of CGI,
11:11Air Force One contains one of the worst examples of its integration.
11:15In what should be a stellar and exciting sequence,
11:17the titular plane goes down and crashes into the ocean.
11:20Instead of a jaw-dropping crash,
11:22we're treated to a CGI mess that looks absurd,
11:25and ruins any sense of drama the scene is trying to create.
11:28The model looks painfully flat,
11:30moving in a weightless, unrealistic manner,
11:32while sending fake bits of debris hurtling towards the camera.
11:35Nothing about it is convincing.
11:37Mr. President!
11:38It's time to get you off this plane!
11:41Go, sir! Go!
11:42Number 7.
11:43The emergence of the Dante Beast.
11:45The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.
11:47No!
11:52Not the whole thing.
11:54A bad guy named Dante drinks Dr. Jekyll's transformation serum,
12:03turning himself into the massive and frightening Dante Beast.
12:06The introduction of the monster is ripped straight from the horror movie playbook,
12:10complete with thundering booms,
12:12and a human claw emerging from around the corner,
12:14and finally, the reveal itself,
12:16complete with a blood-curdling roar.
12:17This is effective stuff, and always has been.
12:31Unfortunately, the reveal is completely ruined by the subpar CGI.
12:35The monster's design is certainly creative,
12:37but the horrible texturing and lighting ruin any sense of fear that he might elicit in the viewer.
12:42If there's one thing he's eliciting,
12:43it's laughter.
12:44What is that thing?
12:53It's me on a bad day.
12:56Number 6.
12:57T'Challa vs. Killmonger.
12:59Black Panther.
13:01What's up, princess?
13:02You'll never be a true king.
13:06Duh!
13:07Duh!
13:08Duh!
13:10Superhero movies need to end with a bang.
13:12While Black Panther did a lot of things right,
13:15its climactic battle was not one of them.
13:17With both donning fancy nanotech suits,
13:20T'Challa and Killmonger fight inside Wakanda's huge and seemingly endless Vibranium Mine.
13:25This would have made for a jaw-dropping spectacle if the visual effects had been adequately completed.
13:30As it is, it looks like a cutscene from a PS2 video game.
13:33There is little to recommend about this fight,
13:35not the animation,
13:37not the lifelike visuals,
13:38and not the setting,
13:39which looks far too artificial to mine any sense of wonder.
13:42It's certainly one of the MCU's weaker efforts.
13:45You will destroy the wild, Wakanda included.
13:47The world took everything away from me.
13:49Everything I ever loved.
13:51But I'm gonna make sure we're even.
13:52Number 5.
13:53The Multiple Cameos.
13:55The Flash.
13:56Up in the sky.
13:57It's a bird.
14:00It's a bird.
14:01It's a bird.
14:032023 was the year of terrible-looking superhero movies.
14:07The Flash was arguably the biggest offender,
14:09as some otherwise fun and creative scenes were ruined by appalling CGI,
14:13like bringing a ton of dead actors back to life for some post-mortem cameos.
14:18A good idea in theory,
14:19and one that could have got the tears flowing if delicately and respectfully handled.
14:23Well, we saw how that went.
14:26Frankly, these are some of the worst-looking CGI humans we've ever seen.
14:30Poorly detailed and inhumanly waxy,
14:33like Madame Tussaud figures brought to life.
14:35We're clearly still not there and making digital counterparts of real people.
14:41Just look at what's happening.
14:44These worlds.
14:48Number 4.
14:50The Tidal Wave.
14:51Die Another Day.
14:52The Western spy runs, but he cannot hide.
15:02And here we come to the scene that nearly killed James Bond.
15:06By the time Die Another Day rolled around,
15:08even the producers realized they had gone too far
15:10and performed a hard reboot with Casino Royale.
15:13It's mostly thanks to nonsensical stuff like this.
15:16Bond, surfing on a giant tidal wave created by a melting glacier
15:20after it was blasted by a satellite harnessing solar energy
15:23is stretching the limits of credulity.
15:25But sure, we could have bought it.
15:27Bond isn't exactly known for its grounded realism.
15:30Unfortunately, the CGI is agonizing,
15:33with heinous texturing
15:34and some of the worst green screen work in a major blockbuster.
15:37We've seen made-for-TV movies that look better than this.
