Just came from it.
It’s amazing, in technical levels, storywise it was just a mish-mash, but it was supposed to be that. When Sigourney apeared on the screen everybody said: “Yeah”.
Yeah, I saw it last night, was left feeling a little underwhelmed. It’s not as pioneering as Mr Cameron would have us believe, and I don’t mean that it has suffered from overhype – there’s nothing really new whatsoever, it simply amalgamates various techniques we’re already familiar with and meshes them together under an overly fantastical premise of interplanetary warfare and technological fervor.
Granted, the CGI is near photoreal at times, but this is only a progressive step that we’ve been waiting to happen anyway – The Lord Of The Rings had the same kind of impact on us when that was originally released, but we’d hardly say that it “changed the way we see cinema” as has been claimed about this release.
The direction too comes across as being a tad unimpressive. One scene involving the protagonist flying atop a prehistoric-esque bird was shot in such a bland way, with Cameron not making use of the 3D technology that he has spent the best part of 12 years working with.
To be brutally honest, the preview screening has made me less interested in the film than I was before. I’ll still see it when it get’s released, which shows that it wasn’t dreadful or anything, but from what I’ve seen it’s nothing too special to speak of as yet.
I want “Avatar” to fail so 3D can be proven a fad and a 10-12 pictures a year deal at most. From what I’ve heard, I don’t know anybody who actively seeks out 3D movies and I know tons that despise it. When Cameron is discussing the “future” of cinema, he’s discussing a trend that the public doesn’t want — I’m sick of hearing about it.
Unfortunately, I doubt 3-d will be a fad. The movie industry has invested millions in to it, and I don’t think they’re going to give up on it anytime soon. But, I don’t excpect Coppala to be going 3-d anytime soon, these 3-d pictures out right now aren’t exactly masterpieces of cinema. Conventional cinema isn’t going anywhere.
The Industry have invested millions into the hardware without considering the fact that modern 3D films can’t be viewed in the vast majority of homes yet, due to frame rates etc. When they realise how badly their home entertainment sales suffer, they’ll probably rethink their strategy…
I just watched the 3 or 4 minute trailer and I have to say I was deeply unimpressed. The cgi may be impressive but the whole thing just seemed to me to be like a big video game. I’m not as interested to see this as I was when it was first announced.
I doubt 3-D technology will ever by available to view at home to the general public, the technology is just too complex, and would take too much change. I think that they’re trying to create a new sector separate from conventional cinema, and don’t really take in to account the home entertainment sales. This is more about box office receipts than anything.
Imagine Aliens mashed with Star Wars Episode II. And imagine that with everything that seems really cool, and really lame that comes with that. It’s going to be really fun to watch, the 15 minutes really seemed to fly by. The 3-D is both immersive and distracting. But most importantly with any movie is it’s attitude. It’s not what the movie is about, it’s how the movie is about it. It seems that it’s going to be about man vs. nature, in a very Hollywoodish, Last of the Mohicans kind of way. And it’s about that with Cameron’s hypnotic sense of machismo. This is keeping with his marines of Aliens very much. The adrenaline junkie whose on a walkabout, searching for his spirit animal. It also has a fair amount to cheese to it. The obligatory “we’re not in Kansas anymore,” line, the planet is called Pandora. A lot of just sci-fi genre trappings of people moving their hands around in the air as the computer imagery dances around them, to me that kind of stuff always ends up looking like some Stargate episode. Is it the rebirth of cinema? No way. Is it a really good reason to go to the local cinema and have that communal experience? Hell yes!
I’m with Rumplesink on this. The trailer reminded me of Beowolf.
Oh god…not Beowolf.
3D movies give me a headache
The technology is not too complex for home viewing, in fact, screens are already available that can display 3D. The problem is there is little to no content to make the investment worth it. Samsung has actually developed a TV that doesn’t even require glasses. Anyway, Hollywood is perfectly happy to have 3-D as a “theater only” experience right now, as ticket sales are down and many see 3D as the answer, due to the premium price (14 dollars usually) and exclusivity.
I’m a little concerned about the editing. did people find it efficient and classic cameron or are they seeing him go towards a different look in this movie? I Loved Alien but not the Abyss in it’s inventiveness what did people think?
Woops I meant “Aliens”. These fingers type all on their own sometimes.
I saw the footage and was very impressed. Finally, a filmmaker is going to try to take us to another Earth-like planet…unlike the ecosystem-less worlds of Star Wars and other movies.
They have the technology to create clones but not to heal the dude’s legs. This film looks stupid.
It looks like a lobotomy for the masses.
They can heal the dude’s legs, it just costs too much MONEY. They even address that in the fucking trailer.
I think Josh Bower said it right and I’ll just agree with him rather than typing several paragraphs about it.
Redrum4
Did anyone go and see the 10 minute Free Avatar Sneak Preview on 8/21? How did it look? Does it come close to living up to the hype?