Top 20 Movie Scenes RUINED by Terrible CGI

“Gone in 60 Seconds” (2000)

Here’s a tip for future filmmakers - if you’re going to make a cool car movie, please use real cars. CGI car stunts never have been, and never will be, exciting. Take the awesome jump from “Gone in 60 Seconds,” which sees Nicolas Cage driving off a ramp and jumping numerous vehicles. This could have been a really cool Evel Knievel-type stunt, but it’s totally ruined by a weightless CG car that just kind of floats over the other vehicles. It’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.

“Terminator Genisys” (2015)

We can’t believe how badly the makers of “Terminator Genisys” messed this up. The concept of the Terminator fighting his past self from the first movie is infinitely cool. Too bad it’s ruined by some of the worst CG work in recent memory. We understand that having Arnold Schwarzenegger fight a younger version of himself would be incredibly difficult to pull off, but come on. This is just laughable. The younger T-800 looks awful, with his textures appearing way too smooth and waxy. Points for the ambition, but ambition only gets you so far.

“Tron: Legacy” (2010)

De-aging effects are still very iffy, never mind back in 2010 when the concept was still in its infancy. Jeff Bridges plays both Kevin Flynn and Clu, requiring the use of significant de-aging effects and placing his face on another person’s body. The results were about as artificial as Tron itself. Young Bridges would have fit right at home in a video game, and absolutely no one would have complained. But as this was supposed to look real. As he was sharing the screen with real actors, he came across as way too digital. His face never looked quite right with the floaty-head effect being perpetually distracting. Loved the concept, hated the execution.

“Spawn” (1997)

Going to Hell is always fun. In movies! It allows the filmmakers incredible creativity, and we love seeing what their imaginations conjure. But we hated this. In the climax of “Spawn,” both the titular hero and Cogliostro are sent to Hell, where they confront the giant demon Malebolgia. Neither the demon nor Hell itself looks particularly good. The visual effects are very janky and they never combine to create a convincing depiction of the underworld. Copy and pasted JPEG soldiers, floaty animation, bad textures - all are present and accounted for. Yes, this was 1997, so we can’t be too harsh, but CG clearly wasn’t there yet.

“Justice League” (2017)

Let’s be honest - this was a mess of a movie from beginning to end. Literally. It started with the infamous Henry Cavill mustache fiasco and ended with perhaps the worst climactic battle in the history of superhero cinema. This really could have been a thing to behold, similar to what the prior two “Avengers” films had accomplished. But it looked no better than a B-movie you’d find on the Syfy channel. Character models are wonky and computerized, Steppenwolf looks like a video game monster, and the green screen work is just amateurish. Apparently this was the result of a messy shooting schedule, but this is your big movie, Warner Bros. Give it the time and care that it deserves… with Zack Snyder at the helm!

“Green Lantern” (2011)

It’s amazing to think that “Green Lantern” came out in 2011, not 2001. With Ryan Reynolds and some fun sci-fi concepts, this movie could have been a winner. Instead, it’s widely reviled as one of the worst superhero movies ever made. A large point of contention is the physical design of Green Lantern himself, who comes equipped with a digital suit and mask. Reynolds told Empire that they wanted to use a CG suit to reflect its alien and otherworldly origins. We get it, and it could have worked with a more careful approach. But the effects didn’t turn out, and every single scene involving the superhero was an exercise in distraction.

“Blade II” (2002)

Two ninja vampires break into Blade’s compound and get into a brief sword fight with the deadly Daywalker. The fight looks awesome when done practically, but the problem comes when the vampires perform superhuman feats, like moving with great speed or jumping high into the air. Unfortunately, all the hard work of the stunt performers and choreographers is for naught, as the scene is now widely maligned for its poor CGI. The superhuman stunts look ridiculous and contrast very poorly when they’re edited together with the real performers. Even Guillermo del Toro hates how this turned out and criticizes the scene’s visual effects in the DVD commentary.

“Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope” (1977)

How cool would it have been if Jabba the Hutt was seamlessly integrated into “A New Hope?” It would have been a great bit of fan service, strengthening the trilogy’s sense of continuity. “A New Hope” was going to feature a scene between Han and Jabba at the docking bay, but this was cut for time and budgetary reasons. George Lucas re-inserted the scene for the 1997 Special Edition, using CGI to portray Jabba rather than a practical model as seen in “Return.” The results were staggeringly bad and the scene was widely criticized. This is one of the earliest examples of a talking CG character, and yeah, we can tell.

“Ghost Rider” (2007)

A man’s head starts smoking, fire erupts from his skin and eyes, and he turns into a flaming skull. How awesome would that have looked with good CGI? Unfortunately, “Ghost Rider” does not have good CGI. The starting stages look decent enough. Nicolas Cage certainly sells it with his wild, Cage-ian screams of agony. But the flaming skull does not work in the least, with poor textures and a wonky integration with the torso. The transformation is also constantly interrupted with stock fireball effects, supposedly done to avoid an R rating. The result is a mess of a scene, a poorly-edited disaster with C-grade special effects.

“The Matrix Reloaded” (2003)

It’s arguably one of the most ambitious fight scenes ever conceived - Neo, at full Neo God power, fights dozens of Agent Smiths and does a lot of cool, superhuman things in the process. The scene was actually considered too ambitious at first, and the visual effects team thought it would be almost impossible to create. They eventually figured it out, using a virtual camera, entirely CG settings, and many digital characters. Millions of dollars and untold hours were pumped into this scene, which is a shame because the results are more than questionable. The fight definitely works at first, but it eventually devolves into CG nonsense, complete with rubbery, digital characters who don’t look remotely real.

