44 replies to this topic

[nicky]

I saw Avatar yesterday. It was ok, not the great awesomeness that I'd hoped Cameron had been working on all this time. I had high hopes since it's been 12 yrs since his last feature film and TBH this was a little disappopinting for the Cameron fan and sf geek in me.

Imagine if Greenpeace funded Cameron to do a remake of Dances With Wolves and The Last Samurai but with a sci-fi spin - do all that and you get Avatar. Also throw in the cliche Vietnam War allegory of a primtive race fighting a battle against a high tech army - Cameron already did this in Aliens.

In addition to Dances With Wolves and The Last Samurai I could also see similarities to Aliens, The Emerlad Forest, Braveheart, Jurrasic Park , Return of the Jedi, The Matrix and even Bill Pullman's OTT speech in Independance Day (Avatar actually tops it in the cheese stakes). Also some of the dialogue reminded me of Cameron's earlier films.

With all the cute aliens and attention to CG creatures and landscapes, it would appear that Cameron is on his way to becoming the next George Lucas. These cute blue aliens however weren't anything as annoying as Lucas' aliens but I'd like to have seen more of the humans interacting with them.

4/5

Edited by nicky, 19 December 2009 - 03:30 PM.

[mattman81]

Did you see it in 2D or 3D, Nicky?

[nicky]

mattman81, on Dec 20 2009, 11:11 PM, said:

Did you see it in 2D or 3D, Nicky?

3D. Which brings me to another thing: although the 3D is great, I think that's whats making some reviewers give this film an extra point. If you strip away the 3D and the fact that it's James Cameron returning after 12yrs and thae fact that you so desperatly want to like the film then your opinion of it would no doubt be less. When I gave it 4* I was being generous.

Edited by nicky, 21 December 2009 - 12:19 PM.

[mattman81]

I agree it seems a lot of critics, and general film fans, are prepared to forgive it due to the effects and 3D aspects, and in some ways I do think it's right to reward films if it's clear a vast amount of effort has gone into it.  In fact that's the only reason why Transformers 2 isn't my 'worse film of the year', that and because I had to watch Gamer.

I'm in two minds about actually seeing it.  I've seen bits and pieces while at work and can't say I've been impressed.  A lot of people have pointed out the major flaws, and that's enough to put me off but I am curious.
I'm going to wait until the new year though, and might try and watch it at the IMAX or another 3D system other than Real-d.

[WILLOW99]

I really enjoyed it. Admit there isn't a whole lotta plot and as i have read and agree with it is a mix of Pocahontas and the smurfs :)
But i loved the effects and the movie overall and it's definately something i'm recommending to all my friends (i'm even going to get the dvd as soon as it comes out   )

[Daniel]

Pretty amazing. That James Cameron likes spending company money.

[timelord81r]

i saw it in 2d cos 3d was sold out :-(

pretty much agree with nicky, so many other films were ripped off, dances with wolves, last smari, return of the jedi, topgun the main ones that sprung to my mind, lol a scene were the worthington navi and the navi new leader talk, the new leader says to worthington I will fly with you, and i was half expecting worthington to reply bulls*** ill fly with you ( a riff on a line in top gun)

still it didnt annoy you with these similarities as films such as eragon did (though amusingly this film even ripped that off lol)

although the plot was nothing new and in places obvious SPOILER HIGHLIGHT TO SEE>>(who didnt see a mile off that the female navi would kill the colonel at the end?)<< and it was hard remembering everyones names it was still a decent movie, the actors were all good surprisingly even worthington who i think prior to this was very overrated, weaver was good, as was rodriguez who looked so hot also and langs baddie was so bad ass it was brilliant, the effects were amazing and most of the navi scenes were believable, in fact the only that wernt were the mass orgy (matrix style) group meditating scenes.
overall I enjoyed this, it did drag a bit in the middle with the training, learning scenes that were just like watching similar scenes in so many other movies. but the effects and action were amazing, the score was quite good also.

looking forward to seeing if the 3d is any good, last movie i saw in 3d was beuwolf which i thought was very disappointing

will be interesting to see were cameron will go with sequels if this does well, SPOILER HIGHLIGHT TO SEE>>i mean its so obvious the humans could return and kill em all, in fact in keeping with the film i was expecting it to end with a nuke being dropped from a space station blowing up the planet sorta sending the message we humans will stop at nothing to destroy nature and good which is sorta the message cameron is sending with this movie.<< maybe thats still how this movie series will end?

Edited by Too Tall, 22 December 2009 - 01:00 PM.

[nicky]

timelord81r, on Dec 22 2009, 01:33 AM, said:

although the plot was nothing new and in places obvious (who didnt see a mile off that ************************* at the end?)

its so obvious the humans could ******, in fact in keeping with the film i was expecting it to end with ********

You may wanna use spoilers here. This is a new film and people will probbaly read this thread cos they're interesting in seeing the film and what other's thought first.

[timelord81r]

sorry

[Laurenx]

I thought the film was amazing. Not the best film ever, but definitely worth it's good reviews.  Parts were pretty predictable, I'll give you that, but it was still brilliantly made and I thought the cast were all excellent.

[aliens vs predator]

I saw it last night in 3D, I expected it to be better than it turned out to be but this was probably because the trailers were really good and also the hype of the film was massive.
I think it did drag on longer than it needed to, but the plot needed the length because there was so much info the audience needed to know or else they wouldn't have a clue what was going on.
It is definately worth watching though, especially in 3D, there's a great cast and the CGI is amazing.

[reddragon]

Thought it was amazing. In fact I've seen it twice, once in 2D and once in 3D.
Can't wait for the Bluray. For me it was one of the better films to come out this year.

[Narago]

thought it was an amazingly beautiful film, not the greatest movie ever made admittedly, but def worth watching and a must in 3d and on the big screen  

[lovbug]

i had alittle sleep part way through, but i enjoyed it. Better than i thought it was, but i dont do well with long films.

[nicky]

lovbug, on Dec 31 2009, 10:54 PM, said:

i had alittle sleep part way through, but i enjoyed it.

You enjoyed what? The little sleep or the film?  

[JaneDoe]

I thought it was visually stunning. The storyline was seconary but not the worst I have watched. My only complaint is for the cinema who had us in our seats at 8:10 for a 8:20 screening that was preceeded by 45 minutes of adverts and trailers. THe movie didn't start until just after 9 so we didn't get out until 11:45. Man was my bum aching!

[Kyle Beech]

Saw it today FINALLY!

Thought it was brilliant

[Will Jones]

I still need to see this. But the main thing stopping me at the moment is that the length of the film will not agree with my body clock. I am super busy at work, and I have my own business to continue building. I do not want to fall asleep during the film. I will probably wait until the DVD comes out, but I hate to miss this in the cinema. I am next off on Friday, so I may have an early night on Thursday and go see it in the early afternoon on Friday.

Hmmm...decisions decisions...

[reddragon]

Its one of those films you really neeed to see in the cinema.

[WILLOW99]

In 3D if you can too