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… 

I saw this film last night and it was amazing. I'm a big fan of James Cameron and this film is almost one of his finest to date (Can anything beat Terminator though?). He's always pushed the boundaries of technology in his films and that's what is great about him, visually it was almost as stunning as the T-1000 in Terminator 2 must have been back in 1991. The plot was very good, it was a slow burner for the first hour or so, but the last hour and a half were thrilling. There was an important lesson to the film too, which I usually hate, but it was pulled off marvellously.

Remember kids, look after our planet, it's the only one we've got.

So, is this a "It's great but wait till it comes out on Bluray" movie or a "Go to the movie theaters now and see it" movie?

I'd say go see it for the 3-D alone...which is the best I've ever seen.

It looks really good, but I'll probably end up waiting for it to release on blu ray.

Can't wait to go see it! I'll go at IMAX for a better experience :)

I'm excited!

Its meant to be watched in a 3d cinema. Its definetely not part of the "Wait for the home video" camp.

OMG folks, I'm telling you all...the film is beautiful. For all the people over the years that have said CGI looks fake...this film lives up to the dream that Lucas wanted for Star Wars. The CGI in this film is unreal...it's like Unreal 5 engine (note that Unreal 4 isn't even out yet...lol)

Sorry for the bumpage.

I just saw it on a digital 3d screen and I must say the 3d was handled extremely tastfully.

The fact that it focused more on enhancing the depth of field instead of throwing things at the audience was very impressive. Its the first 3d film that I think actually worked with the medium well.

Though I must say it recked my eyes to see it.

Furthermore the bright wow like graphics were a pleasant change from darker action movies like The Dark Knight.

Technically it was extremely impressive.

The story is well done, but nothing groundbreaking. However it suited the film exceptionally well. The characters whilst mainly normal archetypes were quite infectious and enjoyable.

The audience seemed to love it.

So very technically impressive and competant in the story department. Thats my verdict. Its definetely something worth a watch. And do yourself a favor and see it in 3d. The increased ticket price is worth it.

i'm gon'a watch this film on monday, o'yea :)