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Review

Avatar – Movie Review

Avatar… Could it be the most hyped sci-fi film since Star Wars Episode 1? If you listen to director James Cameron you’d have to say “yes”. He says it’s been about 15 years in the making and is absolutely ground breaking in it’s use of special effects. You’ll have to take his word for it regarding whether or not he wrote his first treatment of the Avatar story 15 years ago and then waited for film-making technology catch up to his vision, but is it groundbreaking? Well it certainly pushes the technology available to film-makers to it’s limits, but I don’t think I saw anything in there that’s necessarily groundbreaking. That being said, I must put forward at this point that Avatar IS awesome, and the special effects ARE astounding.

I purposely shunned any pre-publicity, footage, trailers, interviews, etc., relating to Avatar as I wanted to go into this movie as fresh as possible. I guess that makes it a little hard for me be sure whether it lives up to the hype or not. I saw this advance media screening with a 3D modeler who is currently working with an Oscar winning director, and said modeler, Nick K, has devoured everything he could on the lead up to this film so he’s been bathed in the hype. Coming out of the screening I asked him what he thought. He was dazed and disoriented, and kept mumbling how awesome and amazing it was. He turned to me and said “I want all movies to be like that!”, so yeah, according to Nick K, it lives up to the hype.

Avatar tells a pretty simple story in a straightforward manner. I’ve heard it compared to Dances With Wolves and A Man Called Horse. It had a few minor problems for me, most glaringly it’s very predictable. I don’t think there was ever a point at which I was genuinely surprised by a turn of events. From seeing only one trailer, then sitting through the first 10 minutes or so, I had pretty much guessed the entire story-line, and I’m someone who very rarely thinks that hard during an action/adventure film. This may have been why I felt it was a little long and that it dragged at times, because it was as if I were watching it for the second time.  Even though it’s 160 minutes long I’m not really sure what you’d be able to take out, but there were certainly a few times when I was wondering how much longer it would go on for.

That’s not to say that it isn’t exciting and at times riveting. The action sequences are amazing, and one of the final fight sequences had me quietly cheering at how far Cameron was prepared to push towards being almost over-the-top. Action, battles and fights were very clearly staged and shot, thankfully eschewing the current trend for close-cropping, hyper-editing and disorienting of the viewer. I was grateful that I could see exactly what was going on because what was going on was brilliant to see.

I was most disappointed with the hero’s arc in that Sam Worthington’s character, the hero of the story, has such a predictable and wishy-washy growth through the film as to be almost inconsequential. Not only is it predictable, but some of the story points were so obviously telegraphed as to make me want to physically facepalm. In the end, although there is a satisfactory enough conclusion, it didn’t make me really feel like everybody would really be safe for terribly long. Could there be a sequel in the wind?

Lastly on the story, some of the themes of colonialism, environment, and blood for oil, can be too obvious and heavy handed at times.

On to the effects and animation. They were absolutely astounding, and totally believable and immersive 95% of the time. The biggest compliment I can give is the there were long extended periods where I totally bought it, absolutely forgetting I was watching an entirely digital world and animation, but I simply watched the actors and their facial expressions, body language, etc. I regularly forgot that they weren’t real people! I guess THIS is where the claims of being ground breaking begin to make sense.

Production design of the human world and technology was superb – rugged, futuristic but extrapolated from what we know and recognise now. Design of the nature of the planet was beautiful and breath taking, and was believable as it own ecosystem and environment.

I saw this in RealD 3D and is the first film I’ve seen thus. I must admit I found it a little taxing on the eyeball by about two thirds of the way through, but only a little. The 3D was pretty convincing 90% of the time and was actually used quite subtly and not overtly, to my surprise. I even have the feeling that the 3D might even have been turned off, or at least turned down, for certain scenes, so as to not be distracting. Is it necessary for the storytelling? I’ll tell you after I see it again in 2D, but really I don’t think so. I can see however how it can add to the audience’s excitement and enjoyment when seeing an action/adventure film.

Avatar is an epic high-adventure science-fiction movie on a grand scale, with special effects, animation and design that are superb and exciting. The story is a little disappointing, but still, it’s a must see for lovers of the sci-fi genre, action movies and spectacle.

