Avatar (2009)

[thesoothsayer]

looks like it

Cameron Plans “Avatar” Trilogy : Slice of SciFi

I know I would like to see the next story happen generations later.

Not sure if a trilogy about Jake and Neytiri, like what Cameron plans to do, would be a good idea. Quite agree with the article:

Hopefully Cameron actually has an idea for making the films a legitimate trilogy and won’t follow the example of other recent trilogies like “The Matrix” and “The Pirates of the Caribbean.”

I haven't seen the Pirates of the Caribbean's sequels, but I do wished they had stopped after the first Matrix movie.

A story that happens generations later would probably be more interesting to me as well.

 

[GOLLUM]

Friend of mine saw it yesterday.

Overriding comment was: Special effects/visuals were awesome BUT the dialogue was fairly woeful.

Not sure if I'll wait for it to appear on DVD, although I can see how not seeing it on the large screen or at an IMAX theater would detract from the experience.

 

[littlemissattitude]

Friend of mine saw it yesterday.

Overriding comment was: Special effects/visuals were awesome BUT the dialogue was fairly woeful.

Yes. A very good friend's son (18 and a sci-fi and gaming geek) saw it on the day it came out and said that it was all shiny and pretty visually, but that he didn't really think it was that good a film as far as story was concerned.

He also managed to get motion-sickness from the 3-D combined with all the action in the film.

 

[purple_kathryn]

He also managed to get motion-sickness from the 3-D combined with all the action in the film.

I got quite ill during cloverfield (managed not to throw up but I did have to shut my eyes during all the bloody running scenes) but I was fine with this

I mustn't be as bad as I thought I don't think I ever want to get on a boat though.

 

[Thadlerian]

I saw it today in 3D (...) and want to go again.

This, essentially. I liked this movie a lot, though I can't say why. But it's epic. Truly epic.

 

[KESpires]

I loved the movie. However, I thought the plot was slightly ripped from The Sky People by S. M. Stirling. There are just too many similarities. Then again, it isn't like the Going Native plot and the revamping of the European/Native American type story is new.

 

[KESpires]

On second thought, there were less similarities than I previously thought. The similarities end in generalities, and the same can be said for many films and books. I rescind my earlier comment.

Still, crazy epic movie. Worth seeing. And worth seeing in the theater.

 

[clovis-man]

Watched it this afternoon in 3-D. Visually stunning. Excellent premise for a story (thanks to Poul Anderson). Then the plot unfolded as part Fort Apache, part Dances With Wolves, etc. Nothing truly original. Even the unobtainium turned out to just be a "Macguffin". The Colonel was so stereotyped as to be pathetic. I couldn't believe the coffee-drinking-during-the-attack scene. I hoped for Sigourney Weaver's role to more than a reprise of her Diane Fossey portrayal, but I was disappointed.

I could find other quibbles, but I did enjoy the ride, so I'll just say that I hope Cameron doesn't fall into the George Lucas "If I could just add some more SFX it would be perfect" syndrome.

 

[jojajihisc]

Watched it in 3-D a few days ago and loved it. I hadn't seen a 3-D film since the eighties and those were full of cheap attempts to scare you with stuff flying off the screen. This had none of that. The 3-D was simply a way to enhance the look of the movie and make it feel that much more real. Visually at least, this was the most entertaining film I saw this year.

 

[gully_foyle]

Darrggh! Just tried to see it but all 3D sessions sold out.

 

[Ursa major]

And you (given your avatar) more able to cope with 3D than most....

 

[Allegra]

Going to see it on Sunday. Can't wait!

 

[mygoditsraining]

I got back online all ready to absolutely slate the writing in Avatar, only to discover that the rest of the internet got there first. Really stunning visuals aside, the story arc is so bland that it's actually a little insulting. I was left thinking; is that it? Two instances of deus ex machina and a character who undergoes the major points of his journey in montage.

On the plus side, it had Wes Studi in it and that, along with the scene where Sam Worthington apologises to a deer-thing he's killed, made me want to go and watch Last of the Mohicans again.

