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Okay, I'll be blunt here, I'm pretty sure that there's a "good" reason why there isn't already a topic for this winter's blockbuster.
Or not, I'm pretty a good portion of you are avoiding this movie like the plague because its so overhyped. Which I can understand; too much hype has made me avoid some shows, movies and games altogether. However, if you're a fan of simply having a great time at the movies, then you'll probably enjoy this movie.
Well then, let me get started with the main reason I'm writing this topic; to discuss what you either liked, disliked, hated, or loved about this movie. I for one just came back from a "late" showing, and, well, I loved it. I have to say, the concept is pretty interesting, but it works for what it is. Honestly though, the real reason you're probably going to see is because of the CGI, and trust me, you won't be disappointed.
I don't want to give away too much of the plot (yes, there is a plot. It's not deep, twisted and convoluted, but it does indeed work for what it's attempting to do. And that's just fine by me. I'm sure people are going to find something to complain about, but I enjoyed the experience, and am only disappointed that I could see it in 3D).
(able to type this on my dad's computer... *sigh* I won't be on here often, that's for sure).
im seeing it some time between tomorrow and after Christmas. becuase its James Cameron, its a basically requirement for me. the sad thing about this is ive known about this movie for about 2 years.
Luckily, Avatar does live up to the hype. The pacing is consistent all the way through, and it doesn’t have an unnecessarily long intro, it’s literally like a few shots in space and you’re on Pandora, so it’s not like the first 15 minutes of Cloverfield or the first hour of the newest King Kong when you feel like skipping the setting of the scene. It’s a long film but you hardly notice since the quality keeps you mesmerised, even at about 2 hours 45 minutes. 3D is a bit of a stupid novelty at times, too much of a gimmick, but Avatar is worth seeing in 3D, the depth of the scenes immerse you, especially in the forest scenes that actually make you feel like you’re right behind them in the bush.
My only real complaint, which isn’t enough to tarnish my enjoyment, is that the entire plotline is in the trailers. Literally as simple as, we go to Pandora to mine this expensive mineral, the natives don’t approve, so everyone fights. For such a lengthy, expensive, amazing film, I just would have appreciated a bit more something, not substance, it already had plenty, but more to mull over. Some may interpret this as a positive, but I found the references to Earth to be too vague instead of suspenseful. Certain comments painted an image of what we’d done to our planet in 145 years, but some visuals would force more of a reaction, although I suppose that would give the human invaders some sympathy. Avatar’s charm outweighs any issues, I’m glad it didn’t become over complicated and convoluted, but in saying that, the storyline was slightly too standard and predictable, so may be it would have a greater impact if it didn’t seem such a casual affair. It was basically Independence Day in reverse, but without the hostility and high tech weaponry.
Luckily, Avatar does live up to the hype. The pacing is consistent all the way through, and it doesn’t have an unnecessarily long intro, it’s literally like a few shots in space and you’re on Pandora, so it’s not like the first 15 minutes of Cloverfield or the first hour of the newest King Kong when you feel like skipping the setting of the scene. It’s a long film but you hardly notice since the quality keeps you mesmerised, even at about 2 hours 45 minutes. 3D is a bit of a stupid novelty at times, too much of a gimmick, but Avatar is worth seeing in 3D, the depth of the scenes immerse you, especially in the forest scenes that actually make you feel like you’re right behind them in the bush.
My only real complaint, which isn’t enough to tarnish my enjoyment, is that the entire plotline is in the trailers. Literally as simple as, we go to Pandora to mine this expensive mineral, the natives don’t approve, so everyone fights. For such a lengthy, expensive, amazing film, I just would have appreciated a bit more something, not substance, it already had plenty, but more to mull over. Some may interpret this as a positive, but I found the references to Earth to be too vague instead of suspenseful. Certain comments painted an image of what we’d done to our planet in 145 years, but some visuals would force more of a reaction, although I suppose that would give the human invaders some sympathy. Avatar’s charm outweighs any issues, I’m glad it didn’t become over complicated and convoluted, but in saying that, the storyline was slightly too standard and predictable, so may be it would have a greater impact if it didn’t seem such a casual affair. It was basically Independence Day in reverse, but without the hostility and high tech weaponry.
The CG here, especially when seen in IMAX or RealD, is unmatched, by any film ever made in the history of human civilization.
Really its that good, will this change the face of Cinema as people are saying? No, not yet anyways, this movie cost 400 million to make making it the most expensive movie ever made so people are going to have to wait till the price is lower for this to be standard.
