Being at loose ends this weekend,with Kathy and two of the dogs off to Palm Springs for a dog show, I decided to go and see Avatar to see what all the fuss was about. Wow! $300 million budget, huge blockbuster, made its money back in the first couple of weekends. What could go wrong? Actually plenty.
My wife, Kathy is not into sci-fi movies so I figured this was a good chance for me to go and see this by myself. I thought I would try to get the best experience possible since this was supposed to be very high-tech and in 3-D! I opted for the IMAX at Universal City Walk. I thought I was going to see it on a big screen in 3-D. Didn’t happen!
Although there is a huge sign on the marquee touting the huge screen experience of IMAX, I ended up in one of the little “pocket theaters” that all these "multi-plex theaters seem to have these days. It wasn’t even in one of their bigger venues! I suppose I should’ve been a little more careful in my choice and I might’ve avoided this little mistake. Oh well, I’m here, I spent my money so I might as well move forward and actually see this movie.
My first plan of attack was to park in the free Metro Red Line lot at the bottom of the hill and use the free shuttle up to city walk. Whoops! The shuttle stops running at 7 PM and I was there at 8:30 PM. Plan B. I walk the quarter mile back to my car and drove up the hill paid $10 to park in the parking structure closest to the IMAX theater. One nice thing is that they give you five dollars back at the box office when you give them your parking ticket. Okay cool, five dollars for parking, while not free, was not all that bad.
This was a Friday night and with all the buzz I was afraid there would be lines and even the possibility of a sellout. I guess the buzz died down now a couple weeks after the opening and the crowds have moved on to the “next newest thing” because there was nobody waiting in line. Actually, I was a bit amazed that on a very nice evening, CityWalk was not very crowded. I parked close rode the escalator up and walked about 100 feet to the theater entrance. I grabbed the ticket from the ATM type machines in front rather than wait in the short box office line., I went inside got my five dollars back and realized there were no crowds and I was an hour early. Luckily I had brought my new MotoDroid phone along and was able to listen to a podcast while I waited.
The disappointment began with my walk into the actual theater space. It was one of the smaller “pocket theaters” that would seat may be 500 people. Not exactly the ideal scenario to view this very hyped movie that was was to be all about the cinematography, special effects and 3-D. I quickly found a seat near the middle of the only partially filled theater. It was maybe one third full at the most. Hardly the crowd I was expecting. After sitting through 15 minutes of miscellaneous BS, ads and at least five or six trailers, the movie finally started.
I can sum this movie up in a few words; All Sizzle, No steak!
All in all, I was ultimately disappointed in the experience. The movie was just “okay”in my opinion. The cinematography, special effects and the fabulous world of “Pandora” that Cameron created were pretty cool. The storyline, on the other hand, was pretty “formula” and the acting was mediocre. I was not impressed at all. In truth, I suppose if I’d wanted to be intellectually stimulated I wouldn’t have chosen this type of movie in the first place. It did provide the visual experience I was looking for, just not as much as I had hoped. Actually, the “vortex” and the floating mountain islands were a direct ripoff of something that’s been in World of Warcraft for a long time. Cool to look at and woven into the story line pretty well, but the ripoff aspect, for me at least, kept getting in the way. It appears most of the $300 million budget was blown on the CGI and special effects, not on developing an engaging storyline and good acting.
Personally, my experience of movies is holding true. If the critics rave about it, it is usually pretty lame. If, on the other hand they slam it, I usually find that I enjoy it. Just my perverse nature I guess!
So in the end, my call is to not go out of your way to see this movie or make a big deal of it. It is worth seeing for the special effects in the amazing world of Pandora, and the 10 foot tall blue aliens were sort of cool too. The head of operations dude was the typical corporate asshole and the head of the security detail (all paid mercenaries) was the usual Gung Ho "Urah" ex-military Gunny Sergeant type that was a real hard case. I guess in order to make the storyline work, any movie needs to have an antagonist and protagonist and the resulting conflict or you got no movie or plot.
Although my visual experience may have been better had actually seen it on a really big screen and in 3-D, it ultimately does not change my evaluation of this movie. All sizzle, No steak.
Till next time……
