Avatar 3D
Avatar 3D was an awesome movie experience, even though some may find the predictable plot unsatisfying (just as some found the predictable plot of Star Wars unsatisfying). If I was to summarise it as "terran marines invade Ashenvale forest, but get driven out by Night Elves," you'd have some idea of what to expect both in plotline and visual effects. Assuming you knew the StarCraft and WarCraft stories, of course.
Let me start with a joke:
Bob is being shown to his room in the hotel when he's taken past the conference centre. He sees someone get on stage and tell the crowd, '38!' - the crowd laughs raucously. Then another person gets on stage and tells the crowd, '89!' - again, peals of laughter break out from the crowd.
Bob asks the porter what's going on, so the porter explains, "ah, you see this is a comedians convention. The catch is that they've all told the same jokes so many times, they know them off by heart and remember them by number. So the comedians get up on stage and simply tell the joke by number."
Bob reckons he's on a winner, gets up on stage and tells the crowd, "25!" which only stimulates blank stares and silence. So he tries again, "77!" Again, blank stares - and one wince from the guy in the front row.
Bob slinks out of the conference room and asks the porter, "what happened there?" To which the porter responded, "your delivery was all wrong."
Many people who've reviewed Avatar have complained that the plot is formula, derivative, or predictable. I contend that it's hard to get a non-derivative story that still meets the Hollywood goals: the good guy always wins. We could go Dutch style where the protagonist traces down the antagonist, only to get buried alive (good guy dies). We could go old storybook style where Ariel the mermaid loses the prince to some landlubber, and then goes on to commit suicide. But these storylines don't appeal to the American audience that the movie is aimed at (it's a commercial venture that is intended to make money). I contend that "Gone with the Wind" wouldn't sell to a USA audience today.
So here I'll be the apologist for the James Cameron camp: Avatar is at the most visible plot level a love story along the lines of "Pocahontas" (the movie), or a narrative story along the lines of "Dances with Wolves". Our protagonist goes to meet the natives to try to negotiate a trade deal, makes some headway while falling in love with the chieftain's daughter, invaders attack, Pocahontas feels betrayed, protagonist manages death-defying feat to gain back her trust, the natives cheer and join him in the fight against the technologically superior invaders and win, and everyone lives happily ever after.
Since this is a Hollywood production, I don't feel that any of the above was a spoiler. If you expected something else from a movie produced in the USA, too bad.
The undercurrents of the plot deal with how hard trust is to build and how easy it is to break, the lack of ethics in business, the greed inherent in human expansionism, and the principle that might is right.
Harking back to Bob in the hotel conference centre, I'd like to point out to folks that there's more to telling a story than simply having a plotline. You could have two separate fathers reading the same storybook to their children, and both would be telling different stories. One's an accountant and reads the whole story in a monotone, the other Dad is a human and reads the story with emphasis and does funny voices for each character. Wouldn't you agree that one story is more interesting to listen to than the other, even though they're exactly the same plotline?
Now if one of those fathers happens to actually take you to the forest of Pandora where all the life forms are totally alien to us, most things are bioluminescent (glow in the dark) and are inhabited by tall blue cat-people who live in harmony with the forest all over the entire planet, wouldn't you be a little more interested in hearing the story that was being told?
Derivative plotline or not, James Cameron tells the Avatar story with more than just emotional immersion and funny voices. When it comes to the awesome story telling, I have to bring up the excellent use of 3D in this production. Avatar 3D is not a special-effects movie, despite the fact that practically every frame is almost exclusively CGI. The 3D is pervasive - every scene has depth, and you feel more like you're watching the events happen up on stage in front of you, than like you're watching a movie. And the flying scenes! Oh my!
There are at least two points in the movie where the introduction of a plot device to be used later are quite blatant, some of the "derivative storyline" whiners will feel offended by the obvious path the plot is going to take as it unfolds, the rest of us will be hanging on in anticipation of the plot flowing through the obvious future. Some of us, upon seeing ice cream in the fridge, will complain that ice cream for dessert is "derivative" while the rest of us will be enjoying the anticipation while wondering whether the ice cream will be served with hundreds and thousands or hard-shell chocolate topping. Some of us, upon climbing aboard a rollercoaster ride, will complain that the ride ends at the same place it started from - the rest of us will be anticipating the predictable and derivative components of a rollercoaster ride.
Through Avatar, James Cameron has delivered some amazing storytelling. It's a story I want to hear again and again, simply because the telling of it is so good. And if you really don't like the predictable storyline, you can just leave the movie when the hero tells us this is his last video log, and be satisfied that he shuffles off his mortal coil. That's right folks, the good guy dies - how's that for a freaking spoiler! MUHAHAHA! I dare you, leave the movie at that point. The next scene will be terribly, predictably, disappointing for you folks who don't like derivative Hollywood "the good guy always wins" plotlines.
If you have the opportunity to see Avatar 3D, make sure you go! Regardless of which version you choose to see, make sure you are well watered before hand, and make a potty trip before you go. It's three hours long - definitely do not take drinks in with you, or you will discover why old fashioned movies had intermissions.
