Ummm... yeah. If you live within a hundred miles of an IMAX theater showing Avatar in 3-D... you should go. And if you don't live within a hundred miles radius of an IMAX theater showing Avatar in 3-D... you should still go. It's just that mind-blowing an experience.
Sure the story is so predictable that you'll feel you've suddenly become psychic. And yes, the plot is so black & white that you could cut yourself with the sharp division between good & evil. And true, it's got some stuff going on that seems so forced that you'll swear a giant shoehorn is going to appear on-screen any minute.
But...
It's also the singular most immersive spectacle you're likely to see for a while.
After seeing the miraculous CGI used to create an entire world, you will believe that anything is possible. Anything...
You keep telling yourself that it's not real... that it's just a computer-generated image... but then you forget. And pretty soon you just give in to the fact that 10-foot tall blue aliens actually exist.
And that alone would be amazing.
But the 3-D pushes it to the next level. There were several times throughout the movie that my fear of heights was literally kicking in. This isn't some cheesy attempt to use 3-D for quirky effects... it's 3-D used with such subtlety and mastery that it puts you in the film. Which is why you really need to make an effort to see it in IMAX 3-D before it's gone.
Well, until the sequel comes along.
Bravo, James Cameron. This time you've created a movie that actually deserves to make billions of dollars.
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I saw Avatar when i Bangkok and loved it too but as you say. It was due to the graphics and the 3D. The story itself were a bit lame.
I saw it in 3D but not at an Imax. There’s an Imax in my city (one of only a few in the UK) but you can’t get a ticket to see Avatar there for love or money. Seeing it in ‘standard’ 3D was good, but it would have been so much better at the Imax.
Yup. Pretty much sums it up for me, except I didn’t see it in 3D. I do plan on an attempt before it leaves the theatres. You could say I’ve been Avatar’d.
Wait.
Go’tye imani nodari imaxya’an.
Which in Na’vian means, “Get thee to an IMAX!”
I totally agree on the subtlety of the 3D – really amazing. And this is a movie that would lose SO much on the small screen – if people even kind of sort of think they want to see it, they should see it in the theatre.
I saw it in 3-D and, tragically, I couldn’t take it. I felt the 3-D headache setting in, then the 3-D nausea. I had to take the glasses off.
But still, it’s the prettiest movie I’ve even seen.
Hubs wants to see it but gets really motion sick just watching video games, so we’re hesitant. I’ve heard the same thing about the story, but I’d like to see it just for the artwork.
I feel so left out. The 3D technology doesn’t do anything for me. The pictures don’t pop or immerse, they’re blurry and trigger a migrane.
Wow. Great post, Dave.
Now I really need to go see this in IMAX 3D.
I could not agree more. Dan and I LOVED seeing the movie at the IMAX in 3-D – team that with Hard Rock Mac-n-Cheese, best day/date evah! Sure, people have knocked the movie for plot, etc., but the graphics more than made up for any plot issues with me. I just wanted to bottle the mind blowing color and as you said, subtle use of 3-D. Loved that there was 3-D within 3-D – the 3-D graphics on the computer monitors? Seriously? Awesome stuff!
I feel like the only person in America who hasn’t seen it – unemployment is really the pits. It sounds like a spectacular sight in IMAX 3D. I just found your site, and I am really enjoying it.
100% agree with everything you wrote.
I think most people want to see it just for the technology and art work… that’s why my husband and I want to see it, but we’re geeks like that. We’ll totally pay the $$ to see a movie if its pretty (if we have the $$ to do so). We’re waiting to see this one though until the crowds start to die out at least a little.
I STILL haven’t seen this movie.
But I agree with you about At & T – the coverage I’ve always had that rocked all of a sudden sucks wet dog fur.
I had some dizzying moments, too. I don’t mind the cookie cutter story because it’s the journey that’s the ride.
I’ve heard that the script had a lot more gray moments, rather than the black/white, evil/good elements that were painfully obvious, but I guess Cameron decided that subtlety wasn’t necessary.
I saw it in 3D and plan on going to see it in IMAX 3D soon.
The chances of alien life evolving the exact same mechanisms as two eyes in the same relation to a double-nostril nose and mouth, the incidence of teeth, the spawning of hair at the top of the head etc., is too problematic for me. That thought always ruins it for me whenever I sit down to watch alien porn.
This sounds like it would have been a good summer movie – back when summer movies were for fun and fantasy and the rest of the time movies were about a story.
Geez! Here in NYC – IMAX 3D = $18.50 & Reg 3D = $16.50
Both my brother and I saw it in reg. 3D on Monday in SC for $18 combined.
I pretty much agree with your whole take, too, Dave. I remarked to my brother as we walked out: “Well, that’s one I’d definitely like to see again.” (but, in IMAX 3D, of course)
Told you you’d love it heh…
Sci-fi isn’t really my thing, but I wanted to see Avatar because it just looked so cool. I saw it in 3D and it was truly amazing. The heights didn’t bother me, but there were a couple times I shrank back in my seat because I thought I was going to get smacked with a spear. It was an incredible experience.