I’ll be seeing it later today, enticed by the words of others. All agree the plot is melodramatic and not particularly exceptional. But those special effects…
The special effects were very good. I have seen special effects of similar quality, but never such quality in such quantity. The detail was striking enough that I assume I stopped thinking of it as “special effects” and more as simply a background canvas. I’m talking more about the landscape, the flora and fauna, than the humanoids, who occasionally slipped into uncanny valley territory… I think that the 3D was really not much of a value-add. It was often distracting, especially at the beginning.
I was very skeptical going into the film (and I still have my issues with it, but we’ll talk about that when everyone has seen it) and had a hard time mustering up any excitement. To me, it just looked like FernGully: To The Extreme!!! and I was prepared to be bored about 20 minutes in. However, once the film started, I was instantly hooked. For all its flaws (and there are many), it’s truly a beautiful and awe-inspiring cinematic experience. I went into the film wary and sick of all the hype, but I left a believer, at least in terms of the technical aspects of the movie. It’s not a perfect film, but it’s an important one, and definitely worth a viewing.
Michael Arrington, Avatar Is Like The iPhone Of Movies:
I’ve seen Avatar twice now, which is saying something when you’re talking about a nearly three hour movie that was released 36 hours ago… The movie grossed just $27 million in its first day at the box office, which pales in comparison to Twilight Saga: New Moon ($72 million) and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen ($62 million). But don’t forget that Cameron’s Titanic made just $28.6 million on opening weekend. And that movie did ok in the end. Avatar, like Titanic, is one of those movies you’ll want to see over and over. But don’t wait for the DVD. This is a movie that has to be seen in 3D.
It is a very expensive-looking, very flashy entertainment, albeit one that groans under the weight of clumsy storytelling in the second half and features some of the most godawful dialogue this side of “Attack of the Clones.” Sensitive viewers will also want to note that two characters engage in tasteful sex under a special tree that bears a close resemblance to a bachelor-pad fiber-optic lamp. Clearly, Cameron has looked everywhere for inspiration — nature, art, the Spencer’s Gifts catalog — and this tree, in particular, isn’t just any old plug-in prop. “There is something really interesting going on in there biologically,” says the brainy scientist character played by Sigourney Weaver, and believe you me, she doesn’t know the half of it.
ArsTechnica says you know the story. Go anyway. The NYTimes’ Manohla Dargis liked it — “an Emersonian exploration of the invisible world of the spirit filled with Cameronian rock ’em, sock ’em pulpy action” — but their Brooks Barnes (he covers media, movie studios and chains, and Hollywood financing) wonders, will it deliver?
Time’s Richard Corliss says “Avatar is a state-of-the-art experience that for years to come will define what movies can achieve.” Rotten Tomatoes gives it 82%. Wired has the definitive background piece. The film’s official website.
Have you seen it?