Is anyone else staring to get a "machines are evil" vibe from James Cameron? This film is just okay for me. I never get terribly excited about special effects, but I admit that this movie is a visual feast---the foliage, the sweeping flight scenes---very nice. Nevertheless, the creatures didn't do it for me. Well done---I mean really good CG, but still screaming CG. Still not coming out of that uncanny valley. The female lead is better than the others, even quite amazing, and yet . . . still too smooth and plastic-y looking. I so much prefer make-up, costumes, and puppets, but I understand their limitations. The main complaint I have, and what kept me somewhat disengaged throughout the film, is lack of characters I could care about. The lead, Jake, is really very blah. He sort of mosies along though major choices with seemingly little internal struggle, and what's he thinking mating for life to a woman when he has no idea that he'll be able to stay in a body that can even breath in her world? Had the romance drawn me in more, I could have accepted it, but as the romance is also a bit blah, it just seems inconsiderate. While the native girl is more interesting than the leading man, she still didn't pull me in. Also, the villains are too inhuman. I appreciate the point Cameron is making about the evils we commit against our world and against unfamiliar cultures; however, if these guys were more human----not Terminators sans metal, those points about the evils of humanity would have had more resonance. Sigourney Weaver's character is actually quite good, but she's not enough to get me emotionally involved. Spoilers follow: I have other complaints about predictability; a pat, tacked on solution to the problem of the man living in the wrong body (I groaned when I saw that one coming); the feeling that too much is packed in, even though the film is three hours long; the idea that a cavalry charge on horse-like creatures against a wall of machine gun fire makes any sense---still, all these things are forgivable if the characters can carry it, and I don't think these characters do, so that's the major sore thumb of the film in my estimation. All in all though, certainly worth seeing, but the first Terminator remains James Cameron's masterpiece as far as I'm concerned.
Sunday, January 10, 2010
Avatar
Is anyone else staring to get a "machines are evil" vibe from James Cameron? This film is just okay for me. I never get terribly excited about special effects, but I admit that this movie is a visual feast---the foliage, the sweeping flight scenes---very nice. Nevertheless, the creatures didn't do it for me. Well done---I mean really good CG, but still screaming CG. Still not coming out of that uncanny valley. The female lead is better than the others, even quite amazing, and yet . . . still too smooth and plastic-y looking. I so much prefer make-up, costumes, and puppets, but I understand their limitations. The main complaint I have, and what kept me somewhat disengaged throughout the film, is lack of characters I could care about. The lead, Jake, is really very blah. He sort of mosies along though major choices with seemingly little internal struggle, and what's he thinking mating for life to a woman when he has no idea that he'll be able to stay in a body that can even breath in her world? Had the romance drawn me in more, I could have accepted it, but as the romance is also a bit blah, it just seems inconsiderate. While the native girl is more interesting than the leading man, she still didn't pull me in. Also, the villains are too inhuman. I appreciate the point Cameron is making about the evils we commit against our world and against unfamiliar cultures; however, if these guys were more human----not Terminators sans metal, those points about the evils of humanity would have had more resonance. Sigourney Weaver's character is actually quite good, but she's not enough to get me emotionally involved. Spoilers follow: I have other complaints about predictability; a pat, tacked on solution to the problem of the man living in the wrong body (I groaned when I saw that one coming); the feeling that too much is packed in, even though the film is three hours long; the idea that a cavalry charge on horse-like creatures against a wall of machine gun fire makes any sense---still, all these things are forgivable if the characters can carry it, and I don't think these characters do, so that's the major sore thumb of the film in my estimation. All in all though, certainly worth seeing, but the first Terminator remains James Cameron's masterpiece as far as I'm concerned.
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This is actually Laurie. I agree with you about the main character. I just didn't really like him. I guess I didn't really dislike him either...well, maybe I did. It is pretty rude to destroy someone else' life on a passionate whim. I didn't mind the happy-ending twist (where he got to stay in the avatar body), but I do think they could have done a bit more to explain the humans' perspective -from what I can tell it was just plain greed, which seemed a little weak to me. Yeah, main character was my biggest complaint. Although I did like it when he tamed the big dragon-thing. How do you think they will make a sequel?
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