The Overly Expendables

For a while now, people have speculated that digital special effects have hurt movies. Sure, they've allowed for much better effects, but the problem is that it's now so easy to throw together a visually-impressive sci-fi/fantasy/superhero movie. It used to be that such movies were so difficult that the studios would put everything into them. Now, they're so common that Marvel was already advertising their next blockbuster before the current one even opens.

But I think it might actually be worse for TV ads. It used to be that special effects were out of the question for them, except the odd Superbowl spot. But now they can have effects well beyond movies of thirty years ago. And that's made them kind of lazy. Any old idea can be done pretty quickly and cheaply, so little thought or oversight is applied.

Of course, I'm thinking of that LG ad which takes place on a city street where everyone is played by Jason Statham. What the hell is that all about? I mean, normally I can understand the point any ad is making, however convoluted. For instance, several phone and insurance companies have started showing people doing fun or heartwarming things that have nothing to do with phones or insurance, and you just have to make the connection that their lives are so much more complete because of the money they saved on phones and insurance.

But long-haired Jason Statham dancing in the street while filmed by elderly Jason Statham in a cafe? Because someone, presumably Jason Statham, bought an LG phone? I've got no explanation, other than the idea that putting this commercial together is now so cheap that the whole project passed through the ad agency so quickly that no one stopped and said, huh? Normally I wouldn't criticize Statham, since I appreciate his bringing unprecedented masculinity to both baldness and the name "Jason." But this commercial is just weird.

I think it's just because ad agencies can brainstorm any old idea, then put it into practice so easily. Somebody watches The Transporter and Being John Malkovich in one night, follows that up with a three-martini lunch, and suddenly ad sounds like a good idea.

This wouldn't have happened in the eighties, simply because you wouldn't have been able to fund it unless it was a really brilliant idea.

"We'll have an army of Rambos, all played by Sylvester Stallone, and they'll be on a mission to find the beef that's missing from hamburgers. It'll cost $50 million."

"We'll give you enough for one old lady."