Secondly before I review the film and give my opinions on this epic blockbusting and revolutionary movie I have to say this is the first film ever made, in my opinion, that you HAVE to see at the cinema, it’s what it’s made for and the only true way to experience the beauty of Avatar in all it’s true glory as you won’t have this experience on a dodgy copy bought in the pub, on a special edition Blu-Ray version released with the Red and Green lenses to compensate for our standard TVs or even at a cinema showing the standard 2D version because nothing will live up to seeing it in full 3D on a big cinema screen, I promise you. It’s changed everything I expect from a film forever and raised the bar for everything to come.
I will try keep the review as spoiler free as possible so read on for more.
The Story of Avatar
Jake is a paraplegic sent to Pandora to replace his deceased twin brother’s position on the Avatar programme, lead by Dr. Grace Augustine (the excellent Sigourney Weaver), where Na’vi and human DNA are joined to create an Avatar, a remotely controlled biological Na’vi body using the consciousness of the user. Once in this body Jake is thrilled at being able to use his legs again and goes all out immersing himself into the world of Pandora, joining the Na’vi to gain their trust and attempt to negotiate a solution for the mining to proceed and we go along for the unforgettable ride.
The war builds momentum and for the final third of Avatar we are treated to some of the most enjoyable set pieces of action from the film that are all superbly paced and stunning to experience in 3D. A scene where the humans assault the Na’vi’s sacred tree is just so remarkable I remember my eyes were hurting cause I just did not want to blink and miss anything, the scale and size of what was happening was incredible and a special fx dream, a true joy to watch.
The Design of Avatar
The film is technically the most stunning piece of cinema I’ve ever seen, nothing has ever been done like this before. It’s almost flawless in it’s design of the planet of Pandora, it’s many inhabitants, the numerous ships, the big mecha robot war suits, the characters, the plant life, the Avatar concept, weapons and those huge floating mountains, it’s all just so incredible to see unveiling before your eyes and when you see the floating mountains of Pandora you won’t believe they aren’t real.
The step up from previous motion capture designed characters in movies is just phenomenal. It’s so hard to tell they are CGI, at times it just felt like the actors were in blue makeup and that is a kudos to their design. It was the Na’vi’s emotions that brought them to life, the eyes, the mouths, the slight facial expressions showed every emotion and made these Na’vi more realistic than anything ever created before. I recall watching other CGI created characters and there was always something just not right, even with the likes of Gollum from Lord of the Rings it was incredible but still it wasn’t perfect but Avatar has nailed it, they really look incredible.
As for the 3D, It’s so good you do actually forget that the 3D is there as it seems so natural and real what your watching and you forget those big blue aliens are CGI creations as their emotions and interactions with the actors and scenery is just perfect and seamless. A real credit to Cameron and his team, nothing has ever been this close to photo-realism before and it is a shear joy to experience 15 years of development coming together.
The 3D is at times subtly hinted on the screen showing depth and other times the screen is completely filled with layers of depth that really adds to the impact of this great movie. From the opening scene in a spaceships long and deep sleeping quarters that is slowly rotating in space which creates an intense sense of vertigo and jaw dropping effectiveness of what the 3D has to offer, and then there is a subtle shot of Jake landing in a gushing river and the bubbles floating around him under the water seem to have millions of rows of depth and as he comes to the surface the sense of the water flowing towards you is stunning in its beauty and realism. True 3D vision has definitely arrived and has never been so good. it’s truly sensational.
The sound and music partnered perfectly with the film and never seemed to take over from the films visual assault on your eyes . The score by James Horner was beautiful to hear and the sound fx brutal in the huge set piece scenes. The planet of Pandora came further to life with the sounds of it’s animals, it’s huge expansive setting with waterfalls and creaking forests and the dialect of it’s natives all further adding to belief that Pandora is a living breathing world.
The Cast
Sam Worthington and the entire cast are all fantastic and show a real commitment to their characters. Sam is showing why he is becoming an true A-List Hollywood star with a performance that stood out and with excellent strong supporting performances from Sigourney Weaver and the truly brilliant Stephen Lang adding something special to the overall film and with Lang especially providing a much needed villainous presence that gave everyone something to fear on top of the huge flying machines and weapons that invaded Pandora.
