Amph James Cameron's Avatar (The Way of Water + sequels)

You know, I saw the same thing. After being kind of shocked by how large the arrows were when they would hit a human, you'd think they'd catch something as simple as the relative size of his hand.

 

Most chilling part of the film... "They have killed their Mother. There is nothing green there."

 

I think you are mistaken. From what I remember, it was her fingers covering his hand, with the rest of her hand falling underneath her face,, where his hand was not. At least that's how I recall it.

 

I don't think it was the comparative size of the hands, so much as the size of his hand on her face. Who knows, maybe he has hands like Michael Jordan.

 

This. His hand took up a good chunk of her cheek and just looked... inflated. It was just way too big.

 

It's from pushing the wheelchair around all the time.


I did think the same thing until I saw her's, and then it seemed to fit, to me. I would need to see it again to really be looking for it.

 

I saw it a 2nd time today and remembered to look for the hand. Her hand is like twice the size of his the whole time. His entire hand fits inside her finger lengths.

Having seen it now in both 2d and 3d the differances really are pretty big. The holo displays look amazing in 3d and yes everything has more depth. I recall in the Cameron interview that "immersion" is the key word and there were many times you have a better feeling of being "right there".

There is a book on the shelves which is billed as a Pandora survival guide. The Hometree is 325 meters tall, Pandora has 80% Earth gravity, the Venture Star can achieve 70% lightspeed and a few other tidbits are within.

The idea that we could ruin the Earth and have to go to a whole other solar system I think is outdated, but it's a fun movie so I excuse it.

 

I saw it in 3D this afternoon and was blown away by the visuals in this film. For one thing,
the Bioluminescence of the jungle in night time makes sense from a scientific standpoint. If Pandora is a moon of a gas giant, it is going to have to orbit that gas giant and be blocked from sunlight for extended periods of time. (I guess George Lucas missed that point with Endor.)


Anyhow, science aside, I loved the film and I hope there are sequels made. It was not without flaws but I consider those to be minor. That above point I do not consider a true spoiler but I did so anyway.

 

Well, Endor could be knocked on its side like Uranus is and orbiting moons might be exposed to sunlight more often or all of the time. Also, Pandora might not be out of the sunlight for long periods of time depending on its orbit speed. Your point is sound, but not an absolute.

 

I loved everything about Avatar except for one thing--one stupid line.

It was something like "we're gonna fight terror with terror." I'm fine with Mr. Cameron putting whatever political message he wants in the film, but this line didn't even make sense in the context of the story. It was blatant and it took me completely out of the movie--if for but a moment. I mean, I know he was referencing the War in Afghanistan and I have my own problems with responding to terrorism with more violence, but it didn't apply here. The Navi were not attacking humans and even when/if they did--they were not committing acts of terrorism. Terrorist acts are ones used to create fear as a method of control. Not every act of violence is a terrorist attack. If anything, it was most of the humans who were the terrorists. So as much as I understand he was trying to reference the real world--most of the people the United States has been combating are not peace-loving noble tribes that never did any harm to anyone else. Seeing the tree come down reminded me somewhat of 9/11, but it was the humans that were acting as invaders/terrorists--and it was incredibly clear cut, unlike reality. So...I hated that line "fight terror with terror." Everything else was awesome!

Also, see it in 3D--AMAZING!

EDIT: I should also point out that I think the story in Star Wars is also somewhat cliche--but things often become cliche because they were amazing in the first place. I loved the story in Avatar despite the fact that it was formulaic. Beautifully acted--beautiful film.

 

The commander says "fighting terror with terror". He knows the natives are not actually terrorists. He is lying, using propoganda on his troops. So you are right, the natives are not terrorists.

 

Somehting I was thinking about today: When the humans leave the planet and the people that helped out Jake stayed correct? What are they going to do? Primarily talking about that guy who helped them with inside info. As far as I know he did not have an Avatar body. Is he going to stay with the natives even as a human?

 

Right, it just didn't seem to apply at all--I guess since he was lying (although, I feel like it would be just as obvious to the soldiers), but...I didn't get it. Too blatant of a reference for me. Loved the film though.

EDIT: I also didn't find it anti-capitalistic. I found it...anti evil corporations.

recheldelphar--they did leave that untied didn't they. Perhaps, there will be a sequel.

