Whats the deal with the Avatar movie?

[Sougo]

From your answers, I think I can comfortably say that if you were a character in this movie you would be the bad guy. Just saying.

1) Why is it called Avatar? Because the Na'vi clones that the humans control are called "avatars".
2) In the first 15 mins it becomes pretty obvious who the good and the bad humans are, seeing as all the Na'vi are good ... you can practically predict what happens next in the movie. Not all movies rely on plot twits and such. Establishing the antagonist and protagonist early on can help the audience relate.
3) Am I the only one who thinks the the colonel (yes, the big bad guy) was in the right? I'd actually like you to elaborate on this. Do you think exploiting a technologically inferior for monetary gain is a good thing?
4) Why did the colonel employ Jake Sully to find weaknesses in the tribe? You don't need weaknesses to bomb em... The tree is massive, first of all. He needed to know that this tree that was hundreds of meters thick wasn't solid all the way through. And second, I suspect he just wanted to keep a bit of control over Jake.
5) Sigourney Weaver isn't an action star [paraphrased] Maybe she wanted this. The last thing an actor/actress wants is to be typecast.
6) The colonel offers Jake Sully legs.... LEGS dammit. Who doesn't want legs!!! I can't help but feel that between LEGS and joining team thundercats .... LEGS was the right choice. Part of the plot was making sacrifice for things more important than individual gain. Besides, when he was a Na'vi he did have legs.
7) "The Humans were sent back to their dying world..." Really? So Jake Sully chooses to live on a lush planet teaming with life, while condemning his fellow humans to die off with their world... I dunno about you but I think this looks as bad as genocide to me... It's not genocide if they inflicted it upon themselves. Humans destroyed Earth, then moved on with the intent to destroy Pandora. All Jake did was adopt Pandora as his new home and defend it from the human invaders.
8) The humans lost 1 battle and its all over ?!?!? Why wasn't the colonel succeeded by a 2nd in command or something? Where are the nukes, dammit? The whole reason humans are there is for unobtanium. If it gets nuked away, everyone gets in big trouble. And that one battle involved the vast majority of human resources. After that, they finished up easily. It would have taken many years for reinforcements arrived.

It might not be an award winning plot, but just because you didn't understand it all or catch the underlying theme doesn't mean it's full of plot holes (I'm not saying there aren't any, because there are). If you don't like it, fine. At least you put in the effort to ask about it rather than just say "failz, itz teh Furn Gully with robotz" (FYI, Avatar was written 40 years ago, long before Fern Gully)

1) Already replied to this in an earlier post.
2) Understandable....
3) The colonels initial intention was negotiation. The attack decisions are actually made after Jake's log is revealed in which he says the Na'vi will never negotiate. Reality of the world is, that no matter what anybody says, it is a survival of the fittest (yeah, noone likes it but thats what happens in the end). The weaker ones should atleast be willing to negotiate. The Na'vi had apparently already cut off all diplomacy and shut down the school before the movie started.
4) --
5) lol, I'm not criticizing the movie for this. I was merely stating what I was expecting.
6) ewe...blue skin, tail, and a free USB drive attached to your hair. Uh, no thanks. I'll take those human legs over there please. Bonus blue chick and romance between thundercats is disgusting.
7) When you say humans destroyed earth, you're generalizing. Everybody is responsible. That means Jake is as responsible as the colonel. So what gives Jake the right to banish someone. Again it depends on the way you look at it, but the way it was executed in the movie sure looked cold-hearted to me.
8) I wasn't talking about nukes literally. Just implying that they do have a planet-full of re-inforcements.

For the record, I have never seen Furn Gully or Dances with Wolves. I was only assessing Avatar for what I saw in it. Also, its not like I'm trying to dislike the movie ... frankly I'm just having a hard time finding things to like (other than the CGI).
One other thing, one of Jakes objectives was also to warn the Navi of the impending threat and humanity's intentions which he failed to do until it was too late. The reason he delayed it was simply because he was having too much fun flinging around the jungle with the thundercats. Does this mean that it was Jake's selfishness that served as a catalyst for war?

 

[Sougo]

From your answers, I think I can comfortably say that if you were a character in this movie you would be the bad guy. Just saying.