From the numerous interviews I’ve read and watched about Avatar you sense the entire cast are so proud of what they have made and all gave everything to James Cameron who definitely gave his all in making his vision come to life.
Overall
Avatar is a genuine masterpiece, not because of the story or because of the stunning special fx but because they worked so perfectly together on screen in 3D to bring us something we have never seen before which isn’t said very often in the world of film. I can’t be more excited about the future and what can now be achieved but I’m also very aware of the utter rubbish this is going spawn from copy cat stories by studio executives trying to cash in on the guaranteed success of Avatar.
I would like to see a film without so much need for special effects using this new technology in the hands of Cameron, Spielberg, Jackson or Coen Brothers and see if this new 3D future can fit with a film Noir or suspense thriller. God, could you imagine Hitchcock with Cameron’s 3D cameras and what he would have made!?
I really can’t praise the film enough, I wasn’t one of the pre-release skeptics and was really hopeful of it working and I’m glad to see for me it did on every level. Go see this film and make sure you pay the extra pounds/dollars/yen/Euros etc to see it in 3D because it’s worth every penny and the only way to see Avatar.
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Having seen close to an hour of footage from “Avatar” over the past year, I agree with Gary that this is a film that must be seen in a cinema, preferably in 3D. The 3D visuals were created by emerging technologies and are simply quite stunning.
I do have a brief question. . . do you think your attending the premiere helped you like the film more? You mentioned that the event was “a great build up” for seeing the film. Having been to dozens of big star studded premieres myself I've definitely found myself enjoying mediocre films more than I would have if seeing it the way most audiences would. (“Mars Attacks!” comes immediately to mind). Not pointing any fingers, just curious is all.
– J. Sperling Reich
http://www.showbizsandbox.com
Can't agree more with that review. I was expecting a really poor film needing the cgi to carry it through but it was so incredible with the story and special fx working so well together to make the best film in years. Welcome back James Cameron.
I think it helped the level of excitement I had for seeing it! I watched it on my own and really enjoyed the whole movie and it flew by. Seeing again on Thursday at IMAX so will see what second watch is like. But I do think it is somethig special but like I said viewing it at home on Bluray will probably remove alot of what is great about Avatar.
[…] Heyyouguys har i sin recension en komplett uppställning över filmens olika aspekter. Jo, den är välskriven och fullspäckad. De skriver bland annat: ”Yeah the plot wasn’t Oscar winning material but it had more than enough to make it a work”. […]
So glad to hear that the story is good, I was worried that it would be another “Final Fantasy: Spirits Within” Still not sure if to see it in 3D or not.
[…] Review: Avatar : HeyUGuys […]
I was really lucky to go to the Premiere after i won tickets and i agree the film is stunning. The story was incredible i thought and i reckon the bad reviews it's getting are down to people wanting it to fail and just saying it's bad to get a reaction and not getting on the band wagon of it's positive effect on cinema. Rotten Tomatoes 40 out 44 reviews being fresh says a lot to me. Great great movie.
Charlotte, it has to be in 3D didnt you read the review! 🙂
Hi. Thanks for the review. I'm looking forward to seeing it at the IMAX next week. One thing that you'd need to look at again, though, is the “its” and “it's” glitches. They get us all sometimes.
[…] Review: Avatar : HeyUGuys […]
[…] have quite a few different ways for you to find out (Gary’s review is here, the press conference video is here, World Premiere footage and interviews are here). The latest […]
Tickets booked for IMAX 3D and I really can't wait for this.
[…] that are brought to life by the actors and the motion capture which is awesome. … […] Uni Ego / Review: Avatar : […]
I have just seen it, in 3-D. All I can say is wow. The CGI is so good you don't realize its CGI, the visual stuff is just spectacular, the acting excellent and the story has so many levels – political, spiritual, personal. It is excellent, I was blown away.
I will probably never look at other films in the same way. Every other special effects film will now pale in comparison, and relatively recent special effects films which pushed the boundries of their own generation – like The Matrix, look a bit dated in comparison. Just makes me wonder what Lucas could have done in Star Wars with this technology, and what might be possible in big films in the future, especially epic and big films. Seeing a Superman film with this technology, would be simply one of the best things ever – the flying scenes in this film are probably the most spectacular.
