Also a bit of background info; this is the seocnd time I've seen - in 2D and 3D. This is going to be roughly in three parts, so I don't go off in my wild digressions or rants (which I'm pretty bad for), also I'm going to say in plain English how good this film is. Yeah, it's pretty bad that I've seen it twice, but friends who wanted to see hadn't and I said it's worth it for the spectacle. Before I start shankin' this film, I'm going to start very reasoned.
*bites into bun*
Part 1 - Summary
Not going to spoil the film for anyone that hasn't seen it in this section. I've been going a bit schizoid about my own opinion and these are them in a sentence:
Positive view of the film: it was pretty good...
Moderate/reasoned view of the film: Horribly derivative story, very cheesy scenes, amazing visuals.
Extreme view of the film: Story is whack, story is whack, story is whack, s... (very sanitized view)
To be honest when I first saw this film I liked it, but it bothered me; I could not decide if this was a good film or not. It was like some kind of ninja mind rape. I found myself laughing at how ridiculous it was at times and thinking to myself, this it's pretty terrible in one scene, then later be impressed by something visually stunning and/or some action happening on screen. It's like I was all childlike and giggly at pretty colours on my first viewing of a TV screen whilst Doom is being played and laughing at the exploding "red footballs" (or meatballs with faces as I used to call them). *bites into bun*
That's pretty much Avatar's appeal, and I had to see it a second time to get it. It ends up still being good even though the plot is too thin, one-dimensional and occasionally laughable that in no way it should be considered as a sci-fi epic even though it's a healthy 162 minutes long. See a Cecil B. DeMille film if you want to watch an epic. I didn't even bother gurding my loins for my second viewing. I brace for no one. But it's still ended up good. It's just that it isn't amazing, which what it should have been. So, my opinion still rests at the positive side of seeing it in the cinema. It's worth it, even just for the last 20 minutes which deserves to be seen on a big screen. It has a good mech fight in it. First digression, I was sort of worried about James Cameron doing Battle Angel Alita, but watching this, I know it won't be as bad as I feared as I reassured my friend before he saw this. To which be completely agrees afterwards, but I'm worried he might get "cute" with the eventual film.
Protip: If you are going to waylay a film just so the technology could catch up with the ideas that you were going to do for a film, the script should be polished during that period. What a sin. And this leads up to the other two parts. The final part asks the question whether or not 3D was worth the wait.
*sips tea*
I'm just going to rip the film apart in the next section.
Part 2 - In It's Defense...
No one should be able to defend this film beyond it's visual merits. I'm not saying the JC can't direct, he just can't write.
When I first saw this film I saw so much wrong with it, it made my head hurt. But seeing it fresh, this will be good....
Spoilers ahoy, me hearties!
In a nutshell, humans go to another planet (not explained how they discovered and got there initially) and discover a material which they call unobtanium, which may have just been called somethingweneedium (doesn't really explain how they initially discover this either, but in group problem solving discussions, we assume they took topographical satellite pictures and using geomorphological techniques is find out where the lolobtainium is - assuming that they knew what to look for, nor do we have any idea what it does, but screw that) which apparently costs 20 million a kg. At this point, I'm getting pretty damn depressed and wondering if I should continue as I'm trying to eat food without crying, tears of laughter and getting bits of bread all over my keyboard. There is the big corporation with the corporate head saying they have deep pocket investments to get the lolobtainium, and the marines that are really mercs that get paid really well just to be overzealous prats, and the Na'vi that happen to be very tame, except when threatened into a corner, and loosing their home to baliffs in mech suits.
There are other places were you can get a summary of the film to be honest.
So now I just list all what is wrong with it, and these will only make sense for people who have seen the film...
First - The Na'vi, a culture that is based on transparency, how could they not see that Jake Sully was a initially working with the marines/being a two timing goit? With that literal brain connection thing which many people think is balls, but I quite liked (but because it didn't explain it AT ALL, whuch puts it in the realm of WTFery), they should have know. It would have worked better if they just knew that he was pretending to be their friend at first, but understood them and became one of the people in the end, so when he finally got the rocks to tell them, the Na'vi leader would just put a hand on his shoulder and say, "I know." And they would have a nice big cry.
