Avatar

Avatar is an ultra-mainstream adventure movie for the whole family. In a filmmaking package so perfect it could give you an orgasm, James Cameron self-confidently delivers a super-hackneyed story that won’t surprise you with anything. Apart from his comedies (True Lies), Cameron’s films always contain a hint of existential food for thought alongside all that technical brilliance. But only a hint. They have ideas on which other filmmakers built their movie worlds. Avatar, however, does not contain anything of the sort, and its message begins and ends with a bit of simple ecological agit-prop. It is Cameron’s first film composed solely of things we have seen elsewhere (whether in his films or somewhere else), which he merely delivers in an even more elaborate and beautiful wrapper. Every shot, every cut, every tone of James Horner’s soundtrack contributes to the absolute perfection of the final product. But what good does it do when we always know what happens ten minutes in advance? (15.12.2009)

The story is very pedestrian, but who cares. Thanks to James Cameron, I was again that little boy who during the deep totalitarian era, with my mouth wide open, devoured a Polish channel on a grainy black-and-white television, including the first Star Wars, or Zeman's A Journey into the Primeval Times. I devoured Avatar similarly, experiencing partly the joy of exploring the fictional world of Pandora and partly the fascination with 3D technology, which I was a virgin to this day. I really couldn't get enough of that three-dimensional image!! I have some reservations, of course. Cameron put a lot of effort io clothing his film in a 3D garb, but much less on the originality of the emotions of the characters or giving them a compelling ambiguity. All the characters are so naively one-dimensional, just like in fairy tales, but I found it endearing in a way. I hereby forbid the use of the world “cliché”, because the great James doesn’t deserve it. He doesn't deserve it because he invited me to his house for two and a half hours and shared all his hi-tech toys with me. Thanks Jim. (18.12.2009)

Incredibly flawless and the most amazing cinema experience of my life. A film that erases the boundaries between the screen and the viewer and that lets you look into another world, to the point that it makes you want to believe Pandora is real. I expected a lot from Avatar and I had come to terms with the fact that such massive expectations could never be met, but the result actually surpassed them. This is something that I could have never imagined, even in my wildest fantasies, because up until now nobody had set a standard for the cinema screen according to which we could set our expectations. The story perhaps isn’t great, but it’s beautiful, classic in the best sense of the word, and certainly not worse than other blockbusters. And to be honest, I don’t think I would be able to watch something intricate, like Strange Days for instance, in this package. Once there are more comparable films, Avatar probably won’t be my favourite (due to personal genre preferences), but it will always be the first. Another viewing is mandatory, the cinema is mandatory, 3D is mandatory! Cameron was the king of the world, now he’s the emperor of the galaxy, next time he’ll reach at least god level, and after this experience, I’m almost certain he’ll pull it off. PS: The posers with prejudices like “I can’t be arsed with a fairytale about blue monkeys” will surely find plenty of things to criticise and I wish them the best wholeheartedly, they are only depriving themselves of the experience. PS2: The experience from the second viewing is at least the same. During the last 60 minutes those goosebumps hardly disappeared. (19.12.2009)

I do appreciate Cameron's dedication, which meant years of waiting for proper technology and the employment of two special effects giants. The result definitely marks a significant shift for cinema as a whole. Yet that's where the positives end for me... because then we get almost three hours of a shallow story (which could still be tolerated - okay, it’s a fairy tale), dull emotions, the most stupid military lines in history, and blue-green agitation so vigorous that even Greenpeace pales compared to it. The three-dimensional effect is great (Cameron knows how to work with space perfectly), but underneath the fancy tinsel I couldn't find anything more and about halfway through I wasn't even entertained. Sorry, but I was bored shitless with this film. Three stars from me. (20.12.2009)

Very, very intoxicating. What surprised me the most was that not only the eyes and ears experience an orgasmic throw. Personally, I felt emotion over the love affair between an earthling and a blue huntress, which I did not feel in the slightest when watching Titanic. Avatar is not just dazzling... it is alive. The film may have too much of the classic narrative schemes, but it doesn't matter, because the mind walks the familiar path and sight and hearing fly in the unimagined. There are probably many people who will point out things like activism, or that it is cold. I didn't see any of that in Avatar. Instead, what I saw was very light and brilliantly crafted telling of a romantic fairy tale about beings bound to their planet. Together with Star Trek, this year's clear winner in the heaviest weight category. [85%] P.S. I just can’t keep my mouth shut... I have a question:"A strange mixture of Moore's environmentalism, Zeman's poetics and Vinnetou's naivety "cut" with the aesthetics of The Lord of the Rings - does that mean Miloš Zeman, who embraces trees?" I probably haven’t seen as much from Karel as I had hoped. (15.12.2009)