Oh, and the characters god the characters, they are all CG but you feel for them, they all look real, they got them right they don't look fake at all, I mean to a certain extent they do, but they look real within the confines of their world.
Their eyes, they've gotten them right this time. Pandora is a world. (moon) that is full realized, after spending a Decade learning, and watching ecosystems people like you and me only ever read about he's designed a whole new world that makes SENSE.
For example, Pandora is a moon, which means its primary source of light is it's planet, which reflects light from the sun. But this also means, that Pandora has to be really close to its planet, which means that a day on Pandora is like and hour long, so a lot of the creatures are Bioluminescent, (the light up in the dark) This is worth the price of admission even if your paying just for the effects.
10/10, this film had no real flaws.
I can't believe after watching all the crap this year and giving it a pass cause the CG was good, or because it "wasn't that kind of film". If you thought 2012 was good, just wait.
I'm hoping to go see it sometime over the break. I talked with someone who saw it and she said it was awesome. Unfortunatley right now, I'm kinda snowed in.
Luckily, Avatar does live up to the hype. The pacing is consistent all the way through, and it doesn’t have an unnecessarily long intro, it’s literally like a few shots in space and you’re on Pandora, so it’s not like the first 15 minutes of Cloverfield or the first hour of the newest King Kong when you feel like skipping the setting of the scene. It’s a long film but you hardly notice since the quality keeps you mesmerised, even at about 2 hours 45 minutes. 3D is a bit of a stupid novelty at times, too much of a gimmick, but Avatar is worth seeing in 3D, the depth of the scenes immerse you, especially in the forest scenes that actually make you feel like you’re right behind them in the bush.
Yeah, I was pretty surprised when I saw how quickly it jumped into things. I'd like to have seen in 3D, but I had to settle for theater. Oh well, it was a damn good movie just the same.
My only real complaint, which isn’t enough to tarnish my enjoyment, is that the entire plotline is in the trailers.
I'll agree with this. True, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. Okay, to those who wanted more from this, maybe, but it's still great. I think the overall concept of an "avatar" was a bit unclear beforehand, and I was a bit surprised at how it wound up being used. I thought they'd transfer his mind directly into the na'vi body (like it's implied in the trailers).
Yes, his mind goes into that body, but it's more of a "link" and that he's not in it permanently. Also, it turns out he's not the only one, and they've been doing this process for a while. Also, it seems the na'vi actually do have the transfer process. It's used twice in this movie.
Literally as simple as, we go to Pandora to mine this expensive mineral, the natives don’t approve, so everyone fights.
I suppose... It's more like "Pandora has precious mineral, sells for alot, we want it, natives are on a big depost, need a negotiator to learn about them... and so forth". Initially, it goes from just wanting this mineral, down to something almost like betrayal (I don't want to go further, and I don't want to put spoiler tags).
For such a lengthy, expensive, amazing film, I just would have appreciated a bit more something, not substance, it already had plenty, but more to mull over.
I don't know about you, but I sure thought it had a bit more. It's quite possible you were looking for something that wasn't there. It's possible.
Some may interpret this as a positive, but I found the references to Earth to be too vague instead of suspenseful. Certain comments painted an image of what we’d done to our planet in 145 years, but some visuals would force more of a reaction, although I suppose that would give the human invaders some sympathy.
True, and apparently TVTropes does have the reference you're looking for. Unfortunately, I don't want to link you to it for obvious reasons. But, it is mentioned somewhere.
Avatar’s charm outweighs any issues, I’m glad it didn’t become over complicated and convoluted, but in saying that, the storyline was slightly too standard and predictable, so may be it would have a greater impact if it didn’t seem such a casual affair.
Maybe, but for the average person, that's enough to pass for quality. It all depends on who you talk to. I can guarantee you that there are some of those "film" people that will bash this thing to no end for certain reasons (one of the reasons I was apprehensive about making this topic)
It was basically Independence Day in reverse, but without the hostility and high tech weaponry.
No... not quite. There were some humans who had a deep understanding of what they were dealing with and were willing to help out the natives.
Of course, the military sure had some really over the top aircrafts that seemed kind of out of place. Then again, the guy I was sitting next too thought that the biggest of the planes looked like something from Halo... so you kind of get an idea of where I'm going with the overall designs of the mechanical stuff (not that I'm complaining, it's a neat contrast; super detailed environment, creatures and characters, somewhat intricate mechanoid designs).
