Avatar had sneak 15 mniute previews in Wellington NZ yesterday. I didn't see it but it was featured on the news last night and the people who saw the preview were absolutely blown away!
Posts: 867 | Registered: Dec 2003
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I'm not sure how to feel about Avatar just yet. James Cameron and others I think have definitely over-hyped it leading up to these final reveals. The visuals in the teaser trailer are pretty neat but not revolutionary to me, really (and I expected the alien forests to look more...alien). I haven't seen the visuals in 3D yet, though, and it is just a teaser so I can't pass full judgement yet. I really hope the movie's storyline is more nuanced than just "Boy, does the human race suck" and "Primitive peoples are always more noble and in harmony with nature than technologically advanced ones."
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I'm just grateful there isn't any text saying, "Based on the..."
Original ideas, oh man oh man! Also how Cameron will nod to trucker culture in this movie is something I will be keeping an eye out for. I really want this movie to be everything he has said it will be. But if nothing else, I want it to expand what sorts of stories can be told on the screen.
edit: Oh snap! my post count is OVER 9000!!!!!
Posts: 14316 | Registered: Jul 2005
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quote:Originally posted by Raymond Arnold: As of now its just 9000, not over 9000. Just sayin'.
I actually scrambled about for a few minutes trying to find a place to post so nobody would say that, I couldn't bring myself to post frivolously. Well, at least this time I couldn't.
In any case it's clearly over 9000 now.
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I've read some of the background, and it looks like Cameron has pulled out all the stops both technologically, and in an almost Tolkien like manner to try and create depth for his alien race. He hired a linguist from USC to create an entire language for the Na'vi, and hired an ethnomusicologist to create a musical profile for them, among many other touches.
What it looks like to me is yeah, another story in the vein of "natural primitive is better than technologically advanced but morally bankrupt." But I think it almost looks more directly like a Pocahontas remake. Advanced people come to untouched primitive land with natives living in harmony but come to blows because the newcomers want access to local resources? And there's some sort of love story involved with an outsider falls for an important girl in the native species? It's a sci-fi futuristic Pocahontas remake, though with, you know, a lot of differences and innovations.
I went from zero interest to can't wait to see this during that trailer. This should be pretty cool.
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Lyrhawn: Well, the dangers of technology have always been a Cameronesque topic in his movies. I think True Lies may be the only one that doesn't deal with it.
I agree it's looking alot like Pocahontas. I have always been thrilled with Cameron's work, and hence I've been so excited to see this for a long time, I just hope he doesn't let me down this time.
The new trailer blew me away, it's hard to tell from a trailer but I hope he does a good job on integrating the CG with his actors/actresses.
Also I love that they brought Sigourney Weaver back into the fray.
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I was feeling it until the main premise became apparent. Stupid "alternate perspective" movies, it's like those teen movies where the cool kid would go out with the nerd girl on a bet, but then finds out he actually likes her and woah isn't so weird how you can like people from different social groups and stuff. Meh.
Plus it's got Michelle Rodriguez in it, who is like a bad movie charm. S.W.A.T., The Fast and the Furious, Resident Evil, oh yes, you want generic tough latina devoid of personality well here's your girl!
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I think the plot does look a little generic. I'm not expecting the second coming or anything but it still looks good.
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quote:The new trailer blew me away, it's hard to tell from a trailer but I hope he does a good job on integrating the CG with his actors/actresses.
From what I've read, he's using a lot of technological innovations that advance on the techniques used for Gollum and Davey Jones.
He created a new method to use motion capture on facial expressions, so the CG characters can share the same facial expressions that the live actors make who wear the capture suits.
He's also using new cameras and computers that allow him to look at a screen that shows the CG background landscape while they are filming, rather than using a green screen to fill in the blanks later. It's basically a huge game engine that allows him to pan around the environment to see what the scene will actually look like. Sounds like a takeoff of some of the innovations that George Lucas and Peter Jackson first used and developed.
Even if I didn't find all that fascinating, the story itself, the visual appeal, and the richness of the whole thing looks really inviting. I hope it's 3 hours long.
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Lyrhawn: Ha! Me too. I'll probably watch The Abyss and Terminator 2 just prior to watching Avatar. There's actually a fantastic article about James Cameron in The New Yorker. You should check it out.
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As terrible as A:TLA is going to be, I prefer that "Avatar" over Cameron's.
I CANNOT understand the excitement. Special effects, which are not nearly as interesting as I was led to believe, do not make a boring plot watchable.
Posts: 1733 | Registered: Apr 2005
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You said it yourself: this is pretty much a remake of Pocohontas. Not only that, but a remake of Disney Pocohantas as opposed to actual history. While it is certainly possible to do that well (and I suspect Cameron will), the plot by itself is not anything new or particularly interesting.
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quote:Originally posted by daventor: I really hope the movie's storyline is more nuanced than just "Boy, does the human race suck" and "Primitive peoples are always more noble and in harmony with nature than technologically advanced ones."
Yeah, this is what is bothering me about the trailers I've seen for Avatar. Cinematically it looks awesome and I wanted to see it, until it became clear it was another "the human race is the evil bad guys" theme. Posts: 9538 | Registered: Aug 2003
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quote:Originally posted by daventor: I really hope the movie's storyline is more nuanced than just "Boy, does the human race suck" and "Primitive peoples are always more noble and in harmony with nature than technologically advanced ones."
Yeah, this is what is bothering me about the trailers I've seen for Avatar. Cinematically it looks awesome and I wanted to see it, until it became clear it was another "the human race is the evil bad guys" theme.
I don't think Cameron will tell a story like that. Humans are always the bad guys either directly (The Abyss) or indirectly (Terminator) in his movies, but his heroes are also always humans.
A common theme in his films is that technology when unbridled destroys us. Having said that, his films always talk about how awesome technology can be. In The Abyss, nuclear weapons might destroy us, but look how cool submersible tech is. In Terminator we make machines that will destroy us as a race, and yet in Terminator 2 a machine is what saves the human race. In Aliens our technology makes us too confident in the face of a primitive savage alien race with more drive, but in the end we use a robot suit to bludgeon the thing to death. In Titanic our faith in technology makes us sneer at nature, but nature destroys the ship, the ship however is to be admired for the sheer craftsmanship that went into it.
If the main character in Avatar stays in his new alien body and lives with the aliens at the end, he still accomplished that through the use of technology.
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If half the message is that unrestrained use of technology leads to immoral actions, like the destruction of an innocent species/rape of a planet, then the other half of the message is that technology can also help bridge the divide between two species to bring us closer together. Technology in that case becomes an instrument of good and evil almost equally, depending on who uses it and how.
I don't necessarily see that message as having anything to do with making us more primitive. It's merely a tool of communication.
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