 

Ah,

Well I don't really care too much either way. It offended me a little at first, but I just love that movie so much. Man...I've got to see it again. I wonder if it'll feel as good seeing perhaps not in 3D. I've never seen a movie that looked like that before--never seen 3D done so right.

 

Hey, you must not know what happens to an Ewok when you put it under a black light.

 

Since the humans are now at peace with the natives, they have no need for the military, and the scientists can get back to the science, instead of focusing on the resource gathering, which is what most of them were there to do in the first place. They can easily continue to reside at Hell's Gate and conduct the research they were already working on as they were. And, with Sully, Augustine, and Spellman's revelations about how everything on Pandora is more closely related than they could have ever imagined, I doubt the scientists will bother trying to teach them their ways anymore, and will instead begin trying to learn the ways of the natives.

 

Money drives EVERYTHING in the human world, hence a SEQUEL.

That mineral is still there and needed. We humans are not so good at giving up upon things that we require.

 

We're talking about the people who stayed on Pandora.

 

When the main end credits were over, I turned to my wife and asked: "So... pretty much the best movie ever made?" She laughed and replied: "Pretty much, yeah!" In her eye a sheen of light spoke the presence of tears held long at the threshold.

In the theater hallway, while dropping our 3D glasses into the recycle bin, I said to the manager: "Well, they finally did it. They made a movie better than Star Wars." The cop standing behind him smiled, while an usher perhaps twenty years my junior asked: "Really?". I left them with a nod of assurance.

Outside in the cold night air, I pontificated while my wife smoked. "From a young age, dreaming about films and being inspired by them, I could never have imagined that a film so imaginative, so fantastically realistic, so moving and so magnificently visualized would ever be produced in Hollywood. Not that it wasn't possible in the platonic sense, but that anyone working in the film industry would ever come to possess the intelligence, the technical skill, the money and the b*lls sufficient to realize a work of this magnitude on the screen. Ingenious ideas and dazzling imagery may come and go at the cineplex, but Avatar achieves breathtaking cinema not only with perfect technique, but with a heart, a spirit and a soul."

My wife appeared smitten. "I can't say anything because you've said it all for me!"

Then she wished me a Happy Birthday -- today was my 40th -- and drove us home.

I look forward to many more visits to Pandora in the years to come.

 

"And they will do the same here." This line evoked in me a gut-level pang of dreadful contemplation. I don't know that I've ever seriously considered the suggestion that the human species might one day eradicate the life cycle/global ecosystem on the Earth. Probably because I have more faith in humanity than to believe that's likely to occur. Nonetheless I agree it's "chilling", if not outright horrific, to envision such a bleak scenario.

Vietnam (and most of southeast Asia), Native America (both continents), much of Africa, Australia, the Middle East, etc. etc. Yes, this is a pan-human story, a history oft repeated throughout the document of human civilization: the strong oust and/or slaughter the weak and seize their goods. Whatever the flavor of the week/year/generation, or the region of the world, greed-based war, slaughter of so-called "savages" and pillaging of local resources is an "evil" endemic to many nations, not just the US and not just in this theater or that.

That said, I don't feel Avatar's characterization of its fictional military force is an indictment or critique of any actual military (US or otherwise); rather it's a cautionary tale, showing the extremes to which the misuse of such tremendous power could and can take our species. "Stop the violence" would be an apt slogan or theme for the movie.

Meanwhile, on the restroom front, since you brought it up, I must say I timed my single trip wisely: exactly as the Home Tree had finished falling down, and Nakiri (sp.?) yelled out: "Father!" and I just knew he was going to die. Later my wife described how she unleashed a primordial scream of anguish; I look forward to seeing that next time.

 

Amazing visuals and all, I hardly think Avatar comes close to achieving the quality of ANH. Avatar doesn't have a Han Solo, Darth Vader, or Obi-Wan Kenobi. It has outstanding scenery and a compelling alien world brought to life by a brilliant filmmaker, but it lacks that something that every other film besides Star Wars is devoid of.

This coming from someone who thinks no movie will ever, ever surpass Star Wars, though.

 

I saw it on Friday - I really enjoyed it. It had a familiar plot - it was very similar to The Last Samurai, but it worked. The visuals were stunning, and clearly, there has been a lot of planning put in here. I'll likely see it again.