My Avatar "review"

[Focus]

ATTENTION: THERE COULD BE INFORMATION IN THE FOLLOWING THREAD THAT COULD BE CONSIDERED "SPOILERS" FOR THOSE WHO HAVEN'T SEEN THE MOVIE. I'M NOT REVEALING A BIG TWIST ENDING OR ANYTHING (AS IT DOESN'T EXIST) BUT IF YOU DON'T WANT TO KNOW THEN DO NOT READ.

Last night I went to my local AMC to check out the midnight screening of Avatar.

 

I've mentioned the flick a little bit here and I think most of those that know me know that I have been very excited about this flick for a very long time.

 

I love James Cameron's work, I have a huge hard on for the first two Terminator flicks, and was excited to see what he could do with Avatar because we all kept hearing about how it was such an incredible feast for the senses.

 

So I show up at Barrywoods AMC at around 11:20 hoping to secure a pretty good seat (I'm picky about this sort of thing). As my wife and I approach we see a pretty long line has already started forming. We enter and follow the line down the hall, to the concessions stand at the end of the hall, and back to the exit doors on the side (those familiar with this particular AMC knows how long that line was).

 

Once it got moving it went pretty quick and we ended up with a pretty decent seat anyways and waited.

 

Before diving into all the talk of special effects and what not I want to say first off that I really like Sam Worthington. I thought he stole the show in Terminator Salvation and he is just as great here. Hats off to that man.

 

So...the special effects.....was it everything they said it would be?

 

It really really was. It's bizarre because they are almost too good. Even though everything is very unlike anything you have seen before it just seems so natural and you don't really ever get that vibe that what you are seeing is computer generated.

 

In fact there were times I was looking at the Na'vi and analyzing every detail and was blown away by how great they looked.

 

And the 3D? Well...it's pretty great too. I know a lot of people were aprehensive about the 3D because, well, 3D can be pretty cheesy. Objects coming out in what appears to be inches from your face but never looking quite right just has a way of turning people off.

 

I never felt that way during Avatar. There was more depth and sense of 3D but it never felt like it was too much. I don't know how much of that was the new technology used and how much was just not over doing it. Either way....bravo.

 

So onto the story.

 

I was worried that in the sea of special effects and 3D I was going to end up with an average story and I was ok with that. I was on board before knowing anything about the story because I was just that excited to see this new technology in action.

 

But the story is quite good. It's not the greatest and most original tale ever told but don't let that steer you away from it because it's still quite compelling.

 

For those that don't know the basic plot is about a Marine, Jake Sully, who takes his twin brothers spot in this avatar program.

 

Basically the humans want this precious mineral (that there happens to be a lot of under the Na'vi home village) and a Dr. creates this program to interact with the Na'vi in hopes of getting them to peacefully move elsewhere.

 

Sully is picked because he can link up with his deceased brothers Avatar due to having similar genetics and goes in hopes of getting some new legs in real life as his are useless anymore.

 

As you might have expected when he gets into the avatar he starts to bond with the Na'vi and when they refuse to move and the Marines come in to wipe them out he has to make a choice.

 

In the process a few of our supporting cast loose their lives and some amazing battle scenes take place.

 

It really is a feast for the senses and I can promise you have never seen anything like it before but will hopefully see more like it again.

 

I highly suggest seeing it in IMAX if at all possible but if not please go see this movie and show Hollywood that original content such as Avatar is welcomed in a sea of remakes, sequels, and other bad ideas.

 

I loved it. It's easily on my top 10 list of movies. I don't think it has taken the number one spot but as I laid in bed last night with the excitement of a young kid thinking to myself "Was this what it was like to have seen Star Wars in 1977" I really considered ranking it at the top of my list.

 

See it. You will love it. If not....you are defective. lol

[TSiGuy17]

I'm gonna go see it in 3D I think

[lmwii]

clichés with special effects are still clichés.

[boogie]

I will only see it in 3D if i go.

