The third avatar guy (the actor is one of the interns on Bones, forget his character name) was unmounted when his beast was shot out from under him.
I saw it in 3-D with the Mrs. and a friend last night, we all enjoyed it a lot.
General agreement that the “cowboys and indians” thing was a bit heavy-handed but didn’t detract from our enjoyment of it.
Great visuals, interesting stories, loved the neural connection with animals and plants. Must be nice to have your own USB port like that.
Thank you!!! I was wondering for 3 hours where I saw that guy.
I loved it (in 2D – I think I’ll go back and see it in 3D). As far as the plot goes – it’s been a long time since I’ve seen it, but I think it’s basically Dances With Wolves.
Apparently Cameron is convinced that the future will hold mech suits and interplanetary marines (which will contain badass Hispanic women).
The world of Pandora was completely riveting. I would’ve liked it a bit more if the Navi were just a bit different. Like, they didn’t laugh, or cry, or kiss just like we do.
Saw it last night- figured that I wouldn’t have another chance this weekend, given the snowstorm we’re being hit by right now. Really enjoyed it.
I suspect that every character, even the completely human ones, were given a bit of a CG pass, probably to make the fully CG characters look more “real”.
One thing really bugged me, though, and that was how “human” the Navi were. They didn’t seem to have the same body structure as most of the other creatures on Pandora (four limbs versus six). They seemed to act like humans, as well- it really bothered me that they kissed, for some reason.
That said, though, I’d like to see it again.
I can’t wait to take my son to see this with me. We love 3-D movies, and by all accounts, this one is the best in terms of visual appeal yet.
I agree, but I am able to forgive it for a simple reason. You cannot have mainstream success with aliens that are actually alien. The story couldn’t have been told if the aliens really were alien. I think this point was actually made, and as such the brilliance of it was the subtlety of the internal commentary about this problem. The main criticism against the movie before it came out was bitching about blue cat people. And the point made in the movie is that the only sentience that most people were willing to acknowledge was the species that appeared human even though they were not even close to being the Apex Sentience on the planet.
That’s what’s interesting about this film, is that it displays our internal prejudice that for a species to be intelligent and relatable, they must APPEAR like us.
I loved how they referred to the people who recognized the sentience outside of the superficially similar N’avi were derided as ‘Treehuggers’, when the sentience was objectively verifiable.
So really, what it tells me is that the audience is generally stupid, and that Cameron is smart enough to speak to his audience.
The first time a human was hit with a Navi arrow, I was startled as to where the honkin’ big spear came from. I forgot about the scale…Navi & humans had hardly been in any scenes together to that point.
We saw it yesterday and thought the 3D effects were quite amazing, the visuals were beautiful - but yes, the story was good but not great; sort of predictable from frame one.
However, having worked at a movie studio, the people I don’t envy is the home video marketing team. How the hell are they going to sell any DVD’s of a film that is 95% based on the great 3D effects?!
DVD’s are usually a big factor in the bottom line of earning potential of a film, and in this case - unless they quickly get those Blu-ray 3D flat screens on the market soon, I can’t see people plunking down money to see the film in 2D at home.
Still, I don’t doubt this film will rake in a few coins over the next several months, so I doubt Fox will be weeping about losing their shirts on this project - but they had better not be counting on the DVD market to make up any shortfall.
According to my wife, this film made 3.5m on the midnight Thursday screening alone. It looks like it’s going to be breaking records at least for December releases.
Just found this on Hollywood Reporter. $27 million on Friday alone - not a bad start.
It was a great experience and I will perhaps watch the movie twice more: once at a regular 2D screen and then on an IMAX screen. This movie will go down as a landmark in the history of movie technology.
It is a very simple plot but not a bad one; I thought the screeenwriters did a competent job of laying out the various strands and then tying them into the final climax. I couldn't help comparing the film though to Princess Mononoke which is in many ways the same story done in a much more thoughtful and complex fashion.
I had extremely high expectations for the visuals and the film met them without really blowing my mind with the technology. It was the artwork and design which were mind-blowing though the technology definitely showcased them to the best advantage. I think that Pandora is one of the greatest creations in all of cinema and the best parts of the film were when we join Sully in exploring the culture of the Na'vi and the beauty and terror of Pandora.You bring up a few good points. As I said upthread, I thought the movie was great. I was thoroughly entertained, which is what a movie is supposed to do.
Having said that, a few things did bother me, however. The kiss, for example, was not only completely unnecessary, but had me wondering why the Na’Vi would kiss as an expression of affection in the first place.
The other problem I had was while a number, if not all, of Pandora’s inhabitants had four forelimbs and four eyes, the Na’Vi only had two and two. If the Na’Vi are indigenous to Pandora, and there’s no indication they aren’t, then how could they have evolved down a seemingly contradictory different path?
I actually dozed off briefly during yet another “swooping vista” sequence, that was pretty much the same as the three previous “swooping vista” sequences. I put this movie in the same category as earlier techno-feats like Tron, The Last Starfighter, Sky Captain and Final Fantasy in that while it introduces some very impressive technical accomplishments, the weakness of the plot will prevent it from becoming a long-term classic. Terminator 2 is the quintessential counter-example, in which the eye-candy is coo-ul, but the plot is also solid.
