AVATAR Movie review....

[kwelz]

I must totally disagree with the OPs review. It is easy for us to project our own biases onto something, but Nick, this really was a stretch.


First off the people attacking the Na'Vi were not even a country. They were mercenaries hired by a corporation with the express intent of handling these people.

Secondly the Tree did not collapse strait down. I have watched this movie 3 times now. You see the supports creak and shatter, this does cause it to sink a bit but it them falls on it's side crushing a good number of the people in the process.

This had ZERO to do with 9/11. The parallel is the treatment of Native Americans by the early united states. And guess what. We were dicks then. In my opinion that is a stain on our history as bad as slavery. We did do actions like this all the time. Burning people out of their homes, slaughtering them for their land. It happened, and no use denying it.

That is also why you see minorities playing the Na'Vi and mostly (although not all) while men and women playing the company people. Because this is a Sci-Fi retelling of the native Americans story with a slightly happier ending. They wanted people with a different look to fit this motif and they wanted the CGI people to look like the actors playing them.

I am reminded of the groups screaming over the Orcs in Lord of the Rings being dark skinned while the Heroes were white. Or middle eastern people complaining about 300 making them look bad. To them this made the films overtly racist. They were as wrong then as you are now.

I have seen this movie called everything from Anti Capitalism to anti Christian. It is none of the above. It is a genre changing Film on par with Star Wars for the impact it will have on the movie business.

Enjoy the movie for what it is. A tale of both the greatness and the greed of people. It shows both sides. This is the same story as Dances with Wolves, etc. Not some political commentary on the United States. To try to draw that comparison is more of a stretch than a reasonable man can achieve.

Please go see this movie. It is worth the price of admission and then some. I am a Gun Toting, Right wing guy, and I felt it was probably one of the greatest movies I have ever seen.

[Crane]

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

A) No more so than Dances with Wolves.

B) In fact, less so than Dances with Wolves since they weren't actually American soldiers... They were mercenaries working security for a private corporation.

I thought it was a great movie and it was honestly the first time I've ever truly thought that special effect really were mind blowing.

[kwelz]

A) No more so than Dances with Wolves.

B) In fact, less so than Dances with Wolves since they weren't actually American soldiers... They were mercenaries working security for a private corporation.

I thought it was a great movie and it was honestly the first time I've ever truly thought that special effect really were mind blowing.

Exactly. If anything the parallels I got were wounded knee and Custer's last stand.

[Business_Casual]

The parallel is the treatment of Native Americans by the early united states. And guess what. We were dicks then. In my opinion that is a stain on our history as bad as slavery. We did do actions like this all the time. Burning people out of their homes, slaughtering them for their land. It happened, and no use denying it.

Um, what? When did "we" do "that" exactly?

M_P

[ForTehNguyen]

movie was epic, unbelievable CG, unique story although cliche storyline. I watched it in IMAX3D, probably will go again

2.5 hours isnt long, i prefer to get my moneys worth vs a 1.5 hour piece

[HD1911]

The previews looked Uber Ghey to me. Wouldn't even waste my time by watching it.

[tampam4]

For those of you who are curious but not curious enough to go the cinema, here's decent quality streaming link to the full movie

http://www.gigabytevideo.com/download-522ee02cfeb55f80

[BushmasterFanBoy]

I saw it, and I was very irked by the climactic fight. There's basically a 15 minute battle where all the "mercs" that you saw as allies in the first hour and a half are now suddenly the enemy and to be mowed down, tossed out of airplanes, crushed, pulverized, burnt and completely destroyed without the slightest hint of remorse.

Cameron wanted to pull a Pocahontas, fine. But a filmmaker of his magnitude had the opportunity to depict a realistic view of the impact that senseless slaughter has (much like he did with the Naavi's hometree scene) in a thought provoking manner, and he missed it in favor of gross oversimplification. These guys were the "good guys" for the first hour of the movie, and now the audience is expected to cheer their deaths? Come on.

The movie is great otherwise, very stunning visually. (I've only seen it in 3d) I think the story is pretty allegorical to treatment of Native Americans (I definitely didn't see any Iraq/Afghanistan parallels, other than some choice phrases used by the mercs) and in that regards, it's not incredibly left wing or controversial, I was just disappointed that the story itself was so incredibly simple, and felt like Cameron pulled a Michael Bay and put effects ahead of good story telling.

[Cohibra45]

Um, what? When did "we" do "that" exactly?

M_P

There was something called the "Trail of Tears"........ever hear of that??? Andrew Jackson was the President and it was done just for the land, plane and simple!!! Even today, Cherokees don't use the $20 bill as it has Jackson's picture.


Now about the movie. My son (15) and I really liked it. It was entertaining and something that didn't really intellect to understand or enjoy.

The premise was the corporate people's planet was used up. The corporation was there to mine 'unobtainium' and make huge profits. All the company had to do was to get the indigenous peoples to move and all would be fine. Everything went down hill from there.

Very short synopsis, but it has a happy ending in the end and that's all my son was concerned with. Frankly, it also had me smiling also.

BTW, it's soooooooooooo purely sci-fi that to try to insert any political/social comparo's only brings gun lover/conservatives here down to the same level as hippie/greenie's. That's ashame as it's just a movie. Bad guy loses, good guy wins........period.

[Business_Casual]

There was something called the "Trail of Tears"........ever hear of that??? Andrew Jackson was the President and it was done just for the land, plane (sic) and simple!

That would be when the Seminole Indians ambushed soldiers of the United States and killed 107 out 110 troopers, starting the Second Seminole Indian War, right? Where exactly were the "burned out" villages again?

Never mind, this is too much thread drift as it is.

M_P