15:41Global warming.
15:43It's a terrible thing.
15:44Number 3.
15:46The Aliens.
15:47Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.
15:49Belief, Dr. Jones, is a gift you have yet to receive.
15:54My sympathies.
15:56Oh, I believe, sister.
15:58That's why I'm down here.
15:59Aliens are Steven Spielberg's bread and butter.
16:02We don't know what went wrong here.
16:04The very concept of Aliens in an Indiana Jones movie is divisive,
16:07with some thinking it was a welcome addition to the mythical saga,
16:10while others thought a hard sci-fi approach was inappropriate.
16:13Even the fans who welcomed the addition of extraterrestrials
16:16left disappointed after seeing how they turned out.
16:18What could have been an awe-inspiring scene among Spielberg's best
16:22was ruined by a derivative alien design,
16:24bad green screen work,
16:25and the usual sin of throwing a bunch of swirling beams on the screen.
16:29It's kind of sad when the 30 years old or close encounters looks better than this.
16:33Number two, the ending.
16:39I am legend.
16:42Stop! Stop! Stop!
16:45Look! I can save you!
16:47I can save you! I can help you!
16:49You are sick, and I can help you!
16:50It doesn't matter if you're watching the theatrical ending or the director's cut.
16:54Both are impacted by poor CGI,
16:57and both have lessened emotional power because of it.
16:59The theatrical ending is quite fierce and antagonistic,
17:02with the vampires feeling rage and attempting to kill Neville.
17:05The director's cut is far more pensive and emotional,
17:08with the head vampire showing what appears to be fear,
17:10and taking the test subject home.
17:12No matter what ending you watch,
17:14both are tarnished by the sloppy CGI work on the vampires.
17:17This is a problem throughout the entire film,
17:20but it becomes painfully noticeable
17:21once they are required to show emotion and humanistic tendencies.
17:33Before we continue,
17:34be sure to subscribe to our channel
17:36and ring the bell to get notified about our latest videos.
17:39You have the option to be notified for occasional videos or all of them.
17:43If you're on your phone,
17:44make sure you go into your settings and switch on notifications.
17:49Number 1.
17:50The Scorpion King.
17:52The Mummy Returns.
17:58If it was done well,
18:01the climax involving The Scorpion King
18:03could have been one of the coolest sequences in movie history.
18:06As it is,
18:07it's one of the most widely derided.
18:09All the ingredients are there for a perfect introduction,
18:11from the dramatic door opening
18:13to the slow emergence of the giant scorpion from the shadows.
18:16Unfortunately,
18:17all drama and sense of wonder are instantly evaporated
18:20once we see the farcical CG face of Dwayne Johnson.
18:24As we've learned throughout this list,
18:25making CG human faces is unbelievably difficult,
18:28even now.
18:30Doing this in 2001 was magnificently ambitious,
18:33maybe naively so.
18:34So yes,
18:35it was a big swing,
18:36but unfortunately,
18:37also a historic miss.
18:38Did the bad CGI ruin these scenes for you?
18:51Or are they still awesome?
18:53Let us know in the comments below.
18:54You came with the outfit.
18:58Cool, huh?
18:59Did you enjoy this video?
19:01Check out these other clips from WatchMojo.
19:03And be sure to subscribe and ring the bell
19:05to be notified about our latest videos.
19:08We'll see you next time.
19:09We'll see you next time.
19:10We'll see you next time.
19:11We'll see you next time.
19:12We'll see you next time.
19:13We'll see you next time.
19:14We'll see you next time.
19:15We'll see you next time.
19:16We'll see you next time.
19:17We'll see you next time.
19:18We'll see you next time.
19:19We'll see you next time.
19:20We'll see you next time.
19:21We'll see you next time.
19:22We'll see you next time.
19:23We'll see you next time.
19:24We'll see you next time.
19:25We'll see you next time.
19:26We'll see you next time.
19:27We'll see you next time.
19:28We'll see you next time.
19:29We'll see you next time.
19:30We'll see you next time.
19:31We'll see you next time.
Recommended
1:12
|
Up next
1:02:45
24:27
1:14:56
3:25:39
2:08:39
2:24:20
19:19
11:28
11:18
20:44
19:28
13:01
10:32