Wisdom. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
I have never seen a movie that ran so long and had so little substance to it. The hero was bland and forgettable, the love interest was specifically designed and marketed to appeal to as many fetishes as possible, the side characters were made too marginal, the corporate douche could have been cloned from Burke from [[Aliens Aliens]], and Colonel Quaritch, although in my opinion the most complex character on the screen, still felt like a villain imported from any episode of Captain Planet you could name. But why should Cameron feel the need to flesh his cast out any further? They already have served their purpose. Sully had no personality so the audience could mentally insert itself into his position and vicariously enjoy his adventures without any input from his motivations or emotions to color their experience, the lead female served as a scifi fantasy girlfriend, and the villains were cardboard evil cutouts suitable for hissing at. Hell, the CGI blue kitties acted more humanly than the actual humans, who are never defined beyond their respective jobs and never seem to interact with each other in any way other than to advance the plot. Don't the Hell's Gate crew ever do anything for fun? What about hobbies, entertainment, or family ties left behind? What would motivate somebody to take a trip to a distant hostile planet for a tour of duty that would realistically last at least ten years, far away from everything you knew and loved on Planet Earth? For that matter, why are we never shown how badly Earth's ecosystem has decayed or why Unobtanium is so important to its survival. We are only told that Earth is doomed by a throwaway one liner at the end when "the aliens went back to their dying planet." Way to pull the unintended pathos, James. If you want a movie about the struggle between the balance of nature and human civilization, watch Princess Mononoke, or any film by Miyazaki period, for that matter. Better story, solid characters, and no annoying 3-D headaches!
Just to answer the unobtanium question. If we were to know just how badly earth was fucked up, and just how desperate humanity was, we might some more sympathy towards them, and that would totally fuck up Camerons black and white good vs. evil message here, and god forbid we have moral gray in a story!
Just to answer the unobtanium question. If we were to know just how badly earth was fucked up, and just how desperate humanity was, we might have some more sympathy towards them, and that would totally fuck up Camerons black and white good vs. evil message here, and god forbid we have moral gray in a story!
The worst part of this movie was the way they hand waved away the entire plot in one sentence.
"Unobtainium is the reason we're hear."
"Okay."
And seriously... Unobtainium? Get it, because they can't obtain it?! Ha ha ha, oh wow. If I were to name a rock for this movie I might hae though Pandorum or Na'vi Diamonds or something dumb but forgivable like that but Unobtainium?! I would expect a stupid, punny name like that from a kids show not the worst best movie of all time.
Good god the movie-going public are drooling, easily-pleased morons with no understanding of art.
you walk, i'll run, i'll follow right behind you.
Unobtanium is an inside joke amongst a lot of movie science people.
The producer asks them, "So, we need a spaceship that can generate black holes, what do we call whatever powers it?"
"Ummmm, unobtanium?"
"Sounds great."
"Whoa" Keanu Reeves
I got the joke (Although I'm not a huge sci-fi fan anyway) I just thought it was... well, ridiculous.
Also the lack of development in... any character was almost hard to believe.
you walk, i'll run, i'll follow right behind you.
Yeah, development is not, "Oh yeah he's different now." Can you give me one trait of, hero dude, one that marks him as unique beyond any other Cameron protagonist?
And the unobtanium reference is especially stupid since Avatar is such a ponderous, humorless, and slow piece that any jokes at all stick out really bad.
Eh, I'm looking forward to a different Avatar.
"Whoa" Keanu Reeves
I did, however, enjoy the crazed army guy with the three claw marks down his face. He was a fun villain.
And I am sorry to tell you this, but The Last Airbender is an M.Night.Shamaylan film. All hope... is lost for me...
you walk, i'll run, i'll follow right behind you.
But he isn't writing it, so there's a chance it could turn out good. But if he did write it.
"I've got you Firelord!"
"Aang, how could you kill me...if I don't exist, MUWHAHAHAHAHA!!! This was all in your mind, you're really a thirty eight year old from Brunswick."
I'm trying to remain hopeful.