1) Why is it called Avatar? Because the Na'vi clones that the humans control are called "avatars".
2) In the first 15 mins it becomes pretty obvious who the good and the bad humans are, seeing as all the Na'vi are good ... you can practically predict what happens next in the movie. Not all movies rely on plot twits and such. Establishing the antagonist and protagonist early on can help the audience relate.
3) Am I the only one who thinks the the colonel (yes, the big bad guy) was in the right? I'd actually like you to elaborate on this. Do you think exploiting a technologically inferior for monetary gain is a good thing?
4) Why did the colonel employ Jake Sully to find weaknesses in the tribe? You don't need weaknesses to bomb em... The tree is massive, first of all. He needed to know that this tree that was hundreds of meters thick wasn't solid all the way through. And second, I suspect he just wanted to keep a bit of control over Jake.
5) Sigourney Weaver isn't an action star [paraphrased] Maybe she wanted this. The last thing an actor/actress wants is to be typecast.
6) The colonel offers Jake Sully legs.... LEGS dammit. Who doesn't want legs!!! I can't help but feel that between LEGS and joining team thundercats .... LEGS was the right choice. Part of the plot was making sacrifice for things more important than individual gain. Besides, when he was a Na'vi he did have legs.
7) "The Humans were sent back to their dying world..." Really? So Jake Sully chooses to live on a lush planet teaming with life, while condemning his fellow humans to die off with their world... I dunno about you but I think this looks as bad as genocide to me... It's not genocide if they inflicted it upon themselves. Humans destroyed Earth, then moved on with the intent to destroy Pandora. All Jake did was adopt Pandora as his new home and defend it from the human invaders.
8) The humans lost 1 battle and its all over ?!?!? Why wasn't the colonel succeeded by a 2nd in command or something? Where are the nukes, dammit? The whole reason humans are there is for unobtanium. If it gets nuked away, everyone gets in big trouble. And that one battle involved the vast majority of human resources. After that, they finished up easily. It would have taken many years for reinforcements arrived.

It might not be an award winning plot, but just because you didn't understand it all or catch the underlying theme doesn't mean it's full of plot holes (I'm not saying there aren't any, because there are). If you don't like it, fine. At least you put in the effort to ask about it rather than just say "failz, itz teh Furn Gully with robotz" (FYI, Avatar was written 40 years ago, long before Fern Gully)

1) Already replied to this in an earlier post.
2) Understandable....
3) The colonels initial intention was negotiation. The attack decisions are actually made after Jake's log is revealed in which he says the Na'vi will never negotiate. Reality of the world is, that no matter what anybody says, it is a survival of the fittest (yeah, noone likes it but thats what happens in the end). The weaker ones should atleast be willing to negotiate. The Na'vi had apparently already cut off all diplomacy and shut down the school before the movie started.
4) --
5) lol, I'm not criticizing the movie for this. I was merely stating what I was expecting.
6) ewe...blue skin, tail, and a free USB drive attached to your hair. Uh, no thanks. I'll take those human legs over there please. Bonus blue chick and romance between thundercats is disgusting.
7) When you say humans destroyed earth, you're generalizing. Everybody is responsible. That means Jake is as responsible as the colonel. So what gives Jake the right to banish someone. Again it depends on the way you look at it, but the way it was executed in the movie sure looked cold-hearted to me.
8) I wasn't talking about nukes literally. Just implying that they do have a planet-full of re-inforcements.

For the record, I have never seen Furn Gully or Dances with Wolves. I was only assessing Avatar for what I saw in it. Also, its not like I'm trying to dislike the movie ... frankly I'm just having a hard time finding things to like (other than the CGI).
One other thing, one of Jakes objectives was also to warn the Navi of the impending threat and humanity's intentions which he failed to do until it was too late. The reason he delayed it was simply because he was having too much fun flinging around the jungle with the thundercats. Does this mean that it was Jake's selfishness that served as a catalyst for war?

 

[GL2814E]

Under the threat of the destruction of one's own species...

F' that noise about genocide, smoke the Thundercats with the mecha...

Not that I would blame the Thundercats for fighting back. But as a Homo Sapien Sapien I'm not dying for Thundercats.

You know what would've been cool as opposed to this... A James Cameron reboot of Aliens that erased Aliens 3 and up. Totally should have made Hicks the survivor and killed the Aliens on Pandora. That would've been cool.

 

[Kimarous]

4. Their is an explonation for all that, and it is...

Spoiler

Look at the pretty bunny! Look at the pretty bunny!

