I went 4 times when it came out, and it wasn't for the story... the movie genuinely made me feel like I went somewhere else. So thank you for this review. So many people hate on this and I feel like most of them didn't see it in 3d on a big screen. I tried watching it at home, in 3d and it just doesn't work... Cameron made a new movie? It's going to be absolutely awesome! Design, gadgets, concepts, action. I'm here for it!
I'm not exactly sure when it became a thing among my tribe of film geeks to bash 'Avatar'. I know it wasn't when it came out, because most of the film fans in my circle of nerdy friends went to watch it multiple times and couldn't get enough of it. In hindsight, I suspect it was around the time when everybody and their grandmother seemed to have seen it; somehow, once the film had become the most successful movie ever (unadjusted for inflation) it stopped being cool to like James Cameron's eco-sci-fi extravaganza. Nowadays the film is often brought up in snarky movie blogs as a typical example for a film with great effects but a dull story, unoriginal ideas and bland characters, as if this were somehow the general consensus among film aficionados. "FernGully in space" or "Dances With Wolves with blue cat-people" are some of the kinder descriptions the film has to endure - which in all honesty I don't get. I mean, it's fine not to like the movie (all art is subjective and all that), but how so many self-professed film experts now pretend this critically acclaimed picture - which on Metacritic is rated even higher than 'The Dark Knight' - was nothing but a bland, unoriginal, run-of-the-mill Hollywood blockbuster that only succeeded thanks to the (then) novelty of 3D is frankly beyond me. What I find even more astounding is how the very people who decry the lack of original, director-driven blockbusters in Hollywood are often the same who turn up their noses at 'Avatar': an original, director-driven blockbuster that came out when most other big budget movies were either sequels or adaptations of already existing intellectual properties. "The ideas in the film are not original", they claim. Come on guys, seriously? So you've seen a world like Pandora before? A bioluminescent visual wonder that merges the colorful marine life of coral reefs with the lush vegetation of tropical rain forests? A world where nature forms an actual neural network that stores memories and builds a collective consciousness? You've seen many films about a bio-database that people can plug themselves into via ancient trees and communicate with their ancestors? You've watched countless blockbusters that take place in an eco-system where you can form instant symbiosis with other creatures depending on your needs? And by the way: how many "eco-sci-fi" films have you seen? Such a worn-out concept and tired old sub-genre, right? No my friends, in terms of Hollywood blockbusters, these ideas and concepts are about as original as they come, and some of them are even inspired by actual biological phenomenons (like the discovery that the roots of trees do indeed form a sort of neural network in a symbiosis with fungi where they are able to store and exchange information). But what is true is that the filmmaker cleverly chose a very straight-forward story to get his environmentalist plea and anti-colonial, anti-imperialist message across and make some rather complex sci-fi ideas more accessible for a broad audience. To that end, the film uses certain well-known story tropes ("the spy who changes sides once he falls in love with an enemy"; "the soldier who realizes he's been fighting for the wrong cause"; "the invader who gets to know and appreciate the foreign culture he's invading" or the timeless trope of "the fish out of water"), but they are not what the film is about. And those tropes are not copied from 'Dances With Wolves' either - any more than that film stole them from 'Pocahontas': they are so universal you can find variations of any one of them in numerous legends and stories and thus also throughout film history, from 'Lawrence of Arabia' to 'Shogun' or 'The Last Samurai' and countless others. And yes, our heroes Jake and Neytiri are not the most complex of characters (though neither are they as bland as the film's most vicious detractors claim), but that's because they aren't really the film's main focus. 'Avatar's actual protagonist, its true star if you will, is Pandora. It's the WORLD we get to experience through Jake's eyes that really matters here, and the film aims straight for your gut - not your sci-fi nerd brain (which I suspect is the actual reason why so many former Cameron fans - now - claim to be disappointed with the film). More than anything, 'Avatar' wants you to lose your heart to this beautiful planet that functions as an obvious stand-in for our own threatened world, and the film is an unapologetic, uncynical declaration of love to the wonders of nature - as well as a call to action to preserve them. Which on an emotional level works marvelously: nothing in the film is as painful and shocking as the destruction of a single big tree, which symbolizes quite literally nature as the home and shelter we depend upon. It's a genius scene, and I dare you to find an action blockbuster where the distruction of a city or a whole planet carries even a shred of the emotional heft that the falling of "Home Tree" does in Cameron's film. So again (I'm trying to hammer my point home here ;-), 'Avatar' is simple? Yes, but that's the point: the simplicity and familiarity of the story are deliberate; the themes are not just derivative re-treads, they're as universal as those in myths and fairy tales and thus speak to everyone. And that's exactly what Cameron's intention was: to use simple enough tropes and archetypes to convey a heart-felt message that would work across cultural borders and reach people all over the world. Which, given the film's success, it obviously did. Personally, I think 'Avatar' is a prime example of visual and emotional storytelling done right, and viewing it for the first time offers an experience that is almost without equal in its immersiveness. And while this may only have been my own individual experience, 'Avatar' was also the first movie in a long time that completely vowed me in the sense that I felt like a little kid again in the theater - which had very little to do with the novelty of 3D. It was also the last time a film managed to do that. And even in terms of pure entertainment the film is simply spectacular. It's a rousing adventure with gorgeous visuals and top-notch CGI, filled with fascinating creatures and jaw-dropping future-tech, and the final 40 minutes of the film provide an all out, non-stop sci-fi action thrill-ride on a scale the world had rarely - if ever - seen before. Obviously that doesn't mean it's a perfect film, and as I already pointed out, it's fair not to like it for any number of reasons (above all: personal taste), but 'Avatar' is far from deserving the kind of snark and ridicule it gets these days. Get over it people: simple doesn't equal simplistic, and the fact that 'Avatar' is neither subtle nor cynical doesn't make it dumb (even if it does make it harder for some of us nerds to like it wihtout feeling slightly embarassed ;-). In all honesty, I believe if this had been a slightly more obscure film - instead of the most successful movie of all time - many of the same people who hate on it now would hail it as an epic sci-fi adventure classic for the ages. And as far as I'm concerned, that's exactly what 'Avatar' is: a modern classic by a visionary filmmaker and true auteur. Rant over.
