[Another Review] Avatar [No Spoilers]

[mendhak]

But I am assuming you've seen the trailers.

Bad stuff first:
I watched Avatar in 3D. The "D" represents that marks this movie gets for plot. And the story is exactly what you can tell from the trailers: Oppressive soldiers need the land of the natives. One soldier infiltrates, suddenly loves them, and helps them fight back. Well gosh, how original.

You definitely don't want to watch this movie for storyline, dialog or plot - I'm not saying it's terrible, I'm saying that it's nothing special. It's nothing to write a forum post about, as I am (not) doing right now.

You also definitely don't want to listen to the hype that surrounds this movie, I've heard things like "12 years in the making" and obra maestra. Seriously, don't get your hopes up too high. Just enjoy the movie.

Good stuff:
I watched Avatar in 3D. This movie is the best movie you have ever seen in 3D - absolutely phenomenal. Wait, let me say that again. Absolutely phenomenal. If you have a 3D screen anywhere within a radius of 6378 kilometers of you, go there to watch it. If you want to save a bit of time and watch it in 2D, you might as well skip it. So yeah - good graphics, audio-visually appealing. You'll like the blue people and may even have amorous feelings for them. Even the action sequences don't blur too much. Good environment.

One really, really, really bad thing (a warning):
Just when the movie ends, a pop song starts playing as the credits are playing. It comes out of nowhere and breaks the 'harmony' of the movie. It's also a *really* bad song. It was so bad, that I actually came home and looked it up. I don't have a TV, so you might know this already - it's someone called Leona Lewis who won some crap reality TV show and is now really famous, which probably explains why it was added in - to appeal to the audience members who are a fan of this idiot show. But holy Christ, that song was so bad, I'm now impotent.

[zaza]

You were always impotent. Why do you think visualAd always gets away with his shenannigans?

[abhijit]

I drove through a snow-storm to watch this movie in 3D.

[EntityX]

If you have a 3D screen anywhere within a radius of 6378 kilometers of you, go there to watch it.

If the 3D screen is 6378.1 kilometers away then don't watch it.

[SambaNeko]

I like the way Cracked.com puts it: "Avatar is Horribly Written, Way Too Long, Totally Worth it" (they too make a point of mentioning how terrible the ending credits song is).

I will probably be going to see it in IMAX 3D next weekend.

[NickThissen]

Just got back from watching it, and I agree with mendhak. The story was predictable and nothing too special, but still really enjoyable. Visually it's the best movie I've ever seen. The CGI was actually photo-realistic in most scenes, you really believe that you are watching a real movie instead of cgi. And luckily the 3D wasn't too 'in your face' (like stuff flying at you constantly). Sure there's a few times that you get things flying right at you, but it doesn't distract from the movie and doesn't become annoying as most other 3D movies are.
I only thought that the Na'vi were a little too human-like. Apart from their face, 4 fingers and the tail (and possibly genital area) they were just like humans (a little thin perhaps). A little more variation may have been better (after all, all the animal life was completely different then on earth).
(Also, did anyone notice the Na'vi had 4 fingers, while the avatars had 5?)

The only drawback of the 3D was the subtitles. Because I'm dutch we didn't only get the occasional english subtitles, but also dutch subtitles constantly, and they don't really work well with the 3D. They are just floating in front of the screen, and I feel I can't really watch the movie while reading the subtitles at the same time; it's either reading subtitles or watching the rest of the movie. Luckily I speak english fluently so I didn't really need them, but I kept looking at them from time to time out of habit, and obviously I had the same 'problem' with the english subtitles when they were speaking Na'vi.


EDIT
Oh, also, the 3D glasses were quite annoying. They were too heavy on the bridge of the nose and had a sharp edge right there for some reason... (My theater used polarization glasses).

[chris128]

Maybe its just where I was sat in the cinema but I really didnt find the 3D aspect to be that great... Its the first film I've ever seen in 3D and I really wasnt impressed, I would have rather watched it in 2D. Oh and I agree that the Navi were far too human-like to make it believable... and the plot was far too obvious and boring. Overall I didnt like anything about the film really lol

[SambaNeko]

Saw it in IMAX 3D a few days ago (had to wait longer than expected because IMAX kept selling out waaay in advance). Story was as predictable as I'd expected, but good enough to hold together for what was a really fun experience overall. Good pacing, good action, and I was surprised to actually like the characters.

Randomly, I appreciated that they'd give you slow-mo detailed shots of the CGI beasties during otherwise fast-moving scenes - I hate it when movies will craft interesting creatures (by CGI or costumes or whatever), but never let you get a good look at 'em.

[kleinma]

Just remember that not all IMAX screens are alike...

http://www.cinematical.com/2009/05/1...aller-screens/

[SambaNeko]

Just remember that not all IMAX screens are alike...

Oh sure, tell me after seeing it. :P I believe it was the still the "big" one though. I've also seen and thought the IMAX "dome" screens to be more impressive than the flat type, but those only seem to be used in museums for nature documentaries...

[dilettante]

I saw it a while ago in "Digital 3D" (not IMAX). The 3D was ok, but added little despite some scenes where depth should have made things more dramatic.

Basically though they could have saved their time and just made a Disney cartoon of this script.

[BillGeek]

I agree with everyone regarding the story line / plot, though I must admit that I was captivated by the continuous action scenes. (Can't really be bored when there are so many guns firing off the whole friggin' time) I only saw it in 2D (around here, I would have to drive about an hour to see ANYTHING in 3D) but I still don't think that it was a waste of money.

A waste of money would be watching Alvin and the Chipmunks with my sister. First time ever I fell asleep in a movie theatre.

[chris128]

oh god someone in my office was just describing this film to a colleague and they said "the story was captivating the entire way through" and I just thought whaaaat... if you are 10 years old then maybe, but anyone that has reached puberty surely could not find the story interesting or unpredictable..

[KiwiDexter]

Full review

The plot was pretty much "seen before got the tee", the 3D was pretty good, and the visuals were real nice.

Movie is currently the highest grossing movie of 2009 in Oz, looking like it could track higher than "Titanic" to be the highest grossing movie ever in Australia.

Going to see it again later this week as she who must be obeyed is demanding a screening. First time I've double dipped a cinema movie

[Spyle]

The 3D in my theater was a complete fail. I hope they all aren't that bad, this was the first 3D movie I've seen.

The blurring, lack of 3D on the sides unless you turned your head to look, and bad flicker on anything that moves fast. Totally a step backwards. I'd take a crisp and flicker free 2D movie any day over that.

They really need to make the glasses more comfortable too.

[KiwiDexter]

The 3D in my theater was a complete fail. I hope they all aren't that bad, this was the first 3D movie I've seen.

The blurring, lack of 3D on the sides unless you turned your head to look, and bad flicker on anything that moves fast. Totally a step backwards. I'd take a crisp and flicker free 2D movie any day over that.

They really need to make the glasses more comfortable too.

And provide free shots of tequilla on a regular basis.

[capsulecorpjx]

Good movie, it kept me engaged, I was never bored.

But non of the characters were new, the storyline is entirely predicitable.

It is NOT something to build a franchise on. they should let it be a single movie and use the 3-D tech they developed to build something different.