Rogue One Team Defends Use of CGI Characters

[RJ 17]

Eh, it was noticeable, but I didn't really have an issue with it to be honest. My list of issues is a pretty short one.

Spoiler: I do not think there are any spoilers in these, but just in case I will use a box.

1: As mentioned in Marter's review, the only character that gets a backstory is Jyn...so it's kinda hard to care about the rest of the cast. The characters that they play are good and fun, but completely one dimensional since we don't get a chance to know them.
2: Vader's pun...I mean come on, he's a Dark Lord of the Sith...do we really need him dropping a facepalm inducing pun like that?

And really...that's about it.

 

[Daemascus]

They both looked just fine to me, it was Vader felt, sounded and looked off for me.

 

[Callate]

CGI Cushing was distracting to me, but it may in part be because I was looking closer, knowing that he had passed away. Leia was mostly distracting because she was kind of sunny and beaming at a moment when it seemed kind of inappropriate.

It's funny, though; I don't remember finding the "de-aged" Robert Downey Jr. in "Civil War" distracting at all; I just thought it was a well-done effect.

The oddly gleaming de-aged Orlando Bloom in The Hobbit, on the other hand...

 

[Gordon_4_v1legacy]

They both looked just fine to me, it was Vader felt, sounded and looked off for me.

The look and feel I think we can lay as the stage direction and costuming not being as detailed as they could have, but I can't exactly get cranky at James Earl Jones for having the temerity to age 40 years. In fact it's one reason why I think they should approve a script for a Darth Vader solo movie and get his lines recorded right the fuck now, lest the reaper decide it is time to recreate the cloud scene from the Lion King.

 

[Neverhoodian]

I didn't have too much of an issue. I thought Tarkin was damn impressive. I took my father to see the movie last week, and he had no idea Tarkin was CGI until I told him afterwards. That said, we both agreed that CGI Leia was wonky, especially when she talked. It would have been better if she didn't turn around or cut to black before she spoke.

I think it's prudent in this day and age for actors to fill a mandatory "CGI permission" form stating whether or not they'll allow their likeness to be used posthumously.

 

[Wrex Brogan]

I was down with Tarkin (the uncanniness of it really added to the uneasy feeling of all his scenes) and Leia wasn't exactly in it long enough for me to have any gripes about it - it's certainly not a perfected technology yet, but it's a damn-sight better than it was in that Tron Movie (which I will say wasn't that bad with it either, though it was SUPER noticable in a few scenes), and I don't really have a problem with them doing it more often down the line anyway since, hey, they did it with Vader to begin with. Just, you know, with voices instead of faces that time.

Kinda says it all, really - CGI characters, it's like Dubbing but with faces!

 

[Kyrian007]

I don't think I've ever seen it "look good." Its never been a believable recreation to me. Everyone I've ever met who said "I didn't even notice" is also someone who watched in 3D, and it's totally possible it could blend in with the unfocused and color-muted mess that is 3d. I watch in 2d, digital, and when available in IMAX. And its just impossible for me to miss CGI in digital 2d. But its not the uncanny cartoon faces that bother me, its the inhuman proportions. The animators are just too proud of their "nearly" lifelike work that they don't pay attention to actual human proportions. Every one seems to have a head way too large for the body its attached to. Tarkin in particular was like a watermelon on a toothpick.

And I completely disagree with the idea that Tarkin was "needed" in Rogue One and that fans would have been whining "where's Tarkin" if they had left him out. Peter Cushing is freaking dead, the fans know that and only the stupid, most childish would have complained. And screw them. If you really need to explain it have some background character mention late in the film that "the grand moff" is coming to assume command and you explain away his absence in one line without showing him or even speaking his name.

None of the CGI shots were necessary. And they looked awful. Red leader was almost acceptable, in the effects cockpit with a helmet on... it almost didn't look too bad. But that could have been any pilot and fans wouldn't have cared. They had already teased the Tantive IV with the Captain Antilles announcement and the Vader chase scene, so the Leia scene was unnecessary.

It was easily the worst thing about an otherwise fun movie. It was almost screaming that at some point after a test viewing, some brainless "supervisor" was saying "put more Star Wars stuff in it, people won't know its Star Wars otherwise." A: totally underestimating the average moviegoer (I hate it when movies talk down the audience so "everyone gets it"... if someone doesn't "get it" I don't care, leave that person behind and get on with the story.) And B: didn't realize that this movie was at its best when it wasn't being Star Wars. They were seeing if they could make a different kind of movie within the Star Wars Universe. What it didn't need was more "Star Wars stuff." It quite badly needed less.

 

[Saelune]

While I immediately noticed it, and felt he clearly looked like a cartoon, I also wasnt really bothered by it. I had a laugh but otherwise enjoyed the movie.

I just think it is a trivial complaint compared to well, the mess that is The Force Awakens. Bad CGI > Bad Writing. If only bad CGI was the sole thing wrong with say, The Phantom Menace, a better world it would be.

