i am gonna see this film ! since alot of people say it's good ! i hope it will be good !
Why do people hate James Cameron's Avaturd?
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I wanna know what you guys think about the lead character? His acting in general mainly… He honestly bored me tears. He's pretty much the reason I feel asleep in the middle. The way he talks... That monotone. I felt embarrassed pulling my friend in to see it with me.
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Well, I think it was intentional by Cameron that Jake's personality be somewhat muted to begin with (soft spoken/submissive) especially considering the circumstances for him being on Pandora were totally shitty (Also 5 years of cryo sleep can't help)
It's in Jake's avatar body does he really come back to life and show a little more range, and I thought Sam's performance was excellent (and it is all Sam's performance mind you) in avatar form and live action scenes.
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The stupid part was that the smart guy from earth came, took the super dragon and even his worst enemies became his friends at once !
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I thought it was fine.
Since it was touched on quite a few times that Turok held great significance within the Hometree tribe, only a handful of Na'vi had ever made a successful bond with him, the last being Neytiri's great grandfather. So there was a generational gap between anyone ever riding him before and for Jake, the "dreamer" to tame him at that point of time, was all the proof they needed that Jake was truly on their side.
But yeah… cheap plot contrivance... rabble rabble ding dong.
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The stupid part was that the smart guy from earth came, took the super dragon and even his worst enemies became his friends at once !
your sentence makes my brain hurt.
but if anything, Eywa intervening was as literal as you get with a Deus Ex Machina
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I wanna know what you guys think about the lead character? His acting in general mainly
I thought he did a fantastic job. He's a jarhead and that came across perfectly. I think it was intentional.
I have my qualms with the 'Yay! Humanity will die!' aspect of the film but the acting on all fronts was stellar. Especially Weaver. She was on frickin' fire. I haven't enjoyed her in a film this much since you-know-what.
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My aunt said the IMAX of this made her sick, and apparently the symptoms were contagious, because people were bailing out of the movie in streams.
Is that a compliment, or a criticism?
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I'm incredibly prone to motion sickness to the point where I can't ride something like Star Tours at Disneyland…but I had no issues with the Imax 3D. I didn't see anyone getting up except one or two to use the restroom.
ps - nobody said humanity was going to die - I think "dying planet" is Jake's point of view from becoming part of a planet in which nature is still flourishing. If they have the technology to fly to other planets, create clones and cure paralysis, I'd say they're doing alright.
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Greg, you said something about the mineral being an energy source or something. I didn't catch that in the movie. I thought it was all about how much money it could fetch.
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The stupid part was that the smart guy from earth came, took the super dragon and even his worst enemies became his friends at once !
It's better to make everyone go speechless than beg for forgiveness.
@Well, I guess I'm indifferent to Jake's voice. I guess I can understand why he seemed that way though for an army man… Dude must have had it rough before he lost his legs.
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@Kairouseki:
Greg, you said something about the mineral being an energy source or something. I didn't catch that in the movie. I thought it was all about how much money it could fetch.
What else is worth spending millions if not billions of dollars on to fund the research, materials, manpower and remarkable time (6 years transit!? @_@)
It seemed like it was directly drawing a parallel to oil but maybe that was me.
ps - nobody said humanity was going to die - I think "dying planet" is Jake's point of view from becoming part of a planet in which nature is still flourishing. If they have the technology to fly to other planets, create clones and cure paralysis, I'd say they're doing alright.
He said there was 'no more green' and since we seem pretty desperate (as stated above) to get some kind of mystery material that will fulfill a great need (which unobtanium is by definition) it seemed like we just got majorly denied.
I'm not gonna jump on the, "This is a Liberal agenda blah blah BLAH.", bullshit bandwagon. I just think it's dumb that they made people looking to do something that seems to be for the continued survival of humanity, the villains.
And if unobtanium was just some form of ultra rare expensive mineral for jewelry, then I totally agree, but they never, not even once, made it seem that way.
No offense to anyone that liked the movie by the way. I'm just being me.
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Yeah, I just saw it.
Meh.
I'd say it was a 6 or 7 out of 10, tops. It was fun, but I think it's being way overrated right now.
CGI was beautiful, that is undeniable. It's astounding that it's evolved from
to
!