Not only is it necessary to watch this in the cinema, but it is necessary, in my opinion, to see it 3-D. It simply won't be the same on a TV screen, even a 50 inch HD TV. That's simply not how it was meant to be seen.
I agree totally with the review above. Excellent film, effects so real you don't know they are effects. I would like to see a film which doesn't need so many effects in the hands of a great director with this technology. The mind boggles as to what Lucas, Spielberg, Burton and others could do.
I look forward to finding out…
Thanks for the review. To be honest I wasn't extremely excited about seeing this but after your review I'm very interested to try to see it in 3D. Have a great holiday!
Avatar is a panned piece of garbage with already outdated technology, and an historical box office disaster. All the viral marketing trolls sent out onto the internet to push this bomb can't change reality. Wearing 3D glasses for 3 hours gave the audience a massive splitting headache. They should have seen this coming. The technology to make this movie is substandard and overhyped as being cutting edge. Real cutting edge tech is on the internet 24/7. That's where you find the real avatars, not in clunker movie theaters. This movie bombed for every apparent reason as it should have and was expected to. It was a failure in every way.
Great preview cant wait to see the film.
Movie Master, what on Pandora are you talking about? There have been no reports of any adverse reactions to the 3D glasses what-so-ever and to call Avatar “An Historical Box Office Failure” when it's official release is today(18th) is quite possibly the most idiotic comment I've ever heard. Already outdated technology?! You are out of your mind! Why don't you go back to playing with your World of Warcraft Avatar in your blacked out little W*nk room in your parents house and stop making statements that have no foundation at all that just make you look stupid.
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Watched this at the I-MAX yesterday! Loved it! Forget the critics, just go and watch it!
[…] it means that the buzz generated by the early reviews broke through the internet frontier and into the public domain resulting in Cameron’s film […]
[…] reading even as i type this. (Please note, this isn’t our official review, you can find that here, as written by Gary). Believe me though, it was never supposed to be like this. I’ve known […]
Thing with 3D for me is that I'm constantly reminded I'm at a movie theatre. That's not how my vision works. It's a telling reminder of the effect that's being played and honestly did it add that much value to the film? not really, in fact overall, it made it blurrier than the 2D version. I really hope we get over this 3D craze and quick.
I've read both yours and Baz-mans reviews and i have to say your both right! I had friends who completely loved the film and thought it was stunning. And i had friends who hated Avatar but they went in to the film already hating it (like Bazman who wrote a few articles that knocked the film before its release) and so were never going to enjoy the film no mater what.
It's incredible the reactions this film is getting and i think people are missing the real point of it. Its not trying to be Great story, It's trying to show something new in cinema in its incredible technology and CGI that was matched perfectly with its story and for that it succeeded in it 100% and has to be commended and whether we like it or not CGI is playing a huge part in almost every film released and this is definitely a step in the right direction.
Those of you who are knocking the 3D are utterly clueless, that opening scene in the Stasis room on the ship flying to Pandora was the most incredible form of Depth ever shown on the big screen and that can't be knocked as nothing like that has ever been seen before in film. It wasn't gimmicky it was revolutionary and the first attempt is never going to be perfect, i can't wait for the next big film using this technology.
As for the negative side, Avatar is never going to be a success on the Home cinema world in standard 2D which is a shame and the acting was ropey and flat but altogether it did work and i think it's sad people are going to the film rating it on it's quality of story, acting etc when you should just relax, switch off for 2.5 hours and just lose yourself in a wonderfully entertaining movie instead of thinking it's the new coming so we better knock it for the sake of knocking it!
[…] is showing in cinemas around the world now. Read Gary’s review here, or Barry’s views […]
Apparently you don't know that 3D TVs (and I suppose home cinema projectors) are going to be a hot product for 2010.
[…] can see our review of Avatar here or, if you want to read a slightly different side of the story, you can read Barry’s […]
Best film ever and i mean it exellent film i want to go see it again loved the 3d.If this comes out on dvd or bluray im sooooooooooo in there!
Perfect mix of romance and fighting with a hint of comedy if you havnt already you MUST see it or i will come and pwn u
great great great great great great great!
GO SEE AVATAR 3D NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11
p.s James1977 it is not done using CGI it is done using a new way thought up by james cameron which he calls e-motion capture!