Why not just rent this? Same difference.
Posted on 02/16/2010 9:56:20 AM PST by RobRoy
When Star Wars first came out, it was a quantum leap beyond anything I had ever seen in a theater before. I ended up watching it 26 times in the theater. I have not had that experience since - until today. In 3D and Imax, I saw Avatar.
Yes, I know the liberal "love the trees BS" message people say it has, but it is science fantasy. Sure, the parallels between the indigenous "people" of the planet and the American Indians and simple tribal cultures of planet earth and their various forms of nature worship were thick enough to cut with a knife. But...this was not earth. In this fantasy world, their beliefs were based on the reality of their world.
But the imagination of whoever created this story was truly appreciated by me. It was a visual extravaganza, and twisted in some very good and interesting ways, regarding how another world may be different in ways most of us never thought of. The political message was stupid, right down to their using the phrase "shock and awe" to describe the attack. But stripping away the ludicrous attempt at an over-simplified - and terribly wrongheaded - cultural parallel with our world, the movie was an amazing thing to behold.
It used CGI in subtle but incredibly effective was that, just as we have been told in various reviews of the movie, a true "next generation" application of the technology. Actually, it may have skipped a couple of generations.
I give credit where credit is due. There was not a boring moment in the film. The pace was fast, but not too fast. The story was compelling and there were very emotional moments in the film. It kept me interested for the entire 180 minutes. I would recommend it to anyone.
Ignore the "man is in the forest" nonsense and this will blow you away. Skip the popcorn and soda. You won't need it. Just sit back and prepare to almost literally enter another world - A world of incredible danger, beauty, and adventure, the memory of which you will carry for the rest of your life.
My wife and I simply loved it. Seldom have I found myself so immersed in a movie.
It must be seen on the big screen (if not IMAX), and in 3D - otherwise don’t bother.
I disagree with the diss to popcorn. Even Heaven better have good movie theater popcorn. :)
If Scully hadn’t been so busy “going native,” he might’ve saved some lives.
I wonder if it synchs-up wth Dark Side of the Moon better than "The Wizard of Oz"?
You saw “Dances with Blue Wolves”?
It's a fantasy people and a damn good one at that. Honestly, my two sons praised it up so high that I went in with negative expectations. It just blew me away
I told the wife that the DVD will not sell well as it will not be worth watching unless in IMAX 3D.
IF you can get past the weak, hackneyed story,
and IF you can see past the shallow cartoon characters,
and IF you can overlook the in your face leftism,
then I suppose it’s not a bad display of CG.
This movie stinks on ice.
I felt similar.
The visuals were fantastic however the story seemed to be very close to “The Abyss”.
I sure hope you've found a girl friend since then.
I thought the movie was visually incredible, but the story dragged on and on, especially since the cliched nature of the plot told you how it was all going to end right from the get-go. There are only so many times you can see space butterflies come at you from the screen before it loses its magic, so you need a decent story to keep the interest. This movie didn’t have that.
When Star Wars first came out, it was so over-sold that, when I finally saw it in theater, I asked, “That’s it?”. Special effects, but ooh, the acting! Like in a big high-school’s senior play. Well, wifey wanted to see “Blue Pocahantas, or The Last Samurai Dances with Ferngully Wolves in Space” for Valentine’s Day. Computer-puppet “acting” wasn’t as wooden as the action-figures-like SW, but, how many hours does it take to tell such a simple story!?
And every creature had the USB connectors coming out of their heads. Except the blue "people". They had the connectors in their ....uh....hindquarters.
Guess I should never have gone to college because that evolutionary discrepancy bothered me for three hours.
.
I’m glad you posted this. I, too had bought in to the many righty posts and blogs that told me the leftist overtones would prevent me from enjoying Avatar.
Well, with small kids, my wife and I rarely have an opportunity to have a date night with a movie. I was determined to make this past Saturday one of those. We had intended to watch The Lovely Bones, but the online schedule didn’t match what we found when we got to the theater. We had to choose something else and reluctantly chose Avatar in 3-D.
We were BLOWN AWAY! I don’t remember ever being so immersed in a film that I forgot I was sitting in a theater. Long periods would go by that only my verbal expressions of “Whoaaaa” brought me back.
I “get” the whole message and the many examples of Cameron poking his finger in my conservative eye. But if you really want to get $15 worth of great movie-going experience, Avatar will NOT disappoint.
So there are two characters who are total Azzhats. Witnessing their obstetric proclivities makes their assured come-uppance all that more satisfying. Other than that, the CG eye candy is SEAMLESS and impressive.
I really pity those here who are so entrenched in ideology that they can’t experience 2 1/2 hours of fantasy film making which sets a new standard.
We both can’t wait to take our 11-year-old son to experience this in IMAX 3-D.
No, it’s not Citizen Kane, but for an entertainment value, sci-fi fans (or even just good movie fans) can’t go wrong watching Avatar.
I didn’t expect the movie to be good, other than special effects. But that may be why I enjoyed it so much - it exceeded my expectations.
Before it started, I washed my mind of concerns about political statements, etc., and watched it like I would read a good science fiction novel. On that level, it really delivered.
Just taking the characters and settings at face value I really liked the story.
Not as many explosions as a Star Wars movie, but there are some good pyrotechnics in the last third.
Arrows don’t explode. :)
Well, if you are into smallish blue breasts on a clearly alien creature, there were quite a few “nipple slips”.
Loved the cinematography. Hated the plot.
I was rooting for the colonel dude in the walking robot at the end. :-)
>>I was rooting for the humans.
Hated to see them lose.<<
In the reality of this movie, the humans needed to lose.
I compare the world in this movie a bit to some of the worlds in the somewhat Christian novel, A Wrinkle in Time.
If a world such as the one in Avatar actually existed, we would do best to leave the people be. In this movie, we were the equivalent of the aliens in Independence day.
But again, it is only fantasy. Nothing in our reality relates to this movie. There is a huge difference between a culture that worships their mother nature that they physically plug into and a culture that worships a mother nature that is a figment of their imagination.
One is doing the right thing, the other is woefully ignorant. This movie was about the former.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.