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Watched it last night. It was good enough, amusing too, but could've been better. I was dizzy at first till I got used to the 3D though. I will agree that Jake as an actor was quite good when in his Avatar body but when he wasn't he was dull. I liked the scene where he was going to get his Ikran. "Shut up and fly straight!" sure got a giggle out of me.
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He said there was 'no more green' and since we seem pretty desperate (as stated above) to get some kind of mystery material that will fulfill a great need (which unobtanium is by definition) it seemed like we just got majorly denied.
From what I gather, it's used to build the ships for interstellar space.
It was sad, but it could have been prevented…they were mining the stuff for years there, it just happened that the largest deposit they had come across so far was right under the Navi's home. Not the only deposit on the planet. Had they not jumped the gun and decided they needed to blow it up, they probably could have kept mining the rest of the planet without hopelessly painting themselves as bad guys. The decision was clearly made out of greed and ignorance, not necessity.
In some cases, the end justifies the means, but I am having a really hard time justifying humanity's actions in the context of this fictional movie.
It's an interesting conversation, at least, if a movie can spark some controversy and ethical debates it's worth more than the average popcorn flick.
Without deviation from the norm, progress is not possible. - Frank Zappa
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I enjoyed it but I thought the plot could be developed better. Everything happened so easily in favor of the protagonist. The aliens were proved to be so dumbasses ,they needed a guy from earth to get the dragon and unite them. The world was magical and it was greatly developed but the plot could be different.
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On the matter of unobtainium:
http://www.youtube.com/user/officialavatar#p/u/26/GBGDmin_38E
2:30 reveals that it's the "most efficient superconductor known to exist."The movie should've should've mentioned it when Selfridge was yelling "this sells for 20 million a kilo!" He was mentioning things that seem to be common knowledge, so might as well throw that one in to be more of a smartass.
Hate it when they make you search for important info like this…(like why Charles Muntz in Up still looks to be in his 70s instead of his 100s)
However, I still think the movie in general is a must-see. Think Jurassic Park when it first came out.
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yeah, it would have been nice if they explained that the unobtanium is also why and how they have the floating mountains, for instance. Another thing I was wondering is what exactly is the deal with the atmosphere there. Humans can't breath it, but they didnt seem to have any trouble with the regular oxygen levels in their Navi bodies.
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They remind me of Panthro.
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Just saw this the another night in 3D.
[hide]Let's get the bad out of the way first.
Like many have pointed out, there was a lot of missing info that should have been in the movie. The movie was way more focused on the visual aspects more then story. Joel Moore(Norm) could have not been in the movie and there would have been no difference. The "enemy"(corporation, military) was cookie cutter, very predictable is an understatment. There was big hype that the "everything out there wants to kill you", I was expecting much more then what was shown. Last thing…"Not in this Economy" :getlost:
The good.
Great visuals, easily the best part of the movie and the main reason to see it. A bulk of the things i liked fall into this category but the list would be long. Liked how almost every plant got cooler just by it being touched. The look of the Navi was good, really liked the whole "connection" idea with their tails. The ability to bond with their mounts and the trees was interesting. The idea of the whole planet being connected by the roots of all trees was funny because that's something i thought about when i had a bad trip, the fact that the Navi could connect with the trees, their ancestors and other tribes over the planet was very cool. Glad to see Sigourney Weaver again. I liked how Jake Sully first reacted to his avatar. [/hide]
I would recommend it just for the visuals alone(see it in 3D), everything else is personal preference.
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He said there was 'no more green' and since we seem pretty desperate (as stated above) to get some kind of mystery material that will fulfill a great need (which unobtanium is by definition) it seemed like we just got majorly denied.
Aparently the need for the mineral is to be able to do faster than light travel… needed to get the material
3DS FC: 0516-7666-3837
SW-4128-8032-0729
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Aparently the need for the mineral is to be able to do faster than light travel… needed to get the material
Thanks all of you who researched this.
So it all comes back to us needing to use the stuff to find…resources. Which apparently we really need. Since we're fighting wars in...where was it...Venezuela(?) for resources.
You know what I don't mind, is when it's human VS human. Then I have someone to root for. Dances With Wolves? You've got real humans dealing with real issues and they were scumbags.
