DOUBLE SPOILER::::::::::::::: did you miss the part where mother nature decided to attack the earth people?
Spoiler Consider that the humans were vastly outnumbered...at least that's what I gathered from the info we were given throughout the movie. Think 100's of humans versus 1,000's of Pandorans. Then take into account that the Pandorans were fighting in an area where the human radar and missile locking systems were useless.
The Score for the movie, as Jake Sully would say, OUTSTANDING! <object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/RUw0ko4pw1w&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/RUw0ko4pw1w&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object> <object width="560" height="340"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/AH2ryVfK_CU&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/AH2ryVfK_CU&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="560" height="340"></embed></object> <object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/EdOGFKbs1qc&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/EdOGFKbs1qc&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object> Score is nominated at Golden Globes! I'm back in Pandora!
You also draw parallels to actual wars and it's not that impossible to imagine the outcome of this movie... Spoiler Not only were the humans outnumbered, but they were fighting in an alien environment against a people that were native to those lands, knew and flew those mountains as Jake put it. And I almost got the feeling towards the end that of the thousands or so of the Na'vi that went into battle, maybe a a few hundred or even less were left. The ground troops seemed to get slaughtered and had to retreat, and after Suhtey died and Jake was calling out to him, it seemed eerily silent as he was flying through the air. Plus, I don't remember Ewoks having Banshees that could latch onto gunships and fling 'em through the air, precision skills with the bow and arrow, had Eywah on the their side, being ten feet tall and having carbon-fiber infused bodies.
Zoe Saldana stole the show from Sam Worthington. Sam's performance probably was the main glitch in this movie. He was very monotone and unimpressive. But wow, every scene, Zoe was truly amazing.
Spoiler I thought that was pretty stupid. Yes I can understand in close range combat that would be a problem but you have a shuttle capable of orbital flight along with a ship in orbit. All they needed to do was to take the shuttle up about 20,000 feet or wherever the limit is of the Pandoran pteradactyl creatures are and bomb them from there. Or even just drop missiles from orbit. The idea of actually flying in low to drop a bomb on the tree of souls struck me as like in an action movie when a bad guy has Jean Claude Van Damme cornered and is pointing a gun at him but decides to drop the gun and fight Van Damme bare handed. Also while I'm ranting in the movie they said the humans were making a daisy cutter bomb. The range of destruction about a quarter mile of one of those. The shuttle was destroyed almost at the tree of souls so wouldn't the resulting detonation of the explosives along with the ammo and fuel onboard the shuttle have taken out the Tree of Souls anyway? There was a lot of stuff that didn't seem to make much sense in the last battle and were there for dramatic effect. I'm not going to condemn the movie for it but at the sametime I'm not going to defend it.
Also since I am filled with the Christmas spirit. If the humans really wanted to wipe out the Pandorans they should do it the tried and true way that primitive people and fragile ecosystems have been done. First have sex with some of them so you introduce some diseases that start wiping out a bunch of them. Let loose a lot of settlers who practice slash and burn agriculture. Introduce species that greatly upset the local environment, I would bring a few rats, rabbits and cockroaches. Then introduce alcohal and low nutritional value foods so the natives physical fitness declines. Dismantle, or at least greatly restrict, their religious and political structure in the name of progress and civilizing them. I would suggest using languange like "bringing the backwards Na'vi into the 22nd Century" and "liberating the serfs from their religious and warrior caste slave masters." Then comeback later and allow them to practice their religion for tourists so human tourists over run the place. So within a hundred years or so the Pandorans are either wiped out or there are only a few hundred of them left doing their Tree of Souls ceremony for tourists while trying to get a casino going. Fortunately for the Pandorans stuff like that doesn't make for good box office receipts.
Tecnology has come a long way to say the least. Unfortunately we have to wait on the good scripts with each leap. This film is the next step, but is about the special effects and making money. If you treat it as more of an experience/snapshot within the technical evolution of film it should be more enjoyable.
This is sort of how I feel. I enjoyed the story even though it was basically cookie cutter and stereotypical. In fact, I was so engrossed by how entertaining the movie was that I really didn't notice how basic the story was until I started reading some of the posts on here. Not an intellectually challenging story by any means, but a highly entertaining and enjoyable movie. Were many people actually expecting a groundbreaking, completely original story? I also walked out of the movie and said to my friend, "The end fight sequence was one of the coolest battle scenes I have seen in a long time." Can anyone remember anything comparable in recent memory? (I did think of Lord of the Rings already and I don't think those battle scenes compared). As an aside, there was a certain part of the musical score that kept bothering me because I was sure I had heard something very similar to it in another movie. The part in question takes place from 5:30 on in the below youtube clip. Anyone know what it is from? <object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/I2J-lmMvUfM&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/I2J-lmMvUfM&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>
Oh yeah. She definitely is. After being in both Star Trek and Avatar she's going to be forever immortalized as a Sci-Fi hottie.
If this Movie is what I have to look forward to from Hollywood, I guess I'll never go to movies again. For Comparison Sake: 1985 2009 Where have all the good movies gone. Hardly any 2009 film would rank in the top 50 of the 1985 version. You can go down the line and see that Hollywood these days sucks compared to what it was before.
Thanks. Apparently, these two films share the same composer. And apparently he has re-used that horn part in other films according to this quote I just read: "Also noted is a slight motif that has been refered to as “the danger theme” , an eerie progression of four notes mostly played by brass instruments, that Horner has relied to in several films, such as Willow and most notoriously (and repeatedly) in Enemy at the Gates and Troy."
This was a great year for SciFi. Moon...Star Trek...District 9...and now AVATAR. AVATAR is the best movie this year for me. I will have to catch it again in IMAX and sit a little closer to see if it will make any difference. Welcome back Mr King of the World!!!
