James Cameron Announces Four Sequels to 'Avatar' (egyptindependent.com) 283
An anonymous reader writes: In a surprise appearance at CinemaCon, James Cameron announced plans for "a truly massive cinematic process" -- four new sequels to his 2009 blockbuster Avatar, plus a Disney theme park. "It's going to be a true epic saga," Cameron told the audience, promising that Avatar 2 would be released in Christmas of 2018, followed by three additional sequels, for a total of five Avatar-themed movies. Cameron's original sci-fi blockbuster earned $2.8 billion, though at least one Slashdot user argued that its overall message was that technology is bad, "strange because the movie is among most technically sophisticated ever."
Hmmm (Score:2)
I mean the Movie was a little bit stupid and only focused on effects, but one could bear to watch it. The important question is if the next 4 have an actual story..... (i guess not...)
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I'm with you. Watched the first for the 3D thing, which was cool. That's all I remember it for, not its story. I can't even remember anything of that part, no characters that stood out, no remarkable philosophy. And then four sequels planned in one go?!
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Huh?
Did you miss the whole fundamental plot point that the reason that he was spying for the military was so that the military would pay for precisely that?
Were you sleeping through the movie or something?
Re: Hmmm (Score:3)
what is going to carry them (Score:2)
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At least one Slashdotter didn't like it (Score:5, Interesting)
And then all of Slashdot argued against him ... Seriously, what authority does one slashdotter have?
https://entertainment.slashdot... [slashdot.org]
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". . . providing a possible explanation for the anomalous gamma ray bursts. It should be noted, however, that at least one Slashdot user believes that all astrophysical phenomena can be explained by filaments of mysterious, electrically charged plasma."
". . . forensic technique to
Re:At least one Slashdotter didn't like it (Score:4, Insightful)
Actually, I enjoyed the movie. Good popcorn flick. I got the DVD--with a whole batch of scenes that ended up on the cutting room floor. It was pretty interesting and I'm kind of sorry they didn't leave them in to make a 4 hour film.
That said, I have two complaints (SPOILER WARNING) ...
First, we see Norm get shot. We see him wake up in his pod. A little later, we see a resolute Norm march out into the jungle with his machine gun going...where? It was a good thing he left, because his empty pod gets trashed later on. But where was Norm going? Why did he leave? I don't normally catch holes like this while the movie is playing, but this one stuck in my craw.
That said, I watched the unedited version which sort of gives a bit more of a rationale. See, Norm and Trudy had a romance going (I have a hard time believing Trudy would be interested in Norm, but whatever). The last thing Norm may have heard over the comms was Trudy saying, "Rogue One is hit--going in. Sorry Jake." He then got shot and then we see the helicopter blown up. He may not know that helicopter was destroyed and he's going out to find her. Kinda ridiculous, but he's a man in love, so...
The other one, though, is the whole battle at the end. Let's be honest--if Eywa hadn't intervened, Jake would have ended up getting pretty much everyone killed and getting the Tree of Souls destroyed. Like, on the ground, the natives essentially decided on a calvary charge against machine guns. World War I taught us that doesn't work very well. Jake is a Force Recon Marine and this is the best battle plan he can come up with?
In the air, maybe he doesn't have the experience. But, again, his battle plan seemed to be "CHARGE!" Everyone drop out of the sky and pick an opponent. Nobody seemed to be supporting anyone else. Even without any air-to-air experience, I would think that between him and Trudy, they could have come up with something a little more effective.
Eywa, on the other hand, seemed to have a clue. On the ground, start off with the bullet-proof tanks in a brutal shock-and-awe attack and then send in the infantry to clean up whatever's left behind them. In the air, pair off and support your wingman. While one beastie attacks from one side, the other one comes in from the other side and wreaks havoc.
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Well yes. The network of alien flora did have a look inside the heads of Jake and Grace. It might be a bunch of plants, it might be a little slow sometimes, but it's not stupid.
