[film] Avatar (3D)

[tamaranth]

I was expecting eye-candy and was pleasantly surprised. Yes, the morality's black-and-white: yes, this is Hollywood Future (like Hollywood C19, except, y'know, in the Future).
Executive summary: beautiful; long but not slow (I found it compelling watching); well-paced

Some observations:
- like being in a 3D animated Roger Dean poster.

- it's a film of two halves -- the human (live action) and the Na'vi (CGI) -- with very different aesthetics
- reminded me of all sorts of things - Harry Harrison's Deathworld, Anne MacCaffrey, Pocahontos, Hothouse, lots of Vietnam films ...
- has strong female characters
- Unobtanium! (but why is it so valuable, eh?)
- very long (2'46") but didn't feel slow at any point -- if anything, some impressive-but-unessential scenes were cut.


- air-jellyfish -- my initial reaction 'ugh' (I'm phobic about the marine sort) but
- the 3D was spectacular (flying sparks, the perspex cell): it even had a point, in the vertiginous scenes of flight (Jake's always dreamed of flying).
- 3D technology integral to human scenes -- 3D holographic modelling, HUD, etc.
- a visible code for the telepathic bond -- instead of attempting to show it by some extra-special effect
- most of the women die: for Grace there's a plot reason (shows that sometimes the Tree heals / resurrects / transfers, sometimes not: also, deathbed realisation that Na'vi 'religion' is all Real and True: so that's scientifically proven, yes?) I'd have liked Trudy to survive: she was a key character, plotwise.
- what becomes of Jake's first dragon ikran? If the bond is for life, Jake taking up with the Last Shadow is pretty mean (even if the Last Shadow does then fly off into the night sky)
- how do the floating mountains float? If unobtanium really is gravity-free, are these just huge chunks of it?
- Cameron could've made the Na'vi religion aesthetic less African
- Na'vi very feline (especially those twitching ears!) except the teeth -- almost wholly human dentition.
- hmm, 2154 and Grace can still (a) acquire cigarettes (b) smoke them indoors. (Maybe, suggests woolymonkey, they have finally developed safe cigarettes).
- and Jake carries matches, even in avatar form. Okaaaaaay.
- one of the criticisms I'd heard may have been based on the original game: women as 'prizes' for level-up. I think Cameron may have deliberately addressed that with the conversation about Jake being a man now and being allowed to choose a woman: "X is a fine hunter, Y has a good voice." "I have already chosen," intones Jake (everyone knows aliens don't use apostrophes), "but she must choose me too."
- Quaritch's aircraft / callsign is 'Flying Dragon'.
- and he's obviously Dead Tough because he can hold his breath and go outside without a mask.


Added bonus: 3D trailer for Alice in Wonderland!
Here's a review that expands on the allusions, references and influences ...'Totally unoriginal but still pretty cool' (worth checking out for the Pocahontas comparison!

Comments

[purplecthulhu.livejournal.com]

Saw it last night and I agree with you on most of these points. I'd add a few more:

- I found the Caribbean accents of the Na'vi annoyingly stereotyped

- Do the Marines teach no military history at all? The Polish proved conclusively that cavalry charges against automatic weapons do not work!

[tamaranth.livejournal.com]

- didn't pick up on the accents, I confess.
- from Jake's military strategy, I assumed the Marines no longer taught any history whatsoever: the guiding premise seemed to be 'Might is Right', or possibly 'a strong heart is all you need to win a war' (well, that and divine intervention).

[woolymonkey.livejournal.com]

aliens don't use apostrophes

Not true! They just don't have any to spare for contractions having used the entire supply for proper names.

[andrewducker]

This is terribly common. I've been sent numerous quotes about the British in Afghanistan during The Empire which could be printed as fresh reports in papers today.

[andrewducker]

Both human women die, but the two Na'avi women survive. Conversely, the two main Na'avi men die, but the (good-guy) human males survive.

Thanks for linking to my Avatar blog post

[(Anonymous)]

Much appreciated!

Ethan
http://www.ethanhein.com

[azewewish.livejournal.com]

The movie isn't based on a game, just FYI.

[major-clanger.livejournal.com]

Apparently unobtainium was meant to be a room-temperature superconductor, with the idea being that in places on Pandora the magnetic field of the planet Pandora orbits had ripped chuncks of unobtanium-rich rock right out of the crust. Of course that raises the question of why RDA (the Evil Corporation) don't just tow one away instead of digging mines.

[tamaranth.livejournal.com]

Sorry, had got this impression from a friend who was talking about a review objecting to 'women as prizes' -- maybe that's in the game based on the movie, or in an earlier version of the script. I didn't pick it up from the film itself.