Whereas now lots of directors will use an awful CGI establisher for no other reason than they can. Gladiator I/II a perfect example of showing a b4/ after. The need to go ‘bigger’ means writing fight seqs with sharks / chimps / whatever - all seqs worse than the originals where that wasn’t an option

I get the sentiment - & those two examples are obviously absurd - but I think this kind of argument underplays how often stuff *is* ruined by using unnecessary VFX in sequences. Something like Dangerous Liasons (1988) was so effective at evoking a space without having to see it fully…