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No, a reminiscence of a guilty conscience (Score:2)
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Avatar is a remake of Fern Gully.
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Avatar broke ground in 3D filmography, and cgi/acting merging. The facial features of the navi, and the tech to do them was astounding. Now it is used in nearly every movie with actors and Cgi.
Dead pool used it, hulk, avengers, Star Wars and hundreds of others. It was that much of a break through.
As a story I thought it was cool, and the realistic future tech inside was well thought out. But it wasn't ground breaking. I watched it maybe three times.
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The technical component of it was amazing. But that said so was the technical component of Final Fantasy. Amazing technical skills though don't make a great movie.
That said Avatar was a decent movie, better than average but nothing that was particularly memorable. My memories of it were "there are a lot of flying scenes"
Animal Kingdom getting addition, not substitution (Score:2)
Disney isn't turning Animal Kingdom into Avatar Land, it's just an addition Animal Kingdom is getting - so it will simply be a land alongside the Himalaya and Africa areas.
In the same spirit Disney Studios park is getting the addition of a Star Wars land (just started building so perhaps 2018 before we'll see that).
I agree with your assessment of Avatar though and I find the value of a whole land around that universe dubious... we'll see how the four movies go though. Perhaps they'll have a Buzz Lightyear
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Perhaps they'll have a Buzz Lightyear style ride in which you are flying a fighter shooting down Navi?
Nah - it will be a ride where you search out and fire Disney IT workers.
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Avatar movies are like batteries (Score:2)
The King of sequels (Score:5, Informative)
The sequal to The Terminator and Alien are the best sequels out there IMHO.
He managed to create really good sequels in a time where sequels where only made to sell lunchboxes and stuff.
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Alien was innovative. Aliens is a generic action movie with "marines" who act like wimps and a child, in a desperate attempt to move the viewers. Terminator 2 is essentially a remake of the previous movie with an annoying kid and cringe-worthy dialogues. The dark elements of the first one disappeared. It only succeeded because of the visual effects and some big action set pieces.
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Sigourney Weaver was nominated for an Oscar for Aliens. Which, for a sci-fi/action movie in 1986 was absolutely unheard of. Show me all the other "generic action movies" (especially genre films) with Best Acting nominations please. Ripley's relationship with Newt was the heart and emotional core of Aliens (something which I might add, Alien entirely lacked), not a "desperate attempt to move the viewers".
Soldiers that get scared? You mean like every movie that attempts to portray combat with a hint of re
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Aliens wasn't until 1986, and T2 was 1991. I think you and he are in different eras - you started with movies from the mid-70s.
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Then again, Godfather: Part II, which some people would argue is the greatest film ever made, was probably made to "sell lunchboxes and stuff".Â
I guess you were one of those poor kids that didn't have the Godfather lunch box with the hidden gun compartment. Then there was the one with the horse head severing kit. That one was really handy on the days the cafeteria lady over cooked Salisbury steak.
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The Godfather movies are really good, but I guess I forgot them in regards to sequel. Probably because I view them more as a triology. I know that is not correct.
I never got into Star Trek, but I do agree that Empire strikes back is good.
But for movies created _just_ because the first one made money. Driven by money, in a sence that they didn't care about writers and directors being the same.
Just the title
In that sens
Re:The King of sequels (Score:4, Funny)
Avatar: the quest for more money (Score:2)
Re: Avatar: the quest for more money (Score:2)
James Cameron cannot hear your complaints (Score:5, Funny)
His ears are blocked by BILLIONS OF DOLLARS.
"It's going to be a true epic saga." (Score:2)
Saying this before the fact of it reminds me of the hype machine from the Star Wars prequels. The coincident announcement of a Disney theme park doesn't help.
Sequels (Score:2)
overall message... (Score:2)
It's no surprise that Avatar's overall message is that "technology is bad" because American Science Fiction's overall message is exactly that.
American SF almost always (that is, with very few exceptions) has an underlying message that technology or science is bad and/or leads to disastrous consequences, or that "man should not meddle with things he is not meant to understand", or that the "power of love" or human emotion in general is vastly superior and/or preferable to technology.
