104 replies to this topic

[Pasidon]

Please. If it wasn't significant later in the story, Pas, you'd say it was pointless and shouldn't have been there in the first place.

I think you just don't want to like it

Hush now, ya can't prove that I would of said that. But ya' can't say I ain't wrong now. What's the point of tellin'ah story like this when its gonna' end up like every other story like this? My counter example being Star Wars having all them pointless races that don't have significance to the plot. They add to the realism to the story. Why can't I see the scenery and outcome not having anything to do with eachothers these days? Besides... I did't go and complain about details that were put in that added up to nothin'.

And you ain't wrong in assuming I don't want to like it. It's my Critic(al) review for spit's sake...

Edited by {IP}Pasidon, 30 December 2009 - 07:32 AM.

[OmegaBolt]

pointless races

Actually you could say that their appearances are building up the "whats at stake" factor, if the good guys don't win.

[some_weirdGuy]

i went at saw it, was pretty good.

Was going to see it in 3D till the exuberant price persuaded me otherwise (its about $5 for normal, but about $20 for 3D, so no thanks). It was a good movie and i liked it, and the avatars were pretty cool (they were so big, making them look awesome when they came up against people who were like knee high to them )

[Devon]

Look, if you come in to this expecting to be blown away by how awesome it is, you probably won't like it. But if you're just going to the movies to have a good time and some entertainment, then I highly recommend it.

[Sûlherokhh]

A very interesting discussion you are having. Nicely sums up my mixed and contradicting feelings about this project.

[Archon]

I just watched Avatar in IMAX 3D and all I can say is...wow.
The visuals are insane, the storyline was a tad predictable but that's my only complaint. Pretty much as close to a perfect movie as you can get, imo.
And so what if it's unoriginal? It's a frickin' classic.

[Vortigern]

My counter example being Star Wars having all them pointless races that don't have significance to the plot. They add to the realism to the story.

Haha. You think there's anything even remotely approaching realism in Star Wars. Ha. Come back when the basic laws of physics change.

However, in terms of the realism of Avatar, I have but one complaint thusly concerned: in biological and evolutionary terms, there is no reason whatsoever for the Na'Vi to be humanoid, especially given that every other life form seems to have more than two eyes, breathing holes in their necks and all manner of basic differences to the Terran standard of landbound life. The Na'Vi provide an exception that defies explanation, but I guess they're mostly just like that so you can empathise.

[mike_]

Still haven't seen it, but how could human-Na'Vi hybrids (the eponymous Avatars) resemble in the least regular Na'Vi?

[some_weirdGuy]

Still haven't seen it, but how could human-Na'Vi hybrids (the eponymous Avatars) resemble in the least regular Na'Vi?

Because they are Navi bodies just with hints of human DNA to make them compatible with their 'controllers'?

However, in terms of the realism of Avatar, I have but one complaint thusly concerned: in biological and evolutionary terms, there is no reason whatsoever for the Na'Vi to be humanoid, especially given that every other life form seems to have more than two eyes, breathing holes in their necks and all manner of basic differences to the Terran standard of landbound life. The Na'Vi provide an exception that defies explanation, but I guess they're mostly just like that so you can empathise.

lots of the animals are pretty similar to either modern (earth) animals or animals of the past, such as dinosaurs, they are just a bit different in some ways to demonstrate their 'alien-ness' and to be cool.

And why should the Navi not be humanoid? Despite what you claiming, there is no reason why a humanoid lifeform wouldn't evolve there. I mean, they had those alien monkey things, and like i said, a great number of animals in the movie have earth comparisons, Navi are just the human equivalent. Also not like we saw all the animals on Pandora, we only saw a few, and not all of them have more than two eyes or breathing holes in their neck.

But above all is the point that its a movie, none of it is real so it doesn't matter
(also, if you are interested this site has a list of animals from avatar: http://james-cameron...egory:Creatures )

[Vortigern]

Sure, there's no reason for humanoid life not to evolve, but equally there is no reason for such a thing to have happened, and when compared to the majority of the wildlife on Pandora, it seems very unlikely that they would be humanoid.

Mike: I meant to mention that, actually. There is almost no way, perhaps a less-than-one-in-a-million chance that human and Na'vi DNA would be compatible. Given that the two races have evolved in complete separation from one another over however many millions of years, while even a separation of a few hundred miles of sea and ten thousand years can be enough to prevent interspecies compatibility here on Earth. You would have to manipulate the DNA to such a massive extent that you'd be lucky to create something that even vaguely resembled either life form. It's pretty much guaranteed that the avatars would be barren, though, so I guess our hero won't be having any cute little alien kids.