"Ho hum, giant blue cat aliens who mind meld with a literal god in the form of a sentient planet mind that uses animals to repel human invaders like an immune system attacking a virus? A paraplegic man being given the ability to walk again in a new body? A man from a dying world falling in love in an edenic yet dangerous alien paradise? Aliens that pilot massive, dangerous animals by connecting their nervous systems? A planetary internet plants and animals can connect to and upload and download data? And commune with dead relatives and not in a metaphorical way but a literal one? Yawn, I've seen that a million times before, I'm so bored, wake me up when Captain Power Fantasy Man 7 comes out"
there's almost nothing bad you can say about avatar that you can't also say in *at minumum* equal measure about almost any given marvel movie, except avatar has the advantage of there not being 30 of the fucking things and that it made an ATTEMPT at doing something original. i'm not gonna sit here and pretend like avatar is some amazing masterpiece of storytelling or even much more than just serviceable high-budget eye candy, but the same people who loathe and decry avatar as if it's literally the worst thing ever made for these reasons are nearly always the same people who constantly fawn over whatever the latest soulless marvel cgi slop with literally all the exact same issues is that with few exceptions largely isn't any better. if i'm shoving a passable 3 hour vehicle of mindless pretty vfx into my eyeballs, i'm taking the weird blue cat people movie that actually tried to *do* something over the 50th increasingly poorly cgi'd iteration in a row of bland ugly genocidal prune man number 500 punching elon musk's superherosona. i think the real reason people hate avatar and suck off marvel in the same breath is because it's not about humans and it tried to do realistic speculative biology, and i've noticed that generally speaking people as a whole just... subconsciously *hate* that stuff. people hate it when humanity isn't front and center both in story focus and in in-universe importance and absolute specialness and goodness or whatever. basically people who say they want creativity are lying because on the whole people actually just instinctively hate anything actually kind of weird and consider anyone who doesn't to be somehow an inherently suspect kind of person. people outside of specbio and hard-ish scifi always come off as weirdly hateful towards the very idea of their being a specbio or hard-ish scifi or realistic speculative worldbuilding community at all and any hypothetical person in it. i think it's also to a degree part of this recent weird cultural shift where people started arguing that stylization isn't inherently wrong or inferior to realism but then somehow jumped straight from that to "actually realism or any attempt at it whatsoever is literally inherently evil and doing art entirely wrong and if you like it's you're evil and bad, EVERYTHING must be hyperstylized cartoons or it's disgusting garbage you should have just drawn as anime no we don't give a shit what your intention is everything must be stylized and cartoony or it's inherently bad objectively and also morally somehow" like how the """realistic"""" style in the lion king reboot got misblamed for it being shit when anyone who's seen a real lion (or like, any of the actually well animated realistic cgi movies there have been out there) can tell you the actual problem with it was LITERALLY EVERYTHING ELSE. also the """Realsitic""" cgi in the lion king wasn't even actually very good or realsitic. it was like this weird shitty video game cgi that was like.... heaping half-baked textures on itself to try and seem better than it actually was? i don't know how to describe it but it was just badly done and completely lacking in any kind of soul, and that's not the concept of realism as a whole's fault. it's disney's chronic inability to create literally anything that isn't a drained-out husk desperately pretending to be better than it is by throwing money at it and not even really knowing how to put that money where it would be best used. i think they literally just looked at a static photo of a lion and read a wikipedia page and based all their animation on that without actually looking into how they behave in motion. they file everything down to it's most inoffensive rounded kiddified marketable form so ruthlessly there's nothing left but the paper bag they brought the idea in by the time they put it out there. disney isn't a movie studio, they're a repulsively insidious marketing empire that occasionally churns out the most mindless collectible sticker sheets of movies to justify presenting themselves as a movie studio, and everyone eats it up and it's disgusting and horrifying how much of an irreversible claw they have wrapped around almost everyone's deepest minds, how willing everyone is to defend them even when they profess surface-level hate for the company. disney doesn't sell you movies, it sells you ideas of movies, and makes hour long commercials for those ideas to get you to buy the tie-in toys and wax poetic about them "making your childhood" and rate their bland-ass ugly and formulaic movies much more highly than you would if they were made by literally anyone else because of that. but i am getting very off-subject because of the incomprehensibly vast evil of disney that no one realizes. nobody actually cares if something is formulaic and bland in the characters and writing, people actively WANT vfx that are formulaic and simple and and bland, all people really care about is that nothing actually tries anything even slightly genuinely weird or unusual or off the narrow beaten path of acceptable mass market appeal dead horse concepts in any perceivable way, because that's Bad. nobody actually cares about whether or not a movie is just a dumb fun turn off your brain look at the pretty colors thing either, for positive and negative. it's amazing how fast the people who yell the loudest about dumb fun bland pretty vfx movies being valid entertainment and about how formulaic or tropey or just servicable-plot/characters/writing movies aren't a bad thing go silent or reverse their statement entirely when you show them literally anything fitting that description that isn't disney, anime, some cartoon or another, or marvel. once again, only really valid if it's in an extremely narrow range of cartooniness. can't possibly be that mindless pretty vfx fun can come in different forms to different people, can't possibly be that there's more than one possible visual style of turn of your brain pretty visuals servicable excuse for the vfx and worldbuilding plot movie, no, you're just wrong. you, as a person, are Wrong, for your idea of dumb scenery porn vfx fun being hyperrealistic weird biology and crunchy type scifi rather than Colorful Badly Animated Physically Impossible Man Scream And Punch Thing While Someone Reads A Fortune Cookie Message About Being Positive And The Specialness and Inherent Heroness Of Humanity Specifically And Also Everything In The Universe Revolves Around Humanity No Matter What 500. you are Bad and Wrong personally as a person and are doing everything related ot having thoughts, tastes, and personality wrong and everything you say is evil, somehow. i don't even like avatar very much! i just fucking HATE the way people talk about it and the constant befuddling hypocricy of everyone! and really the entire current culture around media in general!
this might be the best comment about Avatar I've ever seen, as huge fan of the movie and everything around it. Thank you stranger on the internet for putting into written words what I think basically every fan thinks and wants to say 💙
It’s the typical cycle for a big blockbuster film to get a lot of hype, then people love it when it’s released, and then after it’s run in the cinema, some people slowly start hating on it after the success, others pretend like they never liked it to begin with. Other films that went through this include James Cameron’s ‘Titanic’, Disney’s ‘Frozen’, the first two new ‘Star Wars’ films, and most Marvel films, including ‘Avengers: Endgame’.
i just rewatched it with a couple of friends and i havent watched it for over 10 years (basically binged it when it initially came out) and i could remember every single scene, even after all these years. it truly was a experience
People make fun of "unobtanium" and "transformium" as if "einsteinium", "tennessine", "moscovium" and "rutherfordium" weren't real names for elements in the periodic table. 😅
Nice video on first film. I recently saw re-release of Avatar at cinema and there was additional underwater swimming scene from second movie at end credits, it looks mind blowing in 3D :) Can't wait to see second one!
Great video, loved hearing the fresh perspective of someone who hasn't seen the movie before. Honestly Avatar is pretty damn good and still manages to keep me enthralled despite having watched it multiple times over. It's def flawed, but something doesn't have to be perfect to be good and enjoyable. Looking forward to the sequel!
They need as many reason as they can find to shit on this movie, without knowing it's a real used scientific term and they're making fools of themselves
I'm definitely looking forward to the sequel and hope it indeed blows everyone away by showing us something new. So many people seem to be certain it'll only be a retread of the first one, but let's put a little faith in Cameron to really want to try new things.
James Cameron is the master of 3D cinematography and Avatar is the purest and simplest example of his craft. So far, technically speaking, Avatar is the greatest 3D movie
This video was put together really well and it’s interesting seeing a review of it for the first time now I’ll say as someone who watched the first Avatar opening weekend when I was 15, only thing I can think of as a comparison is how people must have felt watching Star Wars for the first time. I did grow up loving James Cameron films but with Avatar it was like I put the glasses on and was completely in the film, fully with the character and emotionally invested. Cameron took a basic story and using his direction and vision for 3D, elevated the basic story and fully immersed me. I also think that basic story is very good for making a blockbuster that appeals to a global audience. There was a part in the final battle where I almost couldn’t stop myself from bursting into tears. It was completely overwhelming. There are a lot of small moments that I loved, like Jake first going into his Avatar and his reaction to be able to use his legs again. People shit on it but it’s story was perfect for getting you to discover a new world and making you the main character of the film. I think the biggest thing James Cameron is able to do is make people feel very deep emotions with his films and that is the thing that film excels best at. It’s rare that I watch a blockbuster and it makes me feel the whole gamut of emotions and feel like I’ve been taken to another world. I don’t think I’m alone in how I feel. Not a perfect film by any means but I will never forget what I felt watching the movie. It’s wild to me that I get to finally watch the sequel and go back to that world.
