King Kong & 9 Other Of The Best Motion Capture Performances

Special effects have come a long way, and today can bring even the wildest imaginings to life on the big screen. Surely the most special of all special effects has got to be motion capture. The infamous ping pong suit that so many actors have had to wear enables their moments and facial performance to be captured, and can then be used to bring to life characters never before possible.

From aliens to monsters, and everything in between, they have all been brought to life through this innovative technology. With this in mind here are the 10 best motion-capture performances.

10 King Kong

Andy Serkis had the almost impossible task of bringing the titular giant ape King Kong to life in the 2005 remake. And he did an amazing job. Combined with some of the best CGI the time had to offer, that still look spectacular today, King Kong is the star of the show.

Given no dialogue (obviously), Andy gives the terrifying monster all the personality he needs for audiences to love and root for him.

9 Smaug

The terrifying gold-hungry Dragon Smaug was brought to life by Benedict Cumberbatch in Peter Jackson’s Hobbit trilogy. Benedict’s vocal performance goes a long way to bring the monster to life, but more so it was his physical performance that proved the actor’s commitment to the character.

In the must-watch behind the scenes footage, he can be seen slithering and rolling around on the ground, quite literally throwing himself into the role of the legendary Smaug.

8 Rango

While not technically motion capture the new and innovative style of performance capture in Rango still deserves a mention. Dubbed ’emotion capture’ the animated Western was made in an innovative and unorthodox way.

Using physical sets the actors would act out every scene with one another, this footage was then used as a reference for the animation. The great thing about Rango’s approach is that it allowed the actors to play off one another, and as a result enabled them to give much more natural performances.

7 Jake Sully

Using groundbreaking technology Avatar went on to become a worldwide phenomenon and one of the biggest films of all time. The strange alien race known as the Na’vi, tall and a little cat-like would have been impossible to bring to life with traditional make-up.

Avatar was so far ahead of its time and pioneered many motion capture technologies that have gone on to become a standard place in the film industry. Avatar succeeded where so many films had failed before, such as the nightmarish Polar Express.

6 Hulk

After the mixed reception to the design of the 2008 Hulk in The Incredible Hulk, Marvel knew that for The Avengers to be a success they were going to have to nail Hulk the next time around. And that’s exactly what they did.

Hulk was a standout of the film, with many believing it to the best interpretation of the character. Hulk then went on to appear in many Marvel movies and was brought to life excellently by Mark Ruffalo.

5 Ultron

Though it has to be said that Avengers: Age of Ultron is something of a mixed bag of a movie, there’s no doubt that James Spader delivered an exceptional performance as the unhinged robot Ultron.

Moreso than his physical appearance it’s his voice that lends the character a unique sense of menace and intelligence that strays away from the synthesized cliched voice that so many evil robots seem to have.

4 Davy Jones

Back in the distant past of 2006 Pirates of the Caribean: Dead Man’s Chest stunned audiences with one of the greatest CGI creations they had ever seen. The squid faced sea captain looked simply incredible.

Everything from his photo-realistic slimy skin, to his many subtly moving tentacles. Davy Jones has so many fantastic details that are so easy to miss. Brought to life with an excellent performance by Bill Nighy he is unrecognizable in the role and transformed completely into Davy Jones.

3 Caeser

Andy Serkis delivered another excellent performance as Caeser, able to explore the character like never before as the protagonist across a trilogy.

The cutting edge technology combined with Andy’s performance not only allows audiences to connect to the ape but root for his success when he in direct conflict with people throughout the Planet of the Apes prequel trilogy. The performance is so good that Caeser is without a doubt the most Human character in the series.

2 Thanos

With years of expectations and hype around the MCU’s big bad to end all big bad’s, Josh Brolin had a tough task in bringing Thanos to life and delivering one of Marvel’s best villains. But that’s exactly what he did, and Thanos proved to be one of the greatest villains superhero movies had ever seen.

Josh Brolin’s Thanos was much more nuanced than other interpretations of the character. He was three dimensional, with humanity and logical goals, that from his perspective at least were noble.

1 Gollum

The king of motion capture Andy Serkis makes his third and greatest appearance on this list, with his most acclaimed creation of all, the deformed mad Hobbit, Gollum. The role required a great amount of physicality from Andy, with Gollum manically scurrying around on all fours.

But beyond the physical aspects of Gollum, it’s the voice that truly brings the character to life. His husky broken voice portrays Gollum not only a monster but a victim of the one ring’s alluring power.

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