On Avatar
On Avatar
Aug 22
Let’s talk about Avatar.
It’s pretty amazing. I can’t remember the last 3D film I saw at a movie theater, or even if I’ve ever in my life seen a 3D movie in a theater, but it felt pretty immersive to me. I wasn’t like “Oh shit I’m on an alien planet now I thought I was in a theater what about my Milk Duds fuck” but I was definitely drawn into the action in a far different way than I think I would have been if it were just a 2D film.
2D filmmaking makes the choice of what your eyes should focus on in any given shot; 3D makes the same choice, but because it more closely mimics the depth of focus in the “real world,” your eyes are constantly adjusting in ways that are unnecesary in 2D films. This made my eyes tired; I think seeing the whole movie would in some ways be an exhausting experience, even if it’s as fun and mindblowing as the preview was.
Yes, it blew my mind, a little. We can all play kewler-than-thou and pretend that we hate hype and snark our asses off at what Cameron’s trying to do here. That’s because he’s out on a limb. That’s true not just for the 3D aspect, but for the design and the execution of the film as well. He’s creating these trippy vistas that alternate between looking like an old sci-fi novel cover come to life and a blacklight painting hung in a pothead’s dorm room. He’s doing it with computer-generated animation that aims for photoreality even though it’s depicting a world that could never be photographed because it doesn’t exist. If this were just a 2D movie, he’d get a certain level of snark aimed in his direction.
But shit–he’s OUT THERE, DOING IT. He’s excecuted this film and the segments I saw made me feel like whatever funky territory he’s wading into, he’s still delivering a James Cameron movie with all that implies. There are still fantastic action sequences and a level of world-building that doesn’t exist in your average summer tentpole. Yet there’s also this astonishing imagery, and again, compare it to whatever else you want to, there’s nothing new under the sun so it doesn’t matter–it still looks amazing.
Who else is even out there doing this? Maybe Zemeckis? But he doesn’t bring the level of audacious auteurness that Cameron manages. This is a guy who creates gigantic films every time out that still drip with his personal stamp. He corrals entire armies of FX gurus, set crews, actors, and film executives to march lock step in the direction he chooses. He’s always worked on a completely different plane…not that his work has always felt so elevated, but when he’s on his game, there’s no better popcorn moviemaker out there.
I’m the kind of guy who roots for the underdog and rewards ambition with faith. I want to see the Next Big Thing, and I want to see Cameron pull this off. I’m not going to pretend this will revolutionize moviemaking, but I think if he’s able to achieve a worldwide blockbuster built around this 3D concept, it will have a ripple effect going forward and inspire more filmmakers to create 3D action and sci-fi films. I can’t imagine that’s a bad thing if you’re the kind of moviegoer who’s a fan of the fantastic.
That’s the thing here–we’re geeks. We’re supposed to want movies like Avatar. We should be eager to see the envelope pushed, not skeptical of anything that falls outside our expectations. And it probably won’t change the world, and it probably will fall short of its lofty goals, but even if it gets close, that’ll still be fucking awesome.
I applaud you Matt, I really do, but I have a hard time pushing past my inborn, geek cynicism to buy into this. Granted, I’ve only seen the trailer via my computer, but it still doesn’t look much more than a higher budgeted sci-fi flick. I think my problem (and I fully admit, this is my problem) is that after hearing Cameron pontificate for the past 11 years on how much this new technology will blow us away, is that my inner a-hole is saying to me, “this is the same shit Lucas was selling us before the Phantom Menace and look where that got us!”
Having seen a few movies in 3-D over the last few years, they’ve run the gamut from “kinda neat” to “outright annoying”, but I just haven’t yet had anything close to an immersive experience through it.
I want Cameron to succeed here, I want to be blown away, I want my inner a-hole to be wrong so freaking bad here, but I just haven’t seen anything to lead me to believe this will be the case. My biggest fear is that if Cameron fails, or is even perceived to fail, it could stop innovation in big budget movies, and then no one wins.
Jason: “My biggest fear is that if Cameron fails, or is even perceived to fail, it could stop innovation in big budget movies, and then no one wins.”
That’s a fair point, and one I hadn’t considered. I think that’s a significant risk, although maybe it will get written off based on its content…in other words, try this 3D shit on something that isn’t wild and wacky sci-fi and maybe it will work better?
I think seeing it on an IMAX screen in 3D probably gives the closest approximation of what the experience will be–based just on the trailer, I can see how it would be hard to imagine what Cameron’s doing here. This is just one of those cases of “you’ve gotta see it to know what it is,” I guess.
As for the Lucas bit, I share your pain, and I see what you’re saying. The difference for me is that Lucas was clearly working in a space we already knew–the Star Wars universe. He was frankly also coming off a more mixed track record; if we were all smart, we woulda realized that he hadn’t been involved with a truly great film since Empire, and a great popcorn flick since Last Crusade.
I think Cameron’s pushing farther outside filmgoers’ comfort zone here, and that’s good and bad; it’s good because I think it has more potential to impress people, and it’s bad because it’s asking more of viewers, and it’s asking more faith of geeks.
Again, I’m personally sold on the potential here. I’m not saying I guarantee we’re going to see something amazing and it will change the way we view the world, but I am saying it has the potential to have an impact on the film industry, and the potential to be a kick-ass thrill ride of a movie.
You know, I saw the trailer on the big screen and I certainly liked it, but nothing I saw said “This is going to change everything,” and when you make comments to that effect, you are pointing the gun at your own chest. Look at Peter Molyneux and Fable, which is a superb game that was very poorly received because of similar overhyping.
That’s the thing; we’re not averse to hype. We’re averse to and afraid of overhype. Every summer, we’re sold a new god.
Jeff: Yeah, but what the hype is really pointing toward isn’t the film itself; it’s the technology. With that in mind, it’s impossible to judge it based on the trailer in 2D.
And I think if you’re buying a new god every summer, you’ve got some problems. 🙂 I get what you’re saying, but I’d still put this in a different category than say “OMG YOU WILL LOVE TRANSFORMERS 2” simply because, again, Cameron’s aiming at a bigger target–a change in how we view movies.