Film: Avatar

[Belisarius]

I just saw this last night, on 3-D Imax. My thoughts are perhaps best inferred by my friend's question to me upon exiting the theater.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing. Does something seem wrong?"

"It's just that you're quiet."

"I'm guess I'm kind of overwhelmed..."

The reason for my silence became clearer the longer the sights and sounds faded from my eyes and mind, a kind of deja vu: it was exactly the same reaction I had when I first saw Toy Story in the theaters. That movie had been so light-years ahead of what I was used to that it left me punch-drunk, required that I give it some time to filter through my cortex. That's Avatar in a nutshell.

It's not that Avatar is original or groundbreaking. Indeed, its plot generously borrows themes and characters reworked from decades of past films: Philistine businessmen. Brutish grunts. Noble savages. Love interests. A paradise humans can't help but fuck up. As Stephen King writes, you've been here before.

Yet, god...damn. This movie basically obliterated "Bel" for almost three hours; indeed, like the main character I found it difficult to disengage from the dream it represented. If it were just F/X it would be forgettable, but the sense of place, the time and effort spent imagining a vibrant alien world is truly incredible. Style over substance, perhaps, but...what style!

Four stars--lacking five on the technicality of its essence being not quite equal to its sensual glory.

 

[Belisarius]

Oh, and by the by, "Unobtainium" is an old SF joke that long precedes The Core and Avatar. It's the way us geeks say "plot catalyst" or "MacGuffin".

 

[alasdairm]

How could anyone like this movie?

because different people enjoy different things differently? it's such a straightforward idea...

alasdair

 

[Evad]

Saw this the other day at the new Imax here, popping both my Imax and 3D cherries, pretty visually stunning! Plot was very straightforward Hollywood business but the 3 hours did not seem to drag at all which is quite an achievement. I was extremely sceptical about 3D beforehand but this has made me decide to give it a chance.

 

[puckboy]

Saw 'Avatar' today in 3D, thought it was a great film.

While the plot-line wasn't all that complex, the movie had many, many metaphors for our own planet and how it was originally collinised in regard to lots of native people all over the world. There were many other messages put foward in the film, all which I assume were obvious to most people so I won't go into them now.

Smoked a few joints in the carpark beforehand, great film, the ~3 hours flew by.

 

[GoddessLSD-XTC]

^^^ I like that review, puckboy, gives me a reason to see it . . . I'll smoke sum before.

 

[TheDeceased]

the movie had many, many metaphors

Many, many?

 

[puckboy]

^
Well I guess many... but how many is many anyway? I just meant several or so.

Amphets can make me exaggerate a little I guess hah

 

[TheDeceased]

Well I guess many... but how many is many anyway? I just meant several or so.

Several?

 

[puckboy]

^Several; definition - Being of a number more than two or three but not many.

That help buddy?

I think theres a misunderstanding and I worded my orginal post poorly. It should read;

the movie had many, many metaphors for our own planet in how it was originally collinised in regard to lots of native people all over the world

. Does that make more sense now? I meant how so many native people around the world had their land taken and cultures disrupted and in some (many?) cases destroyed.

Though there were other meanings put foward like, the human race does not work as 'one'. We primarily work against nature, not with it. The irony of the head Marine guy asking the lead character 'how does it feel to betray your own race?'. Our overpowering greed for money. The message from the romance storyline, where love trancends race/religion.

You can find meaning in the simplest of things.

 

[theotherside]

Anyone who is even remotely into the 3D movie experience would know that this 3D filming technique was over hyped. Disney Pixar's movie "Meet the Robinsons had FULL on layers leading from behind you, beside you, and on towards the screen much the same way that the IMAX in the science districts use. I saw avatar for 15 dollars a ticket at the real IMAX here in Houston, and the 3D was average at best. Hardly anything came out of the screen more that a few drops of rain in a few scenes, and the "layers" were inside of the screen the way cheap 3D theaters have their setups. I watched an hour long special on how this movie was going to change the way we look at 3D.....yeah right.8)

 

[StaffWriter]

I saw the movie in 3D Imax about a week ago. Growing tired of "humans destroying everything" theme. Makes it kinda difficult to enjoy because I don't like rooting against humanity. Otherwise, the graphics were cool. A lot of the weapons and such were "borrowed" from Aliens. It was okay.

 

[theotherside]

^^Anybody else notice how they made the world root against the American military?? They kept knocking us over the head with how terrible us Americans are with our money hungry/ culture destroying selves. Sorry to any American Indians, but this land is WAY too big for a few hundred thousand people to keep for another millenium.

 

[BlueFractal]

^cameron dodged that one smartly by calling them private contractors.

It's weird, everybody complaining about the "anti-human" emotions in this movie is also angry about all the anti-military, anti-colonization, anti-take-what-you-want-attitude and pro-nature themes. One would think that someone pro-human wouldn't exactly choose those themes as great examples of human behaviour.

 

[TheLoveBandit]

I typically don't go to movies for an education, nice to know I didn't get on here Yes, the natives were a bit trite, along with many other easily recognizable pieces of the film, I suppose when you spend all your money on special effects you don't have a lot for the writers. Even with that, I got my $12 worth (wish I'd been at the Imax instead). I liked it - it gave me what I wanted, visual eye candy for awhile, and just enough 'plot' to keep those images moving without trying to engage my brain. I wish I'd have been on a substance, but even sober, the eye candy was good.

 

[toa$t]

I liked it, but now I feel depressed and suicidal because I will never get to go and live in the avatar world.

 

[L2R]

the bad guys in this remind me of how family guy describes white character lines in a spike lee movie.



to those who know what i mean, it's hilarious.

 

[puckboy]

^
Lol, yeh.

The 'bad guys' reminded me of Terran in the game StarCraft.

 

[Vader]

This film was hugely disappointing imo. The visual spectacle was constantly spoiled by the piss-poor script which continually blocked my attempts to become immersed in the action, yanking me back to the realisation that I was watching a second-rate film with a stylish veneer.

 

[aanallein]

highest grossing movie ever. booya.