Originally Posted by
CPU
I'm surprised there's not already a thread for this movie (or is there?).
I went to see it over the weekend and thought it was great! The 3D tech is awesome (IMO), it's certainly come a LONG way from the last 3D movie I watched.
The plot wasn't particularly innovative, but Cameron can certainly tell a good story. I thought the ending was a little hard to swallow
I could understand that criticism if it becomes apparent that there will be no sequel. And maybe there won't be, at least under Cameron's direction. He hasn't given in to the "sequelmania" other than Judgement Day. But there are rumors to such, and no doubt a sequel will end up dealing with the very thing you're talking about. But if there is no sequel, then yeah, I'd like to know why in the future Earth has decided to take "a few good men" literally. Other than that, yes, this movie was classic Cameron.
I hear people talking smack about the dialogue and acting, and then say they've been a long time Cameron fan. And I get confused at such criticisms when I look back at all his movies. In summary, taking this movie, and Aliens, and the Abyss, Terminator, all that, into account, Cameron movies aren't oscar worthy in terms of storyline, acting and dialogue. They're not bad, but they're also not groundbreaking. The dialogue and acting resembles blue colar, down to earth characters and I love that. A lot of cheesy one liners, sure, but that's classic action, and that's classic Cameron. This movie was no exception. All the military scenes and the science team scenes, that was every Cameron movie you've ever seen in a nutshell. Sigourney Weaver's presence capitalized on that. It's when we get to the Navi that Cameron sort of stepped out of his bubble for better or worse.
I think it was for the better. I liked those sequences the best in this film. And that acting was actually pretty good. The animators were in on the acting as well, and they did a superb job. They took what Jackson did with Gollum to the next level. Which is what you're hoping for. Gollum was great animated acting but any future movies that attempt it, you hope they do a better job, and Avatar did. Favorite scene for this: watching Neytiri (Zoe Saldana) react to her mother wanting her to teach Jake Sully (Sam Worthington).
My criticisms: 1.) Jake Sully ends up being unremorsefully anti-human. He's a marine, he's gotta be going through some sort of emotional battle due to killing his own. I wonder about how an actual marine would critique this part of the film. 2.) as good as the animation was there were some awkward animations - like a couple of jumping stuff - where their bodies contort in unrealistic ways. That's a nitpick I know, but I usually don't nitpick. But there were a coupld scenes that popped out at me.
Loved the film. Didn't even need to be 3D, that was just icing on the cake. Hope they have an uncut version coming.