I love this video! Avatar is one of my favorite movies actually... When I watched it back in 2009 I was mind blown.... It was an experience I've never had till today again... None of the other movies that came out could beat avatar... I'm waiting for the sequel like mad.... All the haters will eat a bag of d***s once it's out
Avatar is one of my favorite films also,enjoyed it at the cinema.Watched it 3 times at the theatre,which is unusual for me.Plan to see Avatar 2 a few times this go-round too.
the name unobtainium might sound corny but it actually has roots in engineering. it refers to a material that is perfect for a particular situation, but is either impossible or really hard to get.
there are so many people complaining about not being able to even remember the characters names. Literally just re-watch the movie. I remember when Incredibles 2 came out, similar gap between the original, and so I re-watched the first film so everything was fresh in my mind. something else I wanted to mention: The villains of avatar from a trope villain pov, are crap. I can agree they don't contain very much character or relatable motive. But that's only when you look at these villains at face value. In my opinion I believe that they are the perfect villains for this film. It's simple why, it is a metaphor for humanity. Our species, in the real world, are the villains, we are the problem for the story of the Earth. We are slowly, and selfishly draining the Earth dry, and in Avatar, humans are trying to do the exact same thing to pandora and it's people, for the exact same reason. The fact that you can see the same horrid and destructive actions caused by humanity in the real world, I believe makes "we're killing these people and destroying this planet for money" far more feasible, and a poetic metaphor. This is why I believe that the rich guy who gets horny for fictional elements is perfect as the villain. It is an enigmatic and clever display.
that sounds rather... misanthropic. also, from what i see, the humans need the unobtainium to survive, since earth is becoming borderline uninhabitable, and space travel is unfeasible without unobtainium. from that perspective, it becomes surprisingly easier to root for the villains, because in the end they are just trying to survive. the lesson i see here is that the concept of heroes and villains all depend on perspective. from another POV, jake could be seen as a villain for betraying humanity and dooming his own species to extinction honestly, i am just tired of these trite, misanthopic "humans are monsters" messages. if wolves or bears were capable of causing so much destruction, they would do so without a care in the world. humans are the only species actively working to preserve nature and its wildlife
@@Underworlder5 well firstly, I as viewer of the film had no knowledge of their dependency on unobtanium nor their imminent uninhabitability on Earth, that actually was never clearly shown in the film, only that unobtanium was valuable, which makes the humans seem greedy, which is the only main motive shown for why humans were doing what they were doing. Perhaps if they're true (less malicious version) intentions were revealed more clearly they could be more developed characters.
The action sequences in this film are so well crafted and visually stunning. Few American action films of the last decade match that level of technical brilliance and excitement. Some of the Marvel films have some great set pieces, but a lot of our love of those scenes comes from our love of those characters in that moment. Most people would say the Endgame finale is better than the Avatar finale, but if you compare them without bias the Avatar sequence is superior from a pure action, pacing, camera work perspective.
Although I really loved the feeling the first movie gave me, I have the same concerns as you for the sequels. When I watched the trailer for the Way of Water I had this bad feeling of dejavu. Not only is Quarritch back, but we also saw scenes of battle vs the humans similar to the first film - only in water. I’m pretty sure Cameron said Quarritch would be a villain (not sure if he’s the main one) until the last film and I am nervous about that. I can only trust that Cameron and the writing team weave more dimensions of plot and character conflict so the plot line isn’t “evil human soldier bad” throughout 4 more movies.
Pretty good honest assesment. I understand why the backlash happened but in Avatar 1 really is something special and deserves its spot as the biggest movie of all time. Which makes it even more insane that way of water is somehow better
no way you only have 300 subscribers. what the fuck. i watched this whole thing thinking you were some famous youtuber i haven't heard of. great video man. i subbed. can't wait to see what you become in the future 🙏🏼
Unobtainium wasn’t invented or first coined by James Cameron. It has an interesting history behind it dating back to the 1950s by engineers and scientists back then. Other movies have referenced it as well. I think JC, a bit of an amateur scientist himself, intended it as kind of an inside joke to that community.
Unobtainium is a real term used by scientists and engineers to describe an hypothetical material that perfectly fit their needs. People really think they hired scientists consultants to know how they would take samples from tree roots to make sure they did it correctly but didn't give any thoughts it the odd name of the very material the entire story is motivated by...
Ironically the most interesting aspects of the first film's world building (that a shortage of unobtanium was basically a death sentence for billions of people, of not the earth as a whole, and that Eywa was also invading earth) appear to have been dropped... Though perhaps that incredibly bad title for the third movie does hint at that idea coming back. Lol.
People don't understand the simplicity of the characters is intentional each of them represent different parts of humanity. Jake represents childlike wonder, Grace represents kindness, Norm (through learning alongside Grace) represents knowledge, Quaritch represents conflict and hate, Selfridge represents greed, Neytiri acts as a bridge for Jake to pass from a depressed veteran to him being in a new happier life. Jake grows as a character he can be violent but only when he has to be, Quaritch is the opposite of that just wanting to destroy what he hates and fears. The characters become so much more than they seem when people take the time to understand them.
You're high. Pass me what you're smoking. People (especially in the comment sections of videos like these) don't understand the simplicity of characters can actually hurt the greater scheme because they are simple. Everything you listed is correct. The characters are caricatures. And that's what people don't like them. It's too simple for what it's trying to do. We immediately know that Neytiri is the love interest the moment we see her hiding in the trees. We know that Selfridge is Mr CEO. We don't see any of the growth you speak of because it's so paper thin and we actually just skip through a lot of it. For example, we only ever see jake learning to hunt, fight, and ride things. We never see him learning about *any* of the wiki levels of lore about the Navi and Pandora that were intentionally not included in the movie. So when he says he's "one of the people", it comes off as kinda shallow.
You're right, Brennon. The reason why people don't remember the names of the characters in Avatar is because the characters of Avatar are not as much characters as they are ARCHETYPES.
@@milleyisasoyboy7842 I think it'll get a lot of initial interest but whether it lives up to expectations (as good or better than the first film) remains to be seen.
C.C.H Pounder the actress who played Ney'teri's mother in Avatar got a mention in the Netflix series 'BoJack Horseman' by Character Actress Margo Martindale. Season 2 Episode 9 titled "The Shot" could obviously be a reference to the shot that BoJack wanted to get but Margo also said "this (gun)shot is not just for me, it's for C.C.H Pounder, another actor and all who have to live in lucrative obscurity." So the title of the episode could be referring to the gunshot as well. Anyway when Margo mentioned it, I was like the meme with Leonardo DiCaprio.
2 weeks ago I had no interest in the sequal, now having seen the qst movie again I'm very interested in watching the sequal, please give the film a chance
Ive probably seen it in the theater about 10 times (including 3 more times for the Remaster) and home maybe 2-3 more. It's an experience. :) I just looked up the top 100 highest grossing movies yesterday. And Avatar and Titanic are the only movies in the top 65 that are not part of a series or a 'Franchise.'
Unobtainium has always bugged me but I couldn't figure out why (apart from it's goofiness) then I remembered another movie called "the Core". Mystery solved.
So unlike Transformium, Unobtanium is actually used within the real scientific community to describe a mineral or material that is unavailable due to being too expensive, hard to get/obtain, or too rare, hence why James Cameron chose that as the name for the mineral in Avatar. An example of unobtanium in real life would be Dark Matter. The more you know! 🌈✨
I know there are squeals coming, but I'm honestly more excited about the game. If it has the love I want put into it, exploring this world will be amazing.
I liked Avatar, particularly for the special effects. But one thing that really bothered me was how crappy the mech suits looked. It wouldn't have been so bad if the suit hadn't been a key piece to the final confrontation between Jake and Quaritch. The thing just looked so bland and fake. Compare that suit to the one in District 9 which was also in the final fight scene. Mind you, both movies came out the same year. The District 9 mech was so much cooler a design, blended in seamlessly with the environment, and made for a better action sequence.
I think the reason that people bitch about Avatar so much is that the appeal of the movie mostly lies in the technical aspects of the filmmaking rather than the narrative area. Avatar is a good movie because what you see on the screen, especially in a 3D Cinema, is really impressive. Even for a movie that came out in 2009 the visuals hold up. While it's not very impressive in a narrative sense, the picture on the screen makes for a pretty damn good time.
I like avatar now, but i hated it in 2009. Why? Because theres a deus ex Machina ending, a big one. They hinted at the Logic behind the Planetary connection, but left out the ceremony scene, where you see it for what it is. One creative choice can Ruin a movie, even one where you cry because its So transporting. All the points in this Video are valid and well observed.
The problem is that the movie made no sense, the humans would of decimated every single one of these blue nomads and wouldn't of even bothered to make peace with them
What frustrates me about the characters being flat and inmemorable is that things like Star Wars and marvel started just the same. Luke literally left and became a Jedi because he was bored and disliked the empire. Good ol capt America wanted to be a soldier but was kinda puny and sad. He had a good inuition that earned him an inviting incident. And Luke is the son of a chosen one. Tell me do these sound like interesting memorable characters at first glance. And I know that Jake is even a twin that was even meant to be a part of the science program but he molds himself into the role he plays and discovers a whole new perspective in a world who’s religion is objectively fact. Ewyewa is a objectively canonical God in this world and that’s different. But of course we shun anything that might be based in a religion now adays so that won’t do. I think it’s also worth noting that for a lot of people being asked about it were one really young when it first came out but too were likely so stunned by the incredible visuals that the story got left in the back of peoples minds.
