Muzman on 20/8/2009 at 19:07
Short trailer is out.
(
http://www.apple.com/trailers/fox/avatar/)
What's the deal with thing? Is it supposed to all CGI except Sam Worthington or something?
It looks nice enough I guess, but the fuss over the years about how it was going to change cinema or something. Maybe they were referring to the production process.
In any case, while this does contain some of the most detailed rendering I've ever seen, it still looks like CGI and the characters still move like they are animated and can't lip synch and express properly etc.
The word on the story is that it's basically
Dances with Wolves goes Sci-Fi. So no revolution there either. But it might be cool anyway. I just wish they hadn't been making it all about the techwank thus far.
Sulphur on 20/8/2009 at 19:34
While I agree about the obvious CGI-ness, it's a bit too early to call it on the animation and lipsynch. There were like what, 3 words in the entire trailer?
SubJeff on 20/8/2009 at 20:26
Quote Posted by Muzman
Short trailer is out.
(
http://www.apple.com/trailers/fox/avatar/)
What's the deal with thing? Is it supposed to all CGI except Sam Worthington or something?
It looks nice enough I guess, but the fuss over the years about how it was going to change cinema or something. Maybe they were referring to the production process.
I thought it was that the 3D in this is supposed to be :eek: and that it will have a 3D version for the 3D TVs.
I'll report back after the preview tomorrow anyway.
Edit: That trailer was lovely. Looking forward to it now.
CCCToad on 20/8/2009 at 22:17
Its got potential, but it seems to me like this has a very good chance of being a typical "Obvious criticism of American Foreign Policy" film, albeit with very pretty CGI.
Shakey-Lo on 21/8/2009 at 11:30
I just got back from one of the previews. It was pretty good. it didn't blow me away but the gfx are really good and the 3D works well. I am a bit skeptical of 3D gimmickry but in the clips we were shown it was not in-your-face with the "hey check it out!!! depth perception!!!!11", it was done quite well. There are some bits with minority-report type holographic interfaces that look really cool with the 3D effect.
for the film itself it doesn't look like it will win any awards for innovative screenplay, but looks good for what it is. it seemed to me like it will be this generation's jurassic park, ie. awesome technology/eye candy action film. I mean that in a good way.
the wildlife on the alien planet is really impressive, and it looks awesome when its all blue dudes fighting alien dinosaurs on an alien planet, but when it was humans talking to aliens you still had that effect where you can tell they're just talking to a floating ping pong ball. the animation and 'humanity' of the CGI blue dudes is very good.
so yeah, didn't blow me away but didn't disappoint, pretty much does what it says on the tin. if halo was a movie this would be it.
EDIT-
for a plot summary of what I saw:
(this may not be 100% accurate to the actual film but it's what I could piece together. I don't know how much if any of this is known already as I didn't know anything going in.)
Some guy (I guess the main actor) is an army vet and paraplegic. He goes through some procedure to transplant his mind into an alien body. Looked like his friend had the same procedure done alongside him. The aliens are about twice as tall as a human. After waking up from the operating table he is really happy about having movement in his legs back (he doesn't really mention the fact that he's now 12 feet tall, blue, with a tail) but as he is not used to walking (or being 12 feet tall, blue, with a tail) he loses his balance and freaks out a bit and runs off while the doctors and army staff are all like DAMNIT PRIVATE GET YOUR ASS BACK HERE and his friend is like No dude don't do it!!!~
Then we went to another clip of him as an alien on a rainforest planet, it seemed like he was going through some training or initiation from the other aliens. There is this massive fuckoff rhino/triceratops type thing that is threatening him, and the girl alien is like "Stand your ground or he will kill you!!!" so the guy stands his ground, and the rhinoceratops runs away, and the guys all like acting cocky and making hilarious quips while theres another velociraptor looking thing coming up behind him but he doesn't realise!! hilarious!! and then the girls like RUN AWAY so they have a chase sequence and then the girl alien saves him in the nick of time! She kills the velociraptor alien which sounds suspiciously like a dog. Then the main guy is like thanks for killing them, but the girl gets angry and says do not thank me, because it's sad that they had to die, you are stupid for making me have to kill them, she's like a native american nature-loving philosophy type. Then he says "if you love them so much so why didn't you let them kill me" and she says something about he has a powerful heart without fear, there's some romantic tension and foreshadowing some "chosen one" type crap.
