What Special Effects Have Been the Worst in the Last 25 Years (28 photos)

We've recalled the most striking visual failures in 21st-century films and selected the most egregious from each year. This century is considered the century of new technologies, which for the film industry means a shift from practical effects to graphic 3D effects. This means from on-screen magic created with rubber, tape, and glue, or real explosions risking the lives of the entire crew, to the work of a few talented IT specialists. But do the latter always pull it off beautifully? Oh, no...

Even in the 2020s, big-budget films managed to disgrace the world with their lackluster visuals—what can we say about the 2000s? Well, here we go. Let's go in order, from 2001 to 2025.

2001 — The Scorpion King





Movie: The Mummy Returns

It just so happens that Dwayne Johnson is the champion of CGI mishaps. He also makes a hilariously poorly animated appearance here, and we'll see him again later.

2002 — Agent 007's Surfing







Film: Die Another Day

It feels like this scene isn't from 2002, but from some Alfred Hitchcock-era film where the actors starred Against a large screen with a pre-shot background.

2003 — a fight with multiple Agent Smiths



Film: The Matrix Reloaded

As visually stunning as the first "Matrix" was, some scenes in the sequel are just as horrific. The idea with the Smiths is cool and ambitious, but the Wachowskis relied too much on animation, which failed to deliver. As a result, the real Reeves and Weaving were replaced with poorly drawn models, and in places the scene looks like a cutscene from a video game.

2004 – Cartoon Characters Created with Motion Capture



Movie: The Polar Express

We didn't include animated films on this list, but this one is a special case, as this Robert Zemeckis project was created using technology whereby all the characters' movements were digitally captured by real people. Therein lies the problem. Just look at the resulting nightmare: this interim stage between poor animation and real people's facial expressions is eerie to watch – the uncanny valley par excellence. And the idea that half the characters look like Tom Hanks only makes matters worse.

In theory, it was an interesting experiment for its time, but it was considered a failure not only now, more than 20 years later, but also in the year of its release. It's obvious.

2005 – a busy street from 2055



Film: A Sound of Thunder

Again, like something out of an old video game. This backdrop looks especially funny when the characters are walking. The magnificent futuristic cars aren't so bad, but you should see the dinosaurs in this film.

2006 — Motorcycle Scene



Film: Ultraviolet

This colorful action film has a few stylish scenes, but overall, it's an answer to the question of whether it's even possible to film everything against a green screen. In 2006. And the action-packed scene with Jovovich's character riding a motorcycle feels like a parody of badness.

2007 — Zombies



Movie: I Am Legend

Not only did the filmmakers screw up the ending, but they also portrayed the zombies so clumsily that it's unclear whether this is a movie or, guess what, a cutscene from a game based on the movie.

2008 — Aliens



Movie: Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

Sorry for the spoilers, but firstly... aliens in an Indiana Jones movie?! Secondly, what kind of rubber nightmare is this?

2009 — Wolverine's Claws



Movie: X-Men Origins: Wolverine Wolverine

Just look at the Photoshop skills of the people at 20th Century Fox. Everything else was pretty good, but what happened to the department responsible for those blades?

2010 — Birds





Film: Birdcalypse: Shock and Awe

This is a case where a low-budget film became famous solely because of its absurdly bad special effects. The creators literally superimposed two-dimensional birds from late 20th-century video games onto actors who (rather poorly) feigned suffering.

2011 — Green Lantern costume



Movie: Green Lantern

This section can include any special effects from Green Lantern that feature a green glow.

2012 — CGI Baby



Film: The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn — Part 2

Really. They decided not to use a real baby and created one on a computer.

2013 — Sharks



Movie: Sharknado

It's pretty much the same as "Birdcalypse," except the budget was a bit higher. But the film's concept itself is so absurd that it was very difficult to pull off visually.

2014 — Faces of the Elven Army



Film: The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies

Yes, they're lazily drawn and look absolutely identical. Also, don't they remind you of a young Tom Hanks? Feel a connection to The Polar Express?

2015 — Arnold Schwarzenegger



Movie: Terminator Genisys

The meeting between the aged T-800 (how could it even age by human standards?) and its younger counterpart sounds like an interesting idea, but in the end, both characters in the frame looked nothing like the cyborg from the first installments. The real actor had aged, and his CGI counterpart looked ridiculous.

2016 — The Minotaur Scene



Movie: Gods of Egypt

The minotaurs here look like they were pulled straight out of an old stop-motion King Kong film. And the film had a whopping budget — $140 million.

2017 — Superman's Mustache



Movie: Justice League

Iconic mustache! Due to filming Mission: Impossible – Fallout, where Cavill had to wear a full mustache, he couldn't part with it for additional scenes as Superman in Justice League. The decision was made to film with the mustache, which was later to be erased by the graphics team.

Oh, how they erased it! They erased it so well that everyone still laughs about it. The edit distorted Cavill's face somewhat, creating a unique version of the uncanny valley effect that a real person would produce.

2018 — T'Challa vs. Killmonger fight



Movie: Black Panther

Why they had to move the final battle to the Wakandan subway, where everything was drenched in poor graphics, is unclear.

2019 — Cats design/ young Will Smith





Movies: Cats/ Gemini Man

We understand everything about "Cats," but how could we forget the breakthrough facial rejuvenation technology used in the film "Gemini Man"? See how brilliantly it works.

2020 — alleged meeting with Tom Hanks in Sydney



Movie: Borat 2

Look, that famous opera house is right behind them. Yeah.

2021 — Bull Scene



Film: Red Notice

This scene was filmed so fake that it wouldn't be surprising if not only the bull, the audience, and the arena itself were fake, but Reynolds and Johnson were filmed on different days and then spliced ​​together.

2022 — A Skinny Rock



Movie: Black Adam

By the way, it's been a while since The Rock was around. Just look how funny the filmmakers slapped Dwayne's head onto someone's unmuscled body. The proportions are noticeably off, though.

2023 — Supermen from Other Universes



Movie: The Flash

In one scene, we were shown actors who had played (or could have played) the superhero in the past. Nicolas Cage, Christopher Reeve (who died in 2004), and Helen Slater are portrayed as poorly as possible. Perhaps that was the intention, but what did it symbolize?

2024 – a revived Ian Holm



Film: Alien: Romulus

Everything about this film is good: the suspense, the story, and the characters. But why did the creators feel compelled to resurrect the android Ash and the actor who played him, who died in 2020? The end result is a picture that feels like it's taken us back to the 2000s.

2025 – a child and a CGI environment



Film: Fantastic Four: First Steps

This time, the child on set was real, but some of his co-stars were not. Therefore, many viewers thought the child was a cartoon, as he dangled so comically in space at times.

I wonder what funniest and most ridiculous special effect 2026 has in store for us. We'll keep you posted.