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I finally had a break from work last weekend and planned to go to the cinema to watch a movie to relax.

My friend insisted that I go see Jackie Chan's new movie, "Legend".

Because there is an AI face-changing function in it, which fits my style as an AI blogger.

He also told me not to read any comments on Weibo, Zhihu, or Douban before going to the movie, saying there would be surprises and I should not be spoiled. I trusted my friend and bought the ticket.

The main thing is that they have two promotional points that really attracted me. One of them is a movie that uses AI face-changing technology to allow 27-year-old Jackie Chan to return to the big screen.

For example, in this picture they officially released, the one on the right is Jackie Chan after his face was replaced by AI.

Another thing is that this movie is a sequel to "The Myth" which was released 20 years ago.

You may not have seen the movie "The Myth", but you must have heard the theme song.

It is also my deepest memory from childhood.

So, I listened to my friend, bought the tickets, and went to the cinema.

However, after reading it, I sent a message to my friend:

你TM，！……&@&（！@………………）

Boring, really boring, every plot left me speechless. Especially the AI ​​face-changing, it was so annoying that it made me angry. It's 2024, and I can still see such rubbish on the screen.

"Legend" is the sister film of "The Myth" starring Jackie Chan and Kim Hee Sun in 2005. The story setting of both films is: a modern archaeologist connects with an ancient general through a dream and experiences a BE love story in ancient times.

Kim Hee Sun's beauty in "Myth" and the dancing scene were truly classics.

The modern plot of "Legend" is concentrated in the second half of the film, which is Jackie Chan's comfort zone of action comedy, with an elderly archaeology professor and the villain fighting for cultural relics.

The ancient plot line focuses on the use of AI face-changing, which is what I want to complain about the most.

In the ancient timeline, Jackie Chan's character is a general of the Han Dynasty, and he should be a young man, a few years older than Zhang Yixing's character.

I don’t know what the crew’s considerations were, but the final solution was to let actor Zheng Yecheng play the role of “Young Jackie Chan”, and then use AI to replace Jackie Chan’s young face onto Zheng Yecheng.

This operation... In short, the final effect makes me feel that they are selling feelings but don’t want to spend any money.

I guess the filmmakers themselves know that their AI face-changing effect is not good, and there are not many clips online that use the "AI version of Jackie Chan" in the movie for promotion. I will try my best to use words and existing pictures to complain about my feelings after watching it.

For example, this is the promotional video posted on the official Weibo account of the movie.

emmmm... just... how to say it.

Compared to the effects in the movie, the quality of the AI ​​face-changing in this promotional video is relatively stable, but it still looks fake.

I was extremely distracted by any scene in the film that featured AI Jackie Chan, which made the already flimsy plot and images even worse.

As soon as that AI face appeared, the stiff expression, the abrupt skin-smoothing effects and the subtly distracted eyes made me actually see the uncanny valley effect on a real person. I really don't know which makeshift team made this AI.

The effect of this AI face-changing is very not close to the face, and the details are handled very poorly. Whenever the shot is cut to the medium shot or above, AI Jackie Chan's face is very out of place compared with the characters next to him.

It seems that everyone is using 4K, but this AI face is 720P.

There is a very "hellish" scene in the plot. The ancient soldier played by Zhang Yixing died of injuries, and AI Jackie Chan should have cried sadly, but due to the poor face-changing effect, the AI ​​character not only had a sluggish look, but also looked away instead of at the corpse, and even maintained a weird smile on his lips.

This should have been a sentimental plot, but my friend who rarely saw the screen and I couldn't help laughing.

The purpose of using AI to change faces in the film is probably the same as having Kim Hee Sun only appear at the end of the film, to capitalize on gimmicks and sentiments.

It’s really abstract, so abstract that it’s like a grandma’s house.

To be honest, this is not the first time that AI has been used in film and television. A relatively recent example is The Wandering Earth 2, where Andy Lau and Wu Jing used AI to make them look younger. This is what Guo Fan often says: AI can make people look younger.

The voice restoration of Mr. Li Xuejian in "The Wandering Earth 2" was also done using AI.

Using AI to age a character is called "De-aging", which means digital age change. In fact, the underlying technology is Deepfake, which is the most commonly used AI face-changing technology.

Changing one's face is very simple, and there are countless of them on short video platforms. However, to make it worthy of the level of a movie and to be able to withstand the big screen, it is quite difficult.

In "The Wandering Earth 2 Movie Production Notes", visual effects supervisor and founder of MOREVFX Xu Jian wrote very detailed thoughts and answers.

Because AI will remove all the wrinkles on your face just like the skin smoothing in beauty photos, and then your face will have no details at all, and it will look fake, just like the AI ​​Jackie Chan in "Legend".

But real characters sometimes have injuries, scars, wrinkles, and expressions on their faces. So after the face is replaced, these details will actually be removed by AI, and can only be added back manually.

In order to ensure the effect and be responsible to the audience, they are pure."Artificial + Intelligence"。

They have to consider which wrinkles are caused by muscles and which are skin textures caused by age, and then redo them all little by little based on the AI ​​face-changing to achieve the best effect.

And it is actually much simpler to make people look younger, because you have a reference. But for example, Sha Yi's character needs to be made 30 years older. On this basis, in addition to the cooperation of the makeup department, they also have to study what changes will occur when people age, such as where the bones, collagen, and fat will decrease, and then make targeted adjustments to the character model, etc.

The end result is that AI helps the crew of "The Wandering Earth 2" complete 30% to 70% of the work in different shots, and the rest depends on manual adjustment by artists.

You see, how difficult it is.

However, compared with traditional makeup + special effects, the cost of digital age-changing AI technology is still much lower.

Therefore, the entire crew of "The Wandering Earth 2" tried their best to use AI to bring all the audiences a movie that is indistinguishable from reality and has an extremely immersive experience.

Let’s go back to “Legend”.

It is obvious at a glance that the de-aging Andy Lau's face is clear and consistent with the rest of the picture; while AI Jackie Chan's face is blurred and his facial features look like they were copied and pasted from a TV series in the 1980s.

For example, a shot in the trailer.

In the front and back shots of the same scene, Aarif Lee's face looks normal.

But when it comes to Jackie Chan, anyone with a little movie-watching experience can notice the unreasonable gloss on his face, and this problem is magnified several times on the big screen in the cinema.

Like sitting on pins and needles, like a thorn in the back, like a fishbone stuck in the throat.

There are endless complaints online about the AI ​​face-changing in "Legend".

The plot is not good enough, the sincerity is not enough, and it is not worth going to the cinema just to see "AI recreates the 27-year-old Jackie Chan".

At the same time, there is also controversy over the "AI stand-in". Actor Zheng Yecheng is almost Jackie Chan's AI stand-in in the film, but the actor is rarely seen in official publicity.

Is the AI ​​Jackie Chan role in the movie considered Zheng Yecheng’s performance or Jackie Chan’s performance?

As a film and television technology, AI face-changing can make up for many regrettable scenes and bring a better viewing experience to the audience at a lower cost.

But if AI is used just for gimmicks, or becomes a tool for 2.08w people to make money without performing,

Even if you create a beautiful face, it is just a painted skin without a soul.

Finally, don’t say that you owe Uncle Long a movie ticket, I’ve really bought enough this time.

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