104 replies to this topic

[Pasidon]

When the spit goes flying: Avatar. James Cameron has spent 15 years writing a futuristic story about the crudeness of the military. It takes place on a lush planet filled with exotic life, bizarre biological contraptions, beautifully designed wildlife and plants, native creatures, and more importantly... good mining locations. A crippled Marine is asked to take the place of his brother who died, so he does. The story is about him, controlling this 'Avatar' that resembles the native creatures. Big blue guys with anteater horses and bows. The marine falls in love with the natives and tries to stop a possible genocide of them.

Let's begin... ... TRASH! 3 hours of boldly predictable outcomes, corned dialog, stereotypical plot designs, and we can't forget 2-dimensional antagonists. This movie is the most over-rated piece of trash since Jurassic Park 2. And maybe I would of shed a tear if I cared for all the characters dieing. But all the main characters are rude / stupid. The natives are just clueless the whole time, so no sympathy for the Blue Man Group civilization. Whenever something seems insignificant, a nice little surrounding benefactor adding to the magic of the film, they force it to become significant and make the whole thing seem... well... predictable. Wildlife is cool. Just that they only bring them up to contribute to the final conflict in the movie. You know who's going to prevale... I know you know. I mentioned stereotypical plot design, right? The focus point ALWAYS prevails... Don't act surprised.

Yes... the animation was good. But can it be given credit as making the movie worth while? They spent like 5 years working on the CGI. Nicely done... if you like seeing 50,000,000 dollars burnt on fake scenery and blue people. I loved the scenery actually. If only the story could be written by a guy who doesn't take 15 years to write 'unimaginative imagination'. And take 5 years to make animation that can be done in a few months in these days. Get a grip Cameron.

And the main character... boy. What a moron. He's fine in real life. But from the first minute he gets into his avatar, he turns moronic. The blue people suited him perfectly with the nickname, "moron". He struts around like he's not in mortal danger and disregards what is actually happening around him, at first. He gets smarter as the story goes on, but it was just to late for me. ... Just couldn't like him.

The main 'bad guy'. The military guy with the scars. Now that guy was awesome. I was rooting for him and the marines all the way. And the action scenes were pretty cool. Mainly can be described as stereotypical... but I enjoyed them, I guess. And here's a hot tip: there's a knife fight! I was gitty for that one and only awesome moment.

If you want to see blue people, get on YouTube or go to Kentucky... don't get rip-offed by Cameron and his 15 year breakthrough of the same old, same-old.

[Bart]

Let's begin... ... TRASH!

And bam, there goes all the credibility of this review.

He struts around like he's not in mortal danger

Well, he isn't in mortal danger, just his avatar is.

I thought the movie was great. It really takes you to another world for a few hours. I think you just had the wrong expectations.

[Vortigern]

I'm heading out to see it this afternoon. Feedback after viewing, but I'm expecting great things.

[Allathar]

Going to see it next week. Don't know what to expect, on one hand the visuals are gorgeous, but on the other hand the plot is pretty cliched.

[mike_]

Seeing it soon. Was very impressed by the shorts found all over the Internet, can't wait to see it for myself.

[OmegaBolt]

Gonna see it later tonight, probably. From what I've seen the animation is amazing, way better than 99% of modern movies and well worth 5 years work on. Still I'd rather there were more prosthetics... though that'd be much harder.

This movie is the most over-rated piece of trash since Jurassic Park 2.

JP2 is a good film. It has aspects which I like better than the first such as it feels natural, instead of just dinos out to kill you. In fact, you're saving the dinos in 2. The bad thing is no Alan Grant and maybe its slightly diluted.

[Vortigern]

I admit the story was rather reminiscent of Frank Herbert's Dune (saviour from off-world, learns the ways of the natives, wins them over, ultimately succeeds) but I very much enjoyed the execution. I would recommend seeing this just as I would also recommend disregarding Pasidon's opinion, which is what the above 'review' is. You're just trash-talking, not providing a critical commentary.

The scenery was absolutely epic. Incredible CGI and beautifully-constructed world and society, though the Na'vi do draw heavily from Native American, Mongol and central African cultures. But everything has to come from somewhere, so I guess that's okay.

[Allathar]

Should I see this movie in 2D or 3D? I heard it's pretty epic in 3D, but then again, I think I'll rather enjoy the 2D one, since 3D gets annoying really fast.

[Vortigern]

I went for 3D. I'd say do that, unless you're prone to migraines. It does add something to the experience, and there are occasional moments that make you jump if you're watching in 3D, which is nice.

[OmegaBolt]

Yep, just came back from watching it 3D as well, and it was a truely fantastic movie overall. IMO the only downers were towards the end, but hey, most films do that... lots of influence from his Aliens, which isnt a bad thing at all. I don't really know what the 3D added though (however it was nice 3D). It is a must see movie (cinema was packed, had to actually use specific seats for the first time).

So... great films in need of buying this year: Let the Right One In, Triangle, Where the Wild Things Are and Avatar.

Edited by OmegaBolt, 18 December 2009 - 11:37 PM.

[Vortigern]

Don't forget Inglourious Basterds! If you're a fan of spaghetti westerns and war films, it's a combination of the two with a complete disregard for historical accuracy of any kind. Hilarious film.

I'd agree that the end was a bit disappointing, actually, but that's Hollywood for you. They ruined the end of I Am Legend too, an otherwise awesome film.

[{IRS}Athos]

I'm hoping to see it relatively soon... I, too, have high hopes for it.

[OmegaBolt]

If you're a fan of spaghetti westerns

Well I'm not.

Edited by OmegaBolt, 19 December 2009 - 02:02 PM.

[Beowulf]

I'm going to skip this one until it's on TV. I just was not impressed by the visuals.

[duke_Qa]

Saw it yesterday in 2d, prolly going to see it again in 3d in a months time. All in all its a good movie, but hell, if you've seen a few movies in your lifetime then this one is going to appear a bit generic.

I knew from the beginning how things would end up, but seeing movies like these are more about the characters interacting and the amount of fiction weaved into the world. And the world is certainly a well embroidered one.

If there is one thing Cameron is picky about then it has to be that the world makes sense. There were no logical holes as far as i can see, beyond the lack of information on the avatar-technology wireless connection . People call the first hour a biology documentary, and that works for me, because a 3hour action-movie would have been extremely dull and damn hard to fill with wonders.

But this is a movie you go to see because of the graphics, and the graphics are near flawless. I never really had any trouble with the uncanny valley on any of the navi, which is a miracle in itself. That mocap system Cameron used on this movie is going to give us some very fascinating movies in the future. the amount of nature is incredible, i have no idea what programs they used to build it, but it was not paint-effects from maya.



Now the only thing I'm hoping for is that James does not use 10-15 years getting Battle Angel done, OR censoring the blood and brainsplatter down.

[Ash]

It's impossible to praise this film's special effects, for the same reason it's impossible to praise Star Wars Episode 3: Revenge of the Sith's; EVERYTHING GOING ON IS A SPECIAL EFFECT, thus rendering it non-special.

The film was complete and utter tosh, to be fair. I concur with Pasidon pretty much wholeheartedly. Apocalypto meets The Last Samurai. Fifteen years, and this was the best he could come up with? Please. The film and a couple of cool points, but that doesn't detract from the blandness and general disinterest and dislike of the characters. I could tell it was going to suck just by seeing the advertising poster, and by God was I proven right.

Graphically excellent, to be sure, but the plot and delivery were awful throughout. Give me a movie solely depicting Pandora's ecosystem and Na'vi culture, that'd rule. But Avatar as it was presented was tosh.

[Tom]

I saw it in 3D. Thought it was reasonable cool. The story, yes... completely predictable. The CGI was awesome. The world and the idea of how the species interacted with it was fucking awesome and the sort of dark sided corporate agenda / twisted human nature was slightly cool. But yeah. They could have developed it a bit more. Maybe more warfare and tactics and less fucking about would have made it cooler.

My favourite quote was when he was talking about the biggest predator in the sky and he said "If you are the biggest cat in the sky, why look up. At least that was the theory."

Thought it sucked there was no scene on how he subdued the beast, I guess it could be argued as unnecessary though.

[Pasidon]

Should I see this movie in 2D or 3D?

Excellent question. I debated this with myself. It's worth seeing on the big screen once, I guess. And I say it is in 3-D. But movies put stuff in because they know it's going to be 3-D. 5 Years ago, maybe they didn't plan on it, but I caught a few moments were some 'I meant it to be cool in 3-D' moments. It's an extra few smacks in most places for the stupid 3-D glasses (buy a ticket to the 2-D and bring your own 3-D glasses. I did it) but it makes the visuals all the more better. ... I actually forget it's in 3-D sometimes and never notice the popping. Oh well. Still worth the visuals.

[Downfall]

IMO the only good movies that Cameron did were Aliens and The Abyss. Which is why I'm not so thrilled about Avatar sadly.

[Pasidon]

Hmm... forgot he did those. Seems all his movies have that same old touch to them.