 

[Moonbat]

I've seen it, that is to say I saw it. I hope you guys don't mind if I get a little bit critical. Ok it looked amazing, particularly the flora, the alien plants and the world did look amazing, the fauna, the animals look pretty good too. I liked the black panther/dog things, I liked the hammerhead rhinos too. But I didn't think it was that good a story, I don't even think the 3D added anything to the film.
It looked great, but the 3D sometimes got in the way of the fast paced action. The story was predictable, but at some points very tense. I liked it when Jake was eating as his avatar was about to be squished by the giant JCB things.
I laughed out loud when I saw the general holding a cup of tea (coffee) as they go into battle. But so many problems.
Unobtanium was almost irrelevant, why blow up the tree when there were floating mountains, why were they floating? it didn't really say, they would expect us to assume that they were mountains of unobtanium, but then why not drag a mountain back to thier base instead of blowing up a massive tree that was 'sitting on the largest pile of unobtanium for 20 clicks'
Isn't a click about a mile or a kilometre? so are they that lazy that they can only be bothered to forage for this immensely expensive (imaginary) element within a radius of 20 kilometres on a forest moon light years from earth.
Where was this moon, it took 6 years to get there but they didn't say how, or where it was.
how come the general was able to breathe the air for more than 20 seconds, unlike everyone else he could just stroll out in it and start shooting (with his breath held?)
what was going on with the hair thing, how can a plait (I think thats the spelling) somehow include the optic fibre things that can act like brain wiring neurons? They just plait the hair together and magically the end has some things that talk to all the creatures, and then Jake even shaves some of his head, so how does that not effect the plait things?
I see James Cameron has upgraded his robot suit things from Aliens, cool.
the end battle was good when you got to see how big the Na'vi were compared to humans, the giant arrows were cool. Although at one point they couldn't pierce glass and they later on they could.
sorry for my rant, but I only liked the look of the flora and very little else about this film. Shame

 

[Thadlerian]

I think it was more like the mountains floated because the unobtainium in the ground. Things like the moon's unspecified location and the USB man-animal connections I can easily accept as artistic freedom. As for the arrows, the first time they were shooting from below, at obtuse angles, while the second time they were shooting from above, at right angles, getting far greater penetrative force.

 

[clovis-man]

Well, the willing suspension of disbelief can go a long way toward allowing one to enjoy an otherwise quite unbelieveable movie.

And you first have to decide whether it's an issue for you at all.

 

[Ursa major]

Then the plot unfolded as part Fort Apache, part Dances With Wolves, etc. Nothing truly original.

I've seen the film described (The noughties are defined by fakery | Hadley Freeman | Comment is free | The Guardian) as Dances with Smurfs.

I've still not seen the film myself, so I couldn't possibly comment.




(And a click - or klick - is a kilometer.)

 

[nj1]

I saw it on boxing day, my first 3D film. I for one really enjoyed it. It wasn't the best plot but at times it sucked you right in and the visuals were stunning with some wicked looking animals (i liked the way those little lizards flew).
All in all I would recommend it to anyone and for the first time in a long time I felt that it was worth forking out to go to the cinema rather than wait for DVD (would the DVD be in 3D?)

 

[elvet]

Another milestone movie for me, right up there with Blade Runner, Jurrasic Park and Lord of the Rings. Absolutely jaw-dropping visually, though familar themes made most of the movie predicatable. I'm going to try and see this one again on an IMAX screen.

 

[tangaloomababe]

I am glad I am not alone in my thinking here. Went to see Avatar with my partener, who loved it, came out saying it was the best, awesome, fantastic etc etc, whilst I was thinking yes it was watchable and the special efects and CGI and whatever were brilliant, the plot was pretty average, probably your boy meets girl etc storyline just set in some futuristic world.
Its not something I would see again and I probably don't understand all the hype around it and it was way to long, however it was one of those movies where it didn't matter if you had to leave for a necessary break because it just wasn't that exciting.