Fucking wow.


That is all.

Quote from: Werekoala;350204Fucking wow.


That is all.

Really? 'Cause I was thinking more like, "Meh."

Don't get me wrong. It's interesting. I don't think it's a bad movie. But, with the exception of one minor blip, I knew exactly how the money was going to end within the first few minutes of it starting. It had some nice vistas, but the "alien" creatures were all just Earth creatures with the serial numbers filed off - even the good guys!

Seanchai

I read all the negative reviews, knew the story was going to be "evuhl corporate 'merkans trash natives, steal stuff, film at 11" - but even then I still really, really enjoyed it. I didn't EXPECT to enjoy to story, but for some reason I still did. The effects were insane; there were only a couple of times where it seemed like it was CGI, and even that was just fleeting. I think the best way to sum it up is that after about 5 minutes, I rarely even noticed it was in 3d, which to me is high praise and a good sign for future "serious" 3d filmmaking.

As to the aliens being derivative of undersea creatures and whatnot - I thought it was wonderful. The bioluminesence was stunning. The big nasty critters of the forest were "familiar" yet alien enough for my taste. My only "environment" gripe was the floating mountains. We went from relatively hard-sf to "Final Fantasy" in fairly short order.

And the Na'vi were wonderful. You can't make aliens TOO alien in a movie, as opposed to a book, or the audience (especially the non-scifi types) would find it harder to sympathize with them, and Cameron's films are always about manipulating audience emotions. He succeeded again, IMO.

Also, I want on of those fucking shuttles. Now, please.

My aged mother was totally blown away, and if Cameron can win that segment of the population, then he'll do just fine, money-wise. She said it was a very "pretty" movie, and it was, and she already has a raging hate-on for how Native Americans were/are treated, so she was totally on board with it.

Quote from: Werekoala;350210...knew the story was going to be "evuhl corporate 'merkans trash natives, steal stuff, film at 11"...

I think the fact that the straight line was all we got is a problem. At least, it's a bit of a problem for me. I don't need The Sixth Sense type twists, but...damn, every element is not just telegraphed, but taken from the filmmakers playbook. You could have entered the theater with a checklist and checked all the elements/plot developments off as they occurred.

For me, that drained the movie of heart. I think that, for me, that's what it was missing. Since I'd already seen this movie, I didn't warm up to it. I had the echo of warmth.

Quote from: Werekoala;350210The effects were insane; there were only a couple of times where it seemed like it was CGI, and even that was just fleeting. I think the best way to sum it up is that after about 5 minutes, I rarely even noticed it was in 3d, which to me is high praise and a good sign for future "serious" 3d filmmaking.

I think that's the best part of the movie. There were some times that I could tell (such as at the big glowy tree) and other times I wondered, but on the whole, I enjoyed it.

Quote from: Werekoala;350210As to the aliens being derivative of undersea creatures...

Not undersea creature, just Earth type creatures. Let see...you had the dog pack, rhinos, tigers, and fireflies. Just throw me a bone with some alien something that makes me go, "Woah. What the hell is that?!" I think the plants were better at this in that regard.

I, too, like the bioluminesence, especially when they were walking around.

Quote from: Werekoala;350210Also, I want on of those fucking shuttles. Now, please.

I thought the tech was pretty cool. The 270 degree huds were neat.

Seanchai

I liked the film, but agree that it was too linear. Still worth full admission price, though.


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The things that got me about the life forms was that there was no biological reason to have naturally occuring neural interface for the Na'vi and the rest of the animals. Plus all of the large animals were six limbed and had four eyes  while the Na'vi were four limbed and had two eyes - didn't seem like they had evolved from a common base stock at all.

I came up with an untold backstory where the Na'vi were actually survivors of a crashed starship of human analogues (humanocentric panspermia again) and the various plant neural networks and animals with interfaces were actually the biological tools of this formerly starfaring race. By thinking that, I was able to keep my suspension of disbelief going through the movie.

The idea of Gaia (used in Avatar) was and is still pretty popular, but it is more of a spiritual concept that lacks integrity when used in sci-fi as an actual ecosystem.

Bumped because I think this is more interesting than Blackthorne's thread necromancy.

One "issue" I keep reading about on other sites that I think is a total non-starter is the whole problem with the "we should repsect mother Earth because all life is connected" message. Normally, yes, I'd say this is an overwrought allagory and typical ham-handed enviro-propaganda - except in the case of Pandora, it is LITERALLY true. There is not tree-huggy feelgoodishness to it - all life on the planet is literally connected. In essence, as my friends agreed, Pandora is "Deathworld", and one thing you don't want to do is have an entire ecosystem intent on wiping you out. After all, it wasn't the peace-loving and spiritual Na'vi who defeated the humans, it was the PLANET ITSELF.

So, yeah. Not really an allegory.

Quote from: Werekoala;350550After all, it wasn't the peace-loving and spiritual Na'vi who defeated the humans, it was the PLANET ITSELF.

I didn't think the Na'vi were that peace-loving, I thought that they were a romanticized version of the Native Americans (which are already heavily romanticized) acting as spokesmodels for the enitire planet.

EDIT: I admit to having a big disagreement with the "noble savage" concept of Native Americans because depending on which tribe and which nation you are talking about, Native Americans were not always noble and not always savages. Yet Hollywood currently likes the image, no matter how inaccurate.

Just got back from it myself.

I was very impressed with the technical aspects of it, and the movie itself was very entertaining. As I understand it, none of the actors you see on screen were ever actually on screen... meaning, if true, that CGI capture is now good enough to fool at least my discerning eye.

The story was, as predicted, a hack job. Every element was broadcast, or handled sloppily enough, very facile and... glib. If not for the impressive work of the (voice?!) actors and the pretty pretty visuals it would have been laughable.

I am assured, however, that blue people and easy to identify good and bad guys are what the female demographic demands.  

I personally would have loved to see more scenes with the Na'vi and the humans interacting. The size scaling completely disappears about two seconds after 'Sully' gets off the AV for the first time and never comes back until about 30 seconds until the end of the film.

Excellent movie. Plot was cliché, but it worked very well.

I suspect blue, elfin-like humanoids will be popping up in every sci-fi or fantasy RPG for the next 10 years or so.

Quote from: JongWK;351007Excellent movie. Plot was cliché, but it worked very well.

I suspect blue, elfin-like humanoids will be popping up in every sci-fi or fantasy RPG for the next 10 years or so.

Black haired Andorians with really interesting thyroid problems?

 Cool!

 Not a problem.


- Ed C.

I said elfin like, not cheaply done head makeup like.

Avatar, subtitles, and censorship in Egypt.

By the way, I've read comments about James Cameron saying he had stuff for two more Avatar films. Does anyone have a direct link to that statement?

Here's a cool...well, commercial: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GBGDmin_38E&hd=1

Seanchai

It seems the movie is making more money now than a week ago: +18.5% on Monday as compared to the previous one, and +13.7% on Tuesday. Wonder what will happen next weekend... Are US cinemas open on January 1st?