SrGregor goes to the movies: James Cameron's Avatar

Okay, so I finally saw this last weekend, in 3D. The only other movie I've seen in 3D was Jaws 3-D. While I will admit that 3D tech has become much more accessible, I gotta say... I don't get the hype. I don't get the hype for 3D, and I don't get the hype for Avatar.

As has been pointed out time and again, the story is pretty cookie-cutter. Humans are bad, indigenous peoples good. And can't they just understand that this all is so darn special? Seen it, time and again. And when they spend ten minutes yammering on about how only five people in all of history did that thing, was there any doubt that the hero would do that thing too? Really?

"But, the FX!!! OMGZORZ!!!" - I will say that this movie does one thing wonderfully - seamless integration of CGI with real-life actors. Which is fine and all, but it doesn't have me dropping my jaw on the ground. LOTR already had this, so I can't say this was of such a significantly better caliber that I need to go screaming how awesome it all is. At this point, this is kinda what I expect from Hollywood, so, good on ya, I s'pose. It's like a guy bragging about how he pays his bills and takes care of his kids. That's your job, you low-expectation-havin' mothafucka!*


"But, it's soooo pretty!" - I guess. The colors were vibrant, yes. But is that really a thing? The alien flora and fauna design wasn't what I would call ground-breaking. I admit, I did kinda dig on the design of the dragon bird things, but mainly because they looked like cool fighter jets... like a bio-F22-raptor. But it didn't make me spurt a nerdgasm over the movie.

"But 3D!" - Honestly, I didn't dig on it. Or rather, at it's best, I didn't notice it. Not like "I was so immersed in the world that I didn't realize it wasn't really 3-dimensional", but like "I couldn't tell you the difference between this and 2D". The first few minutes of the movie, I had a bit of a headache. I wasn't sure I'd be able to get into it without my glasses (extremely minor prescription... like -.5), but that sorted itself out eventually. Then, I kept trying to look at things other than what the camera wanted me to look at. What the hell is the point of 3D if I can't look at something other than what the director wants? It didn't feel immersive, it felt obstructive. When you come at me with 3D, I want it to mean I can look at anything on the screen I want from any angle.

Save yourself any extra expense and just watch it in a good stadium seating theatre in 2D. It's kinda pretty, but otherwise standard movie fare.

*Apologies to Chris Rock

Available at: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Avatar-DVD-S...7106305&sr=1-3