The Written Podcast: CGI (Titanic and the Justice League)

It has been pointed out on numerous occasions how the CGI in Justice League doesn’t quite live up to people’s expectations of 21st Century technology, when you have the likes of Ready Player One and, dare I say it, Avengers: Endgame. One comparison states that Steppenwolf is no better than a PS2 character. That metaphor has stuck with me and disallowed me from seeing the character any other way, because I still play a few PS2 games and, whilst they certainly set a new industry standard, they are nowhere near the photorealistic graphics we have on today’s consoles and PCs.

The PS2 hit the shops in 2000 and became the highest selling console of all time, with 3,800 games released. It was my first exploration in the gaming world, and the graphics were outstanding. When the console came out, I was six years old, so it is true when I say that I hadn’t seen anything like it before.

Nowadays, being 26, and able to play more mature games and watch more mature films, and have developed an awareness of CGI and whether it’s any good or not, if a game or film were to hit the market with graphics which can be associated with a console than came out 20 years ago, especially when it has been proven it’s possible to achieve a greater level of detail, it shouldn’t be a surprise when it receives a lot of criticism.

The day before writing this article, I watched a film that came out 23 years ago and became the highest grossing film of all time for 13 years before being dethroned by Avatar, which was directed by the same person as the previous record holder, James Cameron. I am, of course, talking about Titanic. I don’t think it’s necessary to tell anyone about the plot of Titanic, or give my opinion on whether Jack could have survived (even though Mythbusters proved that the door was absolutely big enough to fit them both); instead, I’m talking about the CGI. 23 years ago, or to put it in another way, in 1997, Titanic wowed audiences all over the world. Seeing the film from the perspective of someone who has watched multiple films with extraordinary CGI within, I was amazed to see how well Titanic’s CGI had held up. Sure, it’s had a few re-releases over the decades with a few touch-ups here and there, making the CGI much better compared to the original, or at least that’s what I have to assume as I haven’t actually seen any of the re-releases.

CGI in films have developed a new saying among audience members “you only notice bad CGI”, meaning if it’s good, you won’t even know that, that particular shot was entirely made or helped by a computer. There are plenty of practical effects throughout Titanic, but the seamless blend of practical and computer generated imagery makes James Cameron’s epic film almost ageless. Instead of touching up the already rendered images but instead create the entire film from scratch with up to date technology, then we would definitely see the difference, there’s no doubt about that. And what I mean by the previous sentence is those films that have been made with up to date technology is definitely noticeably different to those which were released some years ago, but Titanic still holds up. The CGI has remained remarkable that it can compete with today’s greats, even going toe to toe with some of the best PS2 games, and, to swing things back around to Justice League, laugh in its poorly rendered lips.

If Justice League had been released back in 1997, then it would have been seen as one of the greatest uses of computer technology in film, with a considerable amount of it being created on a computer. It probably would have broken a large number of records at the time of its release, but unfortunately, today’s standards have escalated by a large margin and a film that came out 23 years ago having better computer generated imagery than one that came out 3 years ago, that says more and in better ways than I can ever put it.

It’s been a long-time rumour, but it’s finally been confirmed that a Snyder Cut of Justice League will be released next year, and I, among many, have expressed excitement as it will hopefully strip away everything Joss Whedon had done, and an update on the CGI aspect of the film, making Steppenwolf looking like a PS4 or even PS5 character, rather than a PS2 one.

Thanks for reading

Antony Hudson

(TonyHadNouns)