[AlexNYC]

well don't need to see that movie anymore. Thanks! i will download the bootleg copy tonight.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Just kidding, can't wait to see it also.

[Turborusty]

I'm getting good reviews from the folks I sold it to.

 

I got paid....consider that my positive review. Though I haven't watched it.

 

 

 

Turborusty

[Focus]

clichés with special effects are still clichés.

 

So you've seen it?

[lmwii]

So you've seen it?

nope.

 

every review i have read, however, (including yours by the way{"It's not the greatest and most original tale ever told"}), mentions the lack of originality. it is a tired, rote tale of evil, rapacious, greedy 'corporations' ruthlessly exploiting the peace-loving, nature-attuned, planet-harmonizing natives, only to be thwarted by a small group of good guy renegades who have come to sympathize with the aforementioned natives. throw in the gratuitous love story, and there you have it. it is clichéd and unoriginal.

 

the effects and technology are supposed to be spectacular, brilliant, revolutionary, and that i applaud, but the story is cliché. do you dispute that?

[Focus]

Ah. Gotcha.

 

I thought you were saying the special effects were cliche.

 

The story is far from cliche. Yes. It's a basic formula. There is no such thing as a completely original story....they all follow basic story lines.... but I thought it was entertaining. It's just not the best I have ever seen. Still good IMO.

[Loye]

I saw Titanic, I'll probably never see another Cameron movie.

[Focus]

I saw Titanic, I'll probably never see another Cameron movie.

 

Your loss.

[Mech]

wow....your review is longer than the movie ...j/k

 

 

special effects are amazing...best i have ever seen....

 

characters were good...even though most werent big time actors, which doesnt matter to me as long as they are good,and they were.......very believable

 

Sigourney Weaver was in it...and i like her....although i think her best movie ever was Aliens..one of my all time fav movies...

 

Yea the story line was "cliche"..but at least it had a twist...being on a different planet and all....

 

The movie was long...but it had an intermission...at least here it did...

 

They had the surround sound CRANKED so loud in the theater...and it was awesome...love the sound effects

 

Def. going to see this movie again....

[travs87tsi]

I went to see it last night in 3D. I loved it.

 

I only have one question. if that was not your #1 what was?

[mcrisfield]

SPOILER ALERT - THIS POST REVEALS DETAILS OF "UP IN THE AIR" with George Clooney

 

Imwii -

 

I understand where you're coming from. I have a knack for seeing things coming in both movies and TV because the vast majority follow a formula that has been used before, and for the most part, are very predicable (I think I watched way too much TV as a child). However, I try not to let this spoil a movie for me if I can help it. While I enjoy some movies with unconventional endings (like most of the films Clint Eastwood directs), most of the time I want to see a happy ending. I believe most viewers, like myself, have enough let downs and drama in their life without leaving a movie theater depressed or in a bad mood. It doesn't do much for me to spend two hours growing attached to a character (which the writer/director does through making the main character sympathetic), just to have him meet an unhappy ending. I'll take a little formula and predictability if I can get some closure and hopefully a smile on my face at the end of a movie.

 

I'll admit that since I work for a Native American tribal government and have many Native American friends I was a little uncomfortable with the parallels this story draws to the European invasion of the Americas. Obviously, this story has recurred many times in history - a more technologically advanced civilization meets a less advanced civilization and then goes on to conquer and exploit its people and natural resources. Of course the European invasion of the Americas is the most obvious and most memorable example of this since they the "50 nations" that were displaced by white invaders are still alive and on reservations. However, I understand that it wouldn't serve anyone to have the native population in Avatar have their ponytails cut, get Christianized, and put on reservations while dying of foreign diseases like Small Pox. I even spoke with one of my friends about it and he didn't seem offended by the movie - after all - it's just entertainment; and to be sure, Avatar was entertaining.