They did the opposite.
Second - why didn't they just blitz the hell of the planet from space, and collect the lolobtainium afterwards?
Third - the avatar program was a liability. Initially the corporate bonehead/marines were going for a diplomatic answer with them initially, but if their relationship was in dire straights at the time, there was nothing to really gain from it - no good reason for Jake to be there. But, head marine douchebag talks to Jake Sully way before he even gets to meet a native about him going to get intel in their camp. It was like he could see the future or something...
*opens can of beer*
Ehh, takes far too long to really dig into the film's plot and do it in an entertaining way while drinking stout (it's Murphy's BTW, not Guiness). It's just that it tries to be, or has opportunities to be deep. Slight whimsical attempts at philosophical arguments like not being able to tell the difference between the dream and the reality, "Everything is backwards." Him being crippled and enjoy the moments of feeling his legs. But it wasn't about that. The connection that Na'vi have with the planet and nature is a very literal one.... All the film had to do was 5 minutes on it each bit, and that would be enough to refrain from doing backfist in reflex when someone says the plot was good. My first impression, it really was like Fern Gully with space marines but all the jokes about what this film is has been taken. Apart from the truth, which that it's a broken mess when you start to pick at it.
*sips stout*
There is loads I could talk about. But I'd rather talk about how visually amazing this film. And for that I thank the hundreds and thousands of man and woman hours into creating some really pretty. I thank those people. I also thank the actors that ended up making what is actually a fairly iffy plot with some really terrible lines into something entertaining. For all the hype which I never even bothered with, the fanfair about the use of ground breaking technology, this was meant to be the sci-fi epic that was suppose to make leaps and bounds in cinema. For the wait, for the stalls and the ego tripping JC, you are only allowed to excuse a film so far, which is why I support people who hate this film with a passion, even those with the hint of annoying nerd rage, to the hilt with a quarter twist. If you have time to polish someone else script (because it's so derivative - eh, flopped that joke) and you're waiting on technology, actually bother to do more than a half arsed job to polish a rock.
Part 3 -Visuals and 3D
It wasn't bad in 3D, but I'm 3D sceptic. It was a better film in 2D in my opinion, but I think my opinion will be voided on this one. It's the best 3D film out there. Some parts were really really good, but I can't take some of the defocus/refocus crap. Makes want to complain about the stupid crash zooms as well. They are fairly annoying in certain FPS shooters. I didn't like it when it was added in STALKER: Clear Sky when you reload, but you get used to it. And you get used to the 3D. And ends up being more of a remarkable feat that finally it's done properly rather than something that will change cinema forever. Even though JC said it's not a computer graphics movie (it is, don't believe that liar) here are some (mis)quotes from my friends that will convince you do see this film.
"It was bloody amazing... how can you not see it in 3D?!?!?! .... Yes, I did watch it stoned."
"It was Pocahontas in space... it's annoying if you're wearing glasses because if it slips it blurs and it's a hassle to refit the glasses over your ears."
"You're right... I wasn't going to see this film, but I'm glad I saw it cinema, but I didn't expect it to be so horribly clichéd..."
"... that marine bloke was amazing... he was on fire like nothing was happening..."
"[really] hated it."
In short, watch it stoned in 3D, ignore the plot, listen to the lines the marine bloke has.
There are a few post post film things (after watching it the second time, now I'm sitting her and eating some proper food) that makes me wonder a bit... this film has some seriously legs. The only reason I saw it really late because it was sold out at the earlier time. No joke. 6 weeks still going strong. I know someone who has seen it 6 times. Yes, someone I know online. They are not my friend either.
The should make a ride with the 3D technology. You know, pretend to be cripple and your rolling around in a wheel chair, then you grow blue legs. This is the reason I shouldn't type things late at night, but it's really hard to sign off now that I'm happy seeing this for the second time. I actually have closure.
*finishes stout*
Time to spellcheck, remove the part where I was swearing like a sailor about the marines and go to bed dreaming of hot naked blue chicks.
1 comment:
haha ferngully! i'm probably gonna have to pick up a week's supply of buns to last through avatar from the looks of it now.
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