In a striking critique from the film industry, a prominent Hollywood director has pointed the finger at Unreal Engine for the perceived deterioration in computer-generated imagery quality in modern movies. While the video game sector often hails Unreal Engine as a technological marvel, its adoption in cinema is being blamed for a significant regression in visual fidelity.
The Backwards Slide in Movie CGI
For years, audiences and critics have noted a decline in the quality of CGI in films, with older productions like Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest still outperforming many contemporary releases in terms of visual effects. Exceptions such as the Avatar series aside, numerous movies today are criticised for appearing as hazy, unconvincing messes, often attributed to overworked and underfunded effects studios. However, director Gore Verbinski offers a different explanation, singling out Unreal Engine as the primary culprit.
Unreal Engine's Evolution and Film Industry Adoption
Originally developed as a graphics engine for video games in the late 1990s, Unreal Engine gained widespread popularity with Unreal Engine 3 in 2006, becoming a staple for game developers. With the advent of Unreal Engine 4 and 5, its use expanded beyond gaming into television and film, initially for previsualisation and later for final effects shots. This shift was notably accelerated by its integration into the Volume technology, famously used in The Mandalorian series, and seen in films like The Matrix Resurrections and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania.
Verbinski's Critical Perspective
In a recent podcast interview, Verbinski, known for directing the first three Pirates of the Caribbean films and the animated feature Rango, argued that the incorporation of Unreal Engine into cinema has been detrimental. He described it as the 'greatest slip backwards' for the industry, replacing traditional software like Maya. Verbinski highlighted specific technical shortcomings, stating that Unreal Engine does not handle light rendering effectively, particularly in aspects such as subsurface scattering and skin reflection, leading to uncanny valley effects in creature animation.
Implications for the Film Industry
The irony of movie effects resembling the muddy browns and greys of the Xbox 360 era, when Unreal Engine began its dominance, is not lost on observers. Despite technological advancements, the average quality of movie CGI has arguably decreased over the past decade. Verbinski, who is promoting his new sci-fi film Good Luck, Have Fun, Don't Die after a near-decade hiatus, emphasises that the gaming aesthetic introduced by Unreal Engine is compromising cinematic standards. As Unreal Engine 6 looms on the horizon, set for release before the end of the decade, this debate underscores ongoing tensions between innovation and quality in visual effects.
