I finally got in to see it! I hit the Granada for the Saturday Matinee showing of Avatar and it was still a packed house. My intrigue was piqued. Crappy seats aside, we still got pretty good seats and sat down for our three hour Cameron fest.
QuikSyn: Dances with Wolves. I’m not kidding. Jake Scully (SAM WORTHINGTON) has been brought on-board the mission to rid a small section of an alien world called Pandora of its native people, the Na’vi, so they can mine a significant source of Unobtanium. Fueled by the promise of the return of the use of his legs by Colonel Miles Quaritch (STEPHEN LANG), Jake pushes forward to befriend Neytiri (ZOE SALDANA) and work his way into the tribe so he can conduct negotiations. Dr. Grace Augustine (SIGOURNEY WEAVER) catches wind of his connection to the Colonel and moves them to a remote facility where Jake is cut off from the colonel. Left alone to continue on as planned, Jake continues his training with Neytiri and finds that his thoughts of the Colonel’s plans are replaced by his growing feelings for her. Jake learns more about their traditions and ways, taming the Mountain Banshee, and finally being accepted into the tribe only to have the corporate sleaze Parker Selfridge (GIOVANNI RIBISI) push forward with plowing towards the Na’vi’s home, the Home Tree. After a last ditch effort by Jake and Dr. Augustine fails to change the minds of the Na’vi, the Colonel lays waste to Home Tree. The Na’Vi run for the spiritual ground, the Tree of Souls, where they make their last stand. When the military makes their big push, Jake rallies the neighboring tribes together and they plan to take on the assault. Before doing so, Jake makes one plea to the Tree of Souls for help but receives no answer. The Colonel pushes and the Na’vi fight back. They fight for all they’re worth but ultimately fail in their defense… until the planet rises up with them to turn back the military. Banshee’s, every creature imaginable joins the fray and win the day, leaving Jake to fight the Colonel one on one. After a long battle, in which Jake nearly loses the use of his real body, the Colonel falls to the arrows of Neytiri. The Na’vi help the people to leave their world and the film ends with Jake using the Tree of Souls to permanently become one of the Na’vi.
I’ve heard the same thing from everyone: Rehashed, unimaginative plot and amazing special effects. First off, I agree completely with the thought about the special effects. I did not get to see the amazing new Cameron 3D Vision (insert long echo), but what I saw on the screen really dropped my jaw, my eyeballs and my nose on the floor. My lack of face disturbed me, but it was still good. Yes Wunz, that was for you. It was an amazing beautiful world to take in. The depth was amazing. I really felt like the world Cameron created allowed me to jump in with both feet and pick up on how it worked pretty effortlessly.
Another kudo to the Cam, the shift of focus. I felt like the shift in focus to the Na’vi and Jake’s training to become one of them was a lot more in depth and created a great bridge into the understanding of the people, their rituals and practices. The science and industry world of the people is slowly left behind, forgotten, and then there is only the Na’Vi. In fact, the only thing that keeps us in touch with the other world is when Jake wakes from his connection and the military is prepping their attack.
Big negative, well not like Whopper big… maybe more like Big Mac big. Yes, the Whopper is bigger. It’s the story. Yes, it’s a rehashed love story/heroe’s epic journey, blah, blah, blah. Look, at the sun… there’s nothing new under it. There is no new story to tell; only the way you tell it. How do you tell the “heroes epic” differently to make it fresh? How do you outfit the old love story with a new coat of paint and chrome wheels? You don’t settle for cliche and sadly Cameron does. It’s difficult, but it’s not anything new. Thank the Gods the world he crafted is.
Another knock? Actually, the depth of the world. Sometimes, there is just too much stuff happening all the time in the world, the background, everywhere that is computer generated. In most live action films, there is usually a sense of balance between how much is happening in the frame. In this, it feels like the balance is lost for a need to keep the world alive. The world is alive, but it’s overdone. Sometimes, things aren’t moving in the background. Sometimes the world settles.
The film is in now and I highly, highly recommend going in and seeing it while it’s here. If you can, go check it out on the IMAX. It’s worth it. Even with the recycled story, it’s worth seeing for the spectacle and size of the world of Pandora, the richness of the Na’vi, and the intensity of the action. For sitting on my rear for three hours… never got bored.
One side note: There was a dude sitting behind me doing things to his almost empty bag of popcorn that sounded both exerting and gross. Dude, if you’re out there, there are people who can help. You don’t have to face this problem alone.
Oh, and Unobtanium? Really? That’s the best you got? That made me laugh, just a little to myself.
Oh my god you _have_ to see the new 3-d. It was so stunning
Really wish i could’ve seen this in 3D, finally got to see it this weekend at the Granada though.
Do i care about the rehased plot? hell no! we’ve seen so many stories up to this point that I really cannot knock a writer for reusing a similar plot structure (they do this in RPG’s all the time), It was the presentation that totally blew me out of the water. Yeah, Dancing with wolves (and to a similar extent, The Last Samurai) were both good movies, but Avatar just knocked them both out of the water in terms of presentation.
One thing i really value in media is character development, my favorite movies and games are always the ones with really well developed characters and their complex relationships to each other, I agree with chuck on the shift of focus, very well done.
Watching the previews, My first thought was that because the
Navi were purely animated, i wasn’t going to be able to really care much about them. However, they were so pristinely animated (facial features conveying emotion, etc) that it was easy to treat them as if they were humans, i DID care about them as individuals, a MAJOR kudos to the animators for that.
I actually did not find the constant mash of special effects and extremely detailed environments distracting from the story, in fact it pulled me into the world even deeper, I wanted to be a part of it, those luminescent forests at night, what i wouldn’t give to hike through something like that in the real world!
Certainly a 9 for me, i think that even if the idea of a rehashed plot bothers some people, not seeing this movie in the theaters is pretty much robbing yourself of something great, it was a beautiful ride.
I agree with Mark this movie is a must see in theaters. Sorry to hear you couldn’t see it in 3D. I would recommend it if you have the chance.
If you wear glasses make sure you see it in a theater that has large 3D glasses with plastic lenses. The theater that I saw it in had glass lenses that were smaller than my lenses and I got a constant glare between the two which took me out of the action at times, a problem I did not have when I saw A Christmas Carol in 3D with Jim Carrey.
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