Managed to catch the most anticipated movie of the year , James Cameron's 'Avatar' yesterday at IMAX in Mumbai . Decided to wait for a day to let whatever i saw sink before i attempt to write something about it , this is not just the review of the movie ... this is about the experience of watching the whole thing unfold. Its taken a long time , but this one is worth all that time and effort invested Cameron has delivered a movie which will definitely be remembered for a long while , whatever be the merits or demerits ... this is one movie which should change the whole movie going experience and how movies are made forever. I had read lot of stuff about the new kind of cameras used , the technological advancements , 'performance capture' techniques etc .. and movie seems to achieve what the makers set out to create an awe inducing visual spectacle.
As i sat wearing those uncomfortable 3-D glasses , the movie moved in same expected arc but right when Sam Worthington and Sigourney Weaver were plugged to their respective Avatars and went out to explore forests of Pandora ... the way Cameron managed to capture the planet through 3-D images I felt like I was right there along with them leaving my body behind in the multiplex seat !
I Have not seen such brilliant usage of 3-D imagery before , in almost all 3-D movies till now .. the 3-D part was just a gimmick to keep audience enthralled with an occasional object thrown at audience or some such tricks .. but this was the real deal ! The visuals trump everything else and easily makes us overlook the somewhat weak story , friendly nature of proceedings aimed at generating a blockbuster movie . The moment Pandora's flora and fauna were showcased i was reminded of the shot from Jurassic park when i saw real looking Dinosaurs running along on lush green landscape ... that was a great cinematic moment , this one was similar. These kind of movies are milestones and remind us what the medium is capable of ! Hopefully the advancement in technology and brilliance with which the story has been executed on screen will ensure other filmmakers can dream more such brilliant projects and will have the technical ability to translate those visions onto screen effectively !
Storywise as many reviewers have said this was "Dances with Wolves" set in space ! That Kevin Costner western sure seems to have acted as an inspiration to this one , but in spirit this is close to another visual masterpiece Hayao Miyazaki's "Princess Mononoke" . Mononoke was about how nature and all beasts live in complete harmony with man getting more greedy and trying to take more than the fair share through deforestation and industrialization. Cameron delivers a similar message here with hints of mistreatment of native Americans (Naavi do seem to resemble them ! ) and also hints of American misadventures in Afghanistan and Iraq. Its still the same old good vs evil clash with clear demarcation of both to make things very simple ! While the earlier mentioned movies had subtle messages , this one makes it very clear with mean Military thugs with machine guns and missiles taking on primitive naavi armed with bows and arrows and large heart !!! The actors are pretty competent in their roles and 'performance capture' works well as avatars manage to convey a lot of emotions and are totally convincing.
The World of Pandora viewed through 3-D in Imax is as real as it can get on screen , Cameron has painstakingly created an entire planet , fascinating plants and animals , 10 foot tall Naavi with their blue skin - feline features , their language , culture and what not. This Tolkien like creation itself deserves repeated viewing to appreciate. Despite some minor misgivings I think this one is a ground breaking effort and no words can capture the experience of watching and getting transported to a strange new world !
PS : For Avatar 2 , i sure would like to see the coporate sleazebag played by Giovanni Ribisi coming back maybe even with an Avatar and introducing Na'vi people to credit card , cable tv and internet connection and then lets see how the game changes !!!
9 comments:
The more I think about the movie now - the less I like it. I think it lacked imagination. The only effort that seems to have gone in is to make the 3D thing work; and seriously it is *not* that great an effect. I mean, after the initial 20 mins - it stopped having its effect. I even watched the movie w/o the glasses for about 10 mins. No difference in impact.
And that is because there was no story. Bleak little plot retold. Performances sucked. I say you watch Meenaxi to understand why I am not awed by the visualization presented here. The play of colors, objects, camera angles - Avatar had none of it.
@ Abinav
To each his own ! James Cameron is the best ever B-grade movie maker in history of cinema , no one makes big-budget epics like him . This kind of thing was my expectation and he delivered ! The kind of budget he was working with , it was more or less expected that this is the kind of movie which can be made which would be popular entertainment ... As i mentioned , i had issues with bare basic plot involving what is called in many circles as "White Guilt"... the kind of stories where white people feel guilty for the kind of treatment meted out to other races and hence through stories/movies become saviours for the oppressed races !
For imaginative visuals i recommend Miyazaki's "Princess Mononoke" .. shuld get it in Netflix ...
Avatar was a movie about a different world which u want to be in and are almost there thanks to 3-D , at the same time i recommend another superb movie of 2009 - "Hurt Locker" set in Iraq , a war movie-thriller like no other .. very refreshing take on the subject with mostly unknown names , brilliantly made by director - Kathryn Bigelow who incidentally happens to be James Cameron's ex-wife ! such a small world .. this is a total contrast movie to Avatar .. as realistic as they get ... this is a movie where u never want to trade places with the protagonists of the movie !!!
Nice review ...
I, for a change, tend to agree with Abinav on this ... Didnt quite get the impact of the movie ... Somehow, I like the my dear KuttiChathan type of 3D effects [read suddenly random objects thrown at you or a melting ice cream thrust at u] ..
Thought the movie dragged on and on ... After the first 20-30 min, I got bored ... How long can u keep admiring "high definition new world" ... But ya ... the last half hr was super fun ...
Having said all of this, I must admit that it was immediately after 4-5 Vodkas that I had gone to watch this movie :-)
Nice fill someone in on and this fill someone in on helped me alot in my college assignement. Thank you as your information.
My friend and I were recently talking about how technology has become so integrated in our day to day lives. Reading this post makes me think back to that discussion we had, and just how inseparable from electronics we have all become.
I don't mean this in a bad way, of course! Societal concerns aside... I just hope that as the price of memory drops, the possibility of transferring our memories onto a digital medium becomes a true reality. It's a fantasy that I daydream about almost every day.
(Posted on Nintendo DS running [url=http://quizilla.teennick.com/stories/16129580/does-the-r4-or-r4i-work-with-the-new-ds]R4[/url] DS FFBrows)
Brim over I agree but I about the list inform should have more info then it has.
Good fill someone in on and this fill someone in on helped me alot in my college assignement. Say thank you you seeking your information.
Post a Comment