I mean, it was humane how they treated the main character when he was caught as a traitor. Maybe if they threw in a scene of the mercs torturing him or doing something inhumane for no reason than to be sadistic, methinks a scene of them playing with Na'vi children before killing them would have been superb, I could see them as deserving of defeat but they were downright civil.
What? Are we supposed to think they're 'mean guys' because as former jugheads they busted a fellow Marine's chops in a wheelchair?
Yeah the businessman was cruel in his decisions, but even then they showed he was a human.
I think if the unobtanium was linked to the Na'vi survival or on a ground they called sacred (I agree with the businessman, there ARE a lot of trees there they could move into) it was a different issue but I didn't really see anything there that made it absolutely clear that there was a villain in the film.
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It didn't make sense why the humans shot first and then asked question. Realistically, If we've discovered a new planet, I don't think we would do such a thing as force the natives out, nor hate them for not co-operating with us.
Hell, if there were UFOs coming down towards us when we were still living in caves, we would throw our spears at it, more so if they were shooting at us.
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Iirc, it was established at the beginning that the humans were trying to negotiate at first but then got tired waiting/getting rejected many times.
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From what I remember, I think they didn't know the language of the aliens at the time when they shot at them.
They should've waited until the language experts got there so they could negotiate.
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They never showed them shooting at them from when they first arrived. It wasn't an assault that just happened, they'd had skirmishes and encounters for years.
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I can't help but think that after the end of the film, the humans will just come back with their full military force and wipe out the smurfs.
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So why not just give them blankets loaded with smallpox?
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Smurfs are immune to smallpox.
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I have to admit, I'm a huge fan of this movie. I've seen it twice now in 3D and I'll probably see it for a couple more times. Why? Because this movie makes me feel like I was 10 years old and watching The Lost World again
. It's just awesome. I'm also pretty sure I won't be buying a 3D TV anytime soon so better enjoy the movie in all its glory now while I can.I agree that the plot is to some extent a Dances With Wolves/Pocahontas ripoff, but I still enjoyed it. Guess I have a soft spot for good old "white man killing native americans and taking their lands"-movies.
I also admire Cameron and the amount of time and effort (and money
) they've put into this movie, since they basically came up with their own technology to make this movie come true. Here are few good making of clips, just to give you an idea of what they've gone trough to make it happen:The actors were great in my opinion, especially Saldana (as Neytiri) and Weaver. I even found my Aliens DVD few days ago and watched it, pure classic.
So what did we learn from this movie: White man is always BAD! It was really funny to notice small cheers and laughs in the theater when humans (WE) got their asses kid at the end of the movie.
Anyways, great movie. Go see it if you haven't yet. Guess I'm now officially an Avatard
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Not to forget the fact that they created a whole new language just for the film.
Man, they did put a lot in this film.
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Not necessarily. It could be a mix of different languages. It sounded somewhat familiar to me.
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This professor at the University of Southern California actually came up with the language by himself. Here is a nice article about it:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=121350582
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Hrm. So… apparently this movie has grossed somthing like 760 million worldwide in two weeks. And thats without factoring in this weekends building total, which was full theatre when I went.
Looks like this is going to join the billionaire club without much trouble.
(Only 4 other movies have hit a billion in first run theatrical release. Titanic, Dark Knight, Pirates 2, and Return of the King) Love this movie or hate it, it seems like it going to be incredibly successful.
I'm not going to bother reviewing it, I have the same opinion as everyone else pretty much. Geat visuals, some good moments, a few moments of genuine wonder and emotion, but mostly a very straightforward predictable story that you knew the entire plot to the moment you saw the first trailer. I'll get the dvd, but I'm in no rush to go back to the theatre.
(of course, if your talking attendance/actual number of tickets sold, NOTHING is ever going to beat Gone with the Wind, so all comparisons are moot anyway.)
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^So looks like a sequal might indeed happen.
I wonder if this movie will spark rekindled interest to make space operas in Hollywood. Kinda like what LotR did to fantasy and Gladiator did to historical epics. Ridley Scott is already attached to Forever War and I would really like to see an adaptation of Old Man's War.
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So what did we learn from this movie: White man is always BAD!