Franky, this touchy-feely “at one with nature” premise came so close to being mind-blowingly awesome, instead of trite and cliché. Cameron shoulda checked out a Joe Haldeman novel called World Without End for a guide. In it, the planet itself is a mega-intelligence and the humanoids running around are, at best, the semi-autonomous analog of brain cells, to be produced or eliminated as the planet-brain needs them. There’s your plot twist. When what’s-her-name says to Jarhead “You’re like a child!”, it’s not because he personally is clumsy and uncoordinated, it’s the hive-brain noting that the invading species (who it assumes part of its own hive-mind) is very clumsy and uncoordinated. Rather than have the cookie-cutter bloodthirsty marine be the antagonist, have the military people be the first to recognize during the counter-assault that (hey, wait a sec!) the natives are surprisingly well-coordinated, staging organized defenses. In fact, when the avatars “jack in”, they find (though perhaops not until it’s too late) that the hive-mind is learning from them. Thus Sigourney Weaver’s character (who might have been an M.D.) inadvertantly gives the hive-mind clues about human biochemistry (and thus the knowledge to create human-specifcic nerve toxins, when previously the planet’s best antibody-like defenses had only been a minor mosquito-like nuisance), and when the marine unknowingly uploads his knowledge of weapons systems, suddenly plant and animal lifeforms start appearing that are rough approximations of the helicopters and power armor, which would make the final battle about fifty times cooler than some latter-day Ewoks v. Stormtroopers.
Also, the Weaver character needed to stay alive long to be confronted with someone in power armor and hiss “Get away from here, you bastard!”
As it stands, I figure the natives have about twelve years before the humans come back and neutron-bomb the entire ecosystem into sterility from orbit. It’s the only way to be sure. But if the hive-mind started to assimilate human knowledge in a big way, watch out for biological planetary defenses.
Summary: an impressive technical feat, but no amount of Wile E. Coyote landscape (i.e. it’s not enough to just have a cliff - it has to be a cliff that’s eighty billion miles high) can overcome a weak story.
Well, I went into it without watching any trailers or hearing anything about the storyline. Only info I had about the movie was that there would be humans and blue people. But everyone was talking about it, I had free movie tickets, and I hadn’t had a chance to get out of the house in about two weeks (drive home from work is a killer). So I went into the movie expecting to watch an epic type film. I think it just fell short of “epic” status though.
The visuals and effects were amazing. I really like how the tree blew up into tiny shards and fragments. I was in constant awe at the beauty of the film and, if I didn’t know any better, I would be sure it was filmed on scene at some lost planet.
I never really got into the plot though. In movies I like, I feel as though I’m another character that joins in the protagonist’s struggle. With Avatar, I didn’t really care what happened to them.
Plus, the whole fighting metal with flesh thing was just weird and unbelievable. Especially when the metal had superior weaponry as well. I liked the Banshees taking down helicopters. That one made sense to me. The ground forces should have been completely mowed down.
And why the hell didn’t those bad ass Mechs have missiles? Instead, they have big ass versions of regular infantry weapons, an assault rifle with a saw as a bayonet, and a five foot long knife.
Oh and, what’s to keep the humans from sending another party over to take the planet? They have all that technology but they can’t drop a nuke from really high altitudes or even from space? I’m sure they can fly a lot higher than any bird can.
But those are the types of things that I was thinking of while watching the movie. I’m usually pretty good about suspending my disbelief but, unfortunately, I wasn’t about to exercise that suspension this time around. This must be what it feels like when I read all these posts about Dopers disliking movies because of stupid little reasons. 
After leaving the theatre my friend asked me what I would give it on a scale of 1-10. I gave it a 7 or 7.5.
We had really different opinions about the movie. He really liked the story but said they could have shaved an hour out of it by truncating the training scenes in the middle.
I thought the length was good. Besides for the non-engaging storyline, the movie was perfect.
By the way, those shiny black dogs (or whatever they were), that almost had Jake for dinner, were freaking scary!
On further reflection, the only scene that had any kind of emotional impact for me was when Jarhead first takes his avatar out and runs for what I assume was the first time in several years (not counting his time in stasis).
The rest of the time, I was fairly indifferent to the fate of the mega-smurfs. I don’t like movies that try to manipulate me, and this one really really puts its back into it. They kept talking about how life was hard, etc. but we never saw a Pandoran failing a test (i.e. some adolescent climbing to get his glider instead plunges fifty miles to his death and the elders just shrug and move on - with no patience for the weak), nor do we see the Pandorans engaging in wholesale slaughter of the non-combatant corporate humans at the base, generously allowing them to just leave.
Frankly, I’m looking forward to the fan-made sequel in which they’re all wiped out.
Yep, I agree.
That shiny dog scene reminded me of RPGs where you have to fight a group of animals that consist of a bunch of lower level guys and one guy that has a higher level.
What do you mean exactly? If you’ve ever felt an emotion during a movie, you’ve been manipulated.
I guess the point is to not feel manipulated. The manipulation is supposed to be opaque. It’s when you see the man behind the curtain that it feels manipulative.
Shrugging and moving on would have been out of character, as would have slaughtering people unecessarily.
It would’ve been nice to see one of the adolescent’s get killed by his Ekrin, then maybe they would have sniffled and been upset about it. So, in that I agree it was missing a certain vitality. But, maybe you need people to be callous to really identify with it. Why would you prefer them to be murderous savages?