On Seeing Avatar January 11, 2010
Posted by Matt in movies.Tags: Avatar, Dances with Ewoks, politics, review, visuals
2 comments
Yesterday Diana and I finally got around to seeing the latest box office smash, Avatar, the film that has viewers raving around the world. Even now, after being in theaters for a few weeks, it is still attracting long lines as shows continue to sell out. I can attest to that because yesterday the 3:30 showing was full when we arrived, so we settled for the 4:00 and immediately took our place in a long line waiting for the doors to open.
But, anyway, we did see this, the biggest motion picture event for quite sometime. My verdict:
It was good. Not great, but definitely good.
The 3-D spectacle is unbelievable and certainly worth the inflated price of admission. James Cameron does a masterful job of bringing this alien world to life visually, in a way that outdoes any film before it.
But, even though the visuals are groundbreaking and look unbelievable, the story is pretty run-of-the-mill. It’s cliché-riddled and fairly unoriginal, but still enjoyable. As I stated on my Facebook status yesterday, I think the subtitle for the film should have been Dances with Ewoks. I kept waiting for two logs suspended by ropes to smash into one of those robot things and destroy it.
I like the strong environmental message and the anti-imperialism view, but even I thought the Bush-bashing lines made by the crazed military leader near the end of the movie were a little over-the-top. Really? You have to employ a “preemptive strike” and use the term “Shock and awe?” I mean, I disliked the Bush presidency as much as anybody, but feeding the far-right whackos doesn’t help things at all.
In all, it was a good movie and certainly worth seeing for the spectacular visuals alone. This is the epitome of escapist entertainment and that’s definitely not a bad thing.
I give it 8/10 stars and fully expect it to sweep every technical award at the upcoming Oscars.
What did you think of Avatar?