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I also admire Cameron and the amount of time and effort (and money
) they've put into this movieWell, it's our money so…
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I just don't get it. Like with Transformers, people seem to be so impressed with the graphics. "Story was a little corny but it looked amazing bro!" The graphics of a movie. Who cares? How do cutting edge graphics make a movie good? What is impressive on the part of the people involved? Give me $500 million and I could blow your mind at least as thoroughly.
I kinda liked this movie when I saw it, but I fail to see how being cute and making vague commentary has earned it all this praise. Pocahontas, from like 15 years ago, was better and I'm not just going on nostalgia. I'll give Saldana credit but the main guy couldn't even keep his accent in line.
Originally Posted by Battle Franky
Bad move, bub!
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I was entirely bored the whole fucking movie. The acting was horrible, the lines were forced, and the plot was below mediocre. The only time, I was semi-entertained was when he was flying the first time and was yelling out directions and I was giddily awaiting him to say 'Do a barrel roll!' And yet, I was disappointed. I'm disappointed in myself for even going to see it, I just happened to be bored one day and gave in to temptation.
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What an amazing film.
I wanted to find the flaws, but it surpassed my expectations throughout. Graphics, plot, acting etc…..great. Plus seeing it in the specs makes it just so much more unreal. This sets the bar for godly tier of graphics orientated films.
Best film of the year for me.
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I saw this yesterday, and James Cameron sure aims to please. As most people have already complained about it, the story wasn't exactly the most rivetting. But, I'm very forgiving of the flaws of following every predictable cliche in the book, since the way it was presented was spectacular. Though, it could've done without the blatant HUMANS ARE EVIL aspect.
Everyone's joked about how the plotDances with Wolves, or Disney's Pochahontas in space. I've never seen the former before, but I was personally reminded of Princess Mononoke because the conflict of man vs. nature was similar.
I felt that the movie shone its brightest in the visual and music department. Fortunately, they're not the only thing carrying it. I loved the background music having to do with the Na'vi, and how it has a strong, tribal feel to it.
Is it me, or does Michelle Rodriguez's character die in every movie she's in?
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Pocahontas, from like 15 years ago, was better and I'm not just going on nostalgia.
You forgot Dances with Wolves, Smurfs, and Thundercats on your obvious joke that's already been made for months checklist.
Can no one say it was an inferior version of Lawrence of Arabia, Princess Mononoke, Tarzan, The Last Samurai, Crocadile Dundee, or even Babe: Pig in the City?
Must everyone go for the Disney film? (And Pocahontas was NOT better than this movie. You're totally going on nostalgia.)
For all its flaws, Avatar managed to create a genuine sense of wonder and beauty in quite a few places, (mostly the glowy forest stuff) and had pretty good action sequences. It suceeded in those areas.
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@robbybedfart:
You forgot Dances with Wolves, Smurfs, and Thundercats on your obvious joke that's already been made for months checklist.
Well its not really something people say for laughs, its just exactly what this movie reminds them of.
And Pocahontas was NOT better than this movie. You're totally going on nostalgia.
Eh im in agreement with Buc. Any decent disney movie blows this flick out of the water, and that includes Pocahontas.
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Everyone's joked about how the plotDances with Wolves, or Disney's Pochahontas in space. I've never seen the former before, but I was personally reminded of Princess Mononoke because the conflict of man vs. nature was similar.
Now see. Princess Mononoke succeeded in many places where this film just failed and it didn't have to.
"LOL GREG WEEABOO HERPDERP"
You had three views in PM:
1. Emishi
2. Nature
3. HumanityThey acknowledged that humanity chews up resources. But Miyazaki had the uncharacteristically good sense to show us scenes of compassion and shock humanity amongst even the 'boss' of the humans.
Meanwhile he showed us downright cruelty and savagery present in the otherwise 'pure' nature.
Now, I'm not about to get into some scholarly debate on PM because it's way above my head, but Avatar presenting humanity's need for expansion as PURE 100% EVIL NO QUESTIONS ASKED while the Na'vi were 'pure' beings just because they lived in tune with 'nature' was laughably shallow.
And I don't know how people can praise the 'effects'.
Direction of action sequences?
Unique ideas for creatures?
Use of space and color?
Yes, yes and oh yes.
But most of what I've seen is, "The CG is amazing!!!!"
Yeah, that's what happen when you throw a SHITLOAD of money at hundreds of people and give them years to accomplish something. Not anything particularly special there.
