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[Atticus]

I think the key to the movie is that it is a fairy tale, not sci-fi. If you know that before seeing it or realize it fast enough, the message part or pompousness won't bother you. That's what fairy tales are about, they are simplified. They are fairly simple, there's clear cut good and evil, and they can have only certain sorts of attributes. The nature-thing in this context doesn't have to be environmentalism.

It's pretty classic theme actually, and it stems also from conservativeness, admiration of plainness and ascetism, and the usual "when I was kid we have to ski to the school thing". It's common in any movie to portray the protagonists as living more simple and perhaps laborous lives, whereas the annoying guy uses electic devices while camping or something similar.

Any way, nobody thinks that Bambi is propaganda for animal rights, or Lord of the Rings pathetic allegory of fascism (though I might be very wrong about this), because they are fairy tales. In a realistic film, say about Indians, it might be quite corny to emphasize they relation to nature.

titanic made 1.8 trillion....so who knows.

$3000 per living soul on the planet?

Patroklos: Perhaps they didn't have nukes?

 

[Dachs]

$3000 per living soul on the planet?

Billion.

 

[MobBoss]

Awesome, the way I see it - as of right now as 5% return on investment in anything is good in this economy.

The movie cost 500 million. So if it makes 550 million, we can expect more stuff like this

313 million.....3 1 3, the one after 2, then four minus three, then one point five times two. Think of how horrible of a typo that would have been in the industry

Actually, I have read several different news reports that put it anywhere between the low 200 millions to almost 400 million. I think after this first weekend, its going to be profitable even if it cost the high estimate.

Which is somehow worse than the PR disaster of brutally killing them one by one face to fact and humanizing them?

Its things like this that let me know that despite the money they poor into movies they will always be crap. You can cover a turd in chocolate, but it is still a turd.

Uhm. No Pat. The military wasnt going to exterminate them. The target was something that tied the native tribes together....if they took it out resistance would end.

Why dont you hold your assumptions until you see it ok?

 

[Leonel]

I wonder what the world would be like if the real native americans were capable of forming a large concentrated military force like that

Well they kind of did. There have been instances of Native American war-bands vastly outnumbering the first settlers. When Europeans first came to the US, they still had the slow loading muskets. But what really gave America the edge over the Native American's numbers was faster and more efficient guns. Given time, Earth would have tried for another attack on Pandora as the incentive for all those minerals is enough.

However the battle appears to be similar to Cortez's march on Tenochtitlan but instead Cortez was turned away after destroying the city.

 

[Ecofarm]

Also, the Seminoles. There were a combination of people from various tribes that came together in Florida to resist the invaders. They did quite well.

The Seminole nation was formed in the 18th century in a process of ethnogenesis. It was composed of Native Americans from Georgia, Mississippi, and Alabama, most significantly the Creek people, as well as African Americans who escaped to Florida from slavery in South Carolina and Georgia...

The remaining few hundred Seminoles survived in the Florida swamplands avoiding removal. They lived in the Everglades, to isolate themselves from European-Americans. Seminoles continued their distinctive life, such as "clan-based matrilocal residence in scattered thatched-roof chickee camps."[8] Today, the twenty-first century descendants of the Seminole proudly note the Seminoles were never officially conquered.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seminole

 

[Dachs]

That's splitting hairs on their part; killing off, capturing, or otherwise neutralizing all but one group of less than a hundred people, who hid in the wetlands and elected to stop making trouble, is as close to "conquering" as anyone is likely to get. I mean, there were Greeks in Gandhara even after the Western Satraps, there were Avars in Hungary after the Magyars rolled through, there were a few Basmachis lingering around even after Frunze's troops swept Central Asia, but nobody would seriously dispute that they were all "conquered" peoples.

 

[Ecofarm]

Well, Seminoles were not conquered in the sense that they were never forced to accept US authority. They basically signed a peace agreement and were given federal land of their own.

Did those people you mention sign a peace agreement that maintained their autonomy and granted them ownership of land?

 

[Dachs]

They got kicked onto a reservation in the West.

 

[Ecofarm]

Approximately 300 to 500 Seminoles stayed in Florida, where they lived and defended themselves in and around the Everglades. In an effort to dislodge them, the US government waged the Seminole Wars, in which a total of about 1,500 U.S. soldiers died. The Seminoles never surrendered to the United States. The Seminoles of Florida call themselves the "Unconquered People".

They kept land in Florida, and they kept their autonomy.

 

[Elta]

I've read this post below me 3 times, I still have no idea what you are trying to say

313 million.....3 1 3, the one after 2, then four minus three, then one point five times two. Think of how horrible of a typo that would have been in the industry

Does the 313 include marketing and other stuff?

I cant find a source that says precisely, but generally marketing and such is included in the budget. I don't think its 500 million though, because there already barely going to turn a profit with a 300 million dollar movie, let alone a 500 million dollar movie. of course, titanic made 1.8 trillion....so who knows.