From what I remember of Captain America from the movie, he was seen by the government as so combat-inept but also charismatic and near-brainwashed-with-patriotism devoted to his country that the best use for him was in propaganda. Useless in a fight - but utterly loyal. Ideal for raising moral. And just the kind of dependable idiot you want for your super-soldier program: Someone who will follow orders without question.
Unobtanium is a real term FYI. This has been a "lolz Avatar so dumb" talking point for 13 years....and yet it's a real term. So the people loudly patting themselves on the back by calling the film stupid for stuff like unobtanium are, ironically, the stupid ones.
I saw Avatar four times in theaters. I did not ever once watch it on the small screen. It is a great movie. It isn't necessarily a great story. The story, characters, and performances were good enough to service the visuals, which are the main point of the movie. Those did not disappoint. But after four viewings...I'd already seen them.
I do want to see the new one, if only because this god forsaken era of 'culture' and 'media' is so meaningless, and even if the goal was money before, at least they were trying to make the product worth the price
James spent millions to make a unique and alien soundtrack but scraped it dubbing it too unique. He somehow managed to culturally appropriate a culture that he made up. A youtuber called Sideways did a deep dive on the topic if you're interested. Yeah I have no sympathy for the Navi. The humans came and were willing to provide them with basically anything they wanted in exchange for the ore they were looking for, but the Navi turned it hostile. Because they never had the chance to actually negotiate with the humans, because Jake, that utter moronic bungle nut, utterly failed to do his job, instead causing a huge amount of lives to be lost, just because he wanted to get it on with a chick, completely ignoring the reason he was hired to come to Pandora in the first place, betraying the people who gave him back the ability to walk once again. Jake is a fool and I'd be even willing to say a war criminal for instigating the pointless conflict that took place, because of his gross incompetence and failure to literally just tell the Navi "Hey, we have only come because there is this special rock we need. Would you be willing to at least talk with us about what we can trade you for it, or what we can do for you to let us mine it?" Ever since realizing that I lost any and all interest in this franchise.
@jake well his reasoning for removing it matches up with cultural appropriation. And by definition it's non-sense for him to not use the original soundtrack.
@@stuffstuff3455 It’s the creative process while taking into account that film is an expensive medium and accessibility is an important part of blockbuster filmmaking in particular. The culture he created was still being developed until the film was finished and released so even if we’re going to pretend the argument isn’t ridiculous it falls apart on it’s own and that’s not mentioning that it’s a score, the score of the film doesn’t represent a culture.
unobtanium hair sex pocahontas ferngully dances with wolves smurfs in space no cultural impact no one remembers a line/character name, jake sooley, no one asked for a sequel. And that concludes Avatar discourse on the internet.
I really despise the "it's fine because that's what James Cameron wanted and because it was intentional and because I liked the visuals and because Jake is actually a nice guy" narrative I'm seeing in the comments. Just because it is intentional does not mean it's good. Anakin skywalker, was intentionally whiny, and arrogant, and short tempered, and desperate in the prequels. Yet it still makes for a rather poor plot.
Actually I think thats what people loved its easy to hate him then you remember he comes from a single parent household he has no friends he is in a religious cult who are sociopathic at best judgemental and his own friend is stealing his girl so when you see him change it is more respectable darth vader is the man whereas anakin is still a boy in a adult body. I rewatched it many times and realised anakin was right several times the jedi were hypocrites the sith weren't much better but atleast they had freedom and less bearucratic bs also desperation looks ugly when you view someone or something from the outside but when you lower your ego you start remembering that we all have been their that feeling has been in any human ever alive the desperation to change fate or find the power to change your life and others.
They should have left the earth opening in. It explains Jakes behavior, and clarifies that he takes the side of the Navi very early on. Hes a paraplegic hero for damsels in distress, well liked by his friends, Acrobatic, and from s World where the sky is a billboard in Pandora colours.
@@strangerthanfiction4014 Oh yeah for sure. They should've just not cut anything that was on the table to add back in. because most of it doesn't change much anyways. like, adding the stuff about earth for example. great, it's overcrowded, poor, polluted, dying etc. now they have a a reason to be looking for the unobtanium. But the humans are still the villains. All it does is just give them a reason to be present. especially when we find out, they shot up a school while looking for one singular navi.
@@stagthechainsawbeserker3926 maybe now, almost 20 years later. But go read some reviews from that time and even back in 2015. He's one of the main complaints people had. and even though I personally don't think it ruined the movies, I recognize that yeah, his character is kinda weak. You can add all the reasons you want, the payoff needs to add up though.
It’s the highest grossing movie of all time where two alien blue people are having sex with their braids in the middle of a Forrest…imagine telling someone from the early days of cinema that.
I mean i can acknowledge the visuals are epic but the story really is weak sauce imo cgi is there to enhance a flim not be the flim i mean if the visuals is all you love avatar for a 4D ride should do save 3 hours
I went 4 times when it came out, and it wasn't for the story... the movie genuinely made me feel like I went somewhere else. So thank you for this review. So many people hate on this and I feel like most of them didn't see it in 3d on a big screen. I tried watching it at home, in 3d and it just doesn't work...
Cameron made a new movie? It's going to be absolutely awesome! Design, gadgets, concepts, action.
I'm here for it!
thank you for watching! avatar gang RISE UP 🤘
@@joebiddle YEAH!!!!! Also I’m the #2 Avatar fan cause we all know the title for #1 Avatar fan is yours 👑
Just go outside, you don’t have to watch a movie to experience nature
I'm not exactly sure when it became a thing among my tribe of film geeks to bash 'Avatar'. I know it wasn't when it came out, because most of the film fans in my circle of nerdy friends went to watch it multiple times and couldn't get enough of it. In hindsight, I suspect it was around the time when everybody and their grandmother seemed to have seen it; somehow, once the film had become the most successful movie ever (unadjusted for inflation) it stopped being cool to like James Cameron's eco-sci-fi extravaganza.
Nowadays the film is often brought up in snarky movie blogs as a typical example for a film with great effects but a dull story, unoriginal ideas and bland characters, as if this were somehow the general consensus among film aficionados. "FernGully in space" or "Dances With Wolves with blue cat-people" are some of the kinder descriptions the film has to endure - which in all honesty I don't get.
I mean, it's fine not to like the movie (all art is subjective and all that), but how so many self-professed film experts now pretend this critically acclaimed picture - which on Metacritic is rated even higher than 'The Dark Knight' - was nothing but a bland, unoriginal, run-of-the-mill Hollywood blockbuster that only succeeded thanks to the (then) novelty of 3D is frankly beyond me.
What I find even more astounding is how the very people who decry the lack of original, director-driven blockbusters in Hollywood are often the same who turn up their noses at 'Avatar': an original, director-driven blockbuster that came out when most other big budget movies were either sequels or adaptations of already existing intellectual properties. "The ideas in the film are not original", they claim. Come on guys, seriously?
So you've seen a world like Pandora before? A bioluminescent visual wonder that merges the colorful marine life of coral reefs with the lush vegetation of tropical rain forests? A world where nature forms an actual neural network that stores memories and builds a collective consciousness? You've seen many films about a bio-database that people can plug themselves into via ancient trees and communicate with their ancestors?
You've watched countless blockbusters that take place in an eco-system where you can form instant symbiosis with other creatures depending on your needs? And by the way: how many "eco-sci-fi" films have you seen? Such a worn-out concept and tired old sub-genre, right?
No my friends, in terms of Hollywood blockbusters, these ideas and concepts are about as original as they come, and some of them are even inspired by actual biological phenomenons (like the discovery that the roots of trees do indeed form a sort of neural network in a symbiosis with fungi where they are able to store and exchange information). But what is true is that the filmmaker cleverly chose a very straight-forward story to get his environmentalist plea and anti-colonial, anti-imperialist message across and make some rather complex sci-fi ideas more accessible for a broad audience.
