ViewGuide

Created Feb 21, 2010 09:29PM PST • Edited Feb 21, 2010 09:29PM PST

1. Quality

2. Summary

   Great 4.0

   First and foremost I will address the most pressing issue with this film – is it all hype? The answer is . . . . well I can’t give you one because I can’t decide. Avatar is not an original movie. The story is one we have seen a hundred times before (Pocahontas, Dances with Wolves, The Last Samurai, etc.) and as such its pretty predictable. Formulaic even. Really just not that good. Man goes charging into new territory, finds people he doesn’t understand, sets out to destroy said people, ends up falling in love with people and sides with them over his own.

   However, this is that story we’ve all heard a hundred times before told more beautifully than ever. Think about the last time someone told you a story – if they don’t know how to paint a picture of what happened, the story can fall on deaf ears. James Cameron is a master painter here and there is no way you can miss any of it. Part of the storytelling of any movie is the visuals. The storyline is cliche, but the way its told makes up for it. There is so much love and time devoted to this movie that you can not help but be held in awe. Could Cameron have come up with a better story? Yeah, for sure. But if he were painting someone else’s picture, would it have come out so damn pretty?

   Go see the movie in 3D, but don’t go in too critically. Enjoy the view. Take it all in. Have fun. Don’t get caught up in the politics of the movie. Civilizations have been killing each other trying to get what the other has for as long as humans have been around. And we’ve seen thousands of movies about it. Don’t worry about it. You know what’s going to happen, so just enjoy the view. 3 hours will be over before you know it.

4. Acting

   Great 4.0

   Sam Worthington is good, better than I thought he would be but not spectacular. He is the cookie-cutter hero that is easy to like and side with and he plays his part well.

   Zoe Saldana was my favorite part of this movie. Playing the giant blue lady, Neytiri, her performance is charged full of emotion. Not often do you hear people screaming like a damn banshee when they’re upset, at least not in movies, but you sure do here. She pushed herself to really get more out of this than anyone else did.

   Stephen Lang as the Colonel was also great to watch. On Pandora, there are former military guys who are now just guns for hire and Lang leads them all as the guy who just can’t leave the battle. He’s hardened by war and loves the fight. He is the ultimate soldier – just point him in the right direction.

   Sigourney Weaver has a nice Jane Goodall feel to her. She’s been out here for a while studying and earning trust and now this corporate bozo is trying to micromanage and push harder than she is comfortable with. Great counterpoint to Lang in her bitchiness. Lang (the bad guy) is so much more likeable.

   Giovanni Ribisi is the only other guy worth mentioning by name. He is always great and this is no exception. Smarmy, weasley, but with just a touch of humanity (though it ultimately goes nowhere). Good guy to have in your movie.

5. Male Stars Good 3.0

6. Female Stars Perfect 5.0

7. Female Costars Good 3.0

8. Male Costars Great 4.0

10. Film

    Great 4.0

    Wowee wow wow wow. Such a pretty, pretty film. So much fun to watch and the 3D really brings you into the film. You experience everything just a little bit deeper than you would otherwise and it leaves you filling so much more fulfilled. Cameron did a fantastic job of painting just such a beautiful canvas that hopefully will continue into other movies (maybe some with better storylines).

    The CG was incredible. Even though the actors performances where altered, you still get an ultra-realistic performance. Movement is fantastic and realistic. Even with exaggerated eyes, limbs and torsos, it all works an looks great.

    The story was formulaic, and the dialogue was as well. The cursing was there to make it feel more realistic I’m sure, but it happens so sparsely that it feels out of place more than anything.

11. Direction Really Great 4.5

12. Play Good 3.0

13. Music Very Good 3.5

14. Visuals Perfect 5.0
15. Content

16. Edge

    Risqué 2.2

    Some violence, but not much. You see some arrows sticking out of people, but not much else. Even the violence to non-human things is kept to a minimum amount of gore.

    Little bit of sexual tension when Jake and Neytiri finally hook up (like you didn’t know that would happen), but nothing much. You also may see some CGI female boobs, but just briefly and its more in a “National Geographic” way. Not sexual at all. Unless you’re so far into World of Warcraft that you can’t tell the difference between humans and other races. Then you might be turned on by it.

17. Sex Titillating 2.0

18. Violence Fierce 2.0

19. Rudeness Salty 2.5

21. Reality

    Fantasy 5.0

    I can see where they were trying to put together the science of the eden-esque planet of Pandora, but its still complete fantasy. Nothing real about this in any way.

22. Circumstantial Fantasy 5.0

23. Biological Fantasy 5.0

24. Physical Fantasy 5.0