AVATAR Movie review....

[nickdrak]

Well, the wife and I went to see "Avatar" yesterday in IMAX/3D. I didnt care much to see it based off of the trailers I had seen leading up to it, but the wife insisted. I can say that it was both the most visually stunning movie I have ever seen, and the most dissapointing and disturbing also.

The first half of the movie was excellent, and while I had expected some political overtones to be there, they didnt bother much at all during the first half. Then things got bad.... really bad.

There was a scene where the Marine Col. in-charge "Col. Miles Quaritch" played by Stephen Lang ordered a "Pre-emptive Strike", which was shortly thereafter followed up with a line by one of the traitor hippy researchers about a coming "Shock and Awe" attack, and I had a feeling things were going to get bad at that point, but not as bad as they did....

Cameron added a blatant 9/11 WTC terrorist attack re-enactment into the mix. Except it was the USA who where the terrorists, and the target was the giant "Home Tree" of the indigenous "Na'vi". I cant see how anyone with half a brain wont see the similarities in how this scene was filmed/produced. The way the tree was shown to burn and partially collapse straight downward before it fell-over, and the scene of the Avatars walking away from the area after the tree collapsed with the ashes on the ground & in the air were waaay over the line. I noticed several others near me squirm in there seats in obvious discomfort. Although that could have been becuase the movie was just too damn long.

There were other lines in the movie nearly drove me out of the theater, and there was an obvious racial overtone to the indigenous tribe as they were played by mostly Black actors and made up to look like a combination of African and Native American indigenous people. I dont recall seeing one non-white person involved with the power hungry "Imperialist" acts leading up to the "Pre-emptive Strike" other than the female chopper pilot and a middle eastern looking researcher who were "compassionate" enough only to turn traitors and "Fight the power" in the end.

I know it is only a movie, and I may be going over the top on this, but I am really concerned for folks considering bringing their kids to see this movie. After all it was and is being marketed to kids all over the place. I feel that in the end, Avatar was produced/edited to be an Anti-Military, Anti-War, and Anti "Corporate Greed" and Pro-Environmental endoctrination film marketed directly at kids in their early teens and younger. I can see kids thoroughly enjoying this flim, and also absorbing all of the Anti-Military propoganda being promoted in this film.

I am completely aware that Cameron wrote the story in the late 90's well before the 9/11 attacks, and have seen others respond to other similar reviews/comments to mine as being ridiculous due to the time-line, but remember folks, "Avatar" was filmed/produced/edited all within the last couple of years, and the similarities drawn by the director are undeniable.

And oh yeah.... Did I mention the movie was waaay too damn long???

[M4Fundi]

Damn, the wife is going to make me see it and I'm going to be pissed for 3 hours

It can't be as bad as HAPPY FEET.

[nickdrak]

Damn, the wife is going to make me see it and I'm going to be pissed for 3 hours

No, just the last hour and 1/2 or so! The first half was really cool to watch, and even though there was a bit of political BS mixed into the first half, it wasnt enough to take away from how good the first half was. Then it got bad...

[Volucris]

........

The movie was absolutely fantastic and easily top 5 movies I have ever seen (I watch a LOT of movies). Story was fantastic, yet basic, characters were all well developed, and of course being a movie, the presentation was unprecedented.

I find it crazy that you're trying to compare this to 9/11. The military guys were corporate pawns just looking for a quick buck to compliment their 'rape the earth and kill everything that doesn't look like me' mentality. They were the force of evil in the movie and had to be stopped. But I guess they're the good guys no matter what since they were military and you know all military carries good intentions no matter how imperialistic, selfish, corporatist, greedy, and murderous their actions are. It's hilarious that you're taking sides with evil on this one and calling the opposition a bunch of "traitor hippy researchers".

Yeah, science, caring for the environment, dissent, and basic ****ing compassion are such horrible things. You make me sick.

Oh and nice racism there assuming everyone playing the Avatar characters was a minority actor.

It was a God damned movie. You didn't understand really any of it and are over-analyzing your misconceptions. Go watch something like Transformers 2. Or pick a small indigenous area in a third world country, kill everyone who lives there because they're not White and accepting of your culture, harvest some expensive element from the ground while completely and irreversibly destroying the surrounding environment, then sell it for a profit. I mean you're the person with technology so that MUST mean you're right and morally sound.


Seriously I'm disgusted by your thinking.

[nickdrak]

I find it crazy that you're trying to compare this to 9/11.

^I am not trying to "compare" it to anything. It is blatantly obvious that the director/writer (Cameron) has attempted to draw a moral equivalency between the terror attacks of 9/11 and the story-line & message of this movie.

Yeah, science, caring for the environment, dissent, and basic ****ing compassion are such horrible things. You make me sick.

