I watched Avatar last night...
I rented Avatar last night. After watching the entire thing, I must say that I don't understand what all the hype is about.
Don't get me wrong, I liked it. But I don't think it deserves all the praise it's getting. I don't think it's the best movie ever; I don't even think it's the best movie of the year. Would I watch it again? Probably not.
My main complaint is that all of the characters seemed two-dimensional. Even after three hours, I found that I didn't care what happened to Jake or Natiri or the Na'vi. There was practically no character development. (Sure, Jake made the "bad guy" to "good guy" switch, but in my opinion, it wasn't executed very well.) I've seen movies that can accomplish more in one hour than this movie did in three, as far as character development goes. My favorite characters were the Asian girl who was a helicopter pilot and the nerdy guy with the glasses. I didn't care when the forest was burning and all the Na'vi were dying, but I was sad when the Asian girl died. I think I'm missing the point here.
The plot was decent but predictable. As far as "save the planet" movies go, I've seen better. Most characters were portrayed as good or evil, with practically none falling in between. I find characters in the "grey area" much more interesting. (But maybe I've just been spoiled by A Song of Ice and Fire, where every character, even the ones "in the right", has done something horrible.)
I also hated the ending. It seemed too... perfect? The Na'vi defeat the humans, Jake gets to transfer his mind into his avatar and live with Natiri, the "good guys" are allowed to stay on Pandora, and the rest of the humans head back to Earth? I'm sorry, but I find it very hard to believe that could actually happen. People fight wars over natural resources. There is no way the humans would give up on getting the unobtainium (lol best element name ever) after losing one battle. I wish Natiri had died, or Jake had been unable to transfer his memories into his avatar, or something to make the ending seem like it didn't come out of a fairy tale.
And where did the different tribes of the Na'vi come from? It's like they magically appeared because Jake needed more allies. I think they might have been hinted at once before that? I find the idea of different tribes incredibly intriguing, but the tribes themselves weren't very interesting. They just felt like more of the same. For example, why did they agree to help Jake so easily? (Yes, part of their planet was being destroyed, but I wouldn't risk my tribe's wellbeing for another tribe that I had little to no contact with.) Do they have different customs? Is there a history of war or alliances between the tribes? Do they use different weapons? I find it hard to believe that everyone on Pandora uses exactly the same type of arrows and daggers.
I think the graphics were over-hyped as well. I'll admit that they did an amazing job on the special effects: fire, waterfalls, explosions, mist, etc. The scenery was nicely done, though I never felt the "magic" of Pandora like everyone else. The humans and Na'vi, on the other hand... I think they should have used actual actors instead of motion capture for the humans. Most of the time I could almost imagine that the humans were real, but then something would happen (a movement that was too seamless or unnatural lighting on the skin) that would just scream "this was animated by a computer!" Just because you can use CGI to create an entire film does not mean that you should.
Long rant is long. Here's the short version: the movie was good. I don't think it was epic, and I definitely don't think it deserves all the attention that it got.
I also rented Zombieland and I will be watching it tonight or tomorrow. I'm hoping it's not as disappointing as Avatar was.
Bonus rant: It annoys me when people sell parts of their collection for insane prices. I understand that people find it hard to part with their items, but that doesn't increase their value. If I can find that kid for $4-$5 in a sales post or GA, I'm not going to pay $10 for it just because someone needs money and it was part of their personal collection. Sorry to disappoint you, sellers. :/ This isn't directed at anyone in particular, by the way. I've seen it happen a lot recently.
Don't get me wrong, I liked it. But I don't think it deserves all the praise it's getting. I don't think it's the best movie ever; I don't even think it's the best movie of the year. Would I watch it again? Probably not.
My main complaint is that all of the characters seemed two-dimensional. Even after three hours, I found that I didn't care what happened to Jake or Natiri or the Na'vi. There was practically no character development. (Sure, Jake made the "bad guy" to "good guy" switch, but in my opinion, it wasn't executed very well.) I've seen movies that can accomplish more in one hour than this movie did in three, as far as character development goes. My favorite characters were the Asian girl who was a helicopter pilot and the nerdy guy with the glasses. I didn't care when the forest was burning and all the Na'vi were dying, but I was sad when the Asian girl died. I think I'm missing the point here.
The plot was decent but predictable. As far as "save the planet" movies go, I've seen better. Most characters were portrayed as good or evil, with practically none falling in between. I find characters in the "grey area" much more interesting. (But maybe I've just been spoiled by A Song of Ice and Fire, where every character, even the ones "in the right", has done something horrible.)
I also hated the ending. It seemed too... perfect? The Na'vi defeat the humans, Jake gets to transfer his mind into his avatar and live with Natiri, the "good guys" are allowed to stay on Pandora, and the rest of the humans head back to Earth? I'm sorry, but I find it very hard to believe that could actually happen. People fight wars over natural resources. There is no way the humans would give up on getting the unobtainium (lol best element name ever) after losing one battle. I wish Natiri had died, or Jake had been unable to transfer his memories into his avatar, or something to make the ending seem like it didn't come out of a fairy tale.
And where did the different tribes of the Na'vi come from? It's like they magically appeared because Jake needed more allies. I think they might have been hinted at once before that? I find the idea of different tribes incredibly intriguing, but the tribes themselves weren't very interesting. They just felt like more of the same. For example, why did they agree to help Jake so easily? (Yes, part of their planet was being destroyed, but I wouldn't risk my tribe's wellbeing for another tribe that I had little to no contact with.) Do they have different customs? Is there a history of war or alliances between the tribes? Do they use different weapons? I find it hard to believe that everyone on Pandora uses exactly the same type of arrows and daggers.
I think the graphics were over-hyped as well. I'll admit that they did an amazing job on the special effects: fire, waterfalls, explosions, mist, etc. The scenery was nicely done, though I never felt the "magic" of Pandora like everyone else. The humans and Na'vi, on the other hand... I think they should have used actual actors instead of motion capture for the humans. Most of the time I could almost imagine that the humans were real, but then something would happen (a movement that was too seamless or unnatural lighting on the skin) that would just scream "this was animated by a computer!" Just because you can use CGI to create an entire film does not mean that you should.
Long rant is long. Here's the short version: the movie was good. I don't think it was epic, and I definitely don't think it deserves all the attention that it got.
I also rented Zombieland and I will be watching it tonight or tomorrow. I'm hoping it's not as disappointing as Avatar was.
Bonus rant: It annoys me when people sell parts of their collection for insane prices. I understand that people find it hard to part with their items, but that doesn't increase their value. If I can find that kid for $4-$5 in a sales post or GA, I'm not going to pay $10 for it just because someone needs money and it was part of their personal collection. Sorry to disappoint you, sellers. :/ This isn't directed at anyone in particular, by the way. I've seen it happen a lot recently.