To that end, the film uses certain well-known story tropes ("the spy who changes sides once he falls in love with an enemy"; "the soldier who realizes he's been fighting for the wrong cause"; "the invader who gets to know and appreciate the foreign culture he's invading" or the timeless trope of "the fish out of water"), but they are not what the film is about. And those tropes are not copied from 'Dances With Wolves' either - any more than that film stole them from 'Pocahontas': they are so universal you can find variations of any one of them in numerous legends and stories and thus also throughout film history, from 'Lawrence of Arabia' to 'Shogun' or 'The Last Samurai' and countless others.
And yes, our heroes Jake and Neytiri are not the most complex of characters (though neither are they as bland as the film's most vicious detractors claim), but that's because they aren't really the film's main focus. 'Avatar's actual protagonist, its true star if you will, is Pandora. It's the WORLD we get to experience through Jake's eyes that really matters here, and the film aims straight for your gut - not your sci-fi nerd brain (which I suspect is the actual reason why so many former Cameron fans - now - claim to be disappointed with the film).
More than anything, 'Avatar' wants you to lose your heart to this beautiful planet that functions as an obvious stand-in for our own threatened world, and the film is an unapologetic, uncynical declaration of love to the wonders of nature - as well as a call to action to preserve them. Which on an emotional level works marvelously: nothing in the film is as painful and shocking as the destruction of a single big tree, which symbolizes quite literally nature as the home and shelter we depend upon. It's a genius scene, and I dare you to find an action blockbuster where the distruction of a city or a whole planet carries even a shred of the emotional heft that the falling of "Home Tree" does in Cameron's film.
So again (I'm trying to hammer my point home here ;-), 'Avatar' is simple? Yes, but that's the point: the simplicity and familiarity of the story are deliberate; the themes are not just derivative re-treads, they're as universal as those in myths and fairy tales and thus speak to everyone. And that's exactly what Cameron's intention was: to use simple enough tropes and archetypes to convey a heart-felt message that would work across cultural borders and reach people all over the world. Which, given the film's success, it obviously did.
Personally, I think 'Avatar' is a prime example of visual and emotional storytelling done right, and viewing it for the first time offers an experience that is almost without equal in its immersiveness. And while this may only have been my own individual experience, 'Avatar' was also the first movie in a long time that completely vowed me in the sense that I felt like a little kid again in the theater - which had very little to do with the novelty of 3D. It was also the last time a film managed to do that.
And even in terms of pure entertainment the film is simply spectacular. It's a rousing adventure with gorgeous visuals and top-notch CGI, filled with fascinating creatures and jaw-dropping future-tech, and the final 40 minutes of the film provide an all out, non-stop sci-fi action thrill-ride on a scale the world had rarely - if ever - seen before.
Obviously that doesn't mean it's a perfect film, and as I already pointed out, it's fair not to like it for any number of reasons (above all: personal taste), but 'Avatar' is far from deserving the kind of snark and ridicule it gets these days. Get over it people: simple doesn't equal simplistic, and the fact that 'Avatar' is neither subtle nor cynical doesn't make it dumb (even if it does make it harder for some of us nerds to like it wihtout feeling slightly embarassed ;-).
In all honesty, I believe if this had been a slightly more obscure film - instead of the most successful movie of all time - many of the same people who hate on it now would hail it as an epic sci-fi adventure classic for the ages. And as far as I'm concerned, that's exactly what 'Avatar' is: a modern classic by a visionary filmmaker and true auteur. Rant over.
"Ho hum, giant blue cat aliens who mind meld with a literal god in the form of a sentient planet mind that uses animals to repel human invaders like an immune system attacking a virus? A paraplegic man being given the ability to walk again in a new body? A man from a dying world falling in love in an edenic yet dangerous alien paradise? Aliens that pilot massive, dangerous animals by connecting their nervous systems? A planetary internet plants and animals can connect to and upload and download data? And commune with dead relatives and not in a metaphorical way but a literal one? Yawn, I've seen that a million times before, I'm so bored, wake me up when Captain Power Fantasy Man 7 comes out"
there's almost nothing bad you can say about avatar that you can't also say in *at minumum* equal measure about almost any given marvel movie, except avatar has the advantage of there not being 30 of the fucking things and that it made an ATTEMPT at doing something original. i'm not gonna sit here and pretend like avatar is some amazing masterpiece of storytelling or even much more than just serviceable high-budget eye candy, but the same people who loathe and decry avatar as if it's literally the worst thing ever made for these reasons are nearly always the same people who constantly fawn over whatever the latest soulless marvel cgi slop with literally all the exact same issues is that with few exceptions largely isn't any better. if i'm shoving a passable 3 hour vehicle of mindless pretty vfx into my eyeballs, i'm taking the weird blue cat people movie that actually tried to *do* something over the 50th increasingly poorly cgi'd iteration in a row of bland ugly genocidal prune man number 500 punching elon musk's superherosona. i think the real reason people hate avatar and suck off marvel in the same breath is because it's not about humans and it tried to do realistic speculative biology, and i've noticed that generally speaking people as a whole just... subconsciously *hate* that stuff. people hate it when humanity isn't front and center both in story focus and in in-universe importance and absolute specialness and goodness or whatever. basically people who say they want creativity are lying because on the whole people actually just instinctively hate anything actually kind of weird and consider anyone who doesn't to be somehow an inherently suspect kind of person. people outside of specbio and hard-ish scifi always come off as weirdly hateful towards the very idea of their being a specbio or hard-ish scifi or realistic speculative worldbuilding community at all and any hypothetical person in it. i think it's also to a degree part of this recent weird cultural shift where people started arguing that stylization isn't inherently wrong or inferior to realism but then somehow jumped straight from that to "actually realism or any attempt at it whatsoever is literally inherently evil and doing art entirely wrong and if you like it's you're evil and bad, EVERYTHING must be hyperstylized cartoons or it's disgusting garbage you should have just drawn as anime no we don't give a shit what your intention is everything must be stylized and cartoony or it's inherently bad objectively and also morally somehow" like how the """realistic"""" style in the lion king reboot got misblamed for it being shit when anyone who's seen a real lion (or like, any of the actually well animated realistic cgi movies there have been out there) can tell you the actual problem with it was LITERALLY EVERYTHING ELSE. also the """Realsitic""" cgi in the lion king wasn't even actually very good or realsitic. it was like this weird shitty video game cgi that was like.... heaping half-baked textures on itself to try and seem better than it actually was? i don't know how to describe it but it was just badly done and completely lacking in any kind of soul, and that's not the concept of realism as a whole's fault. it's disney's chronic inability to create literally anything that isn't a drained-out husk desperately pretending to be better than it is by throwing money at it and not even really knowing how to put that money where it would be best used. i think they literally just looked at a static photo of a lion and read a wikipedia page and based all their animation on that without actually looking into how they behave in motion. they file everything down to it's most inoffensive rounded kiddified marketable form so ruthlessly there's nothing left but the paper bag they brought the idea in by the time they put it out there. disney isn't a movie studio, they're a repulsively insidious marketing empire that occasionally churns out the most mindless collectible sticker sheets of movies to justify presenting themselves as a movie studio, and everyone eats it up and it's disgusting and horrifying how much of an irreversible claw they have wrapped around almost everyone's deepest minds, how willing everyone is to defend them even when they profess surface-level hate for the company. disney doesn't sell you movies, it sells you ideas of movies, and makes hour long commercials for those ideas to get you to buy the tie-in toys and wax poetic about them "making your childhood" and rate their bland-ass ugly and formulaic movies much more highly than you would if they were made by literally anyone else because of that. but i am getting very off-subject because of the incomprehensibly vast evil of disney that no one realizes. nobody actually cares if something is formulaic and bland in the characters and writing, people actively WANT vfx that are formulaic and simple and and bland, all people really care about is that nothing actually tries anything even slightly genuinely weird or unusual or off the narrow beaten path of acceptable mass market appeal dead horse concepts in any perceivable way, because that's Bad. nobody actually cares about whether or not a movie is just a dumb fun turn off your brain look at the pretty colors thing either, for positive and negative. it's amazing how fast the people who yell the loudest about dumb fun bland pretty vfx movies being valid entertainment and about how formulaic or tropey or just servicable-plot/characters/writing movies aren't a bad thing go silent or reverse their statement entirely when you show them literally anything fitting that description that isn't disney, anime, some cartoon or another, or marvel. once again, only really valid if it's in an extremely narrow range of cartooniness. can't possibly be that mindless pretty vfx fun can come in different forms to different people, can't possibly be that there's more than one possible visual style of turn of your brain pretty visuals servicable excuse for the vfx and worldbuilding plot movie, no, you're just wrong. you, as a person, are Wrong, for your idea of dumb scenery porn vfx fun being hyperrealistic weird biology and crunchy type scifi rather than Colorful Badly Animated Physically Impossible Man Scream And Punch Thing While Someone Reads A Fortune Cookie Message About Being Positive And The Specialness and Inherent Heroness Of Humanity Specifically And Also Everything In The Universe Revolves Around Humanity No Matter What 500. you are Bad and Wrong personally as a person and are doing everything related ot having thoughts, tastes, and personality wrong and everything you say is evil, somehow. i don't even like avatar very much! i just fucking HATE the way people talk about it and the constant befuddling hypocricy of everyone! and really the entire current culture around media in general!
