Ok, so I’m not gonna watch this final trailer for Martin Scorsese’s highly anticipated mob movie “The Irishman.” Why? Well, because I am watching the damn thing tomorrow morning. No need to know more than I already know. Look for my review of “The Irishman” tomorrow at 8 pm EST which is when the embargo breaks.
Otherwise, you can all bask in the glory of newly released footage of a de-aged Robert De Niro, which is getting a mixed reaction from some fanboy circles (I guess they would know a thing or two about VFX). Collider’s Matt Goldberg quipped, “I know Netflix paid a lot of money for these VFX, but either the VFX house tasked with this work didn’t quite nail it, didn’t have enough time, or didn’t have enough manpower. Whatever the reason, these effects look bad, and it’s not like they’re going to look better when they’re in motion. It looks like someone made a simulated version of Robert De Niro to answer your questions about a murder in L.A. Noire.” Yikes.
What I do know is this, I was thoroughly impressed by the photos released yesterday by Netflix. Yeah, maybe young soldier De Niro did not necessarily look perfect, the other eras tackled looked good to me, but the real question remains as to whether or not this could be a distraction as you watch the movie. It’s not like digital de-aging is impossible. in Captain Marvel. a young Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury was an impressive feat. Michael Douglas in “Ant-Man” a little less so. The technology is still very young and it’ll probably take another few years before we can fully grasp just how humane we can make the de-aging look.