1. Nicely done joke!
2. Great reference!
3. Adorable picture!

Spoiler: You deserve a cookie for each point.

 

[Nigh Invulnerable]

Avatar gets hyped for being visually impressive and being a fun action movie. It is, however, hardly unique or original. The only thing about it I dislike is the people fawning over it as if it's the greatest film ever, or the fact that its special effects somehow make the film "great". Having the latest gadgets and technology does not mean your movie is good.

 

[Caligulove]

SMURFS...IN...SPACE!!! AND THREE-DEEEEEEE!!

Yeah, James Cameron hasn't made a movie worth seeing since Terminator, but that doesn't stop people with no taste from spending megabucks to see his over-marketed drivel.

What about Aliens and T2, probably the best sequels ever- since they just about surpass the originals?

OT:
I liked Avatar, I saw the plot coming from a mile away, and the Corporate guy's character was practically named "Mr. Exposition" when practically his first line was explaining why the humans were there and a brief history of things... it felt out of place.

But I digress, like I said, I enjoyed the film. The visuals and just how creative some of the life on Pandora and just how beautifully it was rendered... was enough for me. And its enough to get me to come back and see it a few times since the first time.

The one thing I really didn't like were the supporting human characters... the film just didnt do anything to make me care about them more than the fact that "they're Jake Sully's chums" That and what happens to Jake Sully was something you saw coming around half way through the film. That and the Na'vi seem to get kind of whiny at parts of the film, but they're supposed to be the wise, better than humans, spiritual/one with the planet good guys... and then they lost it during a few scenes

 

[Lord Doomhammer]

But its so pretty... so... shiney...

 

[YouCallMeNighthawk]

Yeah i only just recently watched it ... I wasn't exactly going to cover myself in gold and molest james cameron but it was an ok film.

The final fight scene was ..... the only good scene in it.

 

[Masteryuri666]

I rather enjoyed Avatar. The plot is anything BUT original yet my brain didn't give a damn just cause it was being sucked in by the incredible visuals. One of the big things for me was the humans and Na'vi interacted (separately & together). Kinda hard to explain that bit but I'm just really fascinated with how humans may or may not act as a species in the centuries to come. Assuming we ever meet up with another damn species in this galaxy.

Besides the unoriginal plot, my only peeve with Avatar was the constant environmental message. It's like the characters are running through the forest in some fantastic chase sequence but have to stop when they accidentally step on a bug. They proceed to weep, beg forgiveness from the planet's spirits, then promptly inform the audience that nature is best and we are all evil little bastards etc etc. Rinse and repeat every 5-10 minutes.

 

[blankedboy]

8)Because the Navi took over their one base and no one there played Starcraft enough to realize that you're supposed to expand...

Cookie to you. Find one yourself, I can't be bothered flipping through nine pages of Google Images.

On-topic, I thought the movie was alright, it would've been alot better if there weren't hundreds of movies before it to horribly degrade the whole thing.
Also, it is mostly the visuals that people like about it, for obvious reasons. Try getting a 2-D version, turn the contrast down, then switch the resolution to 320x240.
That's what I have. It sucks balls that way.

 

[AstylahAthrys]

Saw Avatar, thought it was pretty, enjoyed it, will never watch it again. It was one of those movies I enjoyed a lot while I was watching it but looking back I can reflect and realize it was mostly "meh." My opinions are pretty much reflected in the first post (except for #1, I got that while watching the movie). No, Avatar wasn't a bad movie, but I think I would've enjoyed it more if I hadn't heard it was the "BEST MOVIE EVAAAR" from dozens of people.

 

[foodmaniac]

Spoiler Alert: If you haven't seen Avatar and you've read the above, be happy. You don't need to see the movie anymore ^_^

Well that's nice. Don't worry, I don't think I was ever planning on seeing the movie anyway, so it's nice to have someone say "OMG IT WAS EPIC LOLZ"

 

[Kasawd]

"I really like that duke nukem guy, eh blows up thundercats and doesn't afraid of anything"

I enjoyed the movie, personally. It promised spectacular and, true to it's word, it was a spectacle. As I said before, it was excellent that they managed to cast Duke Nukem as the antagonist.

Despite my rooting for his every endeavour.

 

[-Samurai-]

Spoiler alert goes before the spoilers. Thanks for ruining that for me...

 

[-Samurai-]

EDIT: first post didnt show for some reason...

 

[Freyar]

So I've just watched Avatar. Yes I know I'm a couple of months too late, but anyways...

