Director Quentin Tarantino is seen as one of the last remnants of the classic way of filmmaking in the present era. The Pulp Fiction director has immense respect for the classics and has created films that have already attained cult status.
Tarantino has been very vocal about the changing landscapes of cinema. As far as twenty years ago, Tarantino expressed his anger towards the overuse of CGI in films and predicted that they would be the end of cinema after watching the sequels for The Matrix.
Quentin Tarantino’s Opinion On The Matrix Films
Quentin Tarantino is often known as one of the last true filmmakers, along with directors such as Martin Scorsese and Christopher Nolan. The filmmaker had predicted as early as twenty years ago the inculcation of VFX and CGI in present-day films.
Tarantino has been very vocal about his love for The Matrix and has described the energy of the opening night when he watched the film. He told in an interview (via Far Out Magazine),
“I saw the evening show [of The Matrix] at the Chinese theatre on the Friday that it opened… I remember the place was jam-packed and there was a real electricity in the air…We don’t really know what’s going to happen and then THAT movie happens. It was a profound experience and I had enough foresight to put the thoughts together before the lights went down.”
After watching Keanu Reeves’ The Matrix sequels, however, the filmmaker angrily expressed his disdain for the excessive use of CGI. He told Empire,
“You know, my guys are all real. There’s no computer f*cking around. I’m sick to death of all that sh*t. This is old school with f*cking cameras. If I’d wanted all that computer game bullsh*t, I’d have gone home and stuck my di*k in my Nintendo.”
Tarantino might be referring to the battle between Keanu Reeves’ Neo and a hoard of Agent Smiths that is recreated with CGI. The Matrix films are known for their pioneering use of VFX and CGI which redefined the way they were used in films. In fact, it became their own bane in the sequels as the excessive use was not as appreciated as the original.
Was Quentin Tarantino Right About The Use Of CGI In Cinema?
In a way, Quentin Tarantino did predict the incredible way in which Hollywood uses VFX and CGI in its films. Marvel and DC films especially are notorious for their CGI-heavy third acts which have recently come under fire from fans. With the emergence of AI being integrated into the workflow, the use of post-production techniques to create a film is only about to increase.
While Tarantino was a huge fan of the first Matrix, he expressed a grim future for the film industry after watching the sequels. He predicted in 2003,
“This CGI bullsh*t is the death knell of cinema. Movies are far too f*cking expensive at the moment and it’s killing the f*cking art form. The way it’s going, in ten year’s time it will officially be killed.”
Cut to the 2020s and films with heavy use of CGI and VFX are reigning over the industry. Films such as Avengers and Justice League have had budgets that run up to $400 million. Studios have lost money due to films like The Flash, which was criticized for its overreliance on CGI. However, films such as Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer, which famously used in-camera practical effects, earning over $942 million globally are encouraging and might just prove Quentin Tarantino wrong.