And it's never acknowledg
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Yeah. If you completely ignore Isaac Asimov, James Blish, Ben Bova, Robert A. Heinlein, William F. Jenkins (Murray Leinster), Larry Niven, E. E. Smith, Harry Stubbs (Hal Clement), A. E. van Vogt - i.e., the (all American) masters of mostly hard SF.
Don't get me wrong. It's ent
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I hate it when someone beats me with exactly the same post I was going to do...
Re: overall message... (Score:2)
Looking forward to the sequels (Score:5, Funny)
I look forward to Avatar 2, where the natives discover they can sell Unobtanium for huge prices, and strip mine the planet themselves as they grow more and more addicted to the income.
Then in Avatar 3 they discover the internet, and being literally naturally designed to jack into things every one of them is an epic hacker fighting for control over a wire transfer a reseller is withholding.
Avatar 4 is not quite as good, being a police procedural set under the now armored and smoke-filled limbs of the World Tree with lots of nods to replicants in Blade Runner, but Avatar 5 looks to be awesome - the long awaited Alien Vs. Predator Vs. Avatar.
3D film with 2D morality (Score:5, Interesting)
Avatar was enjoyable enough as optical stimuli but its simplistic moral landscape limited it to not much more than that.
I would have been more compelling if there had been more moral complexity than white Earth men come and abuse gentle and innocent indigenous people in order to extract their minerals.
It reduced both sides to a ridiculous caricature of good versus evil and drained it of any interest.
More compelling would have been some kind of desperate reason for Earth men to be there (some kind of end-of-civilization crisis on Earth) and if the indigenous people had been more complex than they are.
I'm not sure any population ever has been all good, shiny and happy like those blue people. How about internal factions with their own vicious conflict?
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Cool... (Score:5, Funny)
I wonder if they'll fast-forward 80 years and have the sequel begin with the Na'vi opening up casinos on their reservations...
Re: Cool... (Score:2)
Who cares? (Score:2)
Yes, Avatar was a big hit, a technical breakthrough, but IMO the time window as passed.
9 years for a sequel to Avatar is a bit too much, I doubt it that Avatar 2 will be anywhere close to Avatar in terms of success. Maybe one sequel would be interesting and work out somehow, but 4? Yeah that's some cow-milking right there, except the cow already went home.
The reason why big franchises like Star Wars, the MCU or even Fast and the Furious keeps drawing people in is because we are invested in the characters, i
I'd say Matrix still king (Score:2)
for taking gfx to the next level.
Avatar message isn't that technology is bad (Score:5, Interesting)
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Oh Crud, (Score:2)
Avatar was only slightly better than Waterworld [wikipedia.org] (but probably still in the same league as Ishtar [wikipedia.org])
Add that to one of the movies to watch after I'm dead
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Now get off your butt (Score:4, Insightful)
epic (Score:2)
It better be, because the first one wasn't. Some of the visuals were impressive, but the story was pretty much... how to say it... like written by a 1st year student. "Here's the standard book on Hollywood stories, add some aliens and VR because that's a hype right now. Also, you have one week."
I'm disappointed (Score:2)
Here I was hoping that the UK government had come up with a new angle on the EU referendum.
Dances with Smurfs (Score:2)
Anyone Remember "After Dark"? (Score:2)
It's like Berkeley Systems announcing the future releases of "After Dark II, III, IV and V", due to the success of their first two-hour long screensaver.
Re: Republicans love... (Score:2)
Re: Republicans love... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: Republicans love... (Score:3)
It's just the usual tedious hypocrisy we get from people in the movies.
The messenger being a hypocritical in no way invalidates the message.
Re: Republicans love... (Score:2)
being a hypocritical
Thank you, autocorrect...
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Oh but it does.
It is the same stick conservatives are beaten with (and rightfully so) when they pander family values while being on their 5th marriage. Physician heal thy self.
