Review: Avatar
James Cameron takes CGI film-making to the next level.
Many people want Avatar to be James Cameron’s Waterworld or Ishtar, but we’re happy to say it’s not. It’s not Titanic either, but it is definitely a game-changer in CGI film-making and an exciting 3 hours in the cinema! The technical achievement will blow your mind.
You may have noticed a lot of people referring to this movie as Dances with Smurfs, a very sarcastic labelling by the South Park creators. But, then again, from the trailers it looks very much like a blue alien version of the Kevin Costner Academy Award winning film “Dances with Wolves” – minus the pants and hats.
While we do agree that a lot of Avatar was borrowed from Dances with Wolves, we know that you didn’t see Titanic 10 times for the plot that everyone and their brother knew before going in – you went to see the love story unfold and, in Avatar’s case, you are going to see how James Cameron makes a bunch of blue 3D creatures look and act so realistically that you could shed a tear for a bunch of polygons and texture mapping.
The blending of live action actors with the alien Na’Vi and their world of Pandora is so seamless that we questioned if the Na’Vi were really skinny people in a costume. The alien animals and planet life on Pandora are probably the real stars of the film.
Sam Worthington, who we caught this past Summer in Terminator: Salvation, is great as Jake Scully – the idea that he can use his legs again in his Avatar is a great one and you feel his joy when he runs for the first time. But, he has the crutch of being in the movie half as himself and half as CGI, while the real stand out to us is Zoe Saldana (who we also saw this past Summer as Uhura in Star Trek) – she was the perfect model for Neytiri and her performance was motion-capped so well we were sure it was her in a blue leotard. Ripley-herself, Sigoruney Weaver, gives us the James Cameron cast signature and we thought it wouldn’t have been too much if Michael Biehn played the marine Colonel instead of Stephen Lang.
We caught the 3D version of Avatar at AMC Pacific Place and the 3D elements were great in bringing the world to life - the trees, the water and what felt like the air in the movie all came even more to life with the 3D glasses on.
But, we kept coming back to the long run time (over 3 hours) that essentially followed one plotline the entire time. It pales in comparison to the 9+ hours of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, which bounced around between numerous plotlines and was able to keep our ADD brains more focused, for a greater scope of Middle Earth. While Cameron does show Pandora exceptionally well, there is still a lot missing; especially when at the climax we are shown that there are dozens of Na’vi tribe all around Pandora and each seem to have their own cool hunting style.
So, let’s be clear: the CGI is unbelievable. If you are a fan of this type of film-making, you would be remiss not to see this in the cinema and in 3D and, since you read Neonpunch.com, you like gadgets and there are tons of super cool computers and robot suits to give the Apple developers tons of new ideas for the next 10 years (MacTablet anyone?)
But, getting down to the nit-picking: while of course every story is a take on another story, Avatar follows such a cliche pattern that you know what’s going to happen before it gets anywhere near it. While Dances with Wolves is 20 years old next year, the fact that Wes Studi (who was in Dances) has a role in Avatar means that Cameron must know the obvious connection between his film and Costner’s. Ok, so what? The plot to Star Wars is just as predictable – so we’re guessing with all this money spent on the film (rumours at more than US$200 million), it was probably a safer bet to keep the story as simple as possible so that it will reach a greater span of people…..but we can’t help wishing it was kept a bit more original so that the 3 hours would have been more edge-of-your-seat viewing. That kind of safe film-making will keep Avatar from being a classic when the CGI technology goes to the next level, and then Avatar doesn’t really have anything left. Whereas you can watch Terminator 2 today (not for the effects that even a 10-year old can do now!), but for the amazing storyline of a boy and his robot trying to save the world from destruction; the same cannot be said here.
And, for reference, if you haven’t seen Dances with Wolves in a long time (or at all) have a look at the trailer below and let us know what you think of the similarities:
All in all, Avatar exceeded our very low expectations and is definitely worth the HK$150+ a ticket – if you can find one. A perfect Christmas movie…because at least it means there won’t be another Harry Potter this year!
Avatar opens today in Hong Kong.
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I’m in 99% agreement with you, perhaps the only area of disagreement is that I didn’t enter with low expectations, I entered with high ones.
I think that at least for the close-up, talking head shots, the Na’Vi are actual real live people in make-up (with CGI’d eyes?) – look at Neytiri, the little acne scar on her cheek, the mole on her neck … But that big bird, the Tarok whatever, there’s a shot where it stands up to fly and the way the skin moves and you see the bones flex under the skin, frighteningly real!
BTW, rumors are that the film cost double the estimate you put in your review – and from what I saw on screen I can easily see how this went over US$300m and maybe even to US$400m. Oh, and the film running time is 162 minutes, not over 3 hours.
It was a masterpiece from start to finish. I enjoyed it and will probably see it in the theatre again, I think alot of people will and hopefully that will pump up the box office and get some profit for Mr. Cameron.