Avatar Review (12-19-09)

I agree. But I thought the story was good. It was it's own original take on Dances with the Wolves. The universe was well crafted. The characters were great too. My mom cried at the I see you part at the end. The effects were good but I didn't need effects to say this was the greatest movie ever made. Also, Ello Lopes Ribero, District 9 was good and maybe in my top 5 favorite films but it was nowhere near as good as Avatar. Plus comparing Avatar to Transformers is like comparing The best condition of platinum to the smelliest piece of terd in existence.

I was dragged to this one by a girl. The 3D version, no less. And I swear, there was more 3D in the trailer for Alice in Wonderland than there was in the entire movie. I felt completely cheated out of my money, and I rarely ever feel cheated out of my money when I leave a theater because if I see a movie in theaters, I will go out of my way to FIND good parts of a movie to point to so that I can say I wasn't cheated. In Avatar, there was no such luck.

I just wanted to put my two cents worth in (like every single other person who ever comments on a video… yes my hypocrisy is very evident), in that I do agree that this is recycling the same torn-down broken message in a very obvious way. However although I think the story is mundane and SO over-done that it is ridiculous and insulting… this is still the best execution I have ever seen of this particular story (I mean, even the mention of 'the Last Samurai' made me want to slit my wrists (that movie still haunts my nightmares *shudder*)). The visual effects were just that good that I did actually like this movie, despite the fact that the story and characters were preachy and overdone. And I did treat it entirely like an animated movie… because well 99% of it is animated and when you've created an entire movie out of CGI, it's a little silly to be complaining that the movie has CGI in it.

In the end I just absolutely loved the visual effects to the point where I pretty much ignored most of the movie and just sat back to appreciate the artistry. I mean fluorescent plants, floating mountains and a tree with a nervous system? You bet it's ridiculous and unbelievable! But I thought (this is just my opinion though) that it was beautiful, and the effects were well done.

Yeah, but anyway, great discussion and nice job dissecting this movie.

Addendum: Also, I do believe that a really REALLY big chunk of why this movie is so popular is because – and I say this as an Australian who has cousins who live in America – most of the world REALLY DOES NOT LIKE AMERICA. It's just a fact. I'm not saying that this dislike is justified or not *coughbushadministrationcough*, but it is true that I know a lot of people who just felt really really good seeing an “evil” american corporation with obvious “evil” army expys being taken down by a bunch of giant blue smurfs with stones and sticks. I'm sorry, but that was just awesome.

I mean, you better believe that if you guys hadn't voted Obama in, this movie would have been a much bigger hit simply because 95% of all movie theaters around the world would have had people cheering like at the fucking Roman colloseum.

Lord of the rings does have flying mountains… they're just not on middle earth. And, to be fair, Avatar does establish an entirely different environment and evolutional scale and, in fact, a world with an entirely different application of conventional physics And they do mention it. Yeah, it's implausible but I've suspended my own sense of disbelief for a lot less.

Spoony man, I agree with you 100%…on every level. Having said that, your brother did not deserve to be burped on lol

Giovanni Ribisi was awesome. The only truly awesome and convincing thing in the entire film.

james camerons next movie: Titanic 2, jack's revenge (in 3d)

I can understand what you're brother touched on when he was talking about the message of the film. You have seen Dances with Wolves, Pocahontas, etc. The thing is those movies came out in the 1990's. History has shown people need to be CONSTANTLY reminded of these things.

I promise you there is going to be some dimwitted 15 year old who up until this point has been so close minded that when someone communicates this message to him it'll be like an epiphany. Sad as it is someone who saw this movie needed to have this message hammered into their heads.

A movie as simple, blatant and shamelessly anti-Iraq, or whatever this movie acts like it's making a statement about, is what is needed to communicate to the dull minded American Audience. Keeping in mind that Cameron is not of the US.

Half the movie was scenery porn, that's why it was so long. Haha.
I agree with the whole white guilt thing- it's silly and racist and offensive to EVERYONE, not just white people. I mean, the part that offends a lot of people is also the fact that a white dude comes in and is instantly better than the natives at everything they do and because they're the main character they're always right and always the best. ALWAYS. Also the idea that one culture is just inherently better than another culture is just offensive in and of itself. (In Avatar the Navi were portrayed as having the best culture EVAAAR. And everyone who didn't agree with this was a bad guy.)

