Usagi Yojimbo DojoBoard

I haven't seen Avatar yet, but the general word on it so far seems to be encouraging. I might catch a weekday matinee sometime next week.

I saw Avatar last night and am a big fan of the Abyss and Aliens. Some Spoilers but nothing too big...

I will say that on a technical level the film is pretty awesome. There is a lot of subtle facial expressions that really make the experience feel real. You kind of forget that these huge blue creatures are created on a computer. The fit pretty seamlessly into the world thats been created for them. This world, by the way, is the exact opposite of the kind of brokedown aliens in District 9. The two movies are on par technically, but everything is shiny and clean on Pandora. Which works because it is supposed to be "unspoiled". One of my favorite scenes was when they climb through the floating mountains and you can hear the vines connecting the rock creaking as they ascend. And the water disappearing into the fog.

Storywise though it was a HUGE letdown and follows a very linear Hollywood pace. It's a boy meets girl story within a bad guys v. good guys story. Every possible plot vehicle is there and every character has exactly one motivation. The End. Nobody is any deeper than what can move the movie forward.

After you settle into the visuals you are basically waiting for the next major plot point which you already know is coming from a mile away.

When will they find out Sully is a traitor?
When will the scarred up bad guy bring the hammer down?
When will Sully finally seal the deal with the native princess?
When will the bad guys lose and the good guys win?
Meh.

Ultimately, sci-fi movies that seem to work have memorable scenes that either created true tension, developed the complexity of a character, or both:

District 9
Alien(s)
Moon
Pitch Black
Blade Runner
Close Encounters

Avatar has none of that. What is memorable are the visuals but the rest of the movie is forgettable. Meh.

I will not watch Avatar, i saw trailer, and i kinda know what the story's gonna be, waste of time.

Don't get me wrong, the movie looked very pretty.

Too bad the script itself totally blew.

Seen it twice.

And you know what, after that second time, I think the story was just fine.

It was about a man trying to find himself and did so outside his world.

Let's face it, his fellow humans were using him, dangled hope in front of him (getting back his legs) and even after losing his legs for his country and his people, he had to jump through hoops to return to normal. Remember he couldn't afford the procedure. Terrible!

Then he meets the Na'vi, and in a few short months becomes accepted fully into their world. He's called brother and is treated like an equal. A huge jump from the world he came from, who treated him with disdain or contempt.

Holy crap, sounds like an ideal life for me. And you can't blame him for turning against the human race.

Look deeper than the "White man helping the noble savage" crapola, which is the mindset, admittedly I went in with, and you come out with a man simply trying to find his place in the universe.

I'm planning on seeing it again.

Visually impressive in 3D
Characters : lack of deepness...
Scenario : look at that you'll know what i think about it... : http://imgur.com/JmRmb

HAHA! Awesome.

I would agree with estee if the movie didn't also include all the extraneous forced drama. They would have done much better to cut out the love interest/rivalry crap and make the pursuit of Sully's "Avatar Legs" his motivation. That whole first scene with his new legs was great, and the absolute need to get back into the machine to use those legs could have floated the story without the other ridiculousness.

It's just too bad the main character was so shallow that he only changes his attitude once his race destroys the entire forest camp (when the plot needed him to). There are never any consequences by the way, he is accepted right back into the tribe after he betrays them.

One last gripe...the taming of the great dragon. Really? All you had to do was jump on it from a higher spot? So all this time the deciding factor in who was to be the "chosen one" was whoever thought to fly up ABOVE the red dragon? Good grief. Just lacking.

estee wrote:Seen it twice.

And you know what, after that second time, I think the story was just fine.

It was about a man trying to find himself and did so outside his world.

Let's face it, his fellow humans were using him, dangled hope in front of him (getting back his legs) and even after losing his legs for his country and his people, he had to jump through hoops to return to normal. Remember he couldn't afford the procedure. Terrible!

Then he meets the Na'vi, and in a few short months becomes accepted fully into their world. He's called brother and is treated like an equal. A huge jump from the world he came from, who treated him with disdain or contempt.

Holy crap, sounds like an ideal life for me. And you can't blame him for turning against the human race.

Look deeper than the "White man helping the noble savage" crapola, which is the mindset, admittedly I went in with, and you come out with a man simply trying to find his place in the universe.

I'm planning on seeing it again.

That analysis would work fine, estee, except for one minor problem.

(Warning: Super-Spoilers Ahead)

There's one particular throwaway line near the very end of the movie that stuck in my mind. A character says something to the effect of, "The humans returned to their dying world."

It's a piece of dialogue that comes and goes in the blink of an eye, but the fact that AVATAR doesn't even concern itself with the sheer, horrifying magnitude of that remark chilled my spine. All this time the majority of the humans were portrayed as greedy capitalist swine, and only now are we told that

EARTH

IS

DYING?

This one miniscule detail would have cast almost EVERYTHING in a whole new light: The humans' presence on Pandora, their desperation, their refusal to leave. Suddenly, the actions of the bad guys could have been given a better motivation that permitted - if not sympathy - a certain understanding where they were at least coming from.

But Cameron doesn't care about any of this. In his mind, everything's A-OK as long as the principal characters are safe and sound. It speaks of a vague, indefatigable selfishness, both within himself and his characters.

*shrug* I thought the movie was amazing.....

Saw Avatar about two months ago. I thought action climax at the end was pretty good, but I otherwise didn't care for it very much. Other people on this thread have already articulated some of the problems I had with it. I read something that mentioned that Dave McKean didn't like it because the whole thing was so "safe," which I would agree with. I didn't hate it, but I can't imagine watching it more than once. I like the first two Terminator films, Aliens and The Abyss quite a bit, so I was a little disappointed that I didn't react to Avatar the same way.

Of course, the real reason why I'm posting this is to mention that MAD #502 includes Sergio's MAD look at Avatar:

http://www.slashfilm.com/2010/03/03/exc ... ar-parody/

I have to admit that I don't quite get the strip at the bottom right of the second page. Does it have something to do with how people on airplanes are instructed to put on their own oxygen mask before they help someone else with theirs?