by Dutch » January 4th, 2010, 6:27 am
I just remembered I made a review of this movie on BFC. Here it is:
Genre(s): Fantasy, Action, Sci-fi
Plot:
Here's the plot as best I can give it without giving away too much. It's the year2154, and a marine named Jake Sully is on a shuttle that's going to a moon called Pandora where humans are mining for a rare mineral that's really valuable; while they also clash with the native sentient species called the Na'vi. Jake is sent to work for the avatar program in place of his brother who died recently. He agrees to this because he gets promised that once he returns to Earth he will get a costly surgery to allow him to walk again. From here on out he's told to find a diplomatic situation for getting the Na'vi to leave their home which coincidently is located on top of the largest deposit of the mineral(called "unobtanium") that the humans came to Pandora for. He eventually gets so close to the Na'vi and their culture that he must choose who he will side with.
My review:
I know that Avatar is out in theaters, but I just saw this movie and felt that it deserved a review here because it's that awesome of a movie, and it might be enough of a push to get people to go see it that might be wary of it. If you're one of those people, then let me reassure you that it is truly an amazing movie; and I have a good taste in movies(or so I've been told by lots of people I know) and this doesn't disappoint. I said in my "2012" review that no matter how good it is, it can't live up to the hype and this movie not only lives up to the hype but surpassed my expectations.
This movie like almost every movie nowadays can be seen in either standard 2D or 3D. I saw it in 3D and to be honest I really didn't feel that I would have missed much if I saw it in regular 2D. Most of the few effects that I thought made the 3D nice were over early on, and eventually I didn't even notice the 3D part of the movie so I felt kinda gyped because that didn't make it that much better or different. To continue on my little "3D rant" in all honesty I have never seen a movie in 3D and thought that it was any better than if I had just seen it in 2D and I doubt I ever will. If you feel like seeing Avatar in 3D then go for it, but you really aren't getting a better experience with it, nor are you losing anything by not watching it in 3D.
Without saying anything that would ruin you seeing this movie, I can say that it's pretty much made to look like a western, but the place, time, and people are changed. That would make it seem completely different, but at its core it's not too dissimilar. Some blatant similarities are that the natives on Pandora are called the Na'vi . They also fight against a race of people(humans) with arrows and whatnot while the humans use guns and treat the Na'vi as savages. The Na'vi also are very spiritual and treat animals with respect; they also scream war chants a few times in the movie. If you don't see the similarities then you are so oblivious that you could get shot and might not notice.
This is maybe one of the five or six films that when I watched it I actually noticed some of the actors. This is rare for me because I really don't pay attention to the actors in any movie regardless of how I feel about it, because all that matters IMO is that they do a good job. I immediately recognized two actors in the movie(just think of the movie "aliens" and "dodgeball").
The scenery itself was freaking incredible from even the mundane ship rides and human facilities to the megafauna and forests of Pandora. I mean the way that human technology in the not-so-distant future is portrayed is really cool, and their weapons are bad-ass. But the most incredible things are the wildlife of Pandora which has some of the most amazing creatures I have ever seen ever. I seriously can't even describe all of the amazing things that are shown on Pandora, which shows just how amazingly creative the people in charge of the movie were. Even if the plot was terrible(which it wasn't) the graphics would have made up for it ten-fold.
As for the characters, I found the main character Jake along with the military leader of the humans to be rather predictable characters. But I was pleasantly surprised by all of the other characters in the story because it was hard to tell just what they might do or what could happen to them, and if they might even survive to the end of the movie.
The closest I can relate this movie to any other movie(s) is a combination of Romeo and Juliet and Pocahontas(disney version). It combines elements of both in the plot, and in all honesty you could see either Avatar or Pocahontas and not need to see the other depending on what you like in movies; the main differences are the time and types of action scenes.
The ending was of course very open-ended like a bunch of movies nowadays because even if it won't be good for the movie, they like to keep it so no matter how long after they can make a sequel(s). IMO there really are some movies that should not get sequels; not because it would ruin the plot but because the first was already so good a sequel isn't needed and most likely won't be as epic(example: Boondock Saints).
The only thing is that this movie is very, very long. It runs about three hours long so if you go see it in theaters be ready to sit for a long time.
So to conclude this, if you can at all, I really recommend that you go to see this movie in theaters because it is worth every penny to see.
My rating:
9.89/10
Notable actors:
Sigourney Weaver
That dude from Dodgeball