right, some of you may remember a week or so ago i did a thread asking for people's opinion of Avatar as i had recently bought it and wanted to see if it was as good as it was hyped up to be.
well, i just watched it so i'm going to give my judgement on the film.
to keep it simple, i absolutely loved it. people said to go in with an open mind, the story was nothing special and it was mainly pretty. yes, the story was basic but it was delivered in a good way:
in the planet, Pandorum, there is a metal called unobtainium (bit of a silly name) with superconductor properties. Mankind wants to get hold of this metal as it is EXTREEEEEEMLY valuable. Pandora is inhabited by a number of species, including the Na'vi (I was hoping one would say 'hey, hey, listen, watch out, hey' but they didn't) who are the blue creatures. Their home, called is a huge tree which is located right on top of a huge amount of unobtanuim which humans want. Going in and killing them would look bad so they want them to move, allowing humans to excavate the site. He is asked to keep video diaries of his progress.
Ex-marine Jake Sully is sent in as a hybrid human/na'vi which was originally intended for his brother, but was killed. Jake's mission is to win their trust and convince them to move. Thing is, the planet is a connected organism the Na'vi can connect to. In their hair are weird tendon things that can intertwine with tendons from other animals and the planet itself. Because of this, they have a huge connection with the planet and other animals. When they kill and animal for food, they give a sort of 'last rights' and thank the animal for giving its life. They can also 'upload' memories to the connection and they can hear the voices of past generation.
He is taught their ways and language by Neytiri, the daughter of the tribes leader. Jake eventually becomes accepted by them and, of course, falls in love with Neytiri who also falls in love with him.
When back on his command ship, they show one of his video diaries saying that, due to their connection with the planet, the Na'vi will never leave their home tree. Therefore, they do decide to blow it up.
Jake tells them that, as the Na'vi have accepted him, if he talks to them and tells them about it, he could convince them to leave. He goes in but when the Na'vi find out he knew of this all along, they punish him for what he has done and attack the humans.
SPOILER WARNING
there is a lot more to it than this, like the school that was made on Pandora, and what Jake has to do to become accepted by the Na'vi and things not going as planned on many occasions.
One of my friends, when the film came out, said 'if it's just a fake body he's controlling, why don't the military just pull the plus when he changes sides' and thought it was a blatant plot hole to the entire story. well, they DO pull the plug pretty much straight away. he is only able carry on controlling his avatar because he and some of his friends steal a ship with one of the machines in it and hide it on Pandora.
Others have said it's a lot like the Pocahontas story which, though there is a similarity, it was also very different. Though i'm not entirely sure of the ins and outs of the Pocahontas story, Avatar has a lot of thought put into it to make it a different story.
As for the other aspects, the acting was very good and the special effects were superb, making an incredibly detailed and attractive world. I watched it on DVD in 2D (some probably know i'm not a fan of 3D) and can't see how watching it in 3D would have made the film much better, it was great as it was. A couple of times I even got a bit choked up. The music was also great.
ANYWAY, i can see why it had done so well and it definitely lived up to the hype. It isn't my favourite film of all time (Bolt has that title) but it will be in my top 10. My only gripe is it is a bit long. I watched the extended version which had 16 minutes more than the cinema released. Half the film was on disk 1, the other half on disk 2 which broke the immersion a bit having to swap disks but it certainly didn't ruin the film itself. It was just under 3 hours and there were a few scenes that could have been cut down, mainly when they were travelling somewhere. It's great watching them run/swing through the trees the first time but as they travel everywhere that way it gets a bit repetitive. The flying scenes were awesome.
If you haven't seen it, definitely check it out.
Thanks for reading, the film has been judged!
well, i just watched it so i'm going to give my judgement on the film.
to keep it simple, i absolutely loved it. people said to go in with an open mind, the story was nothing special and it was mainly pretty. yes, the story was basic but it was delivered in a good way:
in the planet, Pandorum, there is a metal called unobtainium (bit of a silly name) with superconductor properties. Mankind wants to get hold of this metal as it is EXTREEEEEEMLY valuable. Pandora is inhabited by a number of species, including the Na'vi (I was hoping one would say 'hey, hey, listen, watch out, hey' but they didn't) who are the blue creatures. Their home, called is a huge tree which is located right on top of a huge amount of unobtanuim which humans want. Going in and killing them would look bad so they want them to move, allowing humans to excavate the site. He is asked to keep video diaries of his progress.
