Well I finally found the time to pop into town and catch this movie that everyones been talking about. It was strange, with me being into Sci-fi/fantasy movies, that I didn't know about this one before time, but some of the comments comming my way made this a must see before it disappeared off the big screen and even more so to check out the 3D version.
So frirst lets deal with the 3D. This is my first 3D movie, so I didn't quite know what to expect. Before the main feature, ther was a trailer for the new Walt Disney 3D version of Alice In Wounderland and there was a piece where the head if the cheshire cat come right out at ya and seens to be just in front of your face. That was impressive, but Avater really didn't use the technology to that effect so much. So even with all those explosions and debris flying all over the show, I didn't get the impression of flames and debris flying at me or past me. What we do get is some good contrasts of say, people in diffrent places on screen such as foreground and background and group shots looked cool as if you were in back of the room with them. The best 3D effects were the Pandorian forest and its inhabatants, and for this alone it was worth the entrance fee.
One thing I noticed, apart from the uncomfortable 3D glasses over top of my normal spectacles, was the film seemed darker. Overall , what with all the colours and awesome scenery it all seemed just a tad too dark. Apparently it is to do with the pollarisation of the 3D glasses and it certainly wasn't bad enough to take away from the spectacular spectacle that is Avatar.I will have to see it in normal vision to compare the diffrence.
The imagination and attention to detail of the creaters of Pandora and her forest is just phenomenal, the Flora and Fauna was for me, very realistic and imaginative and the idea of the floating mountians, although improbable, was exellent. The Na'vi were also very beautiful, and perhaps based on the African Massi in there appearence and clothing and American Indian in their sprituality and connection with their world.
The story itself, of a native population being enticed, coerced and finally almost annilated to give up their land for exploitation of natural resources for the monetory wealth of the exploiters, is nothing new in story telling or indeed in the actual history of humaity. The absolute greed of the mining company and the total disreguard of the Na'vi's attatchment to their land or indeed of their wellbeing as intelligent beings by the leader of the mining companys security forces is an echo of our past on this planet. This is also a timely reminder for those here in our own country, in light of the National governments decision to review Schedule 4 of the Crown Minerals Act, which protects our special National parks and other important ecological areas from mining. Once these mining companies get a foot in the door of these special places the greed of finding exploitable wealth could be too much to stop the destruction of the unique beauty of our country.
The sprituial aspec of the Na'vi, the interconnectedness of them all to each other and to the life force of their planet is a very interesting idea, and we here on ours could take note of this idea in light of the way we are treating our planet and the other people that live on it.
In the usual Hollywood way there is a great battle torwards the end of the movie, with plenty of destruction and mayhem, but in true James Cameron there are also some powerful and inspiring scenes which stregthen this movie a lot.
I did really enjoy Avatar and will go and see it again so that I can take in some more of that fantastic imaginary world of Pandora and then I will add it to my DVD wants list.
my rating 4.5/5
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