"Avatar" Talkback (Spoilers)

[Lord Dalek]

Release date: December 18, 2009
Studio: 20th Century-Fox/Lightstorm Entertainment
Director: James Cameron
Aspect Ratio: 2.40:1 (35mm and digital flat versions), 1.78:1 (IMAX and Digital 3D versions, HDTV)
Starring: Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Sigourney Weaver, Stephen Lang, Michelle Rodriguez, Giovanni Ribisi

Plot Summary: When his brother is killed in battle, paraplegic Marine Jake Sully decides to take his place in a mission on the distant world of Pandora. There he learns of greedy corporate figurehead Parker Selfridge's intentions of driving off the native humanoid "Na'vi" in order to mine for the precious material scattered throughout their rich woodland. In exchange for the spinal surgery that will fix his legs, Jake gathers intel for the cooperating military unit spearheaded by gung-ho Colonel Quaritch, while simultaneously attempting to infiltrate the Na'vi people with the use of an "avatar" identity. While Jake begins to bond with the native tribe and quickly falls in love with the beautiful alien Neytiri, the restless Colonel moves forward with his ruthless extermination tactics, forcing the soldier to take a stand - and fight back in an epic battle for the fate of Pandora.

COMMENTS?

[Old Guy]

Written and Directed by James Cameron
Starring: Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, and Sigourney Weaver
Genres: Action/Adventure and Science Fiction/Fantasy
Running Time: 160 min.
Release Date: December 18th, 2009 (wide)
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for intense epic battle sequences and warfare, sensuality, language and some smoking.
Distributors: 20th Century Fox

Summary: AVATAR takes us to a spectacular world beyond imagination, where a reluctant hero embarks on an epic adventure, ultimately fighting to save the alien world he has learned to call home. James Cameron, the Oscar-winning director of "Titanic," first conceived the film 15 years ago, when the means to realize his vision did not exist yet. Now, after four years of production, AVATAR, a live action film with a new generation of special effects, delivers a fully immersive cinematic experience of a new kind, where the revolutionary technology invented to make the film disappears into the emotion of the characters and the sweep of the story.

We enter the alien world through the eyes of Jake Sully, a former Marine confined to a wheelchair. But despite his broken body, Jake is still a warrior at heart. He is recruited to travel light years to the human outpost on Pandora, where corporations are mining a rare mineral that is the key to solving Earth's energy crisis. Because the atmosphere of Pandora is toxic, they have created the Avatar Program, in which human "drivers" have their consciousness linked to an avatar, a remotely-controlled biological body that can survive in the lethal air. These avatars are genetically engineered hybrids of human DNA mixed with DNA from the natives of Pandora... the Na'vi.

Reborn in his avatar form, Jake can walk again. He is given a mission to infiltrate the Na'vi, who have become a major obstacle to mining the precious ore. But a beautiful Na'vi female, Neytiri, saves Jake's life, and this changes everything. Jake is taken in by her clan, and learns to become one of them, which involves many tests and adventures. As Jake's relationship with his reluctant teacher Neytiri deepens, he learns to respect the Na'vi way and finally takes his place among them. Soon he will face the ultimate test as he leads them in an epic battle that will decide nothing less than the fate of an entire world.

COMMENT?

[Lord Dalek]

Prepare to be... merged.

[The Clown Prince]

Did one of you two have a claim on who got to start this talkback? And Lord Dalek, technically you're supposed to wait until 12:00 midnight/9:00pm pacific to post a talkback for a movie that opens at midnight.

[Lord Dalek]

Did one of you two have a claim on who got to start this talkback?

No. He just probably didn't look.

Furthermore, a quick pursual of the thread collection shows nobody claimed it. I was actually Pengy to be doing this but no.

[sdp]

Apparently Avatar came out Thursday in Mexico a day earlier odd, I'd have seen it if I had known in advance it came out before, I assumed it was friday and today I'm going to see the Walking with Dinosaurs live show.

[Old Guy]

Lord Dalek, technically you're supposed to wait until 12:00 midnight/9:00pm pacific to post a talkback for a movie that opens at midnight.

Lord Dalek is a rebel.

[The Clown Prince]

Alright, I'm just gonna leave the two threads merged together. I think I know how the confusion happened because it happend to me once. It's OK. No harm done.

Now that that is all said, let's now officially get back on topic....

[Old Guy]

People have been wondering about the box office, with one member even saying that their theater had only sold two tickets. Well, with all the positive critical review, it seems like audiences were sold. Avatar accounts for 70% of online ticket sales at the moment. And most of them are for 3D showings and IMAX theaters.

[AnimationX]

So......

This movie apparently was written in a rough draft back in 1994 and James Cameron apparently mentioned that he wanted to put it into production as soon as he was done with Titanic in 1996, but here we are some 13 years later and it's finally being released today. This had better be good.

In all honesty, it looks great! The trailers and snippets I have seen make this look like the next big epic sci-fi/fantasy project thats going to captivate kids and adults much like Star Wars or LOTR did, but I do have a question.

Is this a stand alone film, or part of a series of movies fourthcoming?

[Discloner]

Saw it last night in 2D.

Personally I LOVED it. The effects were wonderful - very emotive which was impressive. Everytime Zoe Saldana's character had a break-down it was heart wrenching; and while generally speaking I'm very weary of nearly 3 hour long films, it really aids in immersing you in this world. Everything felt like it was there for a reason. No "man they really could have cut this down" vibes or unnessisarily long slow motion scenes (I'm looking at you King Kong!) just for the sake of more on-screen goodness.