Trailer

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There you have it. Hit the cinema this Thursday and come back here and tell us what you think of Mr Cameron’s first film in 7 years. Did it live up to the hype for you?

Thanks to 20th Century Fox Australia for the screening.

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About The Author

Tim McEwen

Tim McEwen is a feature film storyboard artist, concept artist, illustrator, designer, and comic book creator. His work has been published professionally since he was 17, his most notable creation being the comic Greener Pastures, starring the stud bull Trevor. It was nominated for 16 OzCon Awards, winning two, and has fans worldwide. He’s integrally involved in Australia's pop culture scene as comic creator, film industry worker, and Art Director of Australia's biggest pop culture expo Supanova. The proud father of two kids, his understanding wife has never threatened to throw out his collection of 8000 comic books.

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Article Information

  • Posted: Tuesday, December 15th, 2009
  • Author: Tim McEwen
  • Filed Under: Film,Review
Tags: , , , , , , ,

Comments

5 Responses to “Avatar – Movie Review”
  1. David Quinn TheQdog says:

    Lovely work mister McEwen!!! i can't wait to see this film! and thi review has done little to dampen my excitement. i do know a lot of folks are saying the plot is pretty basic… but then, what are you going to this film for?

    Thanks for the review and thanks to Fox!

    December 16, 2009 at 1:53 am
  2. Reactor drone Reactor drone says:

    I also saw this film fairly fresh,I’d seen one trailer and skimmed through a few cast interviews and I loved this film.The storyline is simple but engrossing and I never felt that the story dragged.Visual effects are superb,totally realistic throughout,from the Pandoran biology to the human machinery(Starship troopers would have been so much better if they’d had the mech suits from this film).

    The RealD 3-d was mostly good,I found it totally immersive for probably the last two thirds of the film but found it a bit jarring in some of the earlier shots,especially where a short depth of field shot was used.The blurry background combined with the 3-d layering didn’t feel right to my eyes.I’ve never been a huge fan of 3-d but on the whole this technology is very good,even over the top of glasses.

    Definitely a must see film and well worth the extra cost for the 3-d .

    December 19, 2009 at 8:59 am
  3. Sme Chan SmeChan says:

    I'm so glad to hear there are positive reviews coming in for Avatar. I cannot wait to see this movie, and even though I usually get annoyed with basic/simple stories lines, I think I can ignore that in favour of everything else. :)

    Thanks for the enlightening review!

    December 19, 2009 at 11:36 am
  4. Bruce Moyle Bruce Moyle says:

    I have now seen this amazing film. It's been a long time since I went to the cinemas and wanted to go straight back in and watch a movie again. While I agree the story is a little thin on the ground, I really didn't care as I loved the world that Cameron gave to us. The digital effects are gobstoppingly good and I never got the uncanny valley. The biggest thought I got afterwards and somewhat during was "I want this as a tv show". This was because I wanted to explore the world more. Similar thoughts have crossed my mind for Star Wars (which is coming soon) and Chronicles of Riddick. What can I say but I am a sucker for good world building.

    December 21, 2009 at 12:31 am
  5. David Quinn Q-Dog says:

    Ok now having seen the film i can relaibly chime in on the review Mr McEwen!

    I wholeheartedly agree! The film is nicely shot, well edited and thoroughly entertaining, but at its heart is a completely predictable story that really doesn’t take any huge risks at any point.

    however i think this may be one of its strengths! and the reason that it has made a billion and change… i call it “read me peter rabbit” every night the child wants to hear the same story over and over! its familiar its fun and it makes u feel something safe and at the same time exciting. you want to introduce the child to new stuff, new stories, “the little engine that could” etc. but in he end the kid wants bloody peter rabbit and won’t go to sleep until it’s had it read to them!

    in this case its peter rabbit with a very expensive coat of paint and CGI. and it works a treat.

    we’ll no doubt be reviewing this bad boy on the podcast soon.

    so until then… nice work Timbo!!!

    January 8, 2010 at 11:14 am

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