Re: Avatar reviews
I "experienced" AVATAR yesterday and it blew me away, I absolutely loved it. Yes, there are no surprises in terms of who the good and the bad guys are (that already was clear after the Trailer) and a lot of motives in the story are well known, but the dish that Cameron cooked up with some classic ingredients tasted extremely delicious.
Although being a Cameron fan, I was afraid he might have lost his mojo after such a long break and the first teaser made me even more skeptical. Being more confident again after the 17 minute preview, the trailer finally really made me want to see this movie.
I wasn't a fan of the Na'vi design at first, but it works and the fact that they don't look too different from humans simply helps to feel connected. Cameron takes the viewer so deep into their culture and the wonders of their world, that one can almost forget about the inevitable confrontation that will come. Like I said, the good and evil scheme is pretty much painted in black and white and the Na'vi are flawless, but that didn't make them less interesting for me. They are one with the planet they live on and that goes further than just being a spiritual bond.
On the other side we have the company with the military (/hired mercenaries?) on their side that aims to simply take whatever they desire to make profit and satisfy the shareholders. So this time for a change humans are refered to as the alien invaders.
Obviously you don't have to digg that much to find the message(s) spread throughout the story, but personally I don't have anything against it as long as it gets served well. And to the people that hate "politically correct" messages: Don't worry, you will also get your typical "diplomacy doesn't work so we are justified to fight" message that usually guarantees a grand finale.
And by the way: I didn't get the part in the Variety review about the evil humans being specifically american. OK, they "are not in Kansas anymore", but I don't remember more references than that and if the company or military was american, wouldn't there (realistically?) have been stars and stripes all over the place (uniforms, vehicles, buildings etc.)?
Cameron delivers with Pandora a wonderfully fleshed out world that is a pure joy to discover. Not for a second did I think about CGI while watching the movie and the blend in between live action and CGI was so flawless that there was nothing that could have distracted me from simply enjoying the movie. I stopped reading about AVATAR a couple of months ago since I didn't want to totally spoil the movie for me and besides that was sick of all this "gamechanger" and "unlike anything you've ever seen" talk since I think that is something that I, the viewer, has to judge. But although the PR talk was very annoying, I have to admit that AVATAR was indeed unlike anything I've ever seen.
Seeing the movie in 3D was a nice addition, especially since Cameron didn't use the cheap and annoying 3D effect of stuff constantly pointing or flying at the camera. But to be honest, I doubt I would have enjoyed the movie any less if I saw it in 2D.
I viewed the movie with a friend of mine who also is a great Cameron fan and my father. Although I've been watching movies with my dad for the last 25-30 years and there were movies he loved, he never felt the desire to watch it again in the cinema. Right when the end credits started he said to me: "When are we going to watch this movie again?" :lol