All the actors/actresses are great. Michelle Rodriguez continues to play the same character she's ever played - but god love her for it. Sigourney Weaver was wonderful and her death was quite sad. Sam and Zoe were great and their chemistry works on screen even with all the digital costuming. In particular Giovanni Ribisi and Stephen Lang make for great villians on completely different levels.

The story itself - stripped to the basics, really isn't revolutionary; but I felt it was more about the journey. It's all constructed perfectly, and builds to that awesome climatic battle at end. The AMP suit/Worthington fight at the end had me on the edge of my seat even when it was over; my poor heart probably couldn't have taken any more suspense.

The only thing I didn't like was....Unobtainium. What a terrible name for a rare mineral that's hard to obtain. Blaaaaaah.

I'd definitely recommend it - and I'll definitely be going back to see it; hopefully in 3D this time.

Edit: Apparently James Cameron wants to create a bible for Pandora so that the universe can exist in various other mediums without conflicting with each other and potential sequels - Pandorapedia serving as the jumping off point to build on. Very neat for those who love the detailed world created here.

[sparkykandy]

Saw the midnight showing with a friend last night. It was okay. The visual effects and everything were really great, but the story itself was eh. I felt that I would liked the movie much more if the whole Humans are evil creatures and Nature is wonderful and precious message wasn't shoved down our throats. That's what it felt like to me. Plus, it was kind of predictable at parts. Though, it was kind of amazing to see how frickin tough the evil marine guy was.

[Old Guy]

Just got back from the morning matinee...at IMAX! I can't wait till the naysers watch this. Never again doubt James Cameron. Was the story predictable and some-what cliche? Sure. But what it lacks in story it makes up for in characters, performances, great visuals, ground-breaking visual effects, action scenes, music, etc. Also, don't worry about the 2 hour and 40 minute running time. You won't even notice. If you saw LOTR: The Return of the King (or any other installment) and didn't notice the nearly 4 hour running time then this will feel like 90 minutes in comparison.

[HomeMoviesFan]

Rather mixed.

GREAT visuals. GREAT action sequences. GREAT pacing. GREAT villain. (Stephen Lang, I believe)

But...rather derivative story that offers nothing new outside the theological and sci-fi elements (the Avatar aspect, if you will)...and a really clunky script that sometimes sounds great and sometimes sounds just god-awful. (there were so many bad action movie cliche lines in there, I lost count)

Yet I still thought it was good, but not GREAT because of the two detractors above. I believe that what Cameron did was amazing and he brought a lot of his skill to the project, but he did not entirely bring his A-game. That 15-year-old screenplay needed a tune-up badly, which could've have elevated this into THE movie of the decade, a perfect crescendo. But, alas, no. Well, at least other people feel that way.

3.5/5

EDIT: By the way, if you're ever, ever, ever going to see this movie, see it in IMAX 3D. It will blow your socks off visually.

[R-Taco]

Just got back. Man, those visuals were amazing. The creature designs rocked (especially the tiger and dragon things, and the roflcopter geckos) and it was cool that we got a huge variety of wildlife instead of just the usual 3-4 species that these movies get. And the scenery, Holy Canole, that was jaw-dropping.

In terms of the movie itself, the plot wasn't anything new, but it was done well and the characters were developed quite nicely. My only major niggles were the Na'vi being a bit too close to Suedom (one of them was the token jerk, but the rest were portrayed as as better than humans in every single way), and that the War or Terror parallels in the villain's big speech were far from subtle.

[Spideyzilla]

Stunning. Far surpassed my expectations. I disagree about the story. Yes, it has been used many times, but I thought Cameron breathed new life in it. And, as Old Guy said, don't doubt Cameron.

He's the king of the world!
The visuals were stunning. And the end... wow. There MUST be a sequel!

[Icer]

Not the most original movie but very well done and great cg, I'd say 4/5

[Old Guy]

It's safe to say that Avatar will win every single technical award at the Oscars this year.

[Wesyeed]

So......

This movie apparently was written in a rough draft back in 1994 and James Cameron apparently mentioned that he wanted to put it into production as soon as he was done with Titanic in 1996, but here we are some 13 years later and it's finally being released today. This had better be good.

In all honesty, it looks great! The trailers and snippets I have seen make this look like the next big epic sci-fi/fantasy project thats going to captivate kids and adults much like Star Wars or LOTR did, but I do have a question.

Is this a stand alone film, or part of a series of movies fourthcoming?

Nope, stand alone though I'd like to see a cartoon series based on the movie's basic premise but telling a story about different characters.

This is a modern day planet of the apes, I feel, it's THAT powerful a sci-fi movie. Just from an artistic standpoint it holds up, but on the basic story level is where it truly shines like a nuclear blast of genius. I'm glad we got the tech now to make movies like this. Really I can't get my head around what I just saw, it's part a parody of big stupid cgi action movies and a loving homage to them.

[Lelouch]

Despite wishing to see this movie in 2D, my friends wanted to see it in 3D so I caved.

The movie was just amazing. I still cannot get over how amazing the visuals and special effects were. All of the creatures were awesome and the scenery was just breath-taking. The lights during the night were especially amazing.

The characters were also great to follow. I felt really bad for Grace when she passed away, but someone had to go. I also felt for Trudy (the pilot), I wanted to see her make it out alive. I love Michelle Rodriguez, but I swear it seems like her character always dies. I think Jake was really fantastic as the lead, his struggle was pretty believable.

I'll add more later, but for now I am just stunned at how amazing this movie turned out to be.