Not to beat a dead horse, but ...
Christopher Nolan is a champion of practical special effects. There’s literally no CGI in The Darin Knight. None. That hospital? THEY ACTUALLY BLEW UP A HOSPITAL. It was a one-shot deal. And what’s interesting is that Heath Ledger walks away form the building with this explosion happening right behind him, and he *doesn't look back.* There’s an alternate take that’s even longer than the one in the film, and he just walks away, gets on a bus, sits on the bus with an explosion happening outside the window, and still just stares directly ahead.
Most expensive, biggest shot of the film, and he missed it... for the role.
Also all the fighting and shit is real fighting and shit. None of this Black Panther nonsense where it might as well be a cartoon (
and in five years will look like one). Real dudes in suits banging the hell out of each other. Better every time.
beat, beat, bitch
(Obviously Batman Begins has some CGI because of the hallucination sequences — the many, many hallucination sequences — but TDK is all real fuckin’ deal.
And yeah, Alien is and example of excellent practical effect use. Better than Covenant, I’m sure, and I haven’t even seen Covenenant.