this might be the best comment about Avatar I've ever seen, as huge fan of the movie and everything around it.
Thank you stranger on the internet for putting into written words what I think basically every fan thinks and wants to say 💙
It’s the typical cycle for a big blockbuster film to get a lot of hype, then people love it when it’s released, and then after it’s run in the cinema, some people slowly start hating on it after the success, others pretend like they never liked it to begin with.
Other films that went through this include James Cameron’s ‘Titanic’, Disney’s ‘Frozen’, the first two new ‘Star Wars’ films, and most Marvel films, including ‘Avengers: Endgame’.
The Same haters that will go and watch avatar 2 multiples times …
this movie is still great...... but imagine how mind-blowing it was back in 2009 on a giant IMAX 3D scrn! It was an experience I'll never forget.
Agreed!!!
i just rewatched it with a couple of friends and i havent watched it for over 10 years (basically binged it when it initially came out) and i could remember every single scene, even after all these years. it truly was a experience
O watched it 3d and it was my iest 3d movie i didnt like itnon 3d.coulndt see the details. I luked the movie cos its sci fi and cool fight scenes
People make fun of "unobtanium" and "transformium" as if "einsteinium", "tennessine", "moscovium" and "rutherfordium" weren't real names for elements in the periodic table. 😅
nooooo not my californium
People say Avatar had no cultural impact but its cultural impact was literally an entire fanbase of capeshitters seething. And it's glorious.
Love this comment! Hahaha
The only movie that I never get bored of watching, I’ve watched it probably over 200 times, and each time it feels great again
Same here, only movie i've wateched more than five times and still look forward to watching more.
Nice video on first film. I recently saw re-release of Avatar at cinema and there was additional underwater swimming scene from second movie at end credits, it looks mind blowing in 3D :)
Can't wait to see second one!
thank you! the scene from avatar 2 did look cool
Well gee. Maybe the reason people forgot the names is because, I dunno, they haven't watched it since 2009??????
I can't remember the names of any of the characters in Inception. Corn? Arachnid? Earnest? Hell if I know. Still thought it was a pretty good movie.
@@chrisbarnett5303 thanks for proving my point
@@work90 Yeah it's a weird criteria people pull out exclusively to shit on Avatar. Plus most people will remember Jake Sully/Neytiri.
Great video, loved hearing the fresh perspective of someone who hasn't seen the movie before. Honestly Avatar is pretty damn good and still manages to keep me enthralled despite having watched it multiple times over. It's def flawed, but something doesn't have to be perfect to be good and enjoyable. Looking forward to the sequel!
thanks very much! avatar 2 HYPE
6:18 Send that guy my way, I can name a bunch of characters.
Why so many people hate the unobtanium name? I like it
They need as many reason as they can find to shit on this movie, without knowing it's a real used scientific term and they're making fools of themselves
@@ThePizza28 I feel better knowing Pizza approves of Avatar
I'm definitely looking forward to the sequel and hope it indeed blows everyone away by showing us something new. So many people seem to be certain it'll only be a retread of the first one, but let's put a little faith in Cameron to really want to try new things.
I think he has at least earned the consideration to go see it. Both Aliens and T2 were incredible!
James Cameron is the master of 3D cinematography and Avatar is the purest and simplest example of his craft. So far, technically speaking, Avatar is the greatest 3D movie
This video was put together really well and it’s interesting seeing a review of it for the first time now
I’ll say as someone who watched the first Avatar opening weekend when I was 15, only thing I can think of as a comparison is how people must have felt watching Star Wars for the first time. I did grow up loving James Cameron films but with Avatar it was like I put the glasses on and was completely in the film, fully with the character and emotionally invested. Cameron took a basic story and using his direction and vision for 3D, elevated the basic story and fully immersed me. I also think that basic story is very good for making a blockbuster that appeals to a global audience.
There was a part in the final battle where I almost couldn’t stop myself from bursting into tears. It was completely overwhelming.
There are a lot of small moments that I loved, like Jake first going into his Avatar and his reaction to be able to use his legs again.
People shit on it but it’s story was perfect for getting you to discover a new world and making you the main character of the film.
I think the biggest thing James Cameron is able to do is make people feel very deep emotions with his films and that is the thing that film excels best at.
It’s rare that I watch a blockbuster and it makes me feel the whole gamut of emotions and feel like I’ve been taken to another world.
I don’t think I’m alone in how I feel. Not a perfect film by any means but I will never forget what I felt watching the movie. It’s wild to me that I get to finally watch the sequel and go back to that world.
I love this video! Avatar is one of my favorite movies actually... When I watched it back in 2009 I was mind blown.... It was an experience I've never had till today again... None of the other movies that came out could beat avatar... I'm waiting for the sequel like mad.... All the haters will eat a bag of d***s once it's out
I'm an Indian and I'm proud that the title of the highest-grossing movie of all time is a Sanskrit word.
Avatar is one of my favorite films also,enjoyed it at the cinema.Watched it 3 times at the theatre,which is unusual for me.Plan to see Avatar 2 a few times this go-round too.
The papyrus font actually made me laugh 😂😂
My review of Avatar : "Outstanding!"
Thought you were a youtuber with a million+ subscribers for a second there.
Keep it up!
wow thanks so much !
Name a character from the Godfather movie, even most film critics don't know 🤣
SO TRUE
The Godfather, of course.
@@vylbird8014 His name is ROBERTO!
Thank goodness there's no liar revealed trope in the second film.
Cheers on the Pulp Fiction quote. Awesome.
the name unobtainium might sound corny but it actually has roots in engineering. it refers to a material that is perfect for a particular situation, but is either impossible or really hard to get.
