Solid Thinking

I’ve read a number of Avatar movie reviews and was intrigued by the variances despite the overall good ratings. So, last Tuesday I decided to swing around to the city cinema and watch the Avatar movie to find out what the hype was all about. It was available in 3D Imax and normal digital 3D. I chose the digital 3D since I dislike the humongous Imax screen which sometimes give me neckpain.

Avatar Movie

Going in to the Avatar screening theatre, the glasses took a bit of getting used to. These glasses are much more bulky compared to your usual crappy red/blue 3D glasses. They are more sophisticated, well made with plastic component and polarised (?) lenses with red/green tint. Noticeably you can see quite normally while wearing them. But the weight is something to get used to, and I found during the over 2.5 hours I had to take them off a few times to give my nose bridge (and eyes) a little rests.

What do I think of the Avatar movie?

I think it is stellarly done. The sceneries are a nice escape from our daily chores, and one of my colleague put it nicely as “reminds you of how boring the world we live in, limited with gray buildings and strict rules of physics”. The environment is mind boggling, with my favourite being (SPOILER ALERT!) the floating mountains with waterfalls that disappears downwards (where do they get the water from? Surely it would run out at some point?). The romance is subtle enough that I think it is cute (and I’m a guy!). The sweet feeling to the ending is suitable, and Sam worthington well played his part, making sure his character is not too 2-dimensional by employing a large variety of emotions. My favourite is Zoe Saldana’s native non-english speaking alien portrayal with a sharp tinge of a hunter’s savagery.

I believe the Avatar Movie’s 3D factor is the make-or-break though. And I think it was very well done. Seeing floating subtitles for the spoken alien language and the fire sparks and fireflies that seem to float above the heads of the cinema-goers in front of you really provide a degree of immersions not offered by other current movies. It would be interesting to see where this technology would bring us in 2010/2011.

However, there is a feeling of superficialness in this Avatar movie. The story is hardly original and as my brother said it very well: “disney-like”. It is to the point that you may feel like when chewing a chocolate bar that is too sweet. I like my chocolate to have a slight bitterness to it, thanks. And the concept arts are, albeit groundbreaking, not original either. (SPOILER ALERT) a lot of the scenes reminded me of my time in World of Warcraft, Matrix and Final Fantasy 7/8/10 (I never played the others…).

The Avatar Movie 3D Effect

I’ve heard stories and news about some people experiencing naussea and illness due to the 3D effects. In fact, my brother who watched the Avatar movie 3 days ago complained about having to take a few breaks between the movie due to experiencing headaches and eye tiredness from the 3D glasses. Apparently, a small portion of people with certain eye conditions may experience difficulties adjusting to the digital 3D. This may include eyes that slightly point to different directions (very mild cross-eyed condition?) and eyes that could not adjust to focal length changes quick enough. On top of that, insistence in trying to follow everything on screen can also cause neck strain that ends up with naussea. I made a mistake of trying to absorp everything on screen and experienced this problem 15 minutes into the movie. After realising it, I tried to relax and just focus myself on one element at a time and this helped greatly. For example, focusing on the main character on the screen and what he/she is doing, or focusing on the environment and watch the fireflies float. Best to try not to insist in getting the most of your ticket dollars :)

What is the verdict of this Avatar movie review? Well, the movie was great! It was really enjoyable and the 3D factor made a great value out of the $20 I spent (where I normally wouldn’t spend more than $13 for a movie). Would I spend another $20 to watch it again? Yes I would! Throw your physics mind, logic, and expectations away before going in to the Avatar Movie. Sit back, relax and prepare to be taken in a rollercoaster ride.

Let’s just hope they would release a digital 3D DVD package with a few 3D glasses included. Failing that, a few glasses of beer might give the same effect.

Great Appeals to fans of: Final Fantasy, World of Warcraft, Disney movies, happy-ending movies, 3D-curious techno-junkies.

Appeals to: almost everybody.

Would disappoint: uptight physics-obsessed geeks, Perez Hilton, Roger Ebert, fans of dark-toned movies.