I went and saw it in 3D this past weekend with a friend. We were pretty damn impressed, and like many others have said, it looks damn good (especially in 3D). But holy hell it was long. Spent like 3 hours at the theater.
I fully agree that it’s a visually beautiful movie, but that’s about all it’s got to it’s credit. Plotwise, we’ve seen it a million times before. It was almost like they were going through a check list, with such things as everything going to hell JUST after the hero seems to have reached utter happiness and gotten the girl, and the sacrificial woman/guardian/teacher. No surprises. The moment you saw whatshername stalking the hero you know they’d get together, as soon as you saw her future mate you knew there would be tension, as soon as they talked about her granddad taming the big red dragon thing you knew the hero would do the same thing.
Not to mention that while the peace and environmental message they wanted to convey is good, they applied it with all the grace and subtlety of a sledgehammer. Was it just me or did the army commander guy get a deeper and deeper Texas accent the more you saw him?
And seriously, “UNOBTANIUM”? I hope that was meant to be symbolic.
Heh, the tree is full of low-hanging fruit, isn’t it? I liked how the supposed best fighter of the tribe retreats every time he fights (incl. getting his ass kicked by his ex-future bride*) until he’s redeemed in the end by death in battle. We have to trust James that he was a good fighter.
*And I’d take that as a feminist statement, but seeing how she rides behind the hero on his [strike]harley[/strike] killer bird as soon as he gets it, it seems more like a “mothers nurture and protect their own” thing.
I also liked the bad guy’s brilliant military tactics. It’s a bit like a drunk person playing a strategic computer game: right click, select all forces whether they be soldiers or lumberjacks. chaaaarge! … oh, all dead. well, t’was worth a try.
Moccasins are hard to find as I recall.
I wonder if nuking them from orbit (the only way to be sure) would have harmed that precious, precious unobtainium.
Originally Posted by Rigmarole
More probably Cameron took a good, hard look at his species after Titanic proved such a success.
I think you’re on to something there. After his E3 speech last year, I’ve been suspecting that the guy is basically an Epic-level Troll, and I can’t help but feel that this movie was just him tricking the general populous into watching anime.
I suppose that for his next act he’ll be switching out the “I can’t believe its not anime!” for real anime.
I still think the movie’s theme about a better way of life was resonant, though obviously the real life Native Americans were not as innocent as most people think. For instance, East coast Indians practiced institutional torture, sometimes practiced cannibalism, and incessantly made war on each other.
If it’s good enough for Aragorn, it’s good enough for the Marines.
And you can’t wear moccasins! Think of the deer!
YOu can if they are made from people.
The real message to take from the history of the American Indian is that, regardless of social structure, technology, or ancestry, the world sucks and one should aim to be drunk as often as possible. That’s a message my ancestors – from the Mayflower on one side and here much longer than that on the other – gave up their life, liberty, and property to protect. This movie’s hippie dippie shit about how great it would be if whoever whatevered and we all you knowed, fuck it.
I read that one guy has written a book saying people started agriculture to get drunk more regularly. That’s our common tradition.
I still think the movie’s theme about a better way of life was resonant
Yes, but hammering that theme with the subtlety of a stampeding elephant and casting your favorite side as faultless isn’t effective. That’s why most socialist realist stuff couldn’t stand on its own after USSR ceased to be.
I’m surprised at the lack of the discussion about the fact that Navi’s sexual organs are located in her ponytail (I didn’t even know that Navi even had a ponytail).
Which begs the question if Minda’s ponytail operates in the same way? (This of course gives a new and frightening meaning to the final boss fight in TP.)
Now I want to see it.
In before Avatar hentai.
It’s pretty much right, too.
Especially this sentence: “That is, a movie with a ludditic, anticolonial, antiglobalization, anticapitalist message made by a major corporation gets to use the spread of global capitalism, technology and corporate supply chain management as proof that its computer-generated message about a nature goddess resonates with real people (who are also cats).”
Depends. For instance, he rants about how Jake dismisses the offer to get back his legs, which is a more than fair complaint, but doesn’t mention that he’s had in practice the use of legs together with athleticism, exploration, the feeling of belonging yadda yadda.
edit: Besides, why not overthinking.it ?
Well, the film just won two Golden Globes, for Best Drama and Best Director. I’m actually surprised, because Sci Fi/Fantasy films rarely win big awards, even if they score big in box office. Now I’m curious how it’ll do in the Oscars (where it’s nominated for Best Picture.)
Nominees for the Oscars aren’t announced until February 2nd, Wilf.
Maybe he has amazing prescience.
It doesn’t matter if the film is nominated for an Oscar or not, it’s still a piece of shit. It’s a piece of shit that a lot of people paid to see, but it’s still a piece of shit.