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I'm sure my new icon gives away some of my feelings about the movie. My non-spoilery thoughts tonight:
~ Was it pretty? If it doesn't win an Oscar for best special effects, it will be an absolute crime.
~ But I've heard some people say that the pretty is really all it has going for it. Sorry, but I do disagree. Was the story a familiar one? Yes. But so is every romance novel, every epic fantasy novel, every hero's journey. I happen to enjoy this particular story when it's done well. I love Dances with Wolves, and yes, I admit I enjoyed The Last Samurai. I enjoyed the heck out of this movie, too.
~ Zoe Saldana was undeniably awesome as Neytiri. And I'm going to say it: I thought Sam Worthington was pretty freaking awesome, too. I totally believed his story arc as Jake, and I thought he did a great job with it, both emotionally and physically. They played off one another very well, and totally sold me. You give me great characters, and I'll buy into their story. The actors here took a story that could very easily have stumbled into yawn territory, and totally invested me in it, in them. And let's face it - doing that while spending the entire movie as a digital character is a freaking accomplishment.
~ The villain could have used some three dimensionality. And I really could have done without the couple of preachy/politically motivated lines that broke me out of the story. Particularly "we will fight terror with terror!" - if I never hear that line in a movie again, it will be too freaking soon. Good grief, Hollywood, we get it. Please stop using every war in every movie ever made to make your point. It made no sense at all to use it in this conflict, and it broke me right out of the story as a consequence (that, and it's so overused I grit my teeth every damn time I hear it.) And also "unobtanium" - are you freaking kidding me, Cameron? Obvious, lazy, and ridiculous. But really, it could have been a lot worse. Cameron could have hammered us over the head again and again with the message of the movie, but for the most part, he let the story and the pretty just lay it out there, which I vastly prefer to repeated hammer blows. Really, it's obvious anyway, and the audience is generally a lot more clever than filmmakers often give us credit for. 99 times out of 100, we don't need to be struck over the head repeatedly to "get it".
~ But other than the very minor quibble, Avatar is probably my favorite movie this year. It is certainly in the top five, and it's without question the prettiest! :) My theater broke out into spontaneous applause when the credits rolled, and was sold out at a show that had two other theaters showing the movie at the exact same time. When we walked out, the line for the next showings was out the theater doors.
Neytiri. She is kick ass. A woman, a warrior, a leader. She gets some of the best heroic moments in the film, including being the one to take out the big bad in the end, and saving Jake's ass! Okay, so it was really more like one spoilery note I couldn't resist making. But whatever. Neytiri is awesome. That is all.
~ Was it pretty? If it doesn't win an Oscar for best special effects, it will be an absolute crime.
~ But I've heard some people say that the pretty is really all it has going for it. Sorry, but I do disagree. Was the story a familiar one? Yes. But so is every romance novel, every epic fantasy novel, every hero's journey. I happen to enjoy this particular story when it's done well. I love Dances with Wolves, and yes, I admit I enjoyed The Last Samurai. I enjoyed the heck out of this movie, too.
~ Zoe Saldana was undeniably awesome as Neytiri. And I'm going to say it: I thought Sam Worthington was pretty freaking awesome, too. I totally believed his story arc as Jake, and I thought he did a great job with it, both emotionally and physically. They played off one another very well, and totally sold me. You give me great characters, and I'll buy into their story. The actors here took a story that could very easily have stumbled into yawn territory, and totally invested me in it, in them. And let's face it - doing that while spending the entire movie as a digital character is a freaking accomplishment.
~ The villain could have used some three dimensionality. And I really could have done without the couple of preachy/politically motivated lines that broke me out of the story. Particularly "we will fight terror with terror!" - if I never hear that line in a movie again, it will be too freaking soon. Good grief, Hollywood, we get it. Please stop using every war in every movie ever made to make your point. It made no sense at all to use it in this conflict, and it broke me right out of the story as a consequence (that, and it's so overused I grit my teeth every damn time I hear it.) And also "unobtanium" - are you freaking kidding me, Cameron? Obvious, lazy, and ridiculous. But really, it could have been a lot worse. Cameron could have hammered us over the head again and again with the message of the movie, but for the most part, he let the story and the pretty just lay it out there, which I vastly prefer to repeated hammer blows. Really, it's obvious anyway, and the audience is generally a lot more clever than filmmakers often give us credit for. 99 times out of 100, we don't need to be struck over the head repeatedly to "get it".
~ But other than the very minor quibble, Avatar is probably my favorite movie this year. It is certainly in the top five, and it's without question the prettiest! :) My theater broke out into spontaneous applause when the credits rolled, and was sold out at a show that had two other theaters showing the movie at the exact same time. When we walked out, the line for the next showings was out the theater doors.
Neytiri. She is kick ass. A woman, a warrior, a leader. She gets some of the best heroic moments in the film, including being the one to take out the big bad in the end, and saving Jake's ass! Okay, so it was really more like one spoilery note I couldn't resist making. But whatever. Neytiri is awesome. That is all.