"Wire" star will play the god Heimdall in Marvel pic.
New 'Avatar' Trailer's a Hit With the Fanboys
And finally, we get some insight into James Cameron's tightly guarded plot.
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Disney released a triptych of posters for this spring's "Alice in Wonderland" on Thursday. The posters give audiences a look at Johnny Depp's Mad Hatter, Helena Bonham Carter's Red Queen, Anne Hathaway's White Queen, and Mia Wasikowska's Alice. Take a look at the avant-garde art for Tim Burton's upcoming 3D fantasy flick.
With so much riding on a new three-minute theatrical trailer for “Avatar,” it stands to reason that James Cameron would explain what the upcoming 3D fantasy film is actually about.
Distributor Twentieth Century Fox was wounded by what was generally considered a disappointing first step in the rollout of its December release when the initial trailer, an indecipherable mishmash of action sequences, failed to catch on with audiences.
And a sneak peak in August was deemed underwhelming by many fanboys and bloggers -- a key group that the $200 million-plus epic needs to reach if it has any hope of recouping its investment.
The footage released Thursday tries a somewhat different tack from the special-effects feast, giving viewers a lot more insight into the tightly guarded plot.
“The first trailer was little more than a bunch of pretty pictures, and even the 16-minute preview, although it was cool as hell, didn’t make me care for the characters,” wrote Wilhem Oliva on the popular fansite Gordon and the Whale. “Yeah, James Cameron has always been a visual effects genius and maybe that’s the reason we first saw some of his movies, but the reason we’ve watched and re-watched them over and over has to do with his ability to craft compelling characters and stories.”
The sneak peak is still chock-full of action sequences -- battles rage, futuristic helicopters slice through a dense canopy, dramatic calls to arms are delivered. But the exposition-heavy trailer also is meant to serve another function: Give some sense of the complicated story.
To that end, the dialogue (never a strength of Cameron’s) is clunky in a knock-you-over-the-head-with-context sort of way.
Apparently, the film’s protagonist, a marine played by Aussie actor Sam Worthington, is shipped off to a planet called Pandora, where a dizzyingly valuable mineral is found in abundance. To infiltrate a tribe of natives called the Na'avi, Worthington is furnished with an avatar, helpfully informing us that “the concept is to drive these remotely controlled bodies called avatars. They’re grown from human DNA mixed with DNA of the natives.“ Shakespeare it ain't.
After a break for stirring visuals, enter Giovanni Ribisi to deliver a few more plot points. Gazing at what appears to be a chunk of granite, Ribisi intones, “We’re hear because this little gray rock sells for 20 million a kilo. Their village happens to be resting on the richest deposit and they need to relocate.”
The middle section of the trailer could probably best be referred to as the “Dances With Wolves” passage, in which the cynical outsider drops his guard and embraces the mores of the Na’vai to the point where he, in essence, goes native.
The trailer closes with Worthington’s computer-generated doppelganger aping “Braveheart's" William Wallace by rallying the ragtag group of aliens to his cause while a menacing-looking collection of marines and high-tech weaponry bears down upon the seemingly overmatched tribe.
“They’ve sent us a message that they can take whatever we want,” Worthington’s Avatar cries.
Comments
Panxerox Says
Humans (represented by US corporations and US marines), BAD blah blah blah
Primitive stone age natives GOOD , blah blah blah
Human needs must take second place to the wonderful jungle dwelling stone age Na'avi (could be referring to NATIve Americans now