All together with marketing and everything this movie will cost 500 million dollars.

 

[Newbunkle]

Still haven't seen it yet, but why didn't they just nuke the locals from orbit and mine through their chared skeletons?

Could be any number of reasons:
- It was a corporation doing the mining, not the government. Maybe they're not allowed to own nukes.
- It takes more than 6 years to get there. They had to work with whatever equipment they had to hand.
- Maybe irradiating the place would make it hard to work there.
- Maybe it would be crap if every space movie made from here on ended in 5 minutes because they used nukes.

Anyway, I've seen it for a second time and had a blast. If a movie is crap I tend to check the time to see how much is left. Avatar was 2 hours 40 minutes long and I didn't look at my watch once. I just couldn't take my eyes off the screen. XD

I'm seeing it again on Tuesday too.

 

[El_Machinae]

Of all people, Cameron should have dealt with the 'nuke them from orbit' aspect very clearly. Because, you know, it's the only way to be sure.

 

[warpus]

I went to see this thing last night.

Overall it was pretty entertaining, but generally only when there was action-type stuff going on on the screen. The non-action stuff was kinda boring - I had my eyes closed for parts of the movie... The 3D stuff made my eyes REALLY dry for some reason - so giving them a break from time to time felt good.

Took a while for my eyes to get used to the 3D thing too - and even then transitions between scenes didn`t seem right. Say there`s a scene with some dudes talking - then it switches over to a new scene - my eyes would go `whoa, what the hell, give me a couple seconds to get used to this new thing`

My friend had a headache by the end, and I really wish I had brought contact solution so I could keep my eyes moisturized, but in the end we were both very impressed with the technology. (cause we`d only remember the cool parts)

Conclusion:

Certain 3D sequences (like the giant tree falling, fight sequences) - EPIC, 10 out of 10

3D technology in general - 5 out of 10 - was cool but didn`t seem right at times - It seemed like for a lot of the stuff they just made stuff that was far away blurry.. so if something was blurry, you knew it was far away - but not because your brain was telling you `hey, that`s far away`, but because you figured it out `things that are blurry are far away`. It seemed very artificial at times. For a lot of the stuff there was an annoying blueish hue covering everything, and for a lot of it everything was darkish and not very well defined. I also noticed a lot of glare. I suppose I`ve never gone to a 3D movie before, so I wasn`t sure what to expect - but all those things stuck out to me. The technology seems cool - but they need to improve it A LOT.

Plot & storyline & characters & all that - 3 out of 10 - Nothing too special there. They actually got me to care about the blue natives, so a job well done there, but the characters didn`t have much depth - it was mostly cookiecutter stuff

Overall the movie is worth seeing for the 3D technology and special effects - mostly during the battle scenes. There is some breathtaking imagery that makes it all worth it.

Other than that though, there isn`t really anything to this. It isn`t a good movie, but it is a fun ride.

 

[El_Machinae]

I think we still need one more leap in 3D technology. The new technology is so much better than before, I won't deny, but I think that getting a headache while watching, or not being able to appreciate the 3D for 30 minutes really does harm things.

They should put a 3D component into the commercials at the beginning, even if it's just a logo or something at the bottom of the screen. That would buy 10 minutes of adaptation.

 

[Cheezy the Wiz]

Still haven't seen it yet, but why didn't they just nuke the locals from orbit and mine through their chared skeletons?

Maybe they had a shield generator, which made surface assault necessary?

 

[Riffraff]

Another thing about the 3D effect is, that it requires people to see good on both eyes

I have something like 0,5 on my right eye with a straight left eye, so that in general I see sharply but with the left eye doing the bulk work. In the movie, some parts of the screen were blurred for me, which I trace back to that.

edit: you guys are forgetting the 'flux vortex' !!! :

 

[Dachs]

They kept land in Florida, and they kept their autonomy.

No, read about what happened at the end of the Third Seminole War in the late 1850s.

 

[Murky]

Another thing about the 3D effect is, that it requires people to see good on both eyes

I have something like 0,5 on my right eye with a straight left eye, so that in general I see sharply but with the left eye doing the bulk work. In the movie, some parts of the screen were blurred for me, which I trace back to that.

edit: you guys are forgetting the 'flux vortex' !!! :

I just use my contact lenses. Glasses over glasses typically doesn't work too well.

 

[PredatorFett]

Wait a minute: the humans are led by Genghis KHAAAAN!

Khan? KHAN?! KHAAAAAAAAAN!?!??!?


This movie didn't really make a connection politically in my view, so I see nothing wrong with it. BTW the movie was sexy.

 

[Huayna Capac357]

I just use my contact lenses. Glasses over glasses typically doesn't work too well.

As a glasses-wearer, I know this all too well