The idea of digitally rejuvenating an actor is relatively new. It’s only in the last 10-15 years that filmmakers have felt confident using it as a tool to show characters when they were much younger, and even then it wasn’t always completely convincing. Some viewers may believe they are seeing younger versions of the actors brought to life by computer-generated effects, while others may be able to see through cracks.
With news about the upcoming Indiana Jones 5a digital legacy version will be presented Harrison Ford, the topic of digital rejuvenation has become relevant again. All of the films below have used digital rejuvenation—some prominently, some briefly—with varying degrees of success. They are ranked from best to least stellar, showing the fine line between rejuvenation that viewers could be fooled into and rejuvenation that everyone who saw it couldn’t believe.
10/10 Blade Runner 2049 (2017)
Few sequels have had as many years between them and their previous film as Blade Runner and Blade Runner 2049. Anyone who has seen Blade Runner upon release and an instant fan, he had to wait 35 years for a sequel to finally see the light of day, but thankfully the wait was usually worth it.
Harrison Ford’s Deckard was brought back, but this time in a minor role, instead of being the main character as he was in the first film. Unlike Indiana Jones 5, he wasn’t rejuvenated here: it was the character Rachel, Deckard’s love interest from the first film, briefly returning as a clone. The effect works very well, thanks to the fact that it’s brief, shot in dim light, and is a digitally generated replica character, meaning that any unnatural or supernatural effect is tempered by the fact that the character himself isn’t a real person.
9/10 Captain Marvel (2019)
While Captain Marvel it may not be the most famous movie in the MCU, but it has some of the best special effects. This is due to the fact that it is set in the 1990s, where she introduces the title character and has her come into contact with Nick Fury and Agent Coulson, who are both about 25 years younger due to their appearances.
It could have gone wrong, especially since most viewers are familiar with how Samuel L. Jackson (Nick Fury) looked in the 1990s, and because Jackson himself turned 71 in 2019 and had to play someone in their 40s. The effects end up being surprisingly well done, with very few moments where they run the risk of becoming unconvincing, and the rejuvenation here is much stronger than any similar MCU attempts made before 2019.
8/10 “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” (2008)
It would be a disaster if the special effects in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button didn’t work the way it should. After all, the story of this film is about a man who ages backwards and therefore needs to be able to have Brad Pitt play this person convincingly through several stages of his life.
It was an ambitious venture to have a single actor play the main character rather than recast depending on which point in the story was being portrayed, but the acting paid off to a large extent. Makeup tends to work a little better than digital effects, i.e. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (ironically) getting a little old, but generally works well.
7/10 ‘Twins’ (2019)
Ang Lee made many great films in his career, winning two Best Director Oscars while the Best Picture Oscar still eludes him, but few of them count Gemini Man among his hits. Part of this may come down to an outlandish premise: this is a film that Will Smith fights with another, younger Will Smith, and the actor plays the main character and his younger clone.
Even if the movie isn’t a fling, the digital rejuvenation is pretty solid overall. It may be difficult for some viewers to ignore all this absurdity, but those who can will most likely be able to appreciate that the effects used to make the protagonist’s clone look younger than him (by rejuvenating Smith) are pretty good. .
6/10 ‘Irish’ (2019)
Irishman is a sad and uncompromisingly dark crime film that explores the moral cost of being an assassin and the regrets that come with age. It is notable for being about three and a half hours long and showcasing ambitious digital rejuvenation effects that are mainly used on Robert DeNiro character, which allowed him to play the main character of the film for several decades.
The effects aren’t overdone, meaning De Niro never looks decades younger; he mostly manages to play someone who is 10-20 years younger than his actual age, but not so much for scenes where he should probably be younger. That in one of these scenes he shows an unconvincing beating, and in another he sees himself being called a “child.” Joe Pesci character doesn’t really help the cause.
5/10 Captain America: Civil War (2016)
Admittedly, digital rejuvenation is not a huge part of Captain America: Civil War. The movie is too busy Avengers the film in all but the title is centered on a conflict that divides the Avengers in two: one faction sided with Tony Stark (Iron Man) and the other split with Steve Rogers (Captain America).
However, there is a brief flashback at the beginning of Stark having a flashback of his younger self interacting with his parents, and viewers momentarily see him 25 to 30 years younger than we’re used to. The effects themselves are useful, but certainly not great, and the brevity of the scene means that at least the effects aren’t too distracting.
4/10 The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (2013)
Flipping one book was not the best idea (hobbit), into a trilogy, but that’s what we got in 2012-2014. Given the relative brevity of the source material, additional characters and storylines needed to be added to complement films #2 and #3, and this could explain why Legolas entered the picture.
He did not appear in the book, but had a decent amount of screen time in the films, being involved in a rather lackluster love triangle, in addition to participating in numerous action scenes. The Orlando Bloom aged 10 years, elves should not grow old, and hobbit was a prequel trilogy, used digital rejuvenation, and while the effects aren’t always terrible, they look a bit off.
3/10 Terminator Genisys (2015)
Terminator The franchise has had a rocky history, with two great films followed by a string of sequels that garnered a much more mixed response. Terminator Genesis distinguished by the return Arnold Schwarzeneggerin the hope that its inclusion will revive interest after a very futuristic 2009. Terminator Rescuebut Genesis didn’t win.
He showed Gemini ManAn esque scene where a modern-day Schwarzenegger fought an older Schwarzenegger who was supposed to look like he did in the 1980s. The effect turned out to be too supernatural to be cool, giving fans of the franchise another reason not to be impressed with this fifth film in the series.
2/10 Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. Stories there was a cast filled with new and old characters. It was a prequel that took place before 1977. star Warsspending most of his time on the doomed characters who were instrumental in stealing the Death Star plans, and some familiar digitally recreated faces.
The effects used to recreate the villainous Grand Moff Tarkin were honestly quite good, but unfortunately the same cannot be said for the digital rejuvenation done to recreate Princess Leia in the film’s closing moments. It’s easy to see why they wanted her at the end of the movie, but the effects weren’t as strong as they should have been, leaving Leia looking distractingly unreal in what was supposed to be a touching ending.
1/10 X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009)
Most would agree that very little, if anything, X-Men Origins: Wolverine did well. Most consider it a low-end comic book film that tells an unnecessary and largely unsatisfying origin story for one of the most popular X-Men in the film series: The Wolverines.
At least towards the end of the movie, most X-Men fans have already checked, which means they will feel fine laughing at Professor Xavier digitally aged. It really doesn’t look right, and while the filmmakers thought fans would appreciate such a cameo, the way it turned out means that it probably would have been better if they had removed him from the film entirely.
Source: Collider