"the way of water" is appropriately named I think
I just watched Avatar: Way of Water. It was amazing! I think you'll love it too! Great video!
there are so many people complaining about not being able to even remember the characters names. Literally just re-watch the movie. I remember when Incredibles 2 came out, similar gap between the original, and so I re-watched the first film so everything was fresh in my mind.
something else I wanted to mention:
The villains of avatar from a trope villain pov, are crap. I can agree they don't contain very much character or relatable motive. But that's only when you look at these villains at face value. In my opinion I believe that they are the perfect villains for this film. It's simple why, it is a metaphor for humanity. Our species, in the real world, are the villains, we are the problem for the story of the Earth. We are slowly, and selfishly draining the Earth dry, and in Avatar, humans are trying to do the exact same thing to pandora and it's people, for the exact same reason. The fact that you can see the same horrid and destructive actions caused by humanity in the real world, I believe makes "we're killing these people and destroying this planet for money" far more feasible, and a poetic metaphor. This is why I believe that the rich guy who gets horny for fictional elements is perfect as the villain. It is an enigmatic and clever display.
that sounds rather... misanthropic. also, from what i see, the humans need the unobtainium to survive, since earth is becoming borderline uninhabitable, and space travel is unfeasible without unobtainium. from that perspective, it becomes surprisingly easier to root for the villains, because in the end they are just trying to survive. the lesson i see here is that the concept of heroes and villains all depend on perspective. from another POV, jake could be seen as a villain for betraying humanity and dooming his own species to extinction
honestly, i am just tired of these trite, misanthopic "humans are monsters" messages. if wolves or bears were capable of causing so much destruction, they would do so without a care in the world. humans are the only species actively working to preserve nature and its wildlife
@@Underworlder5 well firstly, I as viewer of the film had no knowledge of their dependency on unobtanium nor their imminent uninhabitability on Earth, that actually was never clearly shown in the film, only that unobtanium was valuable, which makes the humans seem greedy, which is the only main motive shown for why humans were doing what they were doing. Perhaps if they're true (less malicious version) intentions were revealed more clearly they could be more developed characters.
good video! thanks for your prespective. cant wait for the way of water!
thank you ! avatar 2 HYPE
The action sequences in this film are so well crafted and visually stunning. Few American action films of the last decade match that level of technical brilliance and excitement.
Some of the Marvel films have some great set pieces, but a lot of our love of those scenes comes from our love of those characters in that moment.
Most people would say the Endgame finale is better than the Avatar finale, but if you compare them without bias the Avatar sequence is superior from a pure action, pacing, camera work perspective.
Although I really loved the feeling the first movie gave me, I have the same concerns as you for the sequels. When I watched the trailer for the Way of Water I had this bad feeling of dejavu. Not only is Quarritch back, but we also saw scenes of battle vs the humans similar to the first film - only in water. I’m pretty sure Cameron said Quarritch would be a villain (not sure if he’s the main one) until the last film and I am nervous about that. I can only trust that Cameron and the writing team weave more dimensions of plot and character conflict so the plot line isn’t “evil human soldier bad” throughout 4 more movies.
yes, that would be very lame
I've seen the trailer, but it doesn't spark anything in me that goes "Oooh i've got to see this movie"
nice video man your editing is really good!
thank you so much !!
Pretty good honest assesment. I understand why the backlash happened but in Avatar 1 really is something special and deserves its spot as the biggest movie of all time. Which makes it even more insane that way of water is somehow better
no way you only have 300 subscribers. what the fuck. i watched this whole thing thinking you were some famous youtuber i haven't heard of. great video man. i subbed. can't wait to see what you become in the future 🙏🏼
this is like the nicest thing I've ever read, thank you so much ! more cool stuff to come hopefully !! 🤞🤘
@@joebiddle glad to hear that man, i'm here in the beginning, betting rn ur gonna be something big 🙌🏼
Unobtainium wasn’t invented or first coined by James Cameron. It has an interesting history behind it dating back to the 1950s by engineers and scientists back then. Other movies have referenced it as well. I think JC, a bit of an amateur scientist himself, intended it as kind of an inside joke to that community.
I have subscribed because your work is so fucking amazing
wow thank you so much !!
Unobtainium is a real term used by scientists and engineers to describe an hypothetical material that perfectly fit their needs. People really think they hired scientists consultants to know how they would take samples from tree roots to make sure they did it correctly but didn't give any thoughts it the odd name of the very material the entire story is motivated by...
The colonel really makes the movie for me
Ironically the most interesting aspects of the first film's world building (that a shortage of unobtanium was basically a death sentence for billions of people, of not the earth as a whole, and that Eywa was also invading earth) appear to have been dropped... Though perhaps that incredibly bad title for the third movie does hint at that idea coming back. Lol.
People don't understand the simplicity of the characters is intentional each of them represent different parts of humanity. Jake represents childlike wonder, Grace represents kindness, Norm (through learning alongside Grace) represents knowledge, Quaritch represents conflict and hate, Selfridge represents greed, Neytiri acts as a bridge for Jake to pass from a depressed veteran to him being in a new happier life. Jake grows as a character he can be violent but only when he has to be, Quaritch is the opposite of that just wanting to destroy what he hates and fears. The characters become so much more than they seem when people take the time to understand them.
You're high. Pass me what you're smoking. People (especially in the comment sections of videos like these) don't understand the simplicity of characters can actually hurt the greater scheme because they are simple. Everything you listed is correct. The characters are caricatures. And that's what people don't like them. It's too simple for what it's trying to do. We immediately know that Neytiri is the love interest the moment we see her hiding in the trees. We know that Selfridge is Mr CEO. We don't see any of the growth you speak of because it's so paper thin and we actually just skip through a lot of it.
For example, we only ever see jake learning to hunt, fight, and ride things. We never see him learning about *any* of the wiki levels of lore about the Navi and Pandora that were intentionally not included in the movie. So when he says he's "one of the people", it comes off as kinda shallow.
You're right, Brennon. The reason why people don't remember the names of the characters in Avatar is because the characters of Avatar are not as much characters as they are ARCHETYPES.
I think it'll hold up pretty well and should meet or perhaps even exceed expectations.
@@milleyisasoyboy7842 I think it'll get a lot of initial interest but whether it lives up to expectations (as good or better than the first film) remains to be seen.
C.C.H Pounder the actress who played Ney'teri's mother in Avatar got a mention in the Netflix series 'BoJack Horseman' by Character Actress Margo Martindale. Season 2 Episode 9 titled "The Shot" could obviously be a reference to the shot that BoJack wanted to get but Margo also said "this (gun)shot is not just for me, it's for C.C.H Pounder, another actor and all who have to live in lucrative obscurity." So the title of the episode could be referring to the gunshot as well. Anyway when Margo mentioned it, I was like the meme with Leonardo DiCaprio.
we
2 weeks ago I had no interest in the sequal, now having seen the qst movie again I'm very interested in watching the sequal, please give the film a chance
Ive probably seen it in the theater about 10 times (including 3 more times for the Remaster) and home maybe 2-3 more. It's an experience. :) I just looked up the top 100 highest grossing movies yesterday. And Avatar and Titanic are the only movies in the top 65 that are not part of a series or a 'Franchise.'
Re: the sequel titles, if it helps, none of those are official at this point, save for TWOW for obvious reasons 😂
Unobtainium has always bugged me but I couldn't figure out why (apart from it's goofiness) then I remembered another movie called "the Core". Mystery solved.
So unlike Transformium, Unobtanium is actually used within the real scientific community to describe a mineral or material that is unavailable due to being too expensive, hard to get/obtain, or too rare, hence why James Cameron chose that as the name for the mineral in Avatar. An example of unobtanium in real life would be Dark Matter. The more you know! 🌈✨
I know there are squeals coming, but I'm honestly more excited about the game. If it has the love I want put into it, exploring this world will be amazing.
This is my favorite movie and I'm so glad people are still able to enjoy the movie and not have it be clowned on for dumb reasons.
I liked Avatar, particularly for the special effects. But one thing that really bothered me was how crappy the mech suits looked. It wouldn't have been so bad if the suit hadn't been a key piece to the final confrontation between Jake and Quaritch. The thing just looked so bland and fake. Compare that suit to the one in District 9 which was also in the final fight scene. Mind you, both movies came out the same year. The District 9 mech was so much cooler a design, blended in seamlessly with the environment, and made for a better action sequence.
There is another avatar essay floating around. the story is actually not as bad as people make it out to be.
ua-cam.com/video/W8sgI3bK0Ag/v-deo.html
Loved your video presentation
thanks so much! that means a lot
I LOOOOOOOVED IT AS MUCH AS FIRST. MAYBE MORE. IT IS GOING TO WIN BEST MOVIE
nathan zed said it as well 3 yrs ago. based movie and gigachad director
W content joe
thank u !
Unobtainium is a legit scientific term
I think the reason that people bitch about Avatar so much is that the appeal of the movie mostly lies in the technical aspects of the filmmaking rather than the narrative area. Avatar is a good movie because what you see on the screen, especially in a 3D Cinema, is really impressive. Even for a movie that came out in 2009 the visuals hold up. While it's not very impressive in a narrative sense, the picture on the screen makes for a pretty damn good time.
