Just when I thought I couldn't hate society more...

[Thoth]

Why not? We might get rid of him for awhile.

[Elok]

No, he'll just be back throwing death threats around for letting him waste money seeing the film.

[Barnabas]

Did the blue girl have a vagina or sex for them is that connecting through hair thing?

[Barnabas]

These hippies who love nature so much should be eaten by a Polar Bear

[MRT144]

I don't think that was so bad, a harmless injoke. Thought it fine just like all the little nods to the Alien movies.

Worse that the movie is cartoonishly black and white. The Na'vi are unquestionably good and the corporation is unremittingly evil and there are no contradictions to this. It's the triumph of the anti-enlightenment. (I'm not surprised to hear Avatar is doing great in places like China and India.) All the potentially interesting directions the plot could have taken gone by some magic plot device or other usually left unexplained (perhaps it even enhances the mystical appeal). Some might not mind this, or even prefer it because they want to 'escape', but actually it makes an infantile world. It could be a cause for despair or worry if your cynicism still lets you feel those things.

But marvellous 3D and great attention to detail in creating the world of Pandora and its inhabitants, including their language. That makes it a unique experience for now. Not really surprised that some people, or personality types might get very attached to it. The same people would say Avatar is their generation's Star Wars. Just try not to contemplate the movie's cross-species romance through these people's eyes.

Although i hate it when something redeeming is thrown in just to make something not so black and white, and it's obvious and terrible.

[MRT144]

Dude, look at the guy in the picture with a pizza box. He's going to ****ing kill himself in two weeks when he realizes thats all he has.

[Barnabas]

I watched Disney's Pocahontas when I was a little kid, and it was less black and white than this movie. The story is pretty much the same.

[Elok]

Just saw it with the wife. Knew it would be bad, somehow wasn't prepared for it to be THAT bad. I was expecting WALL-E levels of liberal ***** preachiness, which they easily exceeded to the point that I couldn't help physically wincing at some times. I'm not exactly conservative myself, but if you're gonna do propaganda take the time to do it right, dammit!

And, this being James Cameron, I expected more or less competent internal logic. They ****ed that up to the point of extreme humor (which is good, because all the pretty-pretty wouldn't have been enough to sustain interest otherwise), around GI-Joe level I'd say. Gee, this jungle is dangerous, we'd better send out a giant alien guy with this giant alien-sized AK we built for whatever reason! Then we'll reveal that giant alien AK bullets can't pierce native-monster hide, making the whole exercise completely pointless except to risk more gummint property! Only the natives with bows CAN kill these things easily, while the natives are vulnerable to bullets, so it's a sort of paper-scissors-rock universe.

And they all have USB cables for hair. God knows why. James Cameron probably doesn't.

[Asher]

And they all have USB cables for hair. God knows why. James Cameron probably doesn't.

I thought that was pretty thoroughly explained.

Did you not comprehend the bit about the network?

[Elok]

Yes, but WhyTF did all life on this planet evolve to form a treehugger's organic internet, and why, short of genetic engineering which there is no evidence of, does every animal have a little plug-n-play slot for another species to hijack its brain with?

[Ben Kenobi]

Gee, is that all... Heck, a good fight between Asher and BK could do that

1000 posts is a bit much. We'd probably need help with it. 25 posts an hour for 20 hours apiece. I could see 10 for 12, which we've probably done already, but that would make only about 240 posts or so.

[Heraclitus]

These hippies who love nature so much should be eaten by a Polar Bear

+1

[Heraclitus]

Yes, but WhyTF did all life on this planet evolve to form a treehugger's organic internet, and why, short of genetic engineering which there is no evidence of, does every animal have a little plug-n-play slot for another species to hijack its brain with?

Natural selection probably hasen't taken plance on that planet since Eywa gained sentience. Its basically ripped apart any preexisting ecology and replaced it with an artifical one that is completley under its control. I don't see how she is better than humanity.


Its pretty clear tha Eywa is the equivalent of a malevolent God, not flinching at killing millions to preserve its precious "blance". I mean seriusly does anyone wonder why the blue kittens aren't advancing technologically all love and obey Eywa without question? Its pretty clear the Navi or whatever they are called are engineered for slavery and used as nothing more than white cells or glorified mind worms for Planet I mean Eywa.

[Asher]

Yes, but WhyTF did all life on this planet evolve to form a treehugger's organic internet, and why, short of genetic engineering which there is no evidence of, does every animal have a little plug-n-play slot for another species to hijack its brain with?

Dude, Elok...it's a sci-fi movie. The whole point of these types of movies is to create worlds unlike our own. They don't seem plausible at all on Earth, but that's kind of the point.

I actually think it's a pretty neat idea for a sci-fi premise. I don't see it as being entirely far-out there, it certainly makes far more sense than "The Force" or telepathy or God... In fact, I thought it was also blatantly clear that Eywa was their God. And because you are a Good Christian, I can't fathom why you cannot understand this. Eywa, a God, created that world and the life on it.

So what is your major malfunction?

[Bosh]

Was pleasantly surprised by the movie. Its the kind of movie that does a good job of what its trying to do and makes the basic premise work.

Its got a truckload of cliches but I think it does a better job than most similar movies of justifying the cliches. For example, all the blathering about all life being one actually makes sense in terms of the movie since because of the planetary hivemind all life IS one, etc. Also instead of the Everyman Whitey being the hero because he is The Chosen One, it seems he ends up being the hero because he's empty-headed enough for the hivemind to get its hooks into and manipulate him into doing what it wants.

Also while there is a lot of standard Hollywood Romanticism blather, its a lot less anti-Enlightenment than other movies of its ilk. The scientists are basically the good guys and instead of arrogant scientists not Listening to Their Hearts we have idiot managers going with their preconceptions instead of listening to what the scientists are figuring out through logic and experimentation.

Finally, the pacing is pretty good. It felt like every scene was in there for a reason and things flowed well (unlike, for example, The Dark Knight which had a lot of awesome scenes but some really horrible pacing problems and a really jumpy story).

The main flaw was probably the specific lines they were either really forgettable or just plain-groan worthy. They should have hired a good screenwriter to buff up the script a bit. I can't think of a single memorable (in a good way) line in the entire movie. But the actors did the best job they could have with the script. Especially the Evil Marine Dude did pretty good with his cartoonish role, I love the bit in which he's riding into battle with his coffee mug There weren't any actors who stood out as especially annoying (no Shea LeBeuf thank god).The cartoonish black and white morality, while silly, is pretty part and parcel for block busters so I can't get too annoyed at it and you can grey things up pretty well if you think about what a planet dominated by an eternal hivemind really entails (and what the probable human response to all of this will be, "nuke the site from orbit, its the only way to be sure").