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[flint]

Just watched this (online, so quality wasn't great) and it is probably my favorite movie of the year. As Hylandor can attest I was pretty critical of the trailers and thought it would be another mindless, CGI-driven borefest. What it is is a tried and true plot you've all seen before with truly amazing CGI and great action coming together to make a very good but not great movie. James Cameron adds another to his stable of awesome action movies (Terminator 1 and 2, Aliens, True Lies).

I don't want to go any further in case I ruin parts of the movie for you guys but if anyone is on the fence about seeing it I would suggest you do. I really wish there was an IMAX nearby, I would gladly pay to see this in 3D.

[Kadian]

I'm going to see it tonight at a 3D showing, I've got my hopes up that it will be as cool as it sounds, and hopefully the 3D adds to it and isn't annoying. I'll let you know if it's cool to see that way...

[shiram]

as a fan of science fiction, and an avid reader of sci-fi books, i must say this movie seems very unoriginal, and it really didnt do much to interest me, from what i've seen of trailers, interviews etc.

alot of the concepts seems to have been covered in classic sci-fi stories already
the metaphors and commentaries seems played out as well

that being said, since its been released i have been more interested in seeing it, Cameron's body of work warrants seeing it a proper 3d theater i think as well
i'll probably see it soon

im hoping it will pleasantly surprise me, and im hoping the 3d is good, as there's seems to be a big push from movie-makers, tv-makers to put 3d in the mainstream

[Kadian]

Ok I'm back, and I really liked the movie. I can't say whether it is totally original compared to past sci-fi stuff because I'm not big into reading it, I pretty much stick to main stream stuff. So compared to other movies and main stream sci-fi stuff I think this is pretty original. The 3D was cool, I would definitely recommend seeing it that way, although I did find it annoying occasionally... To be honest I think they could have made this story alone at least 2 movies by adding a little more to the beginning (setting up what was going on) and probably a little more to the middle (I don't want to elaborate any more than that so I don't ruin anything), but I think you can tell it could be 2 movies by the fact that it's 2 hours and 40 minutes long, 20 more minutes and you'd have 2 standard movies... So the only really bad thing I can say is that I found myself wanting to know more about how they got to the point that they were at... (prequel?), but the story they told was great...

[Hylandor]

I thought it was fantastic. I've watched it twice now, once in 3d. Theres a nearby IMAX I might have to hit up still though

[Darius]

I thought it was a good movie. I saw it in 3D, and my impressions are briefly as follows:
- don't expect ambitious film making here, or superb acting performances, it's an entertainment-oriented blockbuster, not a "thinker",
- the movie is shallow, one-threaded and its message (criticizing greedy economy, resource conquest, downplaying anything that's different/unknown, etc.) is simplistic and typically "US-pathetic", reminiscent of e.g. Independence Day,
- visuals are fantastic, even though the 3D effect is pretty uneven, causing a stupidly looking "two layer" impression in some scenes (just two layers or plains of the Z-axis, not real depth),
- the movie, albeit long, doesn't get boring,
- while it's simple and a bit pompous, it's also quite touching and emotional.

I liked it, my wife as well.

[shiram]

saw it with my brother and a friend in imax 3d
i must say i was disapointed, and i think Darius did a great job summarizing whats going on in the movie

the story is very cliché, the bad guy is so cliché, the whole of it is nothing we havent seen before
the supporting cast is vastly irrellevant... they barely get any lines, and never grow as individuals
michelle rodriguez's caracter is a prime example of this

there is so much to see on the world they created, and yet they dont give any bit of information on this world... why is everything so colorful and fluorescent? why the weird stone structures...i would have liked more explanation, as if we we're really discovering and trying to understand that world

i guess its just to create this surreal beautiful place, but to me it got old during the movie

the movie is more fantasy than science fiction to me

[Darius]

True, given the beautiful environment and fascinating beasts, I'd expect a bit more (pseudo)scientific gibberish in an SF movie In fact, we don't really know anything about Pandora or its inhabitants. The entire move is pretty shallow but this aspect comes out as particularly thin. I still liked it, although I'm not sure whether I'd be so enthusiastic about had I not seen it in 3D.

[Kadian]

That's what I was thinking when I said I wanted it to be 2 movies, they could have spent some more time discussing the technology of creating and using the avatar, maybe a little more info on the main character too. I am also still wondering what this mineral is and why is it so valuable... Is it valuable like diamonds or gold, or like coal or uranium, or for some other reason all together? Then they could have spent more time explaining Pandora also and what was happening there.... Perhaps we will learn more about this in Avatar 2, cause let's face it, they only shipped those people back to Earth, it's not like they aren't going to form a bigger army and come back right?

[Bane]

Going to see it in 3D on sunday. It has been near IMPOSSIBLE to get decent seats during the weekends here in my city. It seems the entire fucking city want to see it over and over again, and that all want to see it on sundays, heh.. But, finally, I got decent seats.

Can't say I'm super excited. I think it will be a decent movie, but I would never imaged it to be anything but superfical and shallow, just as you guys have said above.

Btw, did you read THIS, rather amusing, 'joke' about the story of this movie?

Edit: The movie was fricking spectacular. Blow me away compeltely. It was way better than I could ever have imagined.