AVATAR Movie review....

[El Mac]

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???

Thanks for the review. I won't be wasting my money now.

[TOrrock]

Volucris, throttle it back some.

This is not ARFCom GD.

[militarymoron]

a co-worker of mine saw it over the weekend and talked about it. he's a non-gun guy, middle of the road politics etc. he loved the visuals and enjoyed the movie overall, but also felt that it was 'pocahontas' and 'dances with wolves' all over again, and disliked the obvious (to him) parallels drawn between the corporations/mercenaries in the film and our military.

[Business_Casual]

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.

First of all, in this country the military carries out orders from the civilian leadership. Full stop.

Secondly, the conclusion does ask the audience to root for the defeat of American soldiers at the hands of an insurgency.

No thanks, Avatar.

M_P

[ToddG]

Secondly, the conclusion does ask the audience to root for the defeat of American soldiers at the hands of an insurgency.

That's all I needed to hear. One fewer movie on my list this holiday. I'll just watch GI Joe again.

[Outlander Systems]

First of all, the military in this country carries out orders from the civilian leadership. Full stop.

Pretty much says it all.

Sometimes I think people forget that we have to power to hire and fire the public servants once every couple of years.

[geminidglocker]

I watch movies for the Special Effects. That said, I like Pro-War movies the best. I don't go to theatres because I hate crowds so I'll wait for the dvd rental to come out. Thanks for the heads up.

[EzGoingKev]

I haven't seen it, but I hate how recent movies and TV shows have this anti-America and/or anti-Republican thing to it.

I saw 2012 and its BS ending of America forcing all the other countries to leave the people to die until the rest of world coerced America to do the right thing pissed me off.

Unless the movie or TV is about politics then keep that BS out of it.

[Irish]

Does Avatar have any relation to the Japanimation Avatar: The Last Airbender trilogy? I looked up Avatar on Netflix and they popped up as well with the first one being released in 2005.

From what I'm hearing here I won't be seeing it in the theater but I will check it out on Netflix for the special effects alone.

[chenzzo]

no relation. The Last Airbender movie is called by that name.

I'm a super right wing guy and I support the war on terror, so that being said, I thoroughly enjoyed the movie. I think the parallels to the war were more for audiences to identify with what was going on than anything, and it made sense in the context. There is definitely a eco-friendly, green theme in the film but it didn't stop me from enjoying it. the special effects are a must see on the big screen though, especially if you can see it in 3D. really amazing.