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aragarna...and if you think this film is a masterpiece and don't want anything to ruin your squee about it, maybe you shouldn't read this.
Okay, this is not a bad film. And it's pretty. Lots of colors, cool creatures and light effects. I think it could have done with a more audacious cinematography, but all in all, technically and artistically, the film looks good.
The problem is that a movie isn't just about looks. And for a film that was meant to be such a revolution, they could have worked a little more on the story and the characters. Make a real masterpiece that would remain in the collective memory for decades.
Seriously, I told myself "keep an open mind, this might not be as bad as you think." But in five minutes, I felt like I was watching a Disney movie. Not because of the colors, but because of the dialogues, and the stereotyped characters and the whole naive and childish aspect of it all. Jeez, the bad guys are soooo mean, and griddy! They want the gold! (And they're also ugly. Bad guy 101 is respected.)
The cute guy is obviously a very nice hero. A little rebelle, but for the good cause. And he is also broken. Good guy 101 check.
The Aliens are cute too. Because they are good people. They live in harmony with Mother Nature. They're not technology geeks (but it's easy with that hairy usb port in their hair. Who needs planes when you can control archaeopteryx?).
Anyway... you see what I mean. At least in Pocahontas there were cool songs, and a funny rakoon.
But the most frustrating part is that the film had a real potential for a much better story. The avatars from the title! And they seemed to have totally ignored this aspect.
There could have been so great questions and challenges from that. Can you live a love story when you're lying about who you are? Can you live in someone else'e body? There are some parallels with virtual lives here, but it's even better because you're living a real life. Except nobody seemed to give it a thought. Those bodies are merely advanced space suits.
It's not just about choosing a side here, it's that you cannot technically live here, unless through an avatar, while you're still dependent on your own technology and your own people. All they need is to pull your plug. But at the same time, all you need is another avatar. Except they wouldn't see you as the same person. While when 2 different people pilot the same avatar, they think it's only one person.
And the truth is, you're just a fraud. Jake pretended to be one of them. He didn't present himself as a human. He pretended to be a Na'vi. Which, he is not. Or he is? Do we become our avatars?
Another thing, about being an avatar is that you look exactly like the others. So they can't tell you're a stranger. But then, how can you be sure they're real Na'vis?
Of course, here it's not possible, but wouldn't have it been even cooler if the Na'vis were able to make their own human avatars and go spy on the humans?
I'm not a writer/storyteller, far from that (I don't count my attempts at fanfictions as real talent), but still these are the questions that I felt would have been interesting to explore, or that I was actually expecting to. Instead they just made a blue remake of Pocahontas. Which would have been fine, if it was not for the avatars of the title... What is the point of creating such a cool concept if not to explore all its potential?
So, in short, my main complain about this movie is that it totally missed its own point... :-)
Okay, this is not a bad film. And it's pretty. Lots of colors, cool creatures and light effects. I think it could have done with a more audacious cinematography, but all in all, technically and artistically, the film looks good.
The problem is that a movie isn't just about looks. And for a film that was meant to be such a revolution, they could have worked a little more on the story and the characters. Make a real masterpiece that would remain in the collective memory for decades.
Seriously, I told myself "keep an open mind, this might not be as bad as you think." But in five minutes, I felt like I was watching a Disney movie. Not because of the colors, but because of the dialogues, and the stereotyped characters and the whole naive and childish aspect of it all. Jeez, the bad guys are soooo mean, and griddy! They want the gold! (And they're also ugly. Bad guy 101 is respected.)
The cute guy is obviously a very nice hero. A little rebelle, but for the good cause. And he is also broken. Good guy 101 check.
The Aliens are cute too. Because they are good people. They live in harmony with Mother Nature. They're not technology geeks (but it's easy with that hairy usb port in their hair. Who needs planes when you can control archaeopteryx?).
Anyway... you see what I mean. At least in Pocahontas there were cool songs, and a funny rakoon.
But the most frustrating part is that the film had a real potential for a much better story. The avatars from the title! And they seemed to have totally ignored this aspect.
There could have been so great questions and challenges from that. Can you live a love story when you're lying about who you are? Can you live in someone else'e body? There are some parallels with virtual lives here, but it's even better because you're living a real life. Except nobody seemed to give it a thought. Those bodies are merely advanced space suits.
It's not just about choosing a side here, it's that you cannot technically live here, unless through an avatar, while you're still dependent on your own technology and your own people. All they need is to pull your plug. But at the same time, all you need is another avatar. Except they wouldn't see you as the same person. While when 2 different people pilot the same avatar, they think it's only one person.
And the truth is, you're just a fraud. Jake pretended to be one of them. He didn't present himself as a human. He pretended to be a Na'vi. Which, he is not. Or he is? Do we become our avatars?
Another thing, about being an avatar is that you look exactly like the others. So they can't tell you're a stranger. But then, how can you be sure they're real Na'vis?
Of course, here it's not possible, but wouldn't have it been even cooler if the Na'vis were able to make their own human avatars and go spy on the humans?
I'm not a writer/storyteller, far from that (I don't count my attempts at fanfictions as real talent), but still these are the questions that I felt would have been interesting to explore, or that I was actually expecting to. Instead they just made a blue remake of Pocahontas. Which would have been fine, if it was not for the avatars of the title... What is the point of creating such a cool concept if not to explore all its potential?
So, in short, my main complain about this movie is that it totally missed its own point... :-)
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no subject
Date: 2013-11-12 02:55 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-11-12 03:05 pm (UTC)You know, the movie becomes a whole new experience when you watch it half by half, meaning on one half of the screen you have the movie and on the other you have the raw film with actors in black suits and a truckload of sensors acting out the scenes with absolutely nothing around :D It is fascinating :D
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Date: 2013-11-12 03:35 pm (UTC)I didn't see it in 3D. I had seen a couple films in 3D when it first started (Ice Age 3, Toy Story 3, Alice in Wonderland), but I really wasn't impressed by the technology. A couple of cool effects, like when they're throwing things at you, but it's like 2 minutes in a movie. It felt more "gadget" than really useful.
So I had stopped paying for the 3D until Gravity. And that's the first time I thought it was really adding something to the movie.
But if you felt nauseous with Avatar, you might not want to see Gravity, because it's spinning ALL the time (no gravity up there...) ;-)
It's not that Avatar is a bad film. And I recognize that it's pretty and the special effects are awesome. It's just that I felt it frustrating.
I didn't want to see it when it was released, because I felt it would just be all special effects and a lazy story, so I was just not interested. I never really thought about the avatar story itself (and nobody mentioned it particularly when I talked to people who had seen it).
And as an audience, I generally prefer good stories over special effects. It's really just my personal taste.
But watching the movie, I felt like it really *could* have been a good story. So, in a way, my reaction wasn't exactly what I thought it'd be. But it was all the more frustrating... :-)
no subject
Date: 2013-11-12 05:45 pm (UTC)