I hated the preachiness of the movie as well. It doesn't add anything new to the table, and it's just beating a dead horse. Yes, the world hates America. We fucking know. It's not going to change how we go about our daily lives. I also have a problem with movies that portray the military as this EVIL entity and that every soldier is an evil mother fucker who wants to kill all the savages no matter how innocent they are in practice because the U.S. military doesn't work that way. People in the U.S. military come from different backgrounds from all around the country, and they're human. This means that they are capable of good, and capable of evil. They aren't giant cartoons running around shooting everything in their way. That is NOT how to write a good villain and it's not how real life works.

The good things I have to say about Avatar are this, though:
Yes, it was interesting to look at. The last fight scene was pretty awesome. Some of the scenery porn was sweeping and cool to look at.
And James Cameron knows how to sell female characters who aren't necessarily walking fanservice machines. The females in this movie were pretty badass. I love how Sigourney Weaver filled the role of the sarcastic, gruff mentor. That female pilot was pretty cool too.

unobtainium really i mean really what the hell

Heh. Yeah I agree with you. I'm just saying if Avatar was an anime, people would claim it's highly derivative of Princes Mononoke. It certainly was a far superior story for all the reasons you mention. And thank you, I'm glad I wasn't the only one not turned on by the Na'vi.

I wont touch on the message, or the preachiness, or the similarities, because all of that is discussed everywhere, but I will say one thing: I disagree with The Spoony one about the ecology. I loved the ecology. As a scifi nerd, I am so tired of seeing ecologies that arent alien. Yes, they have alien species, or plants, but the basic ecology is earthlike to some extent. This? This is the most Alien ecology I've seen on film in a long time, and so radically different in so many ways from ours. I loved the light up plants, because thats shows a fundamental difference to earth ecology, and it provides a wonderfully simple answer for why so many animals in this movie are bioluminescent. Its as simple as, “If it don't glow, its a dark spot on a light up background” which is the exact opposite of earth. At night, if its bright, it stands out. On Pandora, at night, if its not bright, it stands out. And something that simple shows an alieness to this planet that I adore.

he likes yor…so of course he can suspend disbelief.

not to mention…armor piercing rifles vs ….sticks…..go figure. the plot says so.

note: jake forgot to tell them they just wanted the rocks..which are never explain why they are valuable…..thats already a few plot holes right there…heck the rocks being more valuable than the aliens is like 7 plot holes.

well i agree if they explained it would have been easier to except…but if anyone knows any science or simple physics…it will never happen..unless chuck norris decides to juggle.

They do explain it, or at least vaguely. They say at least a few time the 'rocks' are a very good energy source, and can power things used on earth so well, it would be worth millions (or maybe billions). Why are they so good? How are they used? They don't go into that, but really, does it matter? They could say there's machinery that extracts a certain part of this material which is compatible with and used with electronically device that can power things, and it wouldn't add much to this failure of a movie, even if it was better. And the rocks being 'more valuable' than the aliens isn't a plot hole at all unless you don't understand their mind set or predicament.

They do explain it, or at least vaguely. They say at least a few time the ‘rocks’ are a very good energy source, and can power things used on earth so well, it would be worth millions (or maybe billions). Why are they so good? How are they used? They don’t go into that, but really, does it matter? They could say there’s machinery that extracts a certain part of this material which is compatible with and used with electronical devices that can power things, and it wouldn’t add much to this failure of a movie, even if it was better. And the rocks being ‘more valuable’ than the aliens isn’t a plot hole at all unless you don’t understand their mind set or predicament.

Alien ecology? These are all Earth creatures bashed together with no sense of reason! Here’s a four-armed monkey! Here’s an evil flamingo! Here’s a rhino-peacock! Here’s a lizard dog! Here’s a really big lizard dog! Here’s FUCKING DINOSAURS! The cat people’s holy tree is a fucking weeping willow! My aunt has one in her backyard! And how is being lit up supposed to make you harder to see, even in a bright environment?

Some cultures are better than others. For example, Western Civilization > Taliban oppression.

Titanic 2: Resurrection

A team of decepticons go into the ocean with a stolen piece of the all spark and resurrect Jack

terrible critic!? at least he elaborates on his views and doesnt just say some one dimensional comment like “breath taking” you sir are a dumb ass

Visually spectacular.Worth watching.But the story was the standard generic scenario.Nothing original, many stereotypes and illogical forced evilness. Frankly despite the effects it was really forgettable….