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I still don't understand why we are focusing more on the stories similarities to other films then how great the film was.
Just because it may share a similar theme doesn't lessen the greatness that Camerons produced.
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Thanks all of you who researched this.
So it all comes back to us needing to use the stuff to find…resources. Which apparently we really need. Since we're fighting wars in...where was it...Venezuela(?) for resources.
You know what I don't mind, is when it's human VS human. Then I have someone to root for. Dances With Wolves? You've got real humans dealing with real issues and they were scumbags.
I mean, it was humane how they treated the main character when he was caught as a traitor. Maybe if they threw in a scene of the mercs torturing him or doing something inhumane for no reason than to be sadistic, methinks a scene of them playing with Na'vi children before killing them would have been superb, I could see them as deserving of defeat but they were downright civil.
What? Are we supposed to think they're 'mean guys' because as former jugheads they busted a fellow Marine's chops in a wheelchair?
Yeah the businessman was cruel in his decisions, but even then they showed he was a human.
I think if the unobtanium was linked to the Na'vi survival or on a ground they called sacred (I agree with the businessman, there ARE a lot of trees there they could move into) it was a different issue but I didn't really see anything there that made it absolutely clear that there was a villain in the film.
hmmm so its not villainous to go into an indigenous peoples home and blow it up so you can get what you want, stripmine the planet of all valuable resources then leave. Not to mention all the people men women children they massacred when they decided not to leave their home on their planet. Also you seem to be forgetting a key aspect of the Na'vi and their surroundings. They had a biochemical/mental connection with just about every living thing around them. People say that tree are alive adn they have spirits well in this case thats extremely true in this case where the Na'vi were capable of communicating with the trees. That big tree they knocked down must have been apart of those peoples lives for thousands of years and contained the bonds and memories of millions of lives.
I really think you're trolling with that line because i don't see how you can watch that and go, "Well they could just move into another tree." The situation is almost exactly like the Trail of Tears. People living on land, very peaceful and happy, along comes white man, finds something of value, commits a little genocide to get it. At the time everybody was like Fuck YEAH GOLD! Then centuries later when it no longer matters because the native american population is about 1% of what it was people are like awwww that was mean and clearly the lesson hasn't been learned cause you're like…well they certainly should just move off their native land that they have thousands of years of history at so we can dig it up, and turn it into a giant hole in the ground. And if they don't move we have every right to kill all of them because hey...they could just move into another tree. And hell lets just blow up their most sacred artifact too so as a people they'll be too broken to resist us. Really drive that nail of mental and physical devastation home. This is all completely reasonable and in no way an act that should be seen as wrong...
:getlost: you must be trollin
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Honestly dont see why they couldnt just strike a deal with them to mine a kg or so of that metal a month in whatever natural hippie way they want in exchange for the humans leaving them alone.
I mean under all these months of negotiations did that thought never come up?
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Mononoke is the far better movie all around. (and its shorter!) Love that one. There were bits where Avatar approached that level of awe, long stretches of wonder and beauty. But , it was incredibly heavyhanded, compared to Mononoke's many shades of grey, and nearly everything with the humans and the military complex, except for Ripley, fell pretty flat.
Characterization? There wasn't much. The main catgirl was the best character in it because her facial expressions gave away a ton of emotion and was really subtle, but I don't even remember her name. (To be fair, I probably didn't remember San, Ahitaka, and Lady Eboshi's names after just seeing Mononoke once, but… I just saw Avatar like... yesterday. I should be able to recall more than "Jake", "pilot girl" "nerdy guy" "angry alien boyfriend" and "Ripley" and I can't.)
Direction of action sequences?
Unique ideas for creatures?
Use of space and color?
Yes, yes and oh yes.But most of what I've seen is, "The CG is amazing!!!!" Yeah, that's what happen when you throw a SHITLOAD of money at hundreds of people and give them years to accomplish something. Not anything particularly special there.
100% agreed.
Honestly dont see why they couldnt just strike a deal with them to mine a kg or so of that metal a month in whatever natural hippie way they want in exchange for the humans leaving them alone.
I mean under all these months of negotiations did that thought never come up?
