AVATAR Review
[Big thanks to Mike Sizemore for the following review.]
I just got back home from the world premiere of Avatar here in London. It's safe to keep reading. You are entering a spoiler-free zone.
I wasn't expecting much. I attended the 15 minute IMAX preview a few months back and out of context what I saw was pretty. Very pretty. The immersive technology was an obvious step up, but the scenes with the marines came across as just weird on the eye and the sequences with all the alien fauna gave me flashbacks to James Mason clambering through mushrooms forests in Journey to the Centre of the Earth. But what really had me worried was the story.
There's a lot of that same worry online. Avatar is often mentioned in the same breath as Ferngully: The Last Rainforest and Dances with Wolves, and then there was *that* South Park episode. I arrived this evening to a blue carpet event (I see what they did
there) surrounded by press and the stars of the film, actually surprised at the invite to be honest. Because I've been very cynical online. I'm not sure if it was oversight on the part of SKY MOVIES HD who invited me or just simple faith in the movie, but it was stressed to me that I should be as honest as possible in the review. So here goes.
All those worries are completely justified. There's hardly a single moment of truly original story telling up on the screen. The characters are developed exactly as you think they will be and key moments at the climax of the movie are sign posted clearly early on. If you think you've already seen James Cameron's Avatar then there's a good chance you're right.
And none of that matters.
I'm seeing it again on an IMAX screen in a few weeks and I can hardly wait.
It's the combination of story and technology that reeled me in. The visual depth of the 3D technology is not completely immersive on its own, but Cameron understands that. The opening sequence seems timed to let your brain get around the eye candy while the introduction to Sam Worthington's Jake Sully slowly begins to draw you in. By the time I met Sigourney Weaver the 3D element had settled down and simply felt comfortable. By the time I met the Na'vi I was immersed. And somehow the story had me too.
I'm a story guy so usually I like to be surprised. If I can work out where a movie is going then I get annoyed. But because Avatar's plot, to me at least, was so familiar I actually began to concentrate on how well Cameron had constructed it. By the time the first simple arrow-head bounced off a gun ship I was enthralled. Because I knew what was coming and that Cameron was going to execute it with a steady eye and confidence not only in the technology, but also in the cast.
I'm a hard guy to please and being a fan of ScreenAnarchy for years I know its readers have a rabid love for cinema. But I'm the guy who thinks the Jedi should be edited out of Star Wars at the same time the elves and hobbits get scraped away from Lord of the Rings. I found Dr Manhattan's blue penis hard to swallow and the last cat person I fell in love with was Natassja Kinski. Avatar was never going to work for me.
Yet for 150 minutes this evening James Cameron had me in the palm of his hand.
Snigger away. But this is the important part:
"Rated PG-13 for intense epic battle sequences and warfare, sensuality, language and some smoking."
Next week a kid who hasn't seen Dances with Wolves is going to sit down wearing a silly pair of spectacles and be blown away.
By the time he or she gets to my miserable jaded age, the effects here will look as old fashioned and as dated as anything I choose to rewatch for the umpteenth time in my DVD collection. But I collect those movies for a reason. So right now I'm jealous of that kid and what he or she is going to experience many years from now in the same way I'm jealous of the first kids who got to see King Kong back in 1933.
But if none of that sways you, just buy the ticket for Michelle Rodriguez and Stephen Lang. They steal the show.
I just got back home from the world premiere of Avatar here in London. It's safe to keep reading. You are entering a spoiler-free zone.
I wasn't expecting much. I attended the 15 minute IMAX preview a few months back and out of context what I saw was pretty. Very pretty. The immersive technology was an obvious step up, but the scenes with the marines came across as just weird on the eye and the sequences with all the alien fauna gave me flashbacks to James Mason clambering through mushrooms forests in Journey to the Centre of the Earth. But what really had me worried was the story.
There's a lot of that same worry online. Avatar is often mentioned in the same breath as Ferngully: The Last Rainforest and Dances with Wolves, and then there was *that* South Park episode. I arrived this evening to a blue carpet event (I see what they did
there) surrounded by press and the stars of the film, actually surprised at the invite to be honest. Because I've been very cynical online. I'm not sure if it was oversight on the part of SKY MOVIES HD who invited me or just simple faith in the movie, but it was stressed to me that I should be as honest as possible in the review. So here goes.
All those worries are completely justified. There's hardly a single moment of truly original story telling up on the screen. The characters are developed exactly as you think they will be and key moments at the climax of the movie are sign posted clearly early on. If you think you've already seen James Cameron's Avatar then there's a good chance you're right.
And none of that matters.
I'm seeing it again on an IMAX screen in a few weeks and I can hardly wait.
It's the combination of story and technology that reeled me in. The visual depth of the 3D technology is not completely immersive on its own, but Cameron understands that. The opening sequence seems timed to let your brain get around the eye candy while the introduction to Sam Worthington's Jake Sully slowly begins to draw you in. By the time I met Sigourney Weaver the 3D element had settled down and simply felt comfortable. By the time I met the Na'vi I was immersed. And somehow the story had me too.
I'm a story guy so usually I like to be surprised. If I can work out where a movie is going then I get annoyed. But because Avatar's plot, to me at least, was so familiar I actually began to concentrate on how well Cameron had constructed it. By the time the first simple arrow-head bounced off a gun ship I was enthralled. Because I knew what was coming and that Cameron was going to execute it with a steady eye and confidence not only in the technology, but also in the cast.
I'm a hard guy to please and being a fan of ScreenAnarchy for years I know its readers have a rabid love for cinema. But I'm the guy who thinks the Jedi should be edited out of Star Wars at the same time the elves and hobbits get scraped away from Lord of the Rings. I found Dr Manhattan's blue penis hard to swallow and the last cat person I fell in love with was Natassja Kinski. Avatar was never going to work for me.
Yet for 150 minutes this evening James Cameron had me in the palm of his hand.
Snigger away. But this is the important part:
"Rated PG-13 for intense epic battle sequences and warfare, sensuality, language and some smoking."
Next week a kid who hasn't seen Dances with Wolves is going to sit down wearing a silly pair of spectacles and be blown away.
By the time he or she gets to my miserable jaded age, the effects here will look as old fashioned and as dated as anything I choose to rewatch for the umpteenth time in my DVD collection. But I collect those movies for a reason. So right now I'm jealous of that kid and what he or she is going to experience many years from now in the same way I'm jealous of the first kids who got to see King Kong back in 1933.
But if none of that sways you, just buy the ticket for Michelle Rodriguez and Stephen Lang. They steal the show.
Do you feel this content is inappropriate or infringes upon your rights? Click here to report it, or see our DMCA policy.