In terms of film-craft this is the most precise work that can be achieved under current conditions, but above-average film-craft defining new standards alone doesn’t necessarily make a good movie. Luckily, Avatar is good, but unfortunately no more than just good. It’s like despite all the attention that Cameron devotes to polishing everything down to the last, tiny detail, he forgot about the movie as a whole. Who cares that it suffers from all imaginable maladies of “blockbusters", if only Cameron had managed to enthrall us, draw us in, simply forget that this is still just a movie (it only happened to me in one scene). And the saddest thing about this is that, despite the message, in the end it will be Cameron who causes mass deforestation on out planet due to the mountains of wood needed to produce the paper on which the millions of movie theater tickets sold around the whole world will be printed, and this thought chills me more than any of the best scenes in Avatar. And all of the above applies to the extended version which didn’t concentrate primarily on emotions and characters, but again on technical brilliance. P.S.: This review was written after seeing the regular version; my subsequent visit to see the IMAX version neither improved or impaired my impression of the movie (and why should it, it’s the same movie, isn’t it?), but it did enhance the brilliant effects. ♫ OST score: 3/5 (17.12.2009)

A great adventure fairy tale for those of us who have been waiting all these months and years for it to come, and a grand spectacle that becomes so huge in the end that human senses cannot absorb everything and a regular director can't control it. And it is right here where it shows that giving so much time to a movie sometimes really pays off until the last minute and dollar. Although the compassionate ethnic-ecological message did not hit the mark in my case, everything else is part of an opus that has never been seen before. 90% blown away for a movie that will at least not have any equivalent on a global scale in its sequel. (17.12.2009)

The first time my eyes saw the effects, they stayed still and gaped. Yes, artistically, the film may well be above reproach. A feast for the eyes. The effects simply must win an Oscar, I can't see it any other way. But after a while I got used to them, and they didn't dazzle me so much. For a film that runs 162 minutes, it has an incredibly weak plot. I'm truly sorry, but the effects just didn't hold my attention the whole time, after a while I started fidgeting, looking around at others, taking off and putting on 3D glasses, taking off, putting on a sweatshirt – I was bored. For me, there were just empty spaces. And don't let anyone try to tell me that through all the fabulous, nature-celebrating effects and digital advancements, Cameron can't offer a better story. He can – see, for example, Terminator. Plus, there were those awful pathetic "as if to the American people who are rising up, shouting, cheering, crying for glory, and rushing into battle to be slaughtered" speeches again – and I'm allergic to those, I just cringe. But one big plus for me is that he let the Pandorians have their own language, that he didn't force them all into English. I don't know, perfect effects aren't reason enough for me to give a better rating when I was bored and wishing they'd finally kill each other and live happily ever after. Ciaossu. Very, very interesting commentary: IMPAIRED (agree with almost all of it :-)) (08.01.2010)

Real... but incredible too. Cameron delivered all I was expecting and much more. He embellished this simple or fairytale story (a dash of Pocahontas, a dash of Beauty and the Beast etc.) with an incredible amount of ideas and details that take your breath away. Of course, I made sure to watch Avatar at the IMAX and I must say that the movie really was created for 3D with a screen as large as possible. Pandora plucks you like a raspberry (parallel with Jake) and you feel the new world in all its beauty and unknown secrets and you want more and you get more. Each animal is more fascinating than the one you met before and every shot reveals new image after new image that remains ingrained in your memory. Luckily Jim didn’t skimp on technique and so we get the best performance from everybody. Militant and reckless humanity (represented by the great Ribisi) for destruction lovers and on the other end of the scale the naturally sweetened Na’vi race for beauty lovers (all the talk about ecological agitation are wrong, nothing specifically stands out, it all creates a whole where questions of racism etc. are also dealt with). All of this forms into a wonderfully working story and a breathtaking experience. I can’t remember seeing anything as intense (and anything that acts on all levels) for a really long time. I just noticed that I didn’t write about the special effects at all. Maybe because they didn’t seem like effects. They seemed real. When Neytiri cried, I felt with her like with a real person, not like with a nine-foot clown. She looks that real. So it should be said here that the effects are of the highest possible quality (if they are revolutionary or not, you’ll have to ask an expert in the field), personally I was completely gobsmacked, and I’ve seen a lot of movies. Almost all the actors shined, but Sam Worthington really was the best of them all. The nice guy who guides us on this wonderful journey without a doubt deserves great praise. As does Stephen Lang. A proper baddy who reels out one tough line after another. All in all, it was worth the wait. I felt like I was dreaming with my eyes open. I see you... (21.12.2009)

