So you may recall my recap/rundown post of the 2009 Comic Con where I mentioned a certain movie called “Avatar”, directed by James Cameron. Since that post, a teaser trailer has leaked and this past Friday, a 16-minute preview was shown in theaters across the country. I was lucky enough to be one of the people who saw that sneak preview, so I’m going to give you the heads up on what exactly went down.
When the teaser trailer leaked last Thursday, there seemed to be a lot of “WTF’s” sweeping the internet. What are these blue things, what is this movie about, why is everything so bizarre looking. I had some of those questions myself. After seeing the sneak preview though, I will see this movie in theaters. And I HAVE to figure that is the response of just about everyone else who saw the footage.
Why? What happened in the preview that convinced me? Some plot device that explained everything in a nice little package? Glorious blue alien titties? No. IT WAS THE FUCKIN’ 3D, MAN.
Jesus H. Christ. I’ve seen shit in 3D before. And it’s been intriguing, but kind of gimmicky. (Shit flying out at you and all that jazz.) The 3D Jimmy Cameron is utilizing in this movie though–it’s goddamn incredible. Using some type of IMAX glasses (that I truly have no idea how they work, but that’s probably just a function of stupidity), you are immersed in this movie. In the footage we saw, rather than knives flying out at you and the audience gasping, you feel as though you are a part of what’s happening onscreen. There is no doubt in my mind that every single person in that theater was thinking to themselves “Holy shitballs.”
I have a girlfriend who, when the topic of “Star Wars” or “Lord of the Rings” or anything remotely science-fictiony comes up, automatically defers to the statement: “I don’t watch that nerdy shit.” She was with me for this preview, and don’t kid yourself–this movie is about as sci-fi nerdy as it gets. Afterwards, she was pretty much awestruck. You just can’t help but be sucked into the story. There was a chase scene between the character that is (presumably) the “hero” of this movie and whom you know pretty much next to nothing about, and some wild alien wildebeest insect. And just because of how intense and how involved you feel with what is taking place onscreen, you can’t help but watch it on the edge of your seat. You want the guy to escape, you want the insect to get fucked up. Just amazing stuff.
As for the plot, the only footage we saw was from the first half of the movie, so everything I said in my original post about this movie is still basically everything I know. This statement, however: “Word is the footage shown at Comic-Con did look very cool, but didn’t necessarily set the world on fire in terms of the technical aspects” is complete and utter bullshit. Cameron INVENTED cameras and technology for the sole purpose of filming this movie, and after seeing what portions of that end result looked like…good goddamn.
Based on the experience alone, this movie is gonna be straight up heat rocks. Do I know if the dialogue is going to be profound? No. Do I know if the character development is going to be fully realized? No. But I do know that it’s going to look like no other movie that’s ever been made before and visually…it’s going to blow your head out your asshole. And that is enough to get me in the theater opening weekend.
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