Earlier tonight I saw a 16-minute preview of James Cameron's "Avatar" (opening December 18). The footage was essentially the same that premiered at Comic-Con last month and the idea behind Fox sneaking it was to show off the new state of the art 3-D technology in the hopes of creating positive buzz for the film.
Reportedly, the official "Avatar" website was brought down on Monday by fans seeking free tickets to the 16-minute preview playing at a hundred-plus IMAX theaters today. The technology is indeed impressive. The depth is amazing, the image vivid and sharp, and the colors are phenomenal -- like a blacklight 60s acid trip at times. But the 3-D seemed less distinct when the action moved too fast. The other drawback was that although the technology felt revolutionary the story and dialogue was anything but. The G-rated movie about humans clashing with an alien race and a cross species romance implied seemed mundane. You can checkout the teaser trailer -- the images have nowhere near the depth or vibrancy of color that was on display in the IMAX 3-D but the lameness of the plot and dialogue remain intact. Now just imagine if Guillermo Del Toro or Terry Gilliam had created the story. Maybe then the cutting edge technology might be matched by some innovative filmmaking and storytelling.
