I'm thrilled with the success of this film. I don't know why, but it just makes me happy. Love the message it sends to support original concepts in the blockbuster field. I'm also thrilled that James Cameron's going to be given whatever budget he wants, and seems to be back into films for the considerable future. He hasn't lost anything, not that I expected he would, and that's a great sign considering the falloff of his generation of filmmakers people argue about.
That said, I liked Avatar a lot, but it fell just short of my expectations. The characters never did anything special for me though I enjoyed them. The colonel was my favorite character of the bunch. And though I expected the plot to be cliche - I did think it would be executed as perfectly as it could be. Instead, it feels like slightly too big of a film even for its 2 hours 40 minutes runtime.
All said, the visuals blew me away, and their sheer vision is impressive. What they accomplished is incredible, but I don't agree that Neytiri is the most impressive CG character ever. Gollum in my opinion, is still the most successful for the emotional, narrative weight he carried. His success all come from the performance, and his animation. That really won't be surpassed because of technology. On the technical side though, Neytiri is a triumph, and also a very good character in the realm of live-action CG characters.
Cameron's directing is also nothing short of spectacular in all respects. I came away 90% fulfilled on expectations. My friend kind of got uppity, and started sighing during the ending - that was quite annoying. The 2 friends I went with (sunday night) didn't enjoy it that much. Of the two, one was very hyped for the movie. He's a sci-fi nerd and I think he went in hoping for something he made up in his head.
All of us went to the 15-minute preview back in the summer, and came away extremely impressed. I wished I hadn't gone to that now, because I do think I was waiting for those scenes to come on the screen, to get to that uncharted territory. The Dark Knight's preview screening was much more to my liking I realize after experience the two, in showing only the first 7 minute. That was enough to get you excited. I think it affected my 2 friends, because they came out of that screening buzzing - something I didn't see that night. It's the difference between being caught completely off guard, and expecting to be even more blown away to a further degree.
We would have gone to opening night showing, but I just got back from college this Friday. The film was worth the wait, I think it's a great step forward after the decade of the blockbuster sequels. That will obviously continue, but I'm just glad that James Cameron is back in the game. He's always going to be pushing the envelope.I'm looking forward to seeing it again. Just a couple days after my Sunday night screening, I'm anticipating it again. I may bring some family along, who seem to be very curious about a film that normally wouldn't be up any of their alleys. The word of mouth and media are doing a hell of a job creating a (well-deserved) buzz about the film.
I think a sequel to this, helmed by James Cameron, could be absolutely spectacular. My only problem, and this is why I will be avoiding the Star Wars comparisons, is that I don't think Avatar has the characters to really support the franchise as the height of blockbuster films that it should be. The story was predictable in this film, but you can fix that with a sequel. This film had a lot to establish, and sets up well. But if Cameron really wants this to be his Star Wars, he should have been more considerate in creating characters we desperately want to come back to. Especially in Jake Sully, who is a generically ballsy vehicle of a character.
Instead, a sequel is all on his shoulders to create spectacle again, to bring audiences back.
Anyway, looking forward to seeing it again, which I hope to do sometime this week. I don't want to go back to college (car-less) without a second screening of this.
