[NGTM-1R]

Yeah, but this isn't necessarily Alpha C, and it doesn't seem like the first interstellar voyage, and it's still not practical.

[Thaeris]

Hunting bunnyrabbits with a fusion cannon isn't practical, either...  

[Scotty]

Well, apparently the benefits of Unobtainium make it practical.

[General Battuta]

Yeah, but this isn't necessarily Alpha C, and it doesn't seem like the first interstellar voyage, and it's still not practical.

It's definitely Alpha Centauri (well, 95% confidence judging by the movie and its publicity materials.) And a 5 year transit time isn't bad; voyages in the colonial era on Earth, while not consistently that long, were at least in the neighborhood.

[Bobboau]

the military presence seemed to be organised as a security detail, not an extermination army, they seemed to have one proper military ship and a hand full of heavily armed transports, they were not equipped to take on the whole planet, and thus they were not able to do that when things turned bad for them. I can see the humans coming back with some proper orbital bombardment weaponry. the Na'vi had better learn to build orbital defences in the next 12 years or **** is gonna get bad.

the only thing I didn't like was when all the animals in the forrest started fighting with them, other than that they did a surprisingly good job of telling this old tired plot.
the aliens were surprisingly biologicaly consistent, the Na'vi themselves being the biggest exception to this.

[Liberator]

And I suppose that the Avatar project failed insofar as no serious attempt was made to negotiate mineral rights for the Unobtanium?  Or did the military hothead get trigger happy before such an attempt could be made?

[TrashMan]

http://spoonyexperiment.com/

[Snail]

The movie turned out to be exactly what I expected. My expectations weren't terribly high, but it was definitely an enjoyable experience.


However, movies like this rarely manage to get be onto their side. In fact in a lot of fiction I find myself sympathizing with the bad guys, Avatar was especially guilty of this... Didn't ruin my enjoyment of the movie though.

[BloodEagle]

I haven't seen the movie; but please, for the love of all the is good and Holy, tell me that they don't actually call it unobtainium in the film.

[Retsof]

They do.  I choose consider it a shoutout to TVTropes. 

[Androgeos Exeunt]

Watched this in 3D last Thursday. It's not bad, but I wouldn't say that it was good either. The only thing I felt it had going for it was the amount of visual effects.

[General Battuta]

I think that would be an accurate description of, say, Transformers 2. Avatar had a lot of other stuff going for it, some of it being stuff that was, at least, not actively wrong with it.

[Corsair]

Is it A) worth my ten bucks and B) at all likely to cause the average girl to ask why exactly we saw that when New Moon was playing at the same time.

a) yes, definitely, especially in 3D
b) how old is the girl? because I know some who would definitely go for this over New Moon because they are enlightened and think New Moon is dumb and some who would never, sadly and inexplicably, give up New Moon for anything.

This movie was so effing cool. And honestly, the New York Times review hit the nail on the head. It's got something for everyone. Gun'n'gore? Yup. Action? Yup. Cool weapons, ships, and mechs? Yup. Environmentalist, feel-good message? Yup. Love story? Yup. Enough fun for the whole family!

[Kszyhu]

The problem arises when someone can't stand one or more aforementioned parts of the movie.

[NGTM-1R]

It's definitely Alpha Centauri (well, 95% confidence judging by the movie and its publicity materials.) And a 5 year transit time isn't bad; voyages in the colonial era on Earth, while not consistently that long, were at least in the neighborhood.

6 months on the flota isn't really the same thing.

Plus, and I really hate to point this out...how are they going to get it back?

[Retsof]

... Automated freighters.  Simple "go here, wait for loading, go back, wait for unloading and refuling, repeat".

[Fineus]

I just saw it a couple of days ago...

If you can suspend your mind for a minute and allow yourself to be taken in by the visuals and set pieces then you'll love it. Visually it's a treat and possibly one of the most outstanding things I've seen in years. 10 out of 10 to the graphics guys.

However. (Spoilers ahead..)

I'm glad I went with a rather cynical friend of mine so that we could laugh our way through the films plot. From the US army (sorry, space marines, or whatever) to the misunderstood tree people who happened to be sitting on the largest deposit of oil - sorry - unobtainable around, it was painfully simple to predict. The moment you see a big mech suit you know it's going to get into a fight sooner or later. The one saving grace of note throughout it all is that during the final battle sections when the indigenous blue folk lead a charge against the marines with their guns - the marines do mow them down. It makes a pleasant change from the movies that imply that the blue folk would have half a chance against that kind of fire power.

Anyway, predictable plot aside I did think the movie was fun. It's entertaining. If you want a slower paced, sci-fi film for the mind then go and see Moon because it is also awesome.

[NGTM-1R]

... Automated freighters.  Simple "go here, wait for loading, go back, wait for unloading and refuling, repeat".

Which is why they didn't bring them, right?

Right?

And that's still not practical. The cost of moving it interstellar distances means that any substance aside from Unobtanium isn't going to work.

[Androgeos Exeunt]

I just saw it a couple of days ago...

If you can suspend your mind for a minute and allow yourself to be taken in by the visuals and set pieces then you'll love it. Visually it's a treat and possibly one of the most outstanding things I've seen in years. 10 out of 10 to the graphics guys.

However. (Spoilers ahead..)

I'm glad I went with a rather cynical friend of mine so that we could laugh our way through the films plot. From the US army (sorry, space marines, or whatever) to the misunderstood tree people who happened to be sitting on the largest deposit of oil - sorry - unobtainable around, it was painfully simple to predict. The moment you see a big mech suit you know it's going to get into a fight sooner or later. The one saving grace of note throughout it all is that during the final battle sections when the indigenous blue folk lead a charge against the marines with their guns - the marines do mow them down. It makes a pleasant change from the movies that imply that the blue folk would have half a chance against that kind of fire power.

Anyway, predictable plot aside I did think the movie was fun. It's entertaining. If you want a slower paced, sci-fi film for the mind then go and see Moon because it is also awesome.

That might explain why one of my lecturers was laughing throughout the whole film.

The plot is predictable, yes, but the balance of power is also there.

When I saw Jake on that big red thing and using a machine gun stolen from the marines, I kept thinking of Prey.

[jdjtcagle]

http://spoonyexperiment.com/

That's too funny.  I thought the same thing, I could see a lot of Fern Gully in this film.