I'll push my answers bit-by-bit. Yes, I'm four pages late, but no.. I'm not going ot read all them.

1) Why is it called Avatar? On the planet of Pandora, occupied by humanoid species called the Na'vi, whose home is now under threat by humans. Seems like a more fitting name would've been "Humans vs. Thundercats" (as all the Na'vi look like distant cousins of Panthera of the thundercats).

Avatar, based on the program "Avatar", which is subsequently a representation of using an alternate ego to represent oneself. Push it further to mirror MMORPGs and RPGs and it's pretty much the same idea. The movie itself didn't seem to make sense as it didn't push the boundaries of identity though.

2) In the first 15 mins it becomes pretty obvious who the good and the bad humans are, seeing as all the Na'vi are good ... you can practically predict what happens next in the movie.

As my father said:

It's a movie depicting a story about a self-loathing dominant race.

I was put off by the racism. Rather than making aliens seem alien or sound alien, they just took earthly stereotypes instead. Ruthless businessmen from America, and oppressed Native American / African natives.

3) Am I the only one who thinks the the colonel (yes, the big bad guy) was in the right?

The whole thing's "Right and Wrong" went out the window as soon as it became the typical stereotypical "white guys are bad".

4) The movie creates a distinct impression that the humans and Thundercats are somewhat evenly matched ... that is until the fighting actually begins ... and the humans PWN the thundercats. This really got me thinking that if the humans were all that militarily superior to the Thundercats anyway, why in the world did the colonel employ Jake Sully to find weaknesses in the tribe? You don't need weaknesses to bomb em...

Intelligence was needed on the makeup of the "Home Tree", hence why Sully was employed. Once Sully got in, he was able to make the observations and effectively explain the most effective targets for removing the tree. Outside of that, the Colonel didn't care.

5) The movie has Sigourney Weaver in it ... as a scientist! I can't believe I watched a 2.5 hour movie with Sigourney Weaver in it and there wasn't a single scene of her machine-gunning someone or hammering someone with Mecha-armor (and this movie had guns and Mecha-armor too). To make matters worse, she dies .... and she doesn't even come back, as a thundercat or as a cyborg. (You'd think that after 4 Alien movies this was a given...)

I had an image of one of those mechs with Sigourney Weaver in it. I've lost it since then due to a faulty Western Digital drive though.

6) The colonel offers Jake Sully legs.... LEGS dammit. Who doesn't want legs!!! I can't help but feel that between LEGS and joining team thundercats .... LEGS was the right choice.

Again, the story and morality was already set in stone. Rather than really pushing the envelope and making things a bit interesting, Sully was turned into the "savior" with predictable choices rather than really pushing it like the script could have.

7) "The Humans were sent back to their dying world..." Really? So Jake Sully chooses to live on a lush planet teaming with life, while condemning his fellow humans to die off with their world... I dunno about you but I think this looks as bad as genocide to me...

Dying was more of a description than a literal fact. My understanding is that while flora and fauna were rare-ish, it was still habitable.

8) The humans lost 1 battle and its all over ?!?!? Why wasn't the colonel succeeded by a 2nd in command or something? Where are the nukes, dammit?

That wasn't in the tactical package. Hell, they had to jury rig a dropship for an attack too. It's all a mess.

 

[Aurora219]

It was a good, fairly mindless runthrough. I thought that there was a whole world of plot holes as well, and could have quite easily written the next chapter as each of them unfolded one after the other, but it still kept me interested enough to be called worth watching for sure.

 

[blindthrall]

SMURFS...IN...SPACE!!! AND THREE-DEEEEEEE!!

Yeah, James Cameron hasn't made a movie worth seeing since Terminator, but that doesn't stop people with no taste from spending megabucks to see his over-marketed drivel.

Hey! No. Bad. Aliens and Terminator 2, dude. Terminator is better than the sequel, but I think Aliens is one of the best films ever. Certainly Cameron's best. Abyss was pretty cool too, but I can't remember if it predates Terminator. Fuck Titanic, though.

OT- The fauna were the best part. When I saw the floating islands, that's when I realized my higher cognitive functions were no longer welcome. When the Colonel survived his 200-foot drop because he was surrounded by a few tons of steel, that's when Cameron forcibly ejected them from the theater.

District 9 owns it, if just for a more realistic depiction of human interaction with the Unknown.