 

"Up In The Air", on the other hand, was universally praised by critics (while Avatar was mostly panned). I watched both movies this weekend and while people were standing and clapping at the end of Avatar, people were mumbling and generally unhappy at the end of "Up In The Air". While I appreciated the the fact that the story was largely unpredictable and unconventional (and I loved the writer's other movies - I make all my friends/family watch "Thank you for Smoking"), I can't recommend anyone spend $7-10 to watch this movie. Rent it in six months - yes - simply because it is unconventional and well acted but that's about it. It was borderline boring throughout with virtually no payoff at the end. The ending is as anticlimactic as it is ambiguous. My mother was very disappointed thinking George Clooney's character was still doing what he had done throughout the movie (leading a lonely and largely meaningless existence), while I thought that the ending indicated that maybe he was using he frequent flier miles to fly somewhere exciting. The final scene, and his dictation, are vague enough to say that he is still flying but we don't know if he really quit his job, if he just took a vacation and then resumed flying 300+ days a year to fire people, or if he told his boss to shove it and is now flying around the world at his own whim. I know critics love these kind of endings but I can tell you the majority of the audience didn't. I can justify an ambigous ending if it sends an important message to the audience, as was the case in the movie "Brothers", but even then it's not what I call entertainment and not what I want to spend my Friday night and $10 watching. This movie, which may win a Golden Globe, is neither immensely entertaining or socially relevant like "Brothers". It just is.

 

Me - I'll take the cliche' with great acting, spectacular effects, and a happy ending on a weekend and save the Golden Globe winners for a Monday night rental when my favorite network TV show is in reruns.

 

Mike

 

 

nope.

 

every review i have read, however, (including yours by the way{"It's not the greatest and most original tale ever told"}), mentions the lack of originality. it is a tired, rote tale of evil, rapacious, greedy 'corporations' ruthlessly exploiting the peace-loving, nature-attuned, planet-harmonizing natives, only to be thwarted by a small group of good guy renegades who have come to sympathize with the aforementioned natives. throw in the gratuitous love story, and there you have it. it is clichéd and unoriginal.

 

the effects and technology are supposed to be spectacular, brilliant, revolutionary, and that i applaud, but the story is cliché. do you dispute that?

Edited December 22, 2009 by mcrisfield

[patra_is_here]

i consider this movie the best looking movie ever made. visually it was flawless.

 

and as far as "cliches" go..... well, there are only about 10 basic narratives that EVERY movie will fall into. so, really, there's only about ten stories to tell, and all we do is change things a little and hope for the best.

[FlattopMike]

I saw it over the weekend.

The story? It was a cross between the Matrix and Ferngully http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0104254/

Nothing new and very predictable.

 

I had never seen a movie in 3D before. I had a headache by the end of the previews. Then I realized why.

I was trying to focus on the things closest to me and really couldn't. Once I got used to it and only focused on the things I was supposed to, I was fine.

 

Although this wasn't one of my favorite movies, it was well worth my time and money.

The visuals are amazing.

 

If you plan on waiting and seeing it in your living room, don't bother.

[SilverFlatty]

must... get.... un-ubtanium.. i think they could have come up with a better name for the rock... i mean.. come on.. "un-ubtanium"????

 

movie is dances with wolves + the last samurai + furn gully lol

 

but a great movie and my family is gonna go see it in IMAX

[Mech]

must... get.... un-ubtanium.. i think they could have come up with a better name for the rock... i mean.. come on.. "un-ubtanium"????

 

can you come up with a better name?

 

movie is dances with wolves + the last samurai + furn gully lol

 

whats wrong with that? Dances with wolves is a great movie.

 

but a great movie and my family is gonna go see it in IMAX

 

enjoy.

[SilverFlatty]

i didnt say i didnt like the plot line.. i was just stating what it was similar to.. lol

 

and i dunno bout renaming the rock but un-ubtainium is such a corny name..

[patra_is_here]

unobtainium is obviously a writer's joke about the plot device. it's a big budget hollywood blockbuster and you people are expecting something from cannes film festival. watch it and enjoy it for how it's intended.