Summary
- Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom’s trailer CGI has been compared to The Flash, raising concerns about the film’s visual effects quality.
- The Flash faced criticism for its use of CGI, particularly in the multiverse cameo sequence, which contributed to its box-office disappointment.
- While the trailer has raised some concerns, the rest of Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom’s visuals, including underwater creatures and battle scenes, appear to be stunning, and future DC projects shouldn’t have the same CGI issues.
Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom has not escaped the recent negative CGI trend that plagued the DCEU‘s The Flash in the eyes of many DC fans. While Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom‘s story seems very promising, with the movie featuring an expansive adventure led by brothers Aquaman and Orm against the villainous Black Manta, the first footage revealed from the film after a long time with no updates has caused some concerns to emerge. Aquaman’s story needs to take place underwater, and that’s where things get tricky.
On Twitter, several DC fans have begun to question if Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom is about to deliver the same low-level quality of CGI that Ezra Miller’s The Flash became infamous for. Those concerns were raised after the debut of Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom‘s trailer, which featured a couple of moments where the underwater scenes were not quite as good-looking as they should be, especially where characters’ faces — such as Jason Momoa’s Aquaman and Nicole Kidman’s Atlanna — are concerned. That led to comparisons being drawn between The Flash and Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom. Check out some reactions below:
@MyTimeToShineH claimed that there was a problem with the movie’s CGI.
@NoticiasGeekTV followed up, joking that the poor visual effects are because the “movie was shot from the POV” of The Flash.
@QgtharoninSaki is hoping that Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom‘s CGI is better than The Flash‘s.
@JBennettiano thinks Aquaman’s face looks eerily similar to The Flash‘s bad CGI.
@Gitsenberg says that is not the real Jason Momoa in the Aquaman sequel trailer, but rather “The Flash CGI Momoa.”
@PamelaIngold tries to give the movie the benefit of the doubt but calls out the bad CGI on Nicole Kidman’s Atlanna, saying, “this is “The Flash” all over again…“
Why Aquaman 2’s Trailer CGI Has Been Compared To The Flash
Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom‘s trailer CGI drew comparisons to The Flash due to the DCEU’s first solo adventure for Barry Allen becoming mostly known for its poor use of CGI throughout its run, but more importantly in the movie’s multiverse cameo sequence. Being a multiverse story, The Flash decided to bring in several heroes from past DC movies for a big cameo sequence that should have been one of the most positively talked about moments of the year; however, that was far from the case. Each one looked much worse than it should have.
The Flash brought back past DC actors — some deceased — via CGI models that looked quite bad. That obviously backfired, contributing to The Flash becoming a box-office disappointment. The Flash‘s poor CGI didn’t stop there, with there being multiple times throughout the movie — such as the infamous “Baby Shower” scene — where an uncanny valley feeling seeped in. The Flash‘s director claimed the bad CGI was intentional, with the world looking like that due to it being from The Flash’s point of view. With Aquaman and Atlanna’s faces looking uncanny in the Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom trailer, it is easy to see why comparisons to The Flash would be made.
Is DC Movie CGI Getting Worse?
While The Flash‘s subpar CGI and the weird-looking faces in the Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom trailer are not a good look for DC, there shouldn’t be any fears about future projects having bad VFX. The rest of the Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom trailer holds up pretty well, with underwater creatures and battle scenes looking stunning. Besides, despite not succeeding at the box office, DC’s other 2023 movies — Shazam! Fury of the Gods and Blue Beetle — didn’t have a CGI problem.
With James Gunn in charge of the upcoming DC Universe, there should be no reason for concern based on the quality of the CGI in his Guardians of the Galaxy movies at Marvel, as well as DC’s The Suicide Squad and the Peacemaker series. Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom still has three months to fix its CGI hiccups before the movie is released, so the possible negative DC trend that started with The Flash might be ending fast. Even if it does, a lot can be forgiven if the movie’s other elements hold up well.
Source: Several links seen above/Twitter
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