I have a disdain for media that are that obvious in their message. The other aspect of technology is making things more efficient so there is less environmental impact.
But a nuanced story of societies making tough choices navigating immature tech with unknown long-term consequences is maybe a bit dry for a summer blockbuster.
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On the other hand I haven't heard James Cameron applying for the role of Michael Moore. Maybe he just thought it'd be a good story, the way most movies are just entertainment? It's not hypocracy to make James Bond and still think sending out people with "license to kill" is a bad idea in the real world...
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Well he engages in a kind-of noble savage fallacy
A more nuanced primitive society with some nasty bits would be a more interesting movie, though that lack of subtlety is probably part of why it made so much money (while being completely unmemorable). People disparage blockbusters for a reason.
+ the obviously retarded "greed (business) is evil". Of course it's OK for James Cameron to hold these views since he has a private jet, 4 houses, a couple of yachts and his own helicopter. The rest of us, no, we're not allowed to cut down trees. My own personal opinion on this is we shouldn't, but that's not the point here. Anyway it's OK if James Cameron wants to build a 5th holiday home. It's just the usual tedious hypocrisy we get from people in the movies.
It's only hypocritical if Cameron made his money strip mining a jungle.
He wasn't arguing for socialism. He was arguing against exploitation, environmental devastation, and destructive corporate greed.
There's nothing in the movie to argue against rich people in genera
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"The noble savage isn't a fallacy, it's a romantic ideal."
Only it is not an ideal the type of "that's what we should aspire to" but in "that's the way things used to be and we should learn from" and, since things didn't use to be that way, the noble savage *is* a fallacy -or a myth, if so you prefer.
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The Republicans in my town want to tear down an out of date power plant and build 50 acres of condos. Fortunately the people voted that down.
Why is that fortunate? People need someplace to live, and high density condos are better than the alternative of suburban sprawl.
Re: tech ain't bad (Score:5, Insightful)
Never bet against Cameron on a 2nd film:
* Aliens
* Terminator 2
He's one of the few directors that has managed to follow up initial successes with gigantic second films that expand the universe & storyline and don't just milk the first film for extra dollars.
Avatar was a proof of concept.
I'm frankly excited to see what he does when he slows it down and goes deep for another three films.
This could indeed be epic.
Re: tech ain't bad (Score:5, Interesting)
Avatar has been rather unfairly maligned, IMHO. Yes, they did some copouts - most notably:
* Making the na'vi more humanlike than the earlier concepts so that audiences would emphasize with them more
* The "white man comes in and saves the natives" plot aspect
But the depth that Cameron went into for the backstory - most of which never showed up in the movie - was impressive. Including something that viewers made fun of about the movie - the term "unobtanium". In the Avatar universe, science had continually been frustrated by all of the potential technologies that could be achieved with a good room-temperature superconductor; long before it was discovered on Pandora, they had jokingly taken to calling the concept unobtanium. When it was actually discovered, the name stuck, reinforced by the difficulty of actually getting it back.
For the biology, Cameron brought a botanist who developed evolutionary trees, developed the mechanism for plant communication, and advised the crew on how botanists would go about studying the environment. For the Na'vi language they brought in a linguist from USC. The Venture Star was based on the Valkyrie interstellar spacecraft concept. And on and on. The level of detail that they went into was impressive, such as how being on a moon orbiting a gas giant would cause unusual color changes over the course of a day, and the effects that this would have on the indigenous populations' culture.
In the backstory to the Avatar universe, the moon quickly gathered scientists' attention because of its abnormally intense magnetic field. Unobtanium is a room-temperature superconductor. Superconductors become flux-pinned in magnetic fields, so floating islands are actually a natural repercussion of such an environment. With plants growing in an environment where they can readily incorporate a superconductor into their biology, extensive usage of electrical messaging between cells would be a very natural evolutionary adaptation. Here on Earth, plants communicate between each other with far lower bandwidth messaging mechanisms available to them, such as pheromones (for example, acacia trees signal to others when they're being eaten so that they can produce more bitter/toxic compounds). The concept that an emergent inter-plant neural network could occur would be not at all unrealistic in such an environment. And if plants have evolved such a network, then it would be to animals' advantages to evolve to tap into it as well - to manipulate it, to gather information, to call for mates over long distances, etc.
