So I saw Avatar (as in blue people, not last airbender) and it was good. It wasn't great, mind you, but for all the potential it had to fail, it didn't, and it entertained. The special effects were very nice, though they were also smoke and mirrors to cover over the many holes and a few just plain bad scripting decisions.
Is this movie going to, as promised, change the way all movies are made from now on? HA! No. How can it? Avatar is nothing we havent seen before. Its Dances With Wolves meets Pocahantas meets Fern Gully. It may change the way cg effects are done, but I'm not decided on if this is a good thing or not.
Now, don't get me wrong, there was a lot to like in Avatar. But there was a lot I was disapointed with. Perhaps my biggest disapointment was the lack of blue wang. I mean, COME ON, James Cameron. With Watchmen out, you had the chance to make 2009 the Year of the Blue Wang, but noooo, you had to go for the fanservice to the boys. So predictable.
As for the rest of it, here are a few of my thoughts, in bullet form:
BE WARNED, THERE ARE SPOILERS
- The ore/mineral/stuff they were trying to mine, it was called "unobtanium". Now, I'm gonna go ahead and assume this was a commercial nickname, because I can't imagine any real scientist naming anything that. I mean, that sounds like a "My First D&D Campaign" name.
- I liked that the Na'vi were nine feet tall. Considering that they walked like us, talked like us, and aparently had sex like us, it helped to establish their alienness.
- at least star trek TRIES to give you a scientific explaination for something that isnt feisable with our current technology. Look, I know this is from Mr. Mariene's point of view, and maybe he doesnt care about it, but a science fiction movie should at least showcase a little more science in my opinion. (all this is mainly my beef about how nobody asked or try to explain why the mountains float. Even a simple "We havent figured out how they float yet" would have been a nice acknowledgement that the scientists were at least TRYING to do their jobs. Instead it was like OH HEY COOL FLOATING MOUNTAINS).
- You know what? I get why this movie was overexposed to the point of irritation. Serenity proved that you can have a great science fiction movie, but it wont make money unless the general public thinks its "okay" to go to the theatre and see a science fiction movie. In my experience, most people who think they don't like science fiction have actually never even tried it, save a few mainstream exceptions like Back to the Future and Jurassic Park. Avatar's media blitz let everyone, not just the core nerd base, know about this movie. And if EVERYONE knows about this movie they you have to see it, geek or no.
- Going off the above notes, trying to mainstream Avatar was not helping to endear it to the scifi fans that would appreciate it most. I know plenty of scifi bufffs who like the movie, but is it going to win their hearts and minds in a truely lasting way? In my opinion, no. I could be wrong, but one thing I've learned from years in the geek dens is that we, as a people, are sticklers for detail. And no, I don't mean detail as in blue nipples. Take away the effects, and Avatar has just okay acting and a lot of things in need of refining.
- I loved Anna Lucia's character. I don't remember her name in this movie, or what the name of the actress is, so I'm calling her by the name I know her from in LOST. Why did she have to die? Is it too much to ask that they keep one of the two human female characters alive? If there's going to be a sequel to this movie (and lets face it, there probably is) then you need at least one scientist alive. So while it sucks they killed off Grace, at least there were one or two left. But come on, at least leave one human girl alive.
- Speaking of humans left alive, notive the only two good humans left at the end of the movie were the ones with the least character development. Even hawaian shirt nerd boy (see? I dont remember his name either!), who looked like he was going to be a major character in the beginning of the movie, drops off the face of Pandora halfway though and reappears near the end.
- Pudgy scientist mole got to stay behind because he was a friend to The People. But I think it was a bad idea for him to do so. The corporate guys didnt know he betrayed them until they saw he got to stay, he should have just gone home so there'd be at least one good guy going back to Earth to tell people the truth of how things went down. Now Coorperate Douchebag Guy is free to spin it how he wants. Also, for all that he does for everyone, pudgey scientist mole gets like five lines in this two hour movie.
- Speaking of people with no lines, could we have had just a bit more development on the other Na'vi? Maybe just a word or two with the other juniors taken up to the cliff for taradactyl riding? Maybe Grace saying a thing or two about the school?
- I loved how everything on Pandora was symbiotic in a very visible sense. I'm glad the desiners for this put so much thought into that. I just wish there'd been a geologist on staff to put as much thought into crafting the rest of the planet.
- We learned about early to midway through the movie that there were more Na'vi tribes. However, its not until the sequence where everyone is gathering together that we see these other tribes are not tree people tribes. On the one hand, this makes sense, however its easly to get so absorbed in all the tree plotpoints going around that you just assume its all tree people. This is another example of something in the movie that would have taken just a line or two to address better, but was not.
- Can we stop making White Guilt Eased by Taking Over the Tribe movies now?
