This year there are two big movies: one is 2012, the other is Avatar. 2012 has already sounded a warning bell for everyone on Earth, and the film I’m most looking forward to next is Avatar — a movie that will get people thinking, too. Avatar, that super 3D blockbuster, opens worldwide in both 2D and 3D on the 18th of this month, and mainland China has tentatively set its release for January 2nd next year.
Plot:
In the future, humanity launches the Avatar Program to get at the resources of another planet — Pandora — and, by mixing human DNA with that of the Na’vi (Pandora’s indigenous people), grows nearly 3-meter-tall “Avatars” so they can survive on Pandora and mine its minerals. Jake, a wounded ex-soldier, agrees to take part in the experiment and arrives on the paradise-like Pandora in his Avatar body. Yet in this gorgeous, secluded world, every creature that crawls on the ground, flies through the sky, or burrows in the earth is huge and deadly… Carrying a heavy mission and in constant danger, Jake, after an accidental first contact with the Na’vi, opens up the possibility of communication — but also stands on the brink of an unexpected, vast and spectacular conflict of the century, from which he will gain an unprecedented revelation…
Chinese official site: http://avatar.mtime.com/ Official site: http://www.avatarmovie.com/
Like 2012, this movie is a must-see. Since it’s a blockbuster ten years in the making, of course I can’t miss it. After watching a few video previews, the visuals really are beyond reproach, and I hope the story holds up from beginning to end.
Avatar will become for film what World of Warcraft is for games — a milestone of enormous breakthrough. It will raise audiences’ standards by several notches all at once, and for a long time afterward it will be imitated but rarely surpassed.
[09.12.24] These past few days I’ve seen a flood of positive reviews, which keeps my anticipation building. Mixed into that ocean of comments are some negative ones too; some say the plot is too clichéd and has no substance (that it can’t compare with District 9). Actually, I think it has different selling points from District 9. This film has two big draws: flawless visual effects, and world-building that breaks with tradition.
The visual effects are there for all to see and beyond doubt. After watching the official “Avatar Desktop App” and the 720p trailer, I’ve already gotten a feel for the outstanding quality. This film’s visual effects will be a milestone in the history of cinema.
Beyond the flawless, state-of-the-art visuals, what draws me most to Avatar is its constructed world. The constructed worlds everyone knows — The Lord of the Rings, World of Warcraft, the several D&D-based novels, Jiuzhou — the first three all draw on European history, medieval fantasy, and Norse mythology, reworked to a considerable degree, while Jiuzhou draws on ancient Chinese myth and legend, shot through with Eastern culture. All of them have created worlds that set the imagination racing. Avatar, by contrast, innovates on a much larger scale: with the planet Pandora as its grand framework, it uses the screen to show magnificent vistas and all kinds of strange plants and beasts (the first time I saw the world of Pandora, the first thing that flashed through my mind was the planet in Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II). Going forward, adding more content on top of a base setting with enormous potential will be no poorer than the worlds created by those who came before.
After all, I haven’t seen the movie yet, so it’s hard to speculate about much of it. bomb out.