12.22.2009

Avatar Review: Spoiler alert (but not really).


So I put aside the title hate I had for the new movie, Avatar. Besides coming out of nowhere and being everywhere and seemingly about nothing, I also did not appreciate the fact that it was named after one of the best cartoon series I have seen since 1999 (Avatar: The Last Airbender). And it's from the same dude who made Titanic. And the thing about movie directors and producers is that they aren't very versatile- generally speaking(and he hasn't had a "hit" since 1999).

But I watched it (illegally-blame the russians) and despite the pixelated quality I did and do realize the points inwhich I should be visually amazed. In a nut shell, it's a cowboy and indians movie. The cowboys being the dieing human race and the indians being the indigenous Avatars on the thriving planet of Pandora. There is sometype of natural resource on Pandora that the humans want, and ofcourse this certain tribe of Avatars live in a tree right on top of it. So in the traditional/historic struggle of diplomacy vs. bombing the shit out of them, the humans try to take on the Avatar form and come to an agreement. But the Avatar people are highly spiritual and connected to the land in an unatural (or perhaps what should be natural) way and dont need anything humans have to offer...yada yada yada 45 minutes later, one dude infilterates the clan in a way that no one else has. He goes through and passes all thier tribal trials...and mentally and eventually becomes one of them.

So after like 2 hours of visual effect and internal battle, the war starts when it becomes evidident that the Avatar people will not willingly leave thier home. And that's about it in a nutshell. Pretty point blank. Not a bad movie. It's not deep. There's some interspecies love making- even though halfway through the movie I had convinced myself that noone had private parts....eh. I'm debating whether I want to pay to see it in 3-D. I heard a few people got naucious off of it...and that kinda excites me. 

Conversation before seeing the movie:

3rd Party: I heard Avatar was gonna be good
Girlfriend: Yeah? What's it about...it came out of nowhere.
Me: I tried to ask myself 'why I should care.'
3rd Party: I heard Zoe Saladana was in it.
Me: Re-he-heally....
Girlfriend: Oh so you want to see the movie now that she's in it.
3rd Party: I think she's an Alien...like all blue and sh*t.
Me: Oh...never mind then.
 
Anyway...go see it if you want to. It's a good movie to spend $12 on, but I think you can wait to see it on HBO and still get the same effect. Unless you see it in 3-D. Which I just almost brought tickets to do.

4 comments:

Jennifer said...

Just wanted to say that I still get a little miffed about the name...Avatar: The Last Airbender rocks. There's a movie coming for that in 2010, with some controversy because of the cast.

shaun. said...

so I heard.

Craig said...

This movie was some racist bull-guddy!

http://daily-math.com/weblog/?p=2081#more-2081

read up!

I'd like to hear jen's comments on this joint I was gabber-flasted!

It was so blatant.

shaun. said...

craig...i agree to a point.

while it might ring completely true to the pillage and superior white man notion that exploited africa, africans and african americans, it has a heavier hand in the whole concept of indigenous people....no matter what ethnicity being met with the decision of fight or flight, mainly due to the fact that they are different.

there were indeed undertones of discrimination, but to limit it to the african american expereince alone is kinda a big leap in my mind. im not surprised that the director made this. its an issue that has rang true for centuries...and is documented in our history books.

and to the fact that "a white man had to come save the day"...i mean, we live in America....who did you think was going to be the hero?