Quaritch for life.
"Whoa" Keanu Reeves
Heh.
"Ang, you have to save us."
"I can't, I'm actually just a broom dressed up as an Airbender."
"If you believe in yourself, you can do it, Broom."
- Heart lifting music*
Fuck yeah Quaritch for life. I'd watch a movie with him as the star. Quaritch makes everything better. Why do you think he's listed first in the Characters page?
Avatar's main draw was the IMAX showings and its impressive use of 3D technology. You get so sucked into the environment, you lose yourself in Pandora. I didn't think this would fare as well on DVD, and I could understand why people went for repeated viewings. While I enjoyed Avatar during its release, Fridge Logic is not this film's friend. Like Phrederic stated, Avatar is too simplistic and lacked any real moral ambiguity. That's something District 9 had in spades, even though it veered too far into Humans Are Bastards territory as well. In terms of narrative, there are a lot worse films than Avatar, but there are a better ones too.
And just to let you know, Alien was directed by Ridley Scott. James Cameron was the one responsible for its sequel, Aliens.
"You get so sucked into the environment, you lose yourself in Pandora."
I didn't, maybe if you're the type of person who can, then you might of enjoyed the movie better, but for me, there are two things that I really care about, characters and choreography, so the the abundance of Flat Character and Jitter Cam really broke my enjoyment, hell, it wasn't even cheesy enough to enjoy!
"And just to let you know, Alien was directed by Ridley Scott. James Cameron was the one responsible for its sequel, Aliens."
My apologies, well, Aliens is an Even Better Sequel according to some, so my general idea is right. Though speaking of good directors suddenly sucking, I might have to add Ridley to my list if I get around to seeing the newest Robin Hood movie, it at least looks hammy enough to enjoy though.
"Whoa" Keanu Reeves
Slow motion broke my immersion early on. I have hate the use and especially the abuse of slow motion.
^This. Agreed.
you walk, i'll run, i'll follow right behind you.
Also, the RDA should have used an aircraft that could go faster than 60 miles an hour. I could have drove and covered 4 kilometers (clicks) faster than they did.
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Cameron has lost his shine
While I've only seen a handful of the works of James Cameron, I've been impressed, Alien was one of the few horror films that I've actually enjoyed and I've found his gift for realistic and impressive effects matched by his sharp writing and the inspiring acting he gets from his crew. Cameron must have lost something in those fifteen years, no more are the effects just a medium for presenting his vision, no more are the monsters a support for the plot. In Avatar, the roles were reversed, Cameron attempted to hide the flat writing and underwhelming acting underneath the (awe inspiring) graphics, and guess what, I didn't buy it. It seems funny that this script, supposedly so epic and ahead of its time, needed fifteen years for the technology to catch up to it, was the weakest part of the movie. You could take any plot, and throw this much money and talent at it, and you would've gotten a better film.
Another thing is the disappointment in this film, the hero was flat, and you could see his development from the first ten seconds of trailer, which is totally retarded! This movie had three hours to work with him, and I still have to go to IMDB to remember his name. The villains were cartoony, yet the plot took its self so seriously I couldn't even enjoy it as a cheesy action flick. The few good performers were shuffled of to the side so we could enjoy more typecast pretty people talk in boring platitudes I've heard a thousand times before, a thousand times better. I know that nothing is truly original, but you can at least try. Cameron used to be the man people knocked off, now its the other way around, with Cameron stealing designs, plots and characters from himself and everybody else. I don't know if Cameron stopped trying or if he's run out of ideas.
I did enjoy bits of the movie, but those good bits were far and few between, and the overall blegh of the film watered all the good parts into a thin gray mess. I for one never stopped smiling whenever Colonel Miles Quaritch was on the screen. Seriously, cast this guy in every movie that could feasibly have him, he'd make everything better. But the mustache twirling was ruined by the dull plot and boring as hell protagonist.
This film does give me hope, for I now know that my dream movie adaptations of Metal Gear Solid and Warhammer 40 K can come to fruition.