Volitions Advocate on 24/12/2009 at 09:41
I just got home from watching the movie and I found it wildly entertaining.
Worth the Hype? not 10 years worth, but yes.. worth a lot of hype. I've never watched a 3d movie that felt quite so real as this. TBH it felt most of the time during the live action stuff (not the cg stuff as much) like i was actually sitting in the room.
The dances with wolves comparisons are certainly not unfounded... but on the other hand dances with wolves was a great movie and an even greater book. so why not?
SubJeff on 24/12/2009 at 11:12
SDM well placed as critic due to his history of insightful forum contributions lol.
There is no doubt that the Dances With Wolves allegory stands up. Its the racism bit I can't take seriously. How would I know how many Na'vi were played by non-whites? And if a black actor played Sully would it suddenly be ok? What about if Goldberg had played Weaver's role or if Denzel had played the general?
The plot would be the same : some humans (not some whites) are greedy and ruthless. Is this a surprise?
Bakerman on 24/12/2009 at 12:00
I saw it and did think of Fern Gully while watching.
But regardless of the predictability of some parts of the plot, and the poor dialogue, I was thoroughly entertained for the full length of the film. Which is what I paid for. And the visuals were fantastic. Like everyone else had said. Sigh.
I actually started thinking at a few parts that the film was almost a direct apology for Aliens. This time it's the humans who are unfailingly, despicably evil. When the pilot girl said 'I didn't sign up for this shit', mirroring one of the marines' lines in Aliens, it's directed at the wanton killing of the aliens - not the alien's vicious attack on the humans. And of course, in the climactic fight, the human in the mech is now the baddie, while the audience is rooting for the giant alien. I thought I had more moments like this, and I'm not totally serious about it. But I thought it was an amusing contrast between the films.
june gloom on 26/12/2009 at 06:39
where does SDM find these things
Scots Taffer on 27/12/2009 at 00:26
his high school art portfolio
SubJeff on 27/12/2009 at 00:28
The arrows don't even make sense. Thats a circular conversation there buddy, and the last 2 panels are therefore superfluous. fucking amateur
Scots Taffer on 27/12/2009 at 10:55
I saw this today: visually a revelation, otherwise pretty fucking bad.
It doesn't help audience immersion if you populate a verdant 3D alien planet with paper-thin stereotypes and a borderline offensive narrative spoofing Iraq and 9/11 amid tree-hugging Greenpeace overtones, yet in spite of this I was totally sucked in for the first two hours of the movie due to the sheer joy that was the tri-dimensional effects show, which was the best I've ever seen.
I think after an hour I remembered that the Na'vi are totally CG. It's the most convincing effects work I've ever seen, as brilliant as a whole piece as some subtle CG work in an otherwise real-life film.
The script is utterly abominable though. I really felt the length during some of the dances with na'vi stuff and every scene involving General Grievous (seriously, it was almost that bad) with his hoo-rah crap.
The reason the last hour of the movie didn't work for me, apart from the fact that it was entirely predictable, was that the 3D started to feel flat - those wide panning shots and big whip-pans don't do Pandora the justice of the earlier scenes in the film that make it so alive and lush.
I can actually ignore the blatant racism of the plot if you look at it in a "he was a chosen one" light, but in the end, I just didn't give too much of a shit about any of the characters and what happened to them - not that there was ever a shred of doubt about what was going to happen anyway.
Maybe if it hadn't taken so long for Cameron's latest opus it wouldn't feel so narratively redundant and the references to Iraq might seem harsh and fresh instead of hackneyed and eye-roll-inducing, plus casting the US military in a bad light is as common as torture scenes in movies these days.
As it is, we have a new high watermark in what can be achieved with a visionary director and bleeding edge tech, but we still have the conundrum of what to do with that tech without causing the audience to wince with every cliché and hammy one-liner thrown down as an excuse for a plot.
Gingerbread Man on 27/12/2009 at 17:09
Holy shit.
That's all I've got. Saw it last night, 3D IMAX, etc etc.
Holy shit.
Oh, I have opinions and ideas and discussion ready to burst out of me in joy and glee and utter disbelief at something I actually can't quite put into perspective more than 12 hours later. I have things to say, giggles to gush, "didyouseewhen?" and "holyfuckremember?" and "whataboutthe?" for hours to come. But I don't need to get into a pointless argument with Snobs_Taffer and the rest of his "We Don't Really Enjoy Fun" fangroup.
You do need to see this film in 3D IMAX.
To shamelessly steal from a reviewer I know, I spent three hours yesterday feeling pretty much what people in 1933 felt when they saw King Kong. Except more.
so, yeah
holy SHIT
SubJeff on 27/12/2009 at 19:41
Scots and GBM, thats what I was talking about - it's so dreamy to look at. I agree with you that the last hour didn't work as well with the 3D Scots, and the plot and script are naff. It is a crying shame as I really liked the Pandora as one "organism" thing and so much more could be done with it.
But phew! 2 people who see what I'm saying about the experience to some degree. Between this and the "RAM" thread I thought I was losing it for a bit.
