Karl du Fresne’s review of Avatar

James Cammeron spent a fortune on it, roughly around $ 350 mn including marketing.
>when did money alone equal quality? If someone could spend millions of dollars on marketing alone I wouldn’t be surprised if some of that money went in to “buying” some or all the critics to put out ”great” reviews. Think about it. If you really want to read a “true” review try googling around blogs and forums or simple just google “Avatar sucks” and see the results.

A breakthrough in film technology especially 3D technology
>nobody gives a shit about technology, period. What do 6-12 years kids know about 3D technology. It’s only the hype that is being generated by the “media” that is putting out sentences like: “a ground-breaking technology”, “it’s going to pave way for a whole new genre of movies just like Titanic”, “James Cameron has raised the bar”, “A must watch” etc

The movie has the cheesiest plot I have ever come across. When I watch a movie I expect some intelligent dialog and some interesting plot, not to mention creativity and originality. I don’t want to sit in the theater thinking a 13 year old could have come up with a better plot and screenplay. What with all the money, James Cameron couldn’t hire a decent writer? Or he thought he could just pull the wool over the multitude of fools, I think he has succeeded. All the people who are just amazed at the imagery with no poetic touch, why don’t you guys sit it front of Nat Geo and look at “Amazing Places” or “Wonders of the world”, I think they provide more stunning visuals than Avatar. Why get awed by the some stupid CGI generated images with no creativity and places that are not even real.

[SPOILERS FOLLOW]

Avatar draws heavily from the following movies:

Dances with Wolves:
During the American Civil war Lieutenant John Dunbar is sent to a remote outpost in the wilderness of the Dakota territory and is accepted by the local Sioux tribe. He is enchanted by the beautiful “Stands With a Fist”. Not soon after, the frontier becomes the frontier no more, and as the army advances on the plains, John must make a decision that will not only affect him, but also the lives of the natives he now calls his people.

Pocahontas: the plot is strikingly similar.

The Matrix: the concept of transportation of the mind,body and soul into a surreal world.

The Lord of the Rings: The so-called great 3D technology is inspired by the character Gollum from LOTR. In fact I read somewhere that James Cameron thought it was impossible to create such CGI until he saw LOTR and went ahead with previously dismissed Avatar movie. Also the similarity to the network of energy, interaction with the nature, merging of the clans to fight the “evil” one all from LOTR.

Not only is the pacing of the movie slow but insanely boring and what with the predictable plot.

How lucky the scientist for whom the avatar was built had a twin brother.
Jake Sully lands at that site with no training whatsoever and is suddenly running around in his avatar.
There is no explanation of how Pandora was discovered.
There is no explanation of how the avatar technology works. We know that the DNA has to match to get into the avatar, but how is transportation of nervous system and mechanical functions transferred from the human to the Navi. A switch is pushed so many times to “wake up” the human, but what does the switch power.
Why are the avatar machines kept on a mobile van?
There is no explanation why only a handful of Navi speak English.
When Jake goes in the forest for the first time is it any wonder that he’ll be lost and he’ll be left behind by the team.
The first time Neytiri meets Jake she repents killing the creatures that attack Jake. But later Jake kills an animal showing off his shooting skills, shes is like “That’s a clean kill”. What happened to all the compassion towards animal kingdom previously shown?
Why do the Omaticaya accept an outsider for no specific reason and why must he learn the ways of the Omaticaya? James you lost me here completely.
What the hell is unabotinum or whatever the shit that precious stone was called. What a coincide it happens to located right under the Omaticaya home.
Only Jake sully the might “warrior” who is a “cripple” and has no avatar training previously is able to tame the big creature, whatever the fuck it was called.
There is no mention of other clans until the final moments when all of them suddenly united thanks to Jake Sully and that big creature he tames, whatever the fuck it was called.
The mating scene between Jake and Neytiri is gross. Navis are aliens but they just fuck like humans, wow so creative, they know how to“french kiss” so viewers can feel comfortable and at home, also shed a tear or two and realize that they are in “love”. Fucking nonsense
What’s with the cheesy dialogs like “This is not Kansas but Pandora. Every living creature out there is going to get you blah blah,”, “Shock and Awe”, the company, mercenaries etc. Plain bullshit.
The final battle scene is just mindless and total BS.
The creature that attacks Jake in the beginning suddenly come to their rescue just when the shit hits the fan. James care for an explanation?
Finally thanks to Jake! The natives using just arrows defeat the American military force armed with precision bombs and superior AI shit and human robots!!!!

My fingers are hurting typing the loop holes in the movie. Maybe someone will write a book. Trust me that will be more entertaining.

The final verdict is that there are plenty of fools out there who will shell out their money for this piece of garbage. U can sell anything if you have enough money.

Read more:
http://rkisho.blogspot.com/2010/01/avatar-sucked-period-review.html

Thanks, I won’t go and see it.
Years ago the BBC did a radio version of Lord of the Rings; that stays with me more than the movie.

I think as well the computer cgi was brilliantly done. But the acting was nothing special. I think part of the storyline success lies in the desire for people to believe that the perfect world can exist. But in that, the movie spent a good deal of effort in tearing down the image of our own world. I would imagine to the people who really get into fantasizing about the world, the people who really got into the movie… that is was a net depressing event altogether. Because when the lights go on, the world was fake and you just spent two hours planting seeds that the world you live in is bad.

Interesting to hear your review. I was thinking of going to see Avatar, simply because the CGI looks so amazing. I think I’ll save my money and wait until it comes out on DVD.