I think they did some excellent worldbuilding, but it was poorly served by a lot of poor decisions in the scriptwriting. Even the general plot could have been fine if they had handled it better. Examples:
* Why should a bond between animals be one-way, with the animal becoming basically just a servant of the Na'vi? It would have been interesting if the na'vi riding it became more like the animal as well, taking on the animal's interests as well. If the bonds tend to be characterized by one dominating the other, then why should the Na'vi inherently be at the top of the chain? Surely there would be manipulative parasites, for example. Perhaps the toruk is so dangerous to bond with because it convinces its rider to give up and be eaten.
* They could have had Sully at least *try* to use the Na'vi language more. Maybe this "slow student" won't be giving speeches, but after all this time, he hardly seems to put forth the effort, just an occasional word here and there - yet that doesn't seem to bother anyone much. I know, I get it, it's easier for the audience to hear English than read subtitles....
* Part of the problem with the "white man saves the day" plot is that it's insulting to indiginous peoples, that they can't save themselves and need some white savior who simultaneously assauges "white guilt". But they didn't have to go this way. They could have merely taken an easy copout and not cast
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Ironically, the most emotional moment in the movie was apparently accidental - the destruction of Home Tree. Lots of reviews mentioned how much it reminded them of the collapse of the Twin Towers, and how that brought back memories for them. But apparently (or at least ostensibly) that wasn't the intent - it was just an emergent consequence of how large structures burn, how smoke rises off them, how they collapse, what they kick into the air, what they leave behind, etc.
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"I think they did some excellent worldbuilding"
I bet you haven't read 1058 James Blish's "A Case of Conscience". I wouldn't say it's plagiarism but it certainly explores a very similar universe with basically all the same clues you find in Avatar.
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"I think they did some excellent worldbuilding"
I bet you haven't read 1058 James Blish's "A Case of Conscience". I wouldn't say it's plagiarism but it certainly explores a very similar universe with basically all the same clues you find in Avatar.
Or seen Pocahontas, it's basically the same thing.
Re: tech ain't bad (Score:4, Insightful)
I must have missed the part about room-temperature superconductors in Pocahontas. I think I was also in the bathroom for the interstellar travel bit.
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Hence you're complaining about plotting, not worldbuilding.
In case you didn't notice, I was praising the worldbuilding, not the plot aspects. I find a number of aspects of the plot worthy of criticism. Its unoriginality, but in particular its unoriginality in regards to a rather insulting trope, is most definitely one of them.
Re: tech ain't bad (Score:5, Insightful)
No, just... no. The only sensible interpretation of the USB tails is that the Na'vi were a previously advanced race who genied themselves and their environment back to the stone age while giving themselves admin access to the high level flora and fauna. Seeing as Sully's Na'vi clone has the same ability even though his human brain wouldn't be able to translate the tail communications. Then there's the fact that it made ZERO sense for the humans to go after the largest deposit initially given the giant floating chunks lying around. A much more sensible plan for the corporation would have been to mine the floating islands, then with the market well and truly cornered gotten an actual military expedition sent out to wipe out the natives. Not to mention the weapon design was completely fucking awful.
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The executive did mention that the company has PR to think about. Wiping out the natives looks awful back home - the public does not approve of genocide. They could do it if there was no other way, but it's a last-resort option. So last resort they set up the very expensive avatar program in the hope of negotiating a trade deal. An idea which failed because the native culture was sufficiently far from humans that there was nothing humans could offer that they valued.
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The translation is done by a hair-lined nerve cluster on the back of the head; it's not a conscious effort. Yes, they need to be integrated with it as much as they need to be integrated with the rest of their body.