Ex-marine Jake Sully is sent in as a hybrid human/na'vi which was originally intended for his brother, but was killed. Jake's mission is to win their trust and convince them to move. Thing is, the planet is a connected organism the Na'vi can connect to. In their hair are weird tendon things that can intertwine with tendons from other animals and the planet itself. Because of this, they have a huge connection with the planet and other animals. When they kill and animal for food, they give a sort of 'last rights' and thank the animal for giving its life. They can also 'upload' memories to the connection and they can hear the voices of past generation.
He is taught their ways and language by Neytiri, the daughter of the tribes leader. Jake eventually becomes accepted by them and, of course, falls in love with Neytiri who also falls in love with him.
When back on his command ship, they show one of his video diaries saying that, due to their connection with the planet, the Na'vi will never leave their home tree. Therefore, they do decide to blow it up.
Jake tells them that, as the Na'vi have accepted him, if he talks to them and tells them about it, he could convince them to leave. He goes in but when the Na'vi find out he knew of this all along, they punish him for what he has done and attack the humans.
SPOILER WARNING
Before they can punish him, the humans attack and destroy their home tree showing humans for the bullies they are, going to somewhere and destroying another race just to get what they want. The scene of their home being destroyed is quite hard hitting and i really did feel for them, and that the tree was more than a home due to their connection and that their relative, in a way, live on in the tree and it's connections throughout the planet. The humans don't care, it's just a tree, and a lot of the Na'vi are killed. A war breaks out between the Na'vi and the humans, the Na'vi leaded by Jake. With their hunships and explosive, the Na'vi get destroyed. Then, the other native creatures get involved and the humans are defeated. BUT the commander of the invasion force is determined to complete his mission and ends up in a fight against Jake. Jake loses and is about to be killed when Neytiri saves him. Jake's actual body is nearly killed but is saved by Neytiri.
Using the planets connection things, they are able to permanently transfer Jake's mind into his avatar and becomes one of the Na'vi.
Using the planets connection things, they are able to permanently transfer Jake's mind into his avatar and becomes one of the Na'vi.
there is a lot more to it than this, like the school that was made on Pandora, and what Jake has to do to become accepted by the Na'vi and things not going as planned on many occasions.
One of my friends, when the film came out, said 'if it's just a fake body he's controlling, why don't the military just pull the plus when he changes sides' and thought it was a blatant plot hole to the entire story. well, they DO pull the plug pretty much straight away. he is only able carry on controlling his avatar because he and some of his friends steal a ship with one of the machines in it and hide it on Pandora.
Others have said it's a lot like the Pocahontas story which, though there is a similarity, it was also very different. Though i'm not entirely sure of the ins and outs of the Pocahontas story, Avatar has a lot of thought put into it to make it a different story.
As for the other aspects, the acting was very good and the special effects were superb, making an incredibly detailed and attractive world. I watched it on DVD in 2D (some probably know i'm not a fan of 3D) and can't see how watching it in 3D would have made the film much better, it was great as it was. A couple of times I even got a bit choked up. The music was also great.
ANYWAY, i can see why it had done so well and it definitely lived up to the hype. It isn't my favourite film of all time (Bolt has that title) but it will be in my top 10. My only gripe is it is a bit long. I watched the extended version which had 16 minutes more than the cinema released. Half the film was on disk 1, the other half on disk 2 which broke the immersion a bit having to swap disks but it certainly didn't ruin the film itself. It was just under 3 hours and there were a few scenes that could have been cut down, mainly when they were travelling somewhere. It's great watching them run/swing through the trees the first time but as they travel everywhere that way it gets a bit repetitive. The flying scenes were awesome.
If you haven't seen it, definitely check it out.
Thanks for reading, the film has been judged!
