Thursday, January 07, 2010

Obligatory Avatar Post

So I saw Avatar. Before I go further, a little background – I don’t go to movies much anymore. In the past 4 years, I’ve seen 2 – those being the 2 most recent Harry Potter movies (my wife is a freak about them and I find them decent). My life is very busy and I learned a few years back to cut out the fluff – the fluff being things like movies and TV. This is how I find time to read (and blog) and it’s a choice that I don’t really regret.

So, a conversation with a friend basically ended with ‘well, if you only see one movie every two or three years, Avatar is the one’. This pretty well sums up what I’ve heard and read elsewhere. So, as I was away from home and bit lonely after dinner, I decided on a whim to see it as I walked by a near-by theatre.

Avatar ended up being pretty much everything I’ve heard and read about it. The story is terribly cliché, predictable, heavy-handed, and quite hypocritical coming from Hollywood. And it’s a great movie. The setting is wonderfully imaginative, capturing the heart and mind immediately. The presentation is spectacular – I didn’t see it in 3D (I saw it on impulse and 3D wasn’t available at the time), but it still looked great. The love story was actually done pretty well (even though any deep thought on it quickly leads to it being laughably implausible). The thing is, in spite of all its weaknesses, it still makes for great cinema. So yeah, it was worth it (even not seeing it in 3D).

5 comments:

Jon Sprunk said...

I thought much the same thing: great movie despite some glaring flaws. James Cameron has a great sense of setting. Only wish he would employ better writers to round out the experience.

Jeff said...

I did see it in 3D and was impressed that they didn't pull all the gimicky stuff you see in many 3D films that distract from the story. To me the 3D just added depth to the already stunning visual effects.


-Jeff

bloggeratf said...

I agree with Jeff there. The 3D aspect (saw it in IMAX) didn't give me the usual barely restrained gag impulse.

On a side note, did you ever see the cartoon Ferngully? To me avatar it is essentially the same with a bit of Starcraft thrown in for kicks.

Neth said...

yeah - I'll probably try to see it in 3D. i have no idea when or where.

@Alec - I did see Ferngully (I always liked that one) and there are certainly a lot of similarities. Of course there are a lot of similarities to many movies - the plot didn't have a single oringinal thought in it.

SQT said...

I haven't seen it yet. The whole "it's the visual experience" thing hasn't been enough to get me to the theater. I kind of like decent plot and dialog and I haven't read a single review that says "Avatar" has that going for it. One guy called it the "supermodel of movies-- pretty but not deep" and I had to laugh.

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