You're of the
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The Cycle of Fire trilogy by Janny Wurts is great for this. A mystical island is creating Wizards to fight the "demons". Turns out its advanced tech left on a planet with Alien POWs and Humans trying to create a human with superpowers to fight an interstellar war.
Is awesome.
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Re: tech ain't bad (Score:5, Insightful)
Part of the problem with the "white man saves the day" plot is that it's insulting to indiginous peoples, that they can't save themselves and need some white savior who simultaneously assauges "white guilt". But they didn't have to go this way. They could have merely taken an easy copout and not cast some G.I. Joe clone for the lead role, maybe someone asian or hispanic. Or they could just have fixed the plot and made it realistic: that it's not due to Sully's great skill and bravery that he becomes Toruk Makto and "saves the day" (the natives are surely far better at doing "native stuff" than him); that it's the will of Eywa.
I think you're not giving the white guy enough credit. Any time you're fighting an enemy, especially if that enemy is very different from you, any intelligence (inside information) you can get on that enemy is extremely valuable. The Na'vi aren't stupid, but they're also not a technological species (and arguably because they didn't need to be; they have a great lifestyle as they are as they haven't overpopulated and outgrown their food supply as we humans did before we invented agriculture; basically they live in paradise). They don't have the kind of experience with warfare and combat that we do, and they sure as hell don't have the weaponry we do. But they do have real skills and talents, and then got themselves the most valuable asset of all: a defector from their enemy. There's a big reason the US encouraged defection from the USSR during the cold war: there's no better source of information. And not only did the white guy defect and join their cause, he became like them so he could understand them and communicate with them, so he knew about both sides and was able to use that to the Na'vi's advantage.
The same applies to where the natives seem to care most about what happens to all of the white people rather than their own. Such as after the battle when large numbers are dead or wounded and clustered around the Tree of Souls, but the whole tribe stops everything to hold a big ceremony to try to save Dr. Augustine.
Here again, it's a pretty powerful thing when someone from your enemy's side crosses over to your side, and then sacrifices their life for your cause in battling their own people. Any intelligent tribal species would understand just how significant this is, and accord such a person great respect.
Re: tech ain't bad (Score:5, Interesting)
I think you're not giving the white guy enough credit. Any time you're fighting an enemy, especially if that enemy is very different from you, any intelligence (inside information) you can get on that enemy is extremely valuable. The Na'vi aren't stupid, but they're also not a technological species (and arguably because they didn't need to be; they have a great lifestyle as they are as they haven't overpopulated and outgrown their food supply as we humans did before we invented agriculture; basically they live in paradise). They don't have the kind of experience with warfare and combat that we do, and they sure as hell don't have the weaponry we do. But they do have real skills and talents, and then got themselves the most valuable asset of all: a defector from their enemy. There's a big reason the US encouraged defection from the USSR during the cold war: there's no better source of information.
And even if it's not a "defector" per se, history is chock full of examples of outside talent "helping the natives" be much more effective than they could be on their own. Due to skill, contacts, knowledge, experience, and yes, intelligence in both the broad and narrow sense.
It's no accident that Scottish mercenaries show up time and time again leading the locals to yet another victory. Or on the subject of "defectors" why not Arminius [wikipedia.org] himself, that through having grown up in Rome as a hostage, gained intimate knowledge of how the romans thought and fought, and being a "king" at home could unite the local quarrelling tribes long enough to isolate and defeat in detail three whole roman legions. Or why not Lawrence of Arabia [wikipedia.org], as a more modern, and romantic example. (In fact, being an outsider is actually a great help when it comes to aligning internal factions, as you are not one of the factions to begin with, you can appear neutral in the local conflicts.)
So, no, that a professional solider, who know the enemy intimately (because he is one of them) can increase the effectiveness of the locals manyfold, locals who are emphatically not professional soldiers, is not surprising at all.
If that wasn't true, the US wouldn't have a whole arm dedicated to the task of training and leading the locals. It is the US Army special forces main task [wikipedia.org] to this day.
