VFX artists are impressed by the visual effects in Jack the Giant Slayer. The 2013 film starring the DCU’s new Lex Luthor, Nicholas Hoult, and Star Wars‘ Ewan McGregor proved to be a box office bomb, only grossing $197 million after being made on a nearly $200 million budget. In a twist on the classic “Jack and the Beanstalk” fairy tale, the film revolves around Jack (Hoult) facing an army of terrifying giants after unintentionally opening a portal to their realm, and must work with allies to protect his kingdom from this threat.
In a video breaking down the visual effects in scenes featuring the formidable giants, Corridor Crew praised the authentic-looking speed and detail in Jack the Giant Slayer.
They noted that many onscreen monsters are often depicted in a slow-moving fashion, such as The Walking Dead‘s zombies, but that the giants’ speed in this film makes them refreshingly terrifying and entertaining to watch. Beyond the fear and entertainment value, they also highlighted the realism that this brings in imbuing the towering creatures with such speed. Check out their comments below:
It’s an example of how fast someone of that scale can be. The fidelity of the texture work on the hands and the knees, it’s like when it gets close, that detail is extreme, and that looks really, really good.
When they move quick, it’s just way better. It’s the same with zombies. When they stop being slow, they get way scarier. 65 giants, oh my God! That’s so sick! Conceptually, these fast-moving giants are something I would like to see more of.
Why Jack The Giant Slayer Didn’t Do Well Despite Its VFX
It Was Not Well-Received By Critics Or General Audiences
While Corridor Crew was impressed with Jack the Giant Slayer, the film struggled not only at the box office, but with critics and general audiences as well. It received a 52% critical score and a 55% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes. Critics actually took issue with the overemphasis on digital effects and that they failed to make up for a lackluster and forgettable story that could not be saved despite endearing performances from Hoult and the rest of the cast.
In addition to Nicholas Hoult and Ewan McGregor, the cast also included Stanley Tucci, Ian McShane, Bill Nighy, and Eleanor Tomlinson.
General audience reviews were only slightly more generous and featured more praise regarding the giants, the sense of adventure, and the darker spin on the familiar “Jack and the Beanstalk” fairy tale. Significant issues were still taken with the film’s script, though, with the dialogue and plot unable to hold up against the fantasy film’s visual spectacle. Jack the Giant Slayer proved that even with a star-studded cast, a big-budget, live-action new take on a classic fairy tale was not guaranteed to work well.
This was a disappointing result as only a few years earlier, in 2010, the live-action remake of Alice in Wonderland directed by Tim Burton made over $1 billion at the worldwide box office. Jack the Giant Slayer did not follow in these footsteps given its negative reception and woeful box office numbers. Nevertheless, some of the VFX still holds up a decade later, demonstrating that regardless of reception and box office results, Jack the Giant Slayer still has its own niche legacy.
Source: Corridor Crew (YouTube)
