The plot is basic and obvious – others have talked at length about the rights and wrongs of a story where the white man comes to the aid of the indigenous people, so I'll not add to that debate. Thing is, the reason I was able to think about "how did they do that shot" while watching the film is because the technical aspects of the film is really all there is to engage with. Of course the world of Pandora looks great with things moving around in front of you and the final battle sequences are great – the money is all there to be seen. The "look it's in 3D" shots are not as obvious as some of the other films (where stuff comes out of the screen for no reason) but it is still a little distracting when the 3D forces your focus or has stuff where it doesn't aid the scene. In 3D it doesn't quite hit the same mark for me.
OK the fantastical visual aspects are clearly creations but I was startled by how accepting of it all was and, in 2D I thought that the effects were pretty seamless. There were points in the film where I found myself wondering how on earth they managed to get a particular shot and where the camera was, only for my brain to kick in a second later to remind me that what I'm seeing is entirely virtual. Likewise it is so easy to forget that the Na'vi are not actors in quite brilliant outfits and makeup because they look so real and move so naturally – it is a million miles from the films such as Spiderman or Indy 4 where you can see where the real person ends and the jumping/swinging special effect begin. The landscapes and world of Pandora are imaginative (ironic since how dumb the name of it is) and very vividly created to the point where you forget that they are effects when you step back from them. If we ignore the 3D for a minute, the actual effects look great and I imagine that it will still be impressive in 2D. Unsurprisingly I was right because Avatar is technically a brilliant film that deserves to sweep the Oscars in terms of awards for visual effects and other such categories. It just seemed that watching it on my TV in about 9 months on DVD with a basic stereo system would be missing the point.
Although I was not too bothered about seeing Avatar as a film, I felt it was a bit foolish to let this milestone of cinema go past me – particularly when the thing it is hyped for are the effects and being the first "big" film to utilise 3D technology to this degree.
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