In the meantime I'm wondering if the Avatar MMO is going to be candy and ponies and fluffy pillow fights like World of Warcraft, a vicious PvP game like Shattered Galaxy or EVE Online, or perhaps a deep story game like Star Wars Galaxies (before the Combat Enhancement or New Game Experience debacles).
Let me start with a joke:
Bob is being shown to his room in the hotel when he's taken past the conference centre. He sees someone get on stage and tell the crowd, '38!' - the crowd laughs raucously. Then another person gets on stage and tells the crowd, '89!' - again, peals of laughter break out from the crowd.
Bob asks the porter what's going on, so the porter explains, "ah, you see this is a comedians convention. The catch is that they've all told the same jokes so many times, they know them off by heart and remember them by number. So the comedians get up on stage and simply tell the joke by number."
Bob reckons he's on a winner, gets up on stage and tells the crowd, "25!" which only stimulates blank stares and silence. So he tries again, "77!" Again, blank stares - and one wince from the guy in the front row.
Bob slinks out of the conference room and asks the porter, "what happened there?" To which the porter responded, "your delivery was all wrong."
Many people who've reviewed Avatar have complained that the plot is formula, derivative, or predictable. I contend that it's hard to get a non-derivative story that still meets the Hollywood goals: the good guy always wins. We could go Dutch style where the protagonist traces down the antagonist, only to get buried alive (good guy dies). We could go old storybook style where Ariel the mermaid loses the prince to some landlubber, and then goes on to commit suicide. But these storylines don't appeal to the American audience that the movie is aimed at (it's a commercial venture that is intended to make money). I contend that "Gone with the Wind" wouldn't sell to a USA audience today.
So here I'll be the apologist for the James Cameron camp: Avatar is at the most visible plot level a love story along the lines of "Pocahontas" (the movie), or a narrative story along the lines of "Dances with Wolves". Our protagonist goes to meet the natives to try to negotiate a trade deal, makes some headway while falling in love with the chieftain's daughter, invaders attack, Pocahontas feels betrayed, protagonist manages death-defying feat to gain back her trust, the natives cheer and join him in the fight against the technologically superior invaders and win, and everyone lives happily ever after.
Since this is a Hollywood production, I don't feel that any of the above was a spoiler. If you expected something else from a movie produced in the USA, too bad.
The undercurrents of the plot deal with how hard trust is to build and how easy it is to break, the lack of ethics in business, the greed inherent in human expansionism, and the principle that might is right.
Harking back to Bob in the hotel conference centre, I'd like to point out to folks that there's more to telling a story than simply having a plotline. You could have two separate fathers reading the same storybook to their children, and both would be telling different stories. One's an accountant and reads the whole story in a monotone, the other Dad is a human and reads the story with emphasis and does funny voices for each character. Wouldn't you agree that one story is more interesting to listen to than the other, even though they're exactly the same plotline?
Now if one of those fathers happens to actually take you to the forest of Pandora where all the life forms are totally alien to us, most things are bioluminescent (glow in the dark) and are inhabited by tall blue cat-people who live in harmony with the forest all over the entire planet, wouldn't you be a little more interested in hearing the story that was being told?
Derivative plotline or not, James Cameron tells the Avatar story with more than just emotional immersion and funny voices. When it comes to the awesome story telling, I have to bring up the excellent use of 3D in this production. Avatar 3D is not a special-effects movie, despite the fact that practically every frame is almost exclusively CGI. The 3D is pervasive - every scene has depth, and you feel more like you're watching the events happen up on stage in front of you, than like you're watching a movie. And the flying scenes! Oh my!
There are at least two points in the movie where the introduction of a plot device to be used later are quite blatant, some of the "derivative storyline" whiners will feel offended by the obvious path the plot is going to take as it unfolds, the rest of us will be hanging on in anticipation of the plot flowing through the obvious future. Some of us, upon seeing ice cream in the fridge, will complain that ice cream for dessert is "derivative" while the rest of us will be enjoying the anticipation while wondering whether the ice cream will be served with hundreds and thousands or hard-shell chocolate topping. Some of us, upon climbing aboard a rollercoaster ride, will complain that the ride ends at the same place it started from - the rest of us will be anticipating the predictable and derivative components of a rollercoaster ride.
Through Avatar, James Cameron has delivered some amazing storytelling. It's a story I want to hear again and again, simply because the telling of it is so good. And if you really don't like the predictable storyline, you can just leave the movie when the hero tells us this is his last video log, and be satisfied that he shuffles off his mortal coil. That's right folks, the good guy dies - how's that for a freaking spoiler! MUHAHAHA! I dare you, leave the movie at that point. The next scene will be terribly, predictably, disappointing for you folks who don't like derivative Hollywood "the good guy always wins" plotlines.
If you have the opportunity to see Avatar 3D, make sure you go! Regardless of which version you choose to see, make sure you are well watered before hand, and make a potty trip before you go. It's three hours long - definitely do not take drinks in with you, or you will discover why old fashioned movies had intermissions.
In the meantime I'm wondering if the Avatar MMO is going to be candy and ponies and fluffy pillow fights like World of Warcraft, a vicious PvP game like Shattered Galaxy or EVE Online, or perhaps a deep story game like Star Wars Galaxies (before the Combat Enhancement or New Game Experience debacles).