New at BOP: Review: Matrix Resurrections Movie Review: Moonfall Movie Reviews: Scream The #1 Movie in America November Forecast The Many Saints of Newark October Forecast New Trivia Question All site updates Share & Save   Tweet Print this column

I think the reasons are twofold. One, deep down I was really hoping to be blown away by Avatar. Cameron, whose films I have clearly always liked if not loved, had spent four years making this one, and quite a bit longer thinking about it. I think I believed there really was the possibility of "a truly unique and immersive film going experience." But following my "expectations ruin movies" mantra, I did my best to quell them by understating my excitement. The other reason was that I didn't want to acknowledge that Mr.-King-of-the world directing a movie actually got me excited. It's not unlike Sean Penn before he did Milk. I knew he was great but I still didn't like him. Basically, I was so deep in the James Cameron fan closet, I didn't even know I was in there.

As the positive word-of-mouth started to circulate, I released my grip on the negative response I had been clinging to since my first partial viewing - it really was partial, I totally dozed off for 15-20 minutes - deciding I hadn't given the movie a fair shake. After all, James Cameron waited over a decade for technology to catch up to his imagination. I owe that kind of dedication the benefit of the doubt. So, I saw the film a second time the very next day, having my expectations substantially lowered. I saw it on a normal-sized screen in 2D and, in a word, loved it. Leaving the theatre, which had just housed a seriously keyed up crowd, my opinion was something like:

"Similar to his previous action/adventure successes, Avatar's by-the-numbers plot and what I can best describe as a temp-script - you would assume lines like "Oh yeah, who's bad?" were just put in place until they could replace them with something not ridiculous during rewrites, but you'd be wrong – were all outshined by Cameron's virtuosic visual display and exemplary cinematic storytelling. "

But I wasn't satisfied. No, as this response in that week's Monday Morning Quarterback clearly shows:

Ultimately, how do you think Avatar will be remembered?

"That's tough. I think financially and critically it will be remembered as a success and usually that's all a film can hope for and more. But from the beginning, Avatar was being touted as the movie that was going to change the medium forever, and on the front it came up a little short. It is definitely on a scale unlike anything we've ever seen and motion capture will probably be utilized more now after the stunning results Cameron turned out. But ultimately, I think Avatar will be remembered as a sturdy stepping stone in the evolution of films, but not the all out game changer some were - perhaps unfairly - hoping for."

Allow me to explain. Discovering that Avatar was in fact a good film made me only more eager to have another viewing in 3D - with a clear head this time – to see if I could truly get that revolutionary movie-going experience I felt I had been cheated out of the first go round. So I did go again, over Christmas, seeing it 3D but not on IMAX. This time I enjoyed the film on an even deeper level with the added dimension. There were moments, particularly in the final sequence where I felt completely immersed in the added dimension.

Continued:       1       2       3       4       5       6