The biggest surprise (disappointment) of the year, without a doubt. During the final credits, I couldn't believe my own eyes or ears. I would like to point out that I preferred the classic 2D format, which, in my opinion, affects the visual aspect of the film rather than the plot. If we exclude Piranha II, every one of James Cameron's films has set a historical milestone and each one had something original, some raw material that could not be found elsewhere at that time. The Terminator films (especially the second one) had an unbeatable combination of stunning action and deep thoughts. They were followed by the uncompromising horror of Aliens with an incredibly dense plot and excellent atmosphere. The agitprop for saving the planet called The Abyss was conceived with precise subtlety as a first-class “family film”. True Lies showed that a comedy does not necessarily have to be flat and straightforward. And everything was topped off with Titanic, a perfect homage to epic cinema from the past century with classic values polished to perfection. Unfortunately, I cannot say the same about Avatar. Technically, it’s brilliant and grandiose, but emotionally it’s only average, which is truly unprecedented. Unfortunately, the plot is inadequate. I don't feel like writing a cliché here, but why are we supposed to accept it from James and not others? Because he enjoyed making the film? Because he meant it sincerely? In terms of content, it is a completely classic story, a mix of Dances with Wolves, Lord of the Rings, The Matrix, and The Last Samurai. But I do understand the mass enthusiasm and mania that arose around this colossus. Cameron manages everything exceptionally well and there is no place for too much negativity or nitpicking, while children and laymen who have not seen much before will be ecstatic and will walk in the forests at night, searching for that chosen tree. PS: after the director's cut, I have to add a star. The film has aged like wine and will definitely become a classic in the future. Technically brilliant. (29.12.2009)

I don't know. I was disappointed with Avatar in the movie theatre, gave it three stars, wrote a comment along the lines of "beautifully made, but about nothing" and that was that. To this day. The DVD edition made me change my mind. Why? I have no idea. Maybe it was because I wasn't distracted by 3D this time and the action scenes (the escape from the animal, the final super battle) weren't so cluttered. Maybe it was the original sound. And maybe it was also due to the fact that even though I saw a 20 minutes longer version, it didn't bore me for a moment. Plus, with Sigourney Weaver getting more screen time and the film getting a good "Blade-runner-style" introduction. In short, I have to say - the second chance I gave Avatar paid off. It’s technically flawless, the film understandably didn't stop being weak in terms of story, cliché is still cliché, but I was ready for that. I'm liking the Horner soundtrack more and more, too. Up for bonuses. (28.06.2011)

Weak silliness with an utterly enchanting and ground-breaking execution. It couldn’t be more watchable. (06.05.2019)

In the context of Cameron's conscious desire to once again create something like the ultimate blockbuster for everyone, this is absolutely a diamond in the rough. As in almost all of his previous films, he simultaneously tries to sell the film to stereotypical women (forbidden romance, natural scenery, ecological messages) as well as stereotypical men (robots, explosions, sci-fi) in order to create what at the time was still the ever-so-rare consensus of a couple over movie listings. What it clears out is everything else. Avatar is insanely calculated and calculating. There's not a smidge of personality or any creative daring in it whatsoever. The narrative makes use of just about every annoying cliché, whether in terms of form (three hours of visual spectacle where a narrator still has to explain the spectacle to us) or plot twists or its portrayals of characters and situations. It's true that the purely digital world presented here defies my aesthetic standards, probably due to years of trawling through the virtual worlds of video games that have inured me to any wonder at a completely digitally created universe, and yet when I see Arthur and the Invisibles and Avatar side by side, I see practically the same thing. The quality of the film does not lie in the quality of the render. What's more, it's all overlaid with pretty unbearable eco-esotericism that teaches a lesson about society's relationship to nature based on the laws of a completely fabricated world. (26.11.2022)

"For me, "Avatar" is a movie that has once again succeeded in pushing the visual possibilities of what can be presented in cinema and what can be seen in a film. The fact that Cameron did not handle the script well and that the acting is dull is simply because the creators focused on something else. Whether it is good or bad is up to you, but for me, this film does not stand out significantly as a whole. Yes, it was a great spectacle in the cinema, but the next day, I had nothing from it." (30.12.2013)

While the obvious inspiration from Costner, the Wachowski brothers, or Peter Jackson's latest saga doesn't make Avatar a terribly original affair (story-wise), Cameron's superhuman passion does, his incredible attention to detail, and simply the "mere" fact that he has managed to create an amazingly colorful, imaginative, elaborate, and wonderful world guarantee a cinematic experience that really only comes around once every few years. Moreover, the film is emotionally very strong or at least endearing in some moments:)) – at least it was in my case (for example, the main character's bonding with the Na'vi tribe or the choice of the flying creature.)) The dialogue is not distracting, it doesn't hurt your ears, Horner's music fits the scenes exactly. Formally, it is an almost perfect work that will be very difficult to surpass or at least rival in the years to come. I admire and revere James Cameron for the patience and energy with which he waited for the necessary technology to be developed to bring his ideas to life in the most ideal and impressive way possible. Seen in IMAX 3D, 17 Dec 2009, 7:00 p.m. (18.12.2009)

Well, I’ll be brief. A movie with absolutely perfect special effects that are well worth 5 stars. But everything else is really poor and especially the story is a piece of crap for a maximum 1 star and it’s boring beyond belief. I consider this a huge waste of the potential that Cameron had at his disposal. One of the TOP movies for most people, but count me out. 3 stars. (10.01.2012)