^When it is used as a tool by a bunch of corporate Hollywood and Washington political elites as a tool to endoctrinate people for their own special interests, it certainly is a horrible thing.

Oh and nice racism there assuming everyone playing the Avatar characters was a minority actor.

^Umm, well they were (The leading actors of the indigenous Na'vi clan). If that makes me a "RACIST!!!" then so be it!

It was a God damned movie. You didn't understand really any of it and are over-analyzing your misconceptions.....<snip>.... Or pick a small indigenous area in a third world country, kill everyone who lives there because they're not White and accepting of your culture, harvest some expensive element from the ground while completely and irreversibly destroying the surrounding environment, then sell it for a profit. I mean you're the person with technology so that MUST mean you're right and morally sound.

^This is quite possibly the most contradictory statement I have ever seen/heard.

Seriously I'm disgusted by your thinking.

Any day I can make a liberal really sick, is a really good day!

[chadbag]

I am completely aware that Cameron wrote the story in the late 90's well before the 9/11 attacks, and have seen others respond to other similar reviews/comments to mine as being ridiculous due to the time-line, but remember folks, "Avatar" was filmed/produced/edited all within the last couple of years, and the comparisons are undeniable.

Disclaimer: I have not seen the moving so am taking your word for it.

Anyone who claims that because the story was written before 09/11 it cannot be a comparison to 09/11 has no brain. The story may have been written before 09/11 but the film details were written after (09/11 was over 8 years ago -- plenty of time for details to be changed).

[Cafe GW]

I'm a very reasonable guy, moderate politically, and it takes a lot for a movie to piss me off.

I felt the same way. That 5 minute scene where he used terms like "pre-emptive strike," "fight terror with terror," and the protagonists said "martyrdom" and "shock and awe" pissed me off.

I don't know why James Cameron thinks I give two shits about what he thinks about the war on terror, and furthermore why he decided to ram his message down our throats instead of using a subtle plot to incite thought in his viewers. In real life it is rare that there are absolutes--perfect good guys and completely evil bad guys. Yet in this movie, which is supposed to reflect on the real world, that's exactly what happens. Some depth and shades of gray with regards to protagonists and antagonists are key for any movie trying to make a political point.

I like a movie that makes you think. Even if I'm not totally on board with the message, if it's smartly done that's great. This had the subtlety of a flaming semi covered in monkeys driving through a TNT factory.

Additionally, I prefer action scenes to be relatively mindless because that's how action is best enjoyed. I couldn't enjoy watching Marines blow shit up because I felt bad for the aliens. And I couldn't enjoy watching the Marines get chomped because I identified with them too. So instead of enjoying any of the action the way I wanted to, I was too distracted by the obnoxious message to like it.

The antagonist was my favorite character, by the way. Absolutely badass

EDIT: And Volucris, James Cameron himself said he was pleased by how the one part looked like 9/11. I hate that such a great director made such a great movie that could have been so much better if he had just been less pompous.

[blade_68]

I seen it on sunday I didn't watch for politics watched for enjoyment. I don't give 2 cents for the political view points of shows in general. Anyone remember the political view points of Star War? I've been in Mil for over 20 Years.

[Palmguy]

This had the subtlety of a flaming semi covered in monkeys driving through a TNT factory.

Now that might be an entertaining movie

EDIT: And Volucris, James Cameron himself said he was pleased by how the one part looked like 9/11.

Ouch. How's your foot taste, Volucris? LOL...

[El Mac]

........

The movie was absolutely fantastic and easily top 5 movies I have ever seen (I watch a LOT of movies). Story was fantastic, yet basic, characters were all well developed, and of course being a movie, the presentation was unprecedented.

I find it crazy that you're trying to compare this to 9/11. The military guys were corporate pawns just looking for a quick buck to compliment their 'rape the earth and kill everything that doesn't look like me' mentality. They were the force of evil in the movie and had to be stopped. But I guess they're the good guys no matter what since they were military and you know all military carries good intentions no matter how imperialistic, selfish, corporatist, greedy, and murderous their actions are. It's hilarious that you're taking sides with evil on this one and calling the opposition a bunch of "traitor hippy researchers".

Yeah, science, caring for the environment, dissent, and basic ****ing compassion are such horrible things. You make me sick.

Oh and nice racism there assuming everyone playing the Avatar characters was a minority actor.

It was a God damned movie. You didn't understand really any of it and are over-analyzing your misconceptions. Go watch something like Transformers 2. Or pick a small indigenous area in a third world country, kill everyone who lives there because they're not White and accepting of your culture, harvest some expensive element from the ground while completely and irreversibly destroying the surrounding environment, then sell it for a profit. I mean you're the person with technology so that MUST mean you're right and morally sound.


Seriously I'm disgusted by your thinking.

Wow. I sense a bit of 'anger' here...

Anger management course time!!!