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That was one joke driven in with a sledgehammer. However, much of the humor in the movie is more subtle, especially when you consider some of the casts earlier roles. Sigourney Weaver as the chain-smoking, alien-loving xenoanthropologist who ends up having an alien tree grow into her head (which in most other movies is usually the "oh noes, teh evil aliens are invading our bodies and brains!!!"-scene, while it has a com
Re: tech ain't bad (Score:4, Insightful)
Part of the problem with the "white man saves the day" plot is that it's insulting to indiginous peoples, that they can't save themselves and need some white savior who simultaneously assauges "white guilt".
Hollywood has a problem where it can't cast non-white people in leading roles for a lot of films. Black actors have made some progress, but even that is limited. Take the up-coming Ghost in the Shell movie. A story set in Japan about Japanese people and Japanese culture, but having a Japanese person in any of the major roles is too much.
Until Hollywood gets past that we are going to keep having films like this where white people are portrayed as the bad guys, except for this one who is the saviour of the natives, because just having a strong native character who saves themselves is for some reason unacceptable. It's almost like they feel that a white person needs to do it to give it legitimacy, otherwise it's just native troublemakers, rebels and terrorists.
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He will have to change the plot. The original Avatar was banned from China. At the time, China was having some serious unrest and violence over rural land rights, and the Avatar plot was just too close to reality. But the Chinese market is much bigger today, and may have already surpassed America as the world's biggest movie market. So the story line will likely have to be adjusted to accommodate the Chinese government.
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He's one of the few directors that has managed to follow up initial successes with gigantic second films that expand the universe & storyline and don't just milk the first film for extra dollars.
He's also one of those directors who doesn't know when less is more, or when a when some well turned words are worth a thousand special effects. The effects and spectacle should follow the story and not the other way around.
No he's not. (Score:3)
Tech ain't bad, Cameron is.
No he's not. [slashdot.org]
He does mass-compatible popcorn movies. They may be not your exact taste (mine neither) but they're not bad.
Point in case: Compare Avatar to the latest Batman vs. Superman. Later is bad movie. Former is not.
Avatar may be a rehash of a generic story with predicable plot - but it is well executed. The SFX in Avatar are top-of-the-line as is the art direction. The acting is mostly ok, with Saldana, Weaver and Ribisi actually being quite good. And while Stephen Lang does p
Re: tech ain't bad (Score:2)
Battle Angel Alita
I was looking forward to that one. Hell, I'm still waiting for a live-action Lupin III... Stevo from Jackass (no, I don't watch that shit) has the perfect looks for the role (I have no idea how much acting talent the guy possesses).
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I'll just leave this here ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]
Re:avatar = ripoff (Score:4, Insightful)
The complete list is actually really short.
It's Pocahontas but with BLUE people.
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Exactly! Hollywood loves Hate Whitey plots. Avatar is a White People Suck plot applied to the whole human species:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/... [huffingtonpost.com]
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Does your shoulder ever get tired?
Re:avatar = ripoff (Score:4, Insightful)
It's not a "Hate Whitey" plot so much as a "White Guy Comes In And Saves The Natives" plot, which IMHO is the more insulting of the two. They can't save themselves, but G.I. Joe here can come in, learn how they live, and then do "native stuff" better than them and save their whole tribe in the process, being received as their great savior and leader.
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On one hand, it's a very common storytelling trope that the underdogs need a member of the other side fighting alongside them to truth the tide from "Oh shit" to "Maybe we can win this." This trope is echoed in, but is much broader than, the racial/Pocahontas thing.
It's the sympathize
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Closer to Dances with Ferngully really.
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The last pocahontas dances with smurfs in fern gully.
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Dude, that sounds like a code phrase in a 50s spy movie.
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James Cameron will never do another Terminator movie
His exact words to "the soup’s kind of been pissed in a little bit by other filmmakers"
Re:More Smurfs??!! (Score:4, Interesting)
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