This is the preview to the hotly anticipated follow-up film from the mastercraftsman director: James Cameron. For the past 10 years, James Cameron has been doing the reasearch and development for this film. Whatever details that have been leaked to the public have been quite scarce, until this year when we finally got the teaser trailer to this film and the comic-con impressions. I got tickets to the AVATAR DAY screening in IMAX 3D and the Teaser Trailer to the film went online a good 24 hours in advance. I decided to skip out on seeing the trailer right away, as so I can heighten my experience when I finally see the first frames of the film the way it was meant to be seen.
What we got to see!...
The footage kicked off with an introduction by James Cameron in full 3D.
Then the first frames of the film started and the titles "AVATAR" appear
The footage kicked off with Jake Sully (the wheelchair-bound marine played by Sam Worthington) wheeling himself in among the other marines while they are being debiefed on Pandora by Col. Quaritch.
"After a tour of Pandora, you'll want to go to Hell for a little R&R"
This scene was really there to illistrate that the 3D aspects works well even for these more smaller moments. There was no real CGI as the scene takes place mostly in a the inside of a military base. The 3D looked great and this scene worked with it.
The Next Scene was Jake's conciousiness being transfered the his Na'vi' Avatar. The scene opens with Jake climbing onto an MRI-like machine. While Dr. Grace Augustine (Sigourney Weaver) is walking Jake through the transfer process. As Jake's conciousiness is transfered, he wakes up and is invigorated to be walking again.
"This is great" smiles Jake
Jake still has some trouble adjusting to the walkin as he stumbles out of the room with the entire medical crew telling Jake to take it slower and get back on the table.
What was great about this scene was that it establishes tha Jake is full of himself in a sense and that he is one that is very independent.
The next scene is on Pandora with Jake and Grace in their Na'vi Avatars being confronting and being chased by the creatures of pandora.
What was great about this scene is that is establishes that James Cameron's intention with the 3D is to not have gags, but to transport you to this gorgeous and vividly lush environment that is Pandora. There were some particle effects here that really impress and you get the sense that this is a jungle. This scene also further went on to show Jake's character as his place in life is sort of renewed with his new Avatar and you can see it in his eyes. Overall, great scene in 3D!
The next scene was of the Na'vi Neytiri (Zoe Saldana) defending Jake from a horde of Dog-like creatures. She uses her bow and arrows to kill these creatures. She comes to a wounded dog and she mercy kills it. Neytiri then walks off with a hurt look in her eyes. Jake comes behind her to give his thanks and she refuses his thanks.
"You shouldn't be thankful. This is all your fault!" exclaims Neytiri
This scene was very effective in so many ways. Zoe Saldana does not appear in the film as a live-action person, but her performance remains very intact throughout the whole scene. What was different about this scene was the look of the environment. Oh my god, was this environment beautiful. The lighting effects and particles were unlike anything you have seen in a movie this year so far, or quite possibly ever. This was really an entirely CGI rendered scene and there were moments where I got lost in it's beauty and it really does transport you and you forget you're watching a CGI rendered scene. Not to say that the film is entirely photorealistic, but it doesn't become a distractiong to you. Overall, fantastic scene!
The last scene that was screened was a scene that showed Jake and Neytiri taming a dragon-like winged creature.
"If he wants you, he won't kill you" says Neytiri as Jake heads to tame the creature.
Jake struggles with the creature and fully overtakes it.
"You have a strong heart" - Neytiri
Then Jake and the creature go on their first flight together. Jake has a lot of difficulty flying the creature. He crashes into rock faces and gorges. He plunges down a canyon while barely hanging onto the creature at one point. Jake ultimately overcomes this obsticle and he ends up flying more gracefully with the creature.
This scene served the same purpose and showed the great 3D that was being employed here and it was also a character defining moment for the Jake character in showing that he is different from the other marines and even the Na'vi. Overall, great 3D scene!
So first impressions!...
The 3D looked great. It was much more in line with the 3D quality of such films as Beowulf and you can definitely tell that the film was meant to be seen in 3D. In this 16-minute footage, every frame was in 3D and it looked fantastic! While the 3D looked great, some of the setbacks to using 3D was that the detail slightly becomes a bit compromised. I saw more detail in the film when I took off my glasses for a bit, but that's to be expected when using 3D. This is a minor gripe with the 3D that I have, but it is still sure to be a great experience in 3D and 2D nonetheless.
The film is supposed to employ revolutionary filming techniques and it really does show. This is the type of film that is going to piss off Robert Zemeckis in terms of how CGI is used to capture the performances. The big advantage that Avatar has it it's CGI performances. Zemeckis' CGI character movements looks stiff, a bit creepy, and odd. What Zemeckis' style feels like is removed from reality. It doesn't feel natural. Avatar is a leap above what Zemeckis is using in CGI. I actually felt as if there was a performance behind the CGI characters. The expressions in the CGI Na'vi creatures look nautral and has some acting behind it. The fact that this film has a live action human and CGI Na'vi counterpart, it's almost challenges you to comprare the CGI and the live action performances. The performances aren't as compromised by the CGI animation processes as other films of this type have been before. The CGI is used as an extention of the actor, not a replacement. That is what is already making Avatar a different theatre experience than most to come out this year.
Lastly, the CGI quality of the characters.
While I have been praising the CGI used in the film, and it has been getting a lot of positive word of mouth, the CGI isn't as amazingly photorealistic. It isn't quite to the point where the film looks entirely realistic, but it is getting there and we are very very close to having that quality. This may be stemmed from the fact that this environments and the creatures are so radically different and fantastical that they will always come off as non-realistic no matter what. Not a flaw of the film, it's just a case of the CGI tastes of our audiences. Overall, the CGI still looks great and it's definitely a step above what anybody is doing now.
Overall, James Cameron has definitely proved that this will be one film that will be an event when it comes out in December. December 18th can't get here sooner and I look forward to seeing the film in IMAX 3D as intended! I definitely think I got a great experience from seeing the 16-minue preview in IMAX 3D, but it is sure to be a great experience in 2D, 3D, or IMAX 3D!
Great so far and can't wait to see the full-feature! 10 Years of pre-production is definitely not wasted here! James Cameron looks to have challenged himself once again!
See ya next time guys!!!
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