I like avatar now, but i hated it in 2009. Why? Because theres a deus ex Machina ending, a big one. They hinted at the Logic behind the Planetary connection, but left out the ceremony scene, where you see it for what it is.
One creative choice can Ruin a movie, even one where you cry because its So transporting.
All the points in this Video are valid and well observed.
feel most people today were like 5-10 years old when avatar came out so they have no clue whats going on : P
The problem is that the movie made no sense, the humans would of decimated every single one of these blue nomads and wouldn't of even bothered to make peace with them
Different humans have different thoughts...and ideologies. There'd be resistance if peace wasn't attempted.
nice vid
thank you!
What frustrates me about the characters being flat and inmemorable is that things like Star Wars and marvel started just the same. Luke literally left and became a Jedi because he was bored and disliked the empire. Good ol capt America wanted to be a soldier but was kinda puny and sad. He had a good inuition that earned him an inviting incident. And Luke is the son of a chosen one. Tell me do these sound like interesting memorable characters at first glance. And I know that Jake is even a twin that was even meant to be a part of the science program but he molds himself into the role he plays and discovers a whole new perspective in a world who’s religion is objectively fact. Ewyewa is a objectively canonical God in this world and that’s different. But of course we shun anything that might be based in a religion now adays so that won’t do. I think it’s also worth noting that for a lot of people being asked about it were one really young when it first came out but too were likely so stunned by the incredible visuals that the story got left in the back of peoples minds.
From what I remember of Captain America from the movie, he was seen by the government as so combat-inept but also charismatic and near-brainwashed-with-patriotism devoted to his country that the best use for him was in propaganda. Useless in a fight - but utterly loyal. Ideal for raising moral. And just the kind of dependable idiot you want for your super-soldier program: Someone who will follow orders without question.
In my opinion, Avatar is fine. It does not deserved highest grossing movie of all time but its an enjoyable movie.
Great video!
thank you!
you should deep dive into the world building then make anathor video
my guy only has 425 subs we gotta change that
haha thank you !
Unobtanium is a legitimate thing, it’s a term for a mineral that’s impossible to get to. Sounds stupid for sure, but it’s legit.
Unobtanium is a real term FYI. This has been a "lolz Avatar so dumb" talking point for 13 years....and yet it's a real term. So the people loudly patting themselves on the back by calling the film stupid for stuff like unobtanium are, ironically, the stupid ones.
This is my favorite movie Avatar might change avatar 2
I saw Avatar four times in theaters. I did not ever once watch it on the small screen. It is a great movie. It isn't necessarily a great story. The story, characters, and performances were good enough to service the visuals, which are the main point of the movie. Those did not disappoint. But after four viewings...I'd already seen them.
I do want to see the new one, if only because this god forsaken era of 'culture' and 'media' is so meaningless, and even if the goal was money before, at least they were trying to make the product worth the price
Cant wwit for 2
that’s funny, ‘cause I’m the number 1 Avatar fan 😂
I've never read the Bible but I am the leading authority on it. I can tell you everything you need to know about it.
Ava2ar
I’m tired of super hero movies I hope way of water is a success so we can get other things
James spent millions to make a unique and alien soundtrack but scraped it dubbing it too unique.
He somehow managed to culturally appropriate a culture that he made up. A youtuber called Sideways did a deep dive on the topic if you're interested.
Yeah I have no sympathy for the Navi. The humans came and were willing to provide them with basically anything they wanted in exchange for the ore they were looking for, but the Navi turned it hostile. Because they never had the chance to actually negotiate with the humans, because Jake, that utter moronic bungle nut, utterly failed to do his job, instead causing a huge amount of lives to be lost, just because he wanted to get it on with a chick, completely ignoring the reason he was hired to come to Pandora in the first place, betraying the people who gave him back the ability to walk once again.
Jake is a fool and I'd be even willing to say a war criminal for instigating the pointless conflict that took place, because of his gross incompetence and failure to literally just tell the Navi "Hey, we have only come because there is this special rock we need. Would you be willing to at least talk with us about what we can trade you for it, or what we can do for you to let us mine it?"
Ever since realizing that I lost any and all interest in this franchise.
Culturally appropriate a culture he made up is a cringe take on the creative process.
@jake by definition its cultural appropriation.
@@stuffstuff3455 by definition nonsense
@jake well his reasoning for removing it matches up with cultural appropriation.
And by definition it's non-sense for him to not use the original soundtrack.
@@stuffstuff3455 It’s the creative process while taking into account that film is an expensive medium and accessibility is an important part of blockbuster filmmaking in particular.
The culture he created was still being developed until the film was finished and released so even if we’re going to pretend the argument isn’t ridiculous it falls apart on it’s own and that’s not mentioning that it’s a score, the score of the film doesn’t represent a culture.
Papyrus font 😂
unobtanium hair sex pocahontas ferngully dances with wolves smurfs in space no cultural impact no one remembers a line/character name, jake sooley, no one asked for a sequel. And that concludes Avatar discourse on the internet.
Oh wow!!!! You could name a character hours after watching the movie
Oh wow you couldn't remember the name of a character in a movie you saw once in 2009?! Guess that movie sucks!!!
@@chrisbarnett5303 there's plenty of movies I only watched once and earlier than 2009 and I still remember the names
i mean i can name them all but thats probably cause ive seen it close to five hundred times since it came out lol,,, soooo i dont think that counts
@@airyfairyfae Yeah I can name super minor characters like Wainfleet or some that you don't even see like Ninat and Peyral lol
I think this movie doesnt look good, cause I cant look at these blue people without throwing up.
I really despise the "it's fine because that's what James Cameron wanted and because it was intentional and because I liked the visuals and because Jake is actually a nice guy" narrative I'm seeing in the comments. Just because it is intentional does not mean it's good.
Anakin skywalker, was intentionally whiny, and arrogant, and short tempered, and desperate in the prequels. Yet it still makes for a rather poor plot.
Actually I think thats what people loved its easy to hate him then you remember he comes from a single parent household he has no friends he is in a religious cult who are sociopathic at best judgemental and his own friend is stealing his girl so when you see him change it is more respectable darth vader is the man whereas anakin is still a boy in a adult body. I rewatched it many times and realised anakin was right several times the jedi were hypocrites the sith weren't much better but atleast they had freedom and less bearucratic bs also desperation looks ugly when you view someone or something from the outside but when you lower your ego you start remembering that we all have been their that feeling has been in any human ever alive the desperation to change fate or find the power to change your life and others.
They should have left the earth opening in. It explains Jakes behavior, and clarifies that he takes the side of the Navi very early on. Hes a paraplegic hero for damsels in distress, well liked by his friends, Acrobatic, and from s World where the sky is a billboard in Pandora colours.
@@strangerthanfiction4014 Oh yeah for sure. They should've just not cut anything that was on the table to add back in. because most of it doesn't change much anyways. like, adding the stuff about earth for example. great, it's overcrowded, poor, polluted, dying etc. now they have a a reason to be looking for the unobtanium. But the humans are still the villains. All it does is just give them a reason to be present. especially when we find out, they shot up a school while looking for one singular navi.
@@stagthechainsawbeserker3926 maybe now, almost 20 years later. But go read some reviews from that time and even back in 2015. He's one of the main complaints people had. and even though I personally don't think it ruined the movies, I recognize that yeah, his character is kinda weak. You can add all the reasons you want, the payoff needs to add up though.
It’s the highest grossing movie of all time where two alien blue people are having sex with their braids in the middle of a Forrest…imagine telling someone from the early days of cinema that.
I mean i can acknowledge the visuals are epic but the story really is weak sauce imo cgi is there to enhance a flim not be the flim i mean if the visuals is all you love avatar for a 4D ride should do save 3 hours
The humans are the good guys
EMPEROR PROTECTS
Avatar sucked in every possible way. The story was stupid. The characters were dumb. The visuals were very basic
Unobtanium is a real team used by physicists for a hypothetical substance en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unobtainium