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It is a strong fantasy. It makes me grin and grin and replay piece after piece of it to myself. Watching it in 3D at the IMax (!) is definitely the most enjoyable cinematic experience I've ever had. Even better than Akira on the big screen! It was like the most beautiful and non-terrifying parts of an acid trip, in glorious 3D technicolor.
It's certainly not the best film I've ever seen. The writing was trite, and even by Cameron's standards, mostly artless. But no film has made me give less of a damn about all that. It was sheer, gorgeous spectacle, and it played on my heartstrings like a maestro. (And my loins. God DAMN but the Na'vi are cute!). It's a film that surrounds you and saturates your senses and throws you gleefully about this alien world like a roller-coaster. I really love it.
(People have talked about race in the film. I don't agree with those who dismiss the whole debate as ridiculous; this is a tremendously popular film that clearly has Things To Say, including Things About Race. I think it's important to pay attention to messages like that and call them out if they're offensive, problematic, or out-and-out racist... this article is doing the rounds makes some pretty valid points along those lines. But I do think Cameron's smarter and more understanding than that -- not as a writer of dialogue, but as a writer of film. And indeed, this article raises some strong and perceptive arguments in his defense.)
Avatar Avatar Avatar Avatar.
It is a strong fantasy. It makes me grin and grin and replay piece after piece of it to myself. Watching it in 3D at the IMax (!) is definitely the most enjoyable cinematic experience I've ever had. Even better than Akira on the big screen! It was like the most beautiful and non-terrifying parts of an acid trip, in glorious 3D technicolor.
It's certainly not the best film I've ever seen. The writing was trite, and even by Cameron's standards, mostly artless. But no film has made me give less of a damn about all that. It was sheer, gorgeous spectacle, and it played on my heartstrings like a maestro. (And my loins. God DAMN but the Na'vi are cute!). It's a film that surrounds you and saturates your senses and throws you gleefully about this alien world like a roller-coaster. I really love it.
(People have talked about race in the film. I don't agree with those who dismiss the whole debate as ridiculous; this is a tremendously popular film that clearly has Things To Say, including Things About Race. I think it's important to pay attention to messages like that and call them out if they're offensive, problematic, or out-and-out racist... this article is doing the rounds makes some pretty valid points along those lines. But I do think Cameron's smarter and more understanding than that -- not as a writer of dialogue, but as a writer of film. And indeed, this article raises some strong and perceptive arguments in his defense.)