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Its world premiere was in London and reports are coming in....
Chris Hewitt - Empire Online
Todd McCarthy - Variety
The Sun
Sam Rubin - KTLA - Los Angeles
Times of London
Chris Hewitt - Empire Online
Review
Avatar is unequivocally, completely, 100% the film that has been percolating in James Cameron’s head for the last fourteen years. It is not, in all probability, the film that you had in yours when you first heard that the man who directed Aliens and The Terminator was returning to sci-fi with a movie so ambitious that he had to build the technology to make it happen. If you can let go of your version and embrace Cameron’s – if you’re not, in other words, one of those splenetic internet fanboy types who’ve apparently made their minds up about Avatar before seeing it – then Avatar is a hugely rewarding experience: rich, soulful and exciting in the way that only comes from seeing a master artist at work.
Let’s address the Big Question first: to use the key phrase so often used in connection with the movie, is it a game-changer? Yes, and no would be the cop-out answer, but it’s also the truth. Avatar employs technology necessary to render its largely computer-generated, 3D world that will give directors, including but not limited to Cameron, one heck of a sandbox to play in over the next few years. That’s how the game has changed off screen.
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It’s a world, not to give too much away, that Cameron clearly fully intends to return to and further explore. When he does, our bags are already packed.
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Avatar is unequivocally, completely, 100% the film that has been percolating in James Cameron’s head for the last fourteen years. It is not, in all probability, the film that you had in yours when you first heard that the man who directed Aliens and The Terminator was returning to sci-fi with a movie so ambitious that he had to build the technology to make it happen. If you can let go of your version and embrace Cameron’s – if you’re not, in other words, one of those splenetic internet fanboy types who’ve apparently made their minds up about Avatar before seeing it – then Avatar is a hugely rewarding experience: rich, soulful and exciting in the way that only comes from seeing a master artist at work.
Let’s address the Big Question first: to use the key phrase so often used in connection with the movie, is it a game-changer? Yes, and no would be the cop-out answer, but it’s also the truth. Avatar employs technology necessary to render its largely computer-generated, 3D world that will give directors, including but not limited to Cameron, one heck of a sandbox to play in over the next few years. That’s how the game has changed off screen.
>
It’s a world, not to give too much away, that Cameron clearly fully intends to return to and further explore. When he does, our bags are already packed.
>
The King of the World sets his sights on creating another world entirely in "Avatar," and it's very much a place worth visiting. The most expensive and technically ambitious film ever made, James Cameron's long-gestating epic pitting Earthly despoilers against a forest-dwelling alien race delivers unique spectacle, breathtaking sights, narrative excitement and an overarching anti-imperialist, back-to-nature theme that will play very well around the world, and yet is rather ironic coming from such a technology-driven picture. Twelve years after "Titanic," which still stands as the all-time B.O. champ, Cameron delivers again with a film of universal appeal that just about everyone who ever goes to the movies will need to see.
THE last time James Cameron directed a movie he broke all box office records.
Now - 12 years after Titanic - he has sunk £300million into Avatar to produce the most dazzling film of the decade.
It's a 3D movie people will look back on in years to come to comment on how it transformed cinema.
In recent 3D releases such as Beowulf, the effects were impressive but the computer-generated humans looked far from real.
In Avatar, everything feels real - and it's as if you are immersed in the action.
Awestruck
The final battle scene is 20 minutes long and absolutely mind-blowing.
One of the most amazing scenes comes when Jake and Neytiri are walking in the dark through a forest on Pandora.
Suddenly, she puts out her torch and you see all the vivid, fluorescent plants.
Some people - who have only seen the photos and not the film - have commented that it looks a bit cartoonish.
It doesn't. Everything feels real. It's as if Cameron has happened upon this alien world and got his camera out.
Zoe (Saldana), who played Uhura in the recent Star Trek remake, also displays star quality.
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Now - 12 years after Titanic - he has sunk £300million into Avatar to produce the most dazzling film of the decade.
It's a 3D movie people will look back on in years to come to comment on how it transformed cinema.
In recent 3D releases such as Beowulf, the effects were impressive but the computer-generated humans looked far from real.
In Avatar, everything feels real - and it's as if you are immersed in the action.
Awestruck
The final battle scene is 20 minutes long and absolutely mind-blowing.
One of the most amazing scenes comes when Jake and Neytiri are walking in the dark through a forest on Pandora.
Suddenly, she puts out her torch and you see all the vivid, fluorescent plants.
Some people - who have only seen the photos and not the film - have commented that it looks a bit cartoonish.
It doesn't. Everything feels real. It's as if Cameron has happened upon this alien world and got his camera out.
Zoe (Saldana), who played Uhura in the recent Star Trek remake, also displays star quality.
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New "Avatar" movie & James Cameron will go to the Oscars as nominees
3:15 PM December 10, 2009
London --- Just left the 'World Premiere' of "Avatar," and while the standing ovation the film received at its conclusion is probably just the requisite politeness; I can report that this is another rare example where the quality of the movie does indeed exceed the hype and "Avatar" will most certainly be among the 10 'Best Picture' nominees for the Oscars; and James Cameron will also be a Best Director nominee. I think it is also possible that actress Zoe Saldana, who has the most challenging of roles in the film, may rack up an additional acting nomination as well.
The movie may owe more than a few plot points to the story of Pocahontas, and there may be some grousing at a fairly heavy-handed treatment of corporate greed and our lack of American energy independence; but the key question, is Cameron able to deliver a movie that packs the entertainment value and emotional punch of 'Titanic.' The clear answer is 'Yes.' The Oscars will not ignore this film.
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3:15 PM December 10, 2009
London --- Just left the 'World Premiere' of "Avatar," and while the standing ovation the film received at its conclusion is probably just the requisite politeness; I can report that this is another rare example where the quality of the movie does indeed exceed the hype and "Avatar" will most certainly be among the 10 'Best Picture' nominees for the Oscars; and James Cameron will also be a Best Director nominee. I think it is also possible that actress Zoe Saldana, who has the most challenging of roles in the film, may rack up an additional acting nomination as well.
The movie may owe more than a few plot points to the story of Pocahontas, and there may be some grousing at a fairly heavy-handed treatment of corporate greed and our lack of American energy independence; but the key question, is Cameron able to deliver a movie that packs the entertainment value and emotional punch of 'Titanic.' The clear answer is 'Yes.' The Oscars will not ignore this film.
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Movie events don’t get bigger than this. James Cameron’s long-awaited follow-up to Titanic, the most successful film to date, is immense in every way: from the ambition and scope of its vision, to the ground-breaking technological wizardry, to the staggering size of its budget.
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