“X-Men Origins: Wolverine” (2009)

The adamantium claws are a huge aspect of Wolverine’s character. In fact, it’s probably the most important one. So you have to get it right. Believe it or not, they looked way better in a movie that was released nearly ten years earlier than they did in “Origins.” The story goes that the prop claws did not look right on camera. So, the VFX team was forced to hastily throw together some CG claws. The results were widely derided and mocked, even by the most ardent “X-Men” fans. The worst example can be found in the infamous bathroom scene, with the claws looking like they were rendered from a Nintendo 64.

“Alien 3” (1992)

David Fincher wants nothing to do with “Alien 3” and has since told The Guardian, “No one hates it more than me.” Its flaws are many, up to and including the janky visual effects. This is especially egregious coming on the heels of “Aliens,” which set a new benchmark for practical effects. Fincher made the alien with a combination of CGI and puppetry, but the results paled in comparison to what came before. This is evident in the otherwise stellar corridor chase. The scene is effective until the alien shows up when all tension is sucked away thanks to poor compositing and bad color correction. It has so obviously been superimposed into the live-action footage and couldn’t look more ridiculous.

“Air Force One” (1997)

How did “Air Force One” come out the same year as “Titanic?” James Cameron just can’t stop showing them how it’s done. While “Titanic” revolutionized the use of CGI, “Air Force One” contains one of the worst examples of its integration. In what should be a stellar and exciting sequence, the titular plane goes down and crashes into the ocean. Instead of a jaw-dropping crash, we’re treated to a CGI mess that looks absurd and ruins any sense of drama the scene is trying to create. The model looks painfully flat, moving in a weightless, unrealistic manner while sending fake bits of debris hurtling toward the camera. Nothing about it is convincing.

“The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen” (2003)

A bad guy named Dante drinks Dr. Jekyll’s transformation serum, turning himself into the massive and frightening Dante Beast. The introduction of the monster is ripped straight from the horror movie playbook, complete with thundering booms, an inhuman claw emerging from around the corner, and finally, the reveal itself, complete with a bloodcurdling roar. This is effective stuff and always has been. Unfortunately, the reveal is completely ruined by the subpar CGI. The monster’s design is certainly creative, but the horrible texturing and lighting ruin any sense of fear that he might elicit in the viewer. If there’s one thing he’s eliciting, it’s laughter.

“Black Panther” (2018)

Superhero movies need to end with a bang. While “Black Panther” did a lot of things right, its climactic battle was not one of them. With both donning fancy nanotech suits, T’Challa and Killmonger fight inside Wakanda’s huge and seemingly endless vibranium mine. This would have made for a jaw-dropping spectacle if the visual effects had been adequately completed. As it is, it looks like a cutscene from a PS2 video game. There is little to recommend about this fight - not the animation, not the life-like visuals, and not the setting, which looks far too artificial to mine any sense of wonder. It’s certainly one of the MCU’s weaker efforts.

“The Flash” (2023)

2023 was the year of terrible-looking superhero movies. “The Flash” was arguably the biggest offender, as some otherwise fun and creative scenes were ruined by appalling CGI. Like bringing a ton of dead actors back to life for some postmortem cameos. A good idea in theory, and one that could have got the tears flowing if delicately and respectfully handled. Well, we saw how that went. Frankly, these are some of the worst-looking CGI humans we’ve ever seen - poorly detailed and inhumanely waxy, like Madame Tussaud figures brought to life. We’re clearly still not there in making digital counterparts of real people.

“Die Another Day” (2002)

And here we come to the scene that nearly killed James Bond. By the time “Die Another Day” rolled around, even the producers realized they had gone too far and performed a hard reboot with “Casino Royale.” It’s mostly thanks to nonsensical stuff like this. Bond surfing on a giant tidal wave created by a melting glacier after it was blasted by a satellite harnessing solar energy is stretching the limits of credulity. But sure, we could have bought it. Bond isn’t exactly known for its grounded realism. Unfortunately, the CGI is agonizing, with heinous texturing and some of the worst green screen work in a major blockbuster. We’ve seen made-for-TV movies that look better than this.

“Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” (2008)

Aliens are Steven Spielberg’s bread and butter. We don’t know what went wrong here. The very concept of aliens in an “Indiana Jones” movie is divisive, with some thinking it was a welcome addition to the mythical saga while others thought a hard sci-fi approach was inappropriate. Even the fans who welcomed the addition of extraterrestrials left disappointed after seeing how they turned out. What could have been an awe-inspiring scene among Spielberg’s best was ruined by a derivative alien design, bad green screen work, and the usual sin of throwing a bunch swirling beams on the screen. It’s kinda sad when the 30-years-older “Close Encounters” looks better than this.

“I Am Legend” (2007)

It doesn’t matter if you’re watching the theatrical ending or the director’s cut - both are impacted by poor CGI, and both have lessened emotional power because of it. The theatrical ending is quite fierce and antagonistic, with the vampires feeling rage and attempting to kill Neville. The director’s cut is far more pensive and emotional, with the head vampire showing what appears to be fear and taking the test subject home. No matter what ending you watch, both are tarnished by the sloppy CGI work on the vampires. This is a problem throughout the entire film, but it becomes painfully noticeable once they are required to show emotion and humanistic tendencies.

“The Mummy Returns” (2001)

If it was done well, the climax involving the Scorpion King could have been one of the coolest sequences in movie history. As it is, it’s one of the most widely derided. All the ingredients are there for a perfect introduction, from the dramatic door opening to the slow emergence of the giant scorpion from the shadows. Unfortunately, all drama and sense of wonder are instantly evaporated once we see the farcical CG face of Dwayne Johnson. As we’ve learned throughout this list, making CG human faces is unbelievably difficult, even now. Doing this in 2001 was magnificently ambitious, maybe naively so. So yes, it was a big swing, but unfortunately, also a historic miss.