People fixed The Mummy's 'worst CGI ever' and Dwayne Johnson owes them a debt of gratitude
Topics: Dwayne Johnson, Film and TV, Technology
Kit Roberts
Featured Image Credit: Universal/YouTube/Corridor Crew
Topics: Dwayne Johnson, Film and TV, Technology
A visual effects team on YouTube has recreated a well-known scene from iconic movie The Mummy Returns.
Firstly, let's set some ground rules. The first two Mummy films are basically cinematic masterpieces. I will not be taking questions.
The second of the two sees heroes Evie (Rachel Weisz) and Rick (Brendan Fraser) rescuing their son after he dons the Bracelet of Anubis, with their old enemy Imhotep (Arnold Vosloo) also seeking the bracelet.
However, one scene in The Mummy Returns always sticks out, and that's the entrance of Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson as the Scorpion King. The visual effects on the scene frequently make lists of the worst CGI of all time.
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As The Rock was still a professional wrestler at the time of filming, he wasn't able to provide enough reference footage for the digital artists, who then had to fill in the blanks for the final showdown.
Personally I think it just adds to the charm and nostalgia of the scene by invoking the video-game graphic quality of the early 2000s, but clearly I'm biased.
The team at Corridor Crew on YouTube decided that they would try to update the CGI to make it look, well, not like it did. It's a challenge to do as it's not like they'd be able to ring up The Rock and get him in to do some motion capture, so they had to work with what they had.
They began trying to make the CGI of The Rock's face a little clearer, as well as trying to make him match the setting and the look of the other characters.
They said: "This might seem like an impossible task at first, am I going to rebuild The Rock in CG? I could find a bunch of pictures and do photogrammetry and build his face, or have a secret Rock remodel!"
In the absence of The Rock himself, the team decided to create a deepfake of his face for the scene using shots from The Scorpion King movie as the base. This was perfect as it had The Rock in the same character, but in live action.
The end result honestly looks pretty good. The face does stick out from the rest of the shot a little, but improving the face alone did make the whole thing look much better.
As a fan of films though, the original does still have a certain charm. What can I say.
Anyway, it's now time to rewatch both these films with a glass of bourbon. And a shot of bourbon. And a bourbon chaser.