Ironic considering ol' Jim wanted to sue Shyamalan for using the same title for his movie "Avatar: The Last Airbender". It's now being called simply "The Last Airbender", but it's obvious that most people knew it as "Avatar". Which kind of tells you of the mentality of James Cameron. Oh well, I'll laugh at the fact that everyone's getting confused over his movie being mistaken for another "Avatar" movie that's far more well known than his.
The complexity of the robots in Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen come at a close second, if not Devastator alone; a robot so damn complex and detailed, it fried a computer when attempting to render the thing.
But yes, the CGI in this movie is breathtaking. I sware, you could easily just look at it and forget what it is you were watching. Damn, just damn.
Really its that good, will this change the face of Cinema as people are saying? No, not yet anyways, this movie cost 400 million to make making it the most expensive movie ever made so people are going to have to wait till the price is lower for this to be standard.
Actually, it will. Not in terms of the actual CGI being used, but in terms of the techniques used to achieve the look of the film. Also, it may be the most expensive, but that won't stop others from finding a cheaper or more effective way of doing what Cameron did.
Oh, and the characters god the characters, they are all CG but you feel for them, they all look real, they got them right they don't look fake at all, I mean to a certain extent they do, but they look real within the confines of their world.
This is the most true thing about this movie. I sware, there are moments where I want to think that half the characters are in some kind of detailed costume (somewhat true, the actors are wearing special "suits" that track their motion, which is then translated into the computer as their movement).
Question: Did you Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen this year? If so, you probably saw the sneak peak for "The Last Airbender", which will have told that "Avatar" wasn't going to be this.
But, you do prove that more people associate "Avatar" with "Avatar: The Last Airbender", than the actual term of "avatar".
Just saw this movie. It is possibly the most hilarious movie I have ever seen. The writing is so hammy it is almost approaching Kirk-levels. One liners are delivered with frightening speed and intensity while the Blue Aliens hiss and growl like authentic natives! Probably the best part about this movie is The Dragon [callsign and position], The eventual big bad, possibly the most badass man in the universe. A man who, in short order, kicks open a door into a hostile alien environment, ignores his need to breathe, takes a machine gun, and shoots a woman out of a flying helicopter. He then goes on to blow up everything, shoot about a million Navi'i and then he gets out of his chopper, into a mech, and THEN the real badassery begins. I was rooting for him to win by his final scene. While Jake Sully (The Hero) is an interesting character, he has no real charisma. His dumb jock attitude, pointless and silly behavior and point blank refusal to obey physics somewhat alienated (sorry) him in my book. And the screeching of the female lead is so irritating, I had trouble not sarcastically imitating her in the cinema. The great environment was great, the fight was amazing, the cg blew me away, but don't go to see this movie expecting a masterpiece of plot, writing or subtlety. It is, like Die Hard before it, pure eye candy. Turn off your brains and enjoy.
I saw it to day. And I got what I wanted, Badasses, Guns, Stuff Blowing Up, Space Marines, Humongous Mechas, Scenery Porn, More Dakka, Large Hams, CGI FX and Cat people riding Dinosaurs ripping through reinforced glass with sharpend arrows completed with intentional Completely Missing The Point.
It was awesome that scene. That scene alone was worth my 18 dollers (AUD sucks).
However, I also liked the rest of the movie too. Even if the lead female was hissing all the time, the characters were inturiguing. Even if it is Dances With Wolves IN SPAAAAAACE with a Green Aesop, I liked it. Heh mabye I'm the only one here whome likes the movie for a reason etheir than the action part.
I mean, it's the very definition of Troperiffic! There's Humongous Mecha, Flying Aircraft Carriers, More Dakka (NEIVAR ENUFF DAKKA), Stuff Blowing Up, Roboteching, Macross Missile Massacre, Rock Beats Laser (yeah, there was a continuity problem there since they are first shown unable to piere the glass, but hey, Rule Of Cool, HUGE HELPINGS OF IT, Furries, Fredian Symbolism (Yum Yum), Final Fantasy X 's forest of Macalania, The Ethereal, Bad *** of all sorts and sizes, Noble Savage, Pocahontas INSPACE, DancesWithWolves AND PrincessMonoke AND Instict InSpace, all of it Cranked Up To Eleven and taken Beyond The Impossible, Gaias Vengeance, a World Tree, The End Of The World As We Know It, Stripperiffic outfits, If I Cant Have You, Blood Brothers, Mighty Whitey, Going Native, Its Getting Hot In Here, Training From Hell, Extremely Persistent Predator, Attack Its Weak Point, For Massive Damage, Bragging Rights Reward, Take Off Every Zig, For Great Justice, Someone Set Up Us The Bomb, In The Name Of The Moon speeches, Scenery Porn, LOTS of it, and I'm certain there are MANY MORE I could think of if you gave me the time.