Then we move to another initiation scene where he has to choose a pterodactyl style flying dinosaur to be his buddy or whatever. He has to fight it and then mind meld with it, which he does, and then he flies off the cliff and has a little trouble adjusting but then he gets the hang of it.
then we just saw a montage of Halo type clips of marines and aliens shooting and so forth so I'm not really sure what the overall plot is. but I think I've covered the main points of what I saw.
SubJeff on 21/8/2009 at 15:03
2 hours to go for me.
Vivian on 21/8/2009 at 16:37
Are the blue furries as uninterestingly non-alien as they look? That makes me sound like I'm not really, really looking forward to this film. I love James Cameron, but I have to say, the blue guys look like they were designed by someone who had the concept of extraterrestrial life explained to them by a scientist from the 1890's.
SubJeff on 21/8/2009 at 23:29
So I really enjoyed this.
No spoilers here, Shakey-Lo has described the scenes. Although he got one thing wrong. Shakey one of those aliens is Weaver's Avatar. It has her voice and you just before he goes in to get Avatised she says she is going in too.
First impressions - the 3D is weird and I should have been sitting further back. There was a lot of blurriness that was actually built in, i.e. not due to my eyes not being able to track the action. Its part of the 3D effect and that, trying to focus whilst being close (I sat closer than I usually do on purpose - a mistake in retrospect) and trying to process the 3D was a little tiring on the eyes. Like doing magic eye pics all day long. I think you need to get into it and relax a little. And be the right distance for you.
Then the first scene where it really works hit me and it was quite... natural. I'm not sure how to describe this but well we all see in 3D anyway so the change was both impressive and yet strangely comfortable. I think you need an iMax for this really though. Seen the bit in the trailer where the Avatar is wiggling his toes? The 3D for this was really, really good (as were those computer interfaces like Shakey said) but the illusion was incomplete as I could see below the bottom edge of the screen. Full field of vision is necessary I think.
There are certain types of scene where the 3D works so well to enhance the scenery without the 3D it would be the palest imitation. The jungle scenes, especially the night scene which, imho, is one of the most beautiful special effects scenes I've ever seen, need the 3D. A lot of the action is too fast for you to be bothered about both 3D and what is going on, but some of the wide angle shots look lush because of the 3D.
Did I mention the colours? This film is super coloured. It's incredibly vivid. The alien eyes and faces, not just the humanoid ones, are so lush. I quite liked the designs of all the alien stuff. The blue humanoids are alien enough for me, yes. The key, I think, is in the eyes which are both human-like and yet so not human. Huge yellow irises and the best animated part of their CGI faces by far.
The plot? Hmmm. Yeah, seems a little like Dances with Wolves in 3D space.
Anyway, in conclusion the 3D, the effects and the colours combine to make this film look... opulent. Is it the next big thing? Unlikely. Will it be a good film? Who knows. Does it evoke anything special in me personally? Definitely. I'll see this in 3D at the cinema for sure, if only to see more of that night scene. Don't bother looking up screenshots of it - there will be no justice in them. At all. In fact I liked that so much I think its just a little dangerous. You could hypnotise me with scenes like that.
Shakey-Lo on 22/8/2009 at 01:03
Quote Posted by Vivian
Are the blue furries as uninterestingly non-alien as they look? That makes me sound like I'm not really, really looking forward to this film. I love James Cameron, but I have to say, the blue guys look like they were designed by someone who had the concept of extraterrestrial life explained to them by a scientist from the 1890's.
Yeah as I was watching I did think to myself how conveniently similar the aliens were to humans biologically. They're just slightly leaner, taller, blue and with a (small) tail. They're like Thundercats. Although like I said this does help to give them emotion and humanity, the animation is really good.
@Subjective Effect
I totally missed the thing with Sigourney Weaver, I thought she was just the doctor at the start. Which alien was she? The main female alien (love interest?) or the other one in the operating room? Or some other one I totally missed?edit-
The trailer for the video game is up (
http://www.gametrailers.com/video/gc-09-avatar/54752) here, which shows off some of the world.
