I burned some midnight oil last night and checked out the midnight screening for Avatar, and the movie was so beautiful to watch, it almost brought tears to my eyes. Off times in the entertainment business, we hear empty clichés from people in the industry about the level of effort for a high profile event…in this case, it was the comments by James Cameron about having to wait 15 years for the technology, and it taking 4 years…and oh my god…he wasn’t kidding.
I will get to the plot in a bit, but whether or not you dig the story, the CGI in the movie, laced onto the motion capture is without a doubt, the most advanced that I’ve ever seen, and it is by far the most beautiful I’ve ever seen. The Na’vi, at times looks more real than the live action humans, and the moon of Pandora looked so real, it was unbelievable. The film was a typical Cameron project…HUGE and EPIC in scope, and long at 2 hours and 40 minutes.
As for the film, the basic premise is that the world has the most valuable mineral found to date, and Humans want unfettered access to it, and of course means destruction of native habitat to get it. Of course, this doesn’t sit too well with the natives, since their planet is sentient and totally connect to them, and the ecosystem. The Avatar program is basically like a virtual reality MMO, except it’s not virtual. The script isn’t anything exceptionally brilliant in telling the tale, but the performances of the cast are all top notch, and I really liked Worthington’s character…he stole the show for the latest terminator movie, imho, and I’m now interesting in seeing Clash of the Titan because of him.
If you’ll get a chance, check the movie out, and post your options…
"...You can't kill ideas with a sword, and you can't sink belief structures with a broadside. You defeat them by making them change..."
- From By Schism Rent Asunder