It was the most predictable film I have seen in my life. And I enjoyed it through and through. I cried. I laughed. I cheered. Yes, the coronel was Badass. No, the PMC as a whole still sucked. The Corrupt Corporate Executive was especially pathetic. Smug Snake, almost a Vizzini clone. The Navii aren't just savage heroes, they're jerkish, childish, and suicidally stupid and stubborn. They weren't really handsome or ugly: they were both alien and familiar. Almost like CLAMP characters in their proportions (have I started Wild Mass Guessing on what universe xxxHolic takes place in?).
As for the Fan Dumb over there talking about "needing the stones to warm our houses and not letting aliens who think they're pretty get in the way", you're Completely Missing The Point. No reference was made in the movie on what was exactly the use for Unobtainuim, just that it was very rare and valuable. Also, they aren't fighting for the rocks, they're fighting for their home and their cultural heirloom and landmarks. If you found awesome uranium (or diamond, or whatever) mines under Jerusalem, do you think anyone'd be allowed to undermine the city?
So Yeah, the main character is a Jerk Jock and his Smurfette is a Tsundere! What did you expect? He's a freaking Marine corporal! Those are moronic almost by definition at anything that isn't fighting! And of course he'd "betray humanity": what would you do in his stead? His life there is a thousand times more awesome than anything he could achieve with his sucky marine pension! He married up, that's what he did, our John Smith!
Oh, and there wasn't really an Author on board if you think of it. The Navi behave exactly like humans would do in the same situation. This is not about a freaking Green Aesop. This, like Mononoke Hime, is about power relationships, about how far one is willing to go for petty gain.
Ah, and I forgot. Testosterone Poisoning. Lots of it. And SPESS MEHREENS!!!
Okay, let us rethink this movie. What if it had happened in W 40 K, at the time of the Imperial Crusade. Oh, wait, it wouldn't have happened. I mean, the humans would never have come up with the Avatar project in the first place. Filthy Xenos.
But I'd have liked the God Emperor of Mankind versus The Lifestream of the Navi. Do you really think they couldn't have been friands and gone fight Chaos together?
And the writing and playing with tropes is almost as good as the other Avatar's. YMMV on if that is objectively good or bot. I got my ticket's worth, is all I'm saying.
This movie was so tropetastic I nearly fell out of my seat. I had a serious Narm moment when they actually called it Unobtainium. I laughed so hard the stranger next to me turned and looked at me.
And like Raw Power, despite the incredible predictability of the plot and the substandard acting, I laughed, I cried, and I cheered. The 3D experience of it was quite fun and Cameron paid exquisite attention to the richness of detail of the alien world. Yes, it was Scenery Porn, but when it is done this well who cares? It really wasn't a Green Aesop, but I suspected a lot of people would interpret it as such. I found it far more DancesWithWolves than anything. The Humongous Mecha was awesome and yes, they were Space Marines.
Despite what wasn't oscar-worthy in this film, the whole experience was one of incredibly fun storytelling, YMMV. It was pure entertainment. I'm very glad I paid good money to see a 3D film in the theater with the expensive large drink (and left the kiddies and my husband at home! This was for ME damnit)
I don't recall feeling like I had this much fun watching a movie since Top Gun. It had that same kind of "yes I knew what was going to happen and this is all eye candy, but aren't I having fun getting there" feeling. FUN FUN FUN and AWESOMELY FUN.
Well, at least people haven't forgotten how to have fun; for a second there, I'd thought most people wouldn't be interested due to the over-emphasis of SFX. But, I'm glad people are enjoying themselves.
[spoil]I think SpoonyOne said it best when he said Avatar could best be described as Dances With Wolves in Space. Granted, I did like it considerably more than he did, but it's hard to argue with that. Because the movie follows the same basic plot. Soldier is sent to force natives off a mountain because there's a resource that the people want (though in this case, they're aliens instead of Native Americans). Soldier learns about the natives' culture, falls in love and eventually helps them defend their mountain against the army that sent him. It's not new, it's not inspired, it just is.
