Avatar - the movie
Tuesday, 29 December 2009 10:33 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
miriam_eYesterday I had perhaps the most astonishing movie-going experience of my life. I went to see Avatar on the big screen in 3D.
The first half of the movie was sumptuously beautiful... gorgeous. I kept thinking that here was some kind of substitute for our disappointing lack of progress in exploring space. I still want us to go on out there, but in the meantime I lapped up the stunningly beautiful jungles from James Cameron's mind.
The second half of the movie was action stuff. I wasn't as happy with that, though it still had me gasping in awe. I'd love to see, one day, a movie where the big bad military whoop-ass guys are brought undone without resorting to their own "hit them back harder" mentality. All it succeeds in doing is communicating to people that the answer to all problems is force. I kept hoping they would do something tricky like outmaneuvering the bad guys, or defusing the weapons.
I like when force is subverted like in John Wyndham's book "The Day of the Triffids" where the bad guys with weapons have their vehicles disabled by contaminating their fuel and the good guys simply sneak away. Or when force is used against itself like in Judo, where a smaller person has the advantage because it is easier to use the attacker's momentum against them when they are big and heavy. Or power is outmaneuvered like in Gordon R Dickson's science fiction novel "Tactics of Mistake".
But these qualms notwithstanding (now that is a weird word) I loved the movie so much that I think I shall go back for another viewing.
I implore you to see it... especially if you can see it in 3d.
The first half of the movie was sumptuously beautiful... gorgeous. I kept thinking that here was some kind of substitute for our disappointing lack of progress in exploring space. I still want us to go on out there, but in the meantime I lapped up the stunningly beautiful jungles from James Cameron's mind.
The second half of the movie was action stuff. I wasn't as happy with that, though it still had me gasping in awe. I'd love to see, one day, a movie where the big bad military whoop-ass guys are brought undone without resorting to their own "hit them back harder" mentality. All it succeeds in doing is communicating to people that the answer to all problems is force. I kept hoping they would do something tricky like outmaneuvering the bad guys, or defusing the weapons.
I like when force is subverted like in John Wyndham's book "The Day of the Triffids" where the bad guys with weapons have their vehicles disabled by contaminating their fuel and the good guys simply sneak away. Or when force is used against itself like in Judo, where a smaller person has the advantage because it is easier to use the attacker's momentum against them when they are big and heavy. Or power is outmaneuvered like in Gordon R Dickson's science fiction novel "Tactics of Mistake".
But these qualms notwithstanding (now that is a weird word) I loved the movie so much that I think I shall go back for another viewing.
I implore you to see it... especially if you can see it in 3d.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2009-12-29 01:47 pm (UTC)Darn. I realised he'd seen it but didn't consider others. I'll make it use spoiler font. Don't check this for a few minutes...