 

[Neurotic Void Melody]

You don't need to justify yourself to me, Disney. At least you didn't hire a load of heavyweight actors for name alone, then thrust the worst script they've ever had the displeasure to act out on. Also it's a fairly nice way of tributing the late actor/s I think. Much more difficult and time consuming than a painting while adding purpose to their modernised reimagining. Would be so weird yet kinda cool if somebody did it for me after I die of a glorious space-related death. I would personally feel a bit of a **** critisicing a passed away entertainer's tribute role for not entertaining me in the specific standard i expect from normal actors, considering the clear effort, love and attention to detail implemented. But that's just my stupid oversensitive self-hating self-"critical" self. Also, haven't seen the film yet, nor care wildly about the IP in general or how they decide to taint it with CGI, so this opinion counts for shit-all. Just don't quite see the problem to be had really.

 

[dreng3]

I enjoyed the movie and Tarkin didn't strike me as overly strange, so I'm good with him, I was however screaming "Don't turn around" inside my head when Leia showed up. I'm a big fan of Less is More, so I'd rather have seen the iconic white outfit from behind and then faded out or cut to another scene, no need to show her face, though the CGI wasn't too bad.

 

[Metalrocks]

it didnt bother me. i understood why they have done it. it was well used and pretty well done. these cry babies just needed to cry about nothing again because thats all they can do. just simple low life imbeciles SJW who have lost moral a long time ago.

 

[JimB]

I don't object to the CGI. I don't think it worked, in that every time Tarkin's mouth moved I thought of the skin textures on King Harold from Shrek 2, but whatever, it's not a big deal. No, Mr. Bogos, where I disagree with you is the argument that the CGI is the weak point rather than the meaningless cameos crammed in. Rogue One is such a smartly constructed movie, and they chose to drag that down by cramming in pointless appearances by Pignose and Walrusmouth? Who demanded that?

 

[Czann]

Looking pretty good. Besides if the actor is dead or old what else can you do? Make up some convoluted reason why they couldn't be there? That's much, much worse.

 

[LTD]

While the technology is definitely improving (Everytime Clu was on screen in Tron, I couldn't help but think of Prince Charming from the Shrek movies), I couldn't get past the uncanny valley effect in Rogue One; for the first couple of scenes with Tarkin I kept examining him, trying to see if it was CGI or a different actor. Very distracting.

Just cast a new actor who looks the part and move on.

I didn't mind young Leia so much, as she was only on screen for a second.

 

[Glongpre]

Am I the only one who thought Leia looked weird? I was immediately struck by it. Threw me for a loop, like her eyes were too high on her forehead or something.

Tarkin I had no problem with, and it is pretty impressive what they can do with animation now.

 

[Pyrian]

It's so easy to "notice" the CGI when you already know that it's CGI...

 

[Scarim Coral]

Like I said in another thread, it never bother me but in saying so I was paying attention to their facial details in the first place. Still I agreed with them that if he was absent throughtout the film, I would had asked why he wasn't in it?

 

[KissingSunlight]

I am not against technology. I am for smart use of technology. It wasn't necessary to do CGI Tarkin. Just hired an actor to portray him. I didn't really care or noticed the other CGI cameos in the movie other than Princess Leia. Even there, why couldn't you hire a young actress to say those few lines? She could even hint at a possible Princess Leia solo movie.

I think Hollywood is heading to The Congress. There was an imaginative movie released couple of years back called The Congress. It starred Robin Wright as herself. She is pondering an offer to sell her image to a studio. So, they can use it in whatever context they want to use.

 

[Sheo_Dagana]

The CGI for Tarkin just looked off... mostly in the way his mouth moved when he spoke. It looked like a CGI cartoon character. The human mouth just doesn't quite move that fluidly when speaking, and that was the thing that kept throwing me off in each scene he was in. It was distinctly notable (to me) because he was talking to real people and it kept taking me out of it, which was kind of what happened with the prequels for me. The hologram would likely have worked better, but in the context of the narrative, it makes more sense for Tarkin to be there in person.

Also, was Vader CGI? There was something off about his look... the neck piece of the helmet and the cape... I dunno how to describe it. It was crazy to realize I hadn't heard James Earl Jones as Darth Vader in 11 years, and the last time I heard it I was too busy laughing to pay attention.

 

[Chewster]

I thought they both looked pretty damn good. It didn't really occur to me that it was CGI until I read more into it. On a second watch I'm sure the "fakeness" might be more apparent, but for a first impression, it wasn't bad.

This is ultimately the problem with many things in films. The initial viewing, it's easy to overlook mistakes but upon repeat viewings, bad or awkward CGI becomes obvious and taking us out of the moment is the opposite of good cinema (maybe). Anyway, the tech isn't quite there yet so I'm predicting a few more years of somewhat awkward looking young Anthony Hopkins [http://i.imgur.com/Gf4d7uW.jpg] before we get comfortable with it.

As far as the ethical implications...I don't know. Getting permission from the estate of the deceased is not quite the same as getting it from the person themselves. It seems reasonable in the case of reusing a work someone has created (someone used LoTR as an example) but it's a lot more personal when it's using the actual person. I mean, let's face it. How long until we have Humphrey Bogart selling us stuff on TV?

I kind of lean toward letting the dead rest. Find another creative way to work it out.