Also. Plugging into animals and trees with... hair. Yeah.
But you really don't think of all that when you're watching the movie. Because the biggest selling point of this film is the visuals. And visually, it's very impressive and I can definitely see alot of new movies and games using these kinds of overlay and CG effects for their action sequences. I am not exaggerating when I say the human characters sometimes look less realistic than the CG aliens. It's almost scary how detailed they made it.[/spoil]
Anyway, I'd probably recommend a watch or rent on this one before buying it. Depending on your mood, you might like the plot more or less.
I suppose... It's more like "Pandora has precious mineral, sells for alot, we want it, natives are on a big depost, need a negotiator to learn about them... and so forth". Initially, it goes from just wanting this mineral, down to something almost like betrayal (I don't want to go further, and I don't want to put spoiler tags).
I don't know about you, but I sure thought it had a bit more. It's quite possible you were looking for something that wasn't there. It's possible.
Maybe, but for the average person, that's enough to pass for quality. It all depends on who you talk to. I can guarantee you that there are some of those "film" people that will bash this thing to no end for certain reasons (one of the reasons I was apprehensive about making this topic)
To be fair man I’m not truly criticising any aspect of the film since I still enjoyed it greatly, just highlighting the main thing that surprised me. Avatar has been advertised as revolutionary for months, and the CGI really is mind blowing, like so beyond amazing you can barely comment because it’s that awe inspiring, but the film itself isn’t completely perfect. I’ll be seeing it again and getting it on DVD, no question about that, so it’s not as though my enjoyment was at all reduced, I reckon I just expected something deeper plot wise considering the reputation it had earned prior to release. It technically is basically Independence Day or War of the Worlds in reverse, but with us as the antagonists travelling to distant planets to consume resources, although in Avatar, like in The Day the Earth Stood Still, peace envoys were involved. So while the humans did end up destroying the tree and fighting the natives, it just didn’t seem as cruel or personal, as say, the treatment of the Prawns in District 9 who were used for medical experiments, as living targets and their unborn were aborted. I’m not underestimating the suffering of the natives, but I personally would have felt more empathy for them if the stakes were higher than a dispute over land. May I just didn’t connect with the natives, half the time they just made me laugh or cringe.
I’m probably horrendously over thinking this, a lot of it just felt over simplified to me, and while it was truly amazing but just fell short some how, I can barely explain. It wasn’t patronising, but I would have appreciated more information about Earth instead of just relying on the visuals.
Ya know, I honestly never really criticize films, especially something like this which is my kind of film, but I still left the cinema feeling slightly unfulfilled for some reason.
I just came back from watching it in 3D at the IMAX. The cinematographer was in the audience with us (what he was doing in Omaha, I don't know). How cool was that?
Anyway, I thought it was pretty good...but the whole Na'vi "we love the earth and respect Mother Nature!" was really sappy and trite in my opinion. As was the "humans are destructive and capitalism is bad" overtones I've seen in film dozens of times before.
Those who hate it JUST because it's basically Dances With Wolves IN SPAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACE are completely missing the point. Unlike other movies I have seen this year such as District 9 and Where The Wild Things Are which made me think about stuff and have a terrific story. This movie is nothing more then simple, mind numbing FUN. I like that a little more than a serious movie because every movie nowadays just wants to be completely serious and amazing (Even if the fall flat on their faces at it) unless it's a comedy, sitcom, not-Pixar animation or a family movie. This was the most fun I have had since I've seen Top Gun and Die Hard.
Complaining about the green aesops in a movie about people living in trees is like complaining about the violence in a slasher film. It didn't bother me much, I just loved the complexity put into the planet and everything about it, especially the visuals.
I know people who praise the film because it's one of the only movies not based on anything (comics, novels, remakes, etc.), they find it as a sign for a good movie hope from the moviepocalypse, which was brought up by this guy.
*insert hours of fanboy ranting and explaination of movie events*
AND THEN, DID YOU SEE WHEN...
*4 more hours*
^ That was my reaction to the film. I loved it. The plot was fine, not to big or small. Action, drama, and romance was all in there at equall amounts. And the effects were AMAZING.
I caught the parallels to real world events, like the U. S. vs. Indian wars during the 1800s and the enviromentalism that we're experiencing today, which I thought was both cool and a great way to display it.
My real only complant was the way they designed the mecha, or the mobile suits. I thought since I saw those things that treads would have been better than legs when traversing a jungle enviroment.