Because, they don't want a kg. They want to dig up a mountainside of it. As many TONS of it as possible. A kg may be worth a fortune, but a couple thousand pounds of it is more fortune by many magnitudes. 6 years of space travel there, and 6 years back, and the instilations and those mechs and airships and cloning the avatar bodies was expensive in time and money.
And also it really didn't matter where they went or dug, the entire planet was interconnected, they were going to mess something up no matter where they went, ESPECIALLY the sacred tree main deposit spots.
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Eh like a kg or two of any material a month would mess up anything in their eco system, i mean these guys probably made spears and daily commodoties from more than that.
And when were talking about a group of investors that were willing to sink six months of fruitless negotiations where they were constantly losing money into getting this metal one would certainly think that a continous monthly gain of 20-40 million dollars would sound pretty damn good to them. Not to mention that they added that whole bit about the shareholders prefering not to see a repeat of what happend to the indians if it could in anyway be avoided. Or the how much easier, safer and cheaper it would be for them to have people who can actualy breath the damn air do the mining for em.
If they went about it that way they could've minimized their presence there on Pandora, or possibly even just come by routinly to pick it up. Thus not fucking up the enviroment on Pandora with their gigant bases, polluting ships, gung ho marines and whatnot. Which i'd assume that the na'vi problably would've liked.
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I saw it in IMAX 3D yesterday
Pros:
-IMAX 3D is the way to go if you're going to see it at all. I can't imagine seeing it any other way without being underwhelmed or bored for most of it. The 3D gave a really awesome depth of field that immersed you in the world - there were times that I felt I was part of it. Definitely a neat experience.
-Visuals were breathtaking/stunning/really cool/etc. Motion capture for faces was the best I've seen and they fleshed out a really cool world. I would have been cool with the movie if it had been just a tour of the planet.
-Really cool creature designs. My favorite part.
-Cool action sequencesCons:
-[Unfortunately] IMAX 3D is the way to go if you're going to see it at all. I can't imagine seeing it any other way without being underwhelmed or bored for most of it. Seriously, though. A film fails as a film if you can only see it one specific way without losing a defining aspect of what makes it complete.
-While the visuals were great, that is not what makes a movie good. The script was full of shitty one-liners and was really preachy and melba toast. It's a story we all know and have seen before. Yes, we get it - humans are destroying the planet. You'd figure that in the future we would learn from our past mistakes - I didn't buy it. It's also almost insulting how similar the story is to Dances with Wolves.
-Characters weren't terrible, but not great either. There was no clear-cut villain. There's this "badass" Marine dude who is a total dick, but he has no layers and I didn't buy it at all.In conclusion:
Avatar may be the most visually stunning thing you'll see in recent years, but that's pretty much it. I'd recommend seeing it if only to see the technological advances that have been made to movies. But script and story-wise? It's pretty MEH. It's preachy in the most outdated way - "Save the Rainforest" meets "Don't Wipe Out Indigenous Cultures". AKA Fern Gully + Dances With Wolves. It's a story that everyone saw ten years ago in every other movie.
It's entertaining to say the least and the saving grace, once again, are the visuals. I really wanted to hate this going in, but by the time I got out, I felt pretty satisfied. I got what I expected from the story, and it exceeded my expectations visually.People who are saying that this is the best movie they've ever seen/of the decade/of the year don't know what they're talking about/haven't seen many movies.
buttcheeks
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Eh im in agreement with Buc. Any decent disney movie blows this flick out of the water, and that includes Pocahontas.
This would work if Pocahontas was a decent flick. Which it wasn't.
As for the movie I'm gonna stick to the positives seeing as the negatives have already been run into the ground. It was….immersive. Really immersive. At times I genuinely felt like I was on Pandora, jumping with the Navi, swooping through the sky running from those rhino things and that was a really great feeling. Even if you think movies shouldn't be judged on their visuals this is still a giant plus for it. The immersiveness wasn't created purely through jaw dropping visuals and 3-d effects, it was created by the angle of the camera, the sounds of the forest and the beat of the soundtrack. Not only were the visuals stunning but the directing and camera work(or whatever you call it for a mostly CGI film) was also top notch.
Also that action scene at the end was one of the best I've ever seen in a movie so points for that.
So yeah, I'd recommend seeing it for the visuals alone, even if the story is a bit shlock.
