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So I just got out of a super-excluse screening of 20 minutes of James Cameron’s upcoming feature Avatar.

This is a film that Cameron has been working on in one form or another for over 15 years. Although that normally does not mean anything good (cough cough George Lucas) it really feels like this film could transcend the emotional barrier that has been absent in every CG film ever made.

Overall I felt that the scope and tone reminded me of some of the better darker early 80’s children’s films like The Last Unicorn or Dark Crystal. Films that were animated or used puppets but still built worlds and characters detailed enough to make you feel emotion.

There were a few emotional set up scenes that were very intense and were used as character building arcs. That has never really happened before successfully, and if this movie is as long and involved as it seems (3 hours for sure) there will definitely be payoff. Not to mention a few amazing Endor-like (man vs.. nature) battles with pulse rifles and power loaders and Halo like hovercrafts.

Technically there were a few small standout issues like blurring during fast movement, but the depth and detail of the scenes and faces overshadowed any of those concerns.

When it hits theatres Dec 18th it’s going to blow people’s minds.

CLICK HERE FOR THE TRAILER
Video Game Trailer

SCENE BREAKDOWN

Introduction from James Cameron

Scene 1
A gruff scarred drill sergeant breaks down the hostile environment on Pandora in front of a group of soldiers.
Sam Worthington’s character Jake wheels in.

Scene 2
We see Jake hoist himself into an MRI Avatar bed where Sigourney Weaver’s character Dr. Grace Augustine questions his decision to come to Pandora and just ‘wing it’. Jake is then connected to the Avatar system and goes through the wormhole ’stargate’ effect seen in the trailer

Scene 3
Jake awakes in his giant Naavi form gets his bearings and escapes the containment cell. Also seen in the trailer.

Scene 4
Jake and an ‘away team’ of avatars including Sigourney Weaver’s character Dr. Grace Augustine come face to face with a water buffalo type creature on Pandora. Weavers character echoes her Gorillas In The Mist portrayal of Diane Fossey and tells Jake not to flinch while it charges. The beast retreats and Jake is proud for a few moments only to realize that a much larger monstrous beaked creature has come up behind him and scared off the bull. This creature then chases Jake through the jungle. We’ve seen this scene a million times before in Jurassic Park’s 1-3 and most recently Star Wars+Trek.

Scene 5
Jake in avatar form is surrounded by wolf type creatures in the forest and is rescued by Zoe Saldana’s character Neytiri. They then have an emotional confrontation about whether the creatures deserved to die and who’s fault it was.

Scene 6
With the aid of his Avatar tribe, Jake attempts to mount a pteradon like creature seen in the trailer. His ‘whispering’ of the creature is successful and they then….get this… connect ponytails and fuse together to form a rider-creature bond.

Tags: 3D, avatar, james cameron, sam worthington, zoe saldana

Posted on Friday, August 21st, 2009 at 6:32 pm by Mark Swi and is filed under Just For Fun, Movies.

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