[Devon]

If there are any sequels Vort, then I doubt that's going to be the case

[Casen]

I'm sick of anti-white/anti-west propaganda trash films thinly veiled as "fantasy films" such as this that Hollywood keeps spewing out.

Oh, the big bad EVIL AMERICANS killing the Natives...gee...typical.

The analogy is so blatant.

I was rooting for the fucking humans to give the aliens smallpox...god, how hard would it have been to wipe them out? Orbital bombardment. Base-delta-zero the dirt people's asses.

http://www.nypress.c...n-the-face.html

Edited by Kacen, 03 January 2010 - 09:16 AM.

[Vortigern]

That's not anti-America, it's just that James Cameron wanted humans as the bad guys and Hollywood is in America. If the majority of films were made in Britain, the bad guys would be British. If you want to be the most important nation in the world, you're going to have to get over the fact that most evil characters in films, books and whatever else will be American.

Besides, have you seen District 9? Set in Johannesburg. Shove it.

[Mathijs]

I'm sick of anti-white/anti-west propaganda trash films thinly veiled as "fantasy films" such as this that Hollywood keeps spewing out.

Oh, the big bad EVIL AMERICANS killing the Natives...gee...typical.

The analogy is so blatant.

I was rooting for the fucking humans to give the aliens smallpox...god, how hard would it have been to wipe them out? Orbital bombardment. Base-delta-zero the dirt people's asses.

http://www.nypress.c...n-the-face.html

ITS A CONSPIRACY! HERE, READ MY INTERNET ARTICLES!

Get outta here.

Edited by Matias, 03 January 2010 - 01:29 PM.

[some_weirdGuy]

Whoa, quite a bit of egocentricity going on right there. I mean, obviously it must of cause represent America, couldn't possibly be the world wide stereotype that is the 'heartless industrialist corporation'. No, not at all.


But hey, if you are saying 'America is just like the heartless, imperialist, exploitative cooperation from this film', then you are entitled to your views. Just don't go having a hissy fit as if its some kind of person insult when its you who has formed this opinion.

[mike_]

Just saw it at the Cinemark in 3D. My thoughts:

-Too much character death. I really wish that Tsu'Tey, the next-in-line guy to be Chieftain, and Trudy, the pilot, had survived as they were pretty cool characters. Kind of like the Jaguar-thing; was hoping it could have survived. That said, that pussy of a boss should have bought it at the end.
-Mike Tyson's Fist, the effects! Was pretty beyond my immediate comprehension; really felt like a real world in there. I concur with others in that the only segments that felt fake were those with Humans
-I'm game for any sequels; will be interesting to see the aftershocks of the war and destruction of the Hometree () and the repopulation of Pandora. Also interested in the fate of Norm and the other 'good guys'.

[Elvenlord]

I just saw in 3D too. Same general concept too. Looked pretty, story, though pretty well presented, was nothing to write home about. I disagree about the character deaths though, it would have been cheapened if no one important died. They're using arrows against fucking machine guns, after all.
Though I would have liked Trudy to live, I think she was my favorite character
Sequel I'm not sure on. Don't see much in the way of a story, yes it might be interesting to see how they cope, but that'll be a boring movie.

[mike_]

I see sequels actually as giving Cameron a chance to explore the world more and further define his concept of Pandora from something more than Fern Gully in Space.

[Elvenlord]

The plot man, the plot. Unless he pulls something amazing, it's more than likely going to be fairly boring, in my opinion anyways.

[olli]

I saw this a few weeks ago in 3D, and I thought it was spectacular. I went to the cinema to be entertained, and entertained I was. It held my attention completely, and the CGI graphics were stunning. I felt so immersed in this world of colour.

Now, I just want to point something out to a lot of you, something that you seemed to have missed.

You are saying "Hmm, plot sucked. Was too predictable".

The film had an age rating of 12a. The target audience of this film was young children. Of course it was going to be predictable, with the bad guys loosing and the good guys winning. It's not going to throw a curveball in the mix and have the humans completely slaughter them and then mine the planet dry. 12 year olds like predictable things, with happy endings. The majority of them aren't used to the cold hard realities of life, where it doesn't always end that way.

This film wasn't meant to be a plot line marvel; it just needed a story in which the stunning CGI could shine. The film was all about showing off the amazing visual effects, and not be a clever in-depth story. We can all make the comparison between Pandora and the rainforests, but it has been done before, it's not a 'new message'.

If you went to see this film because you were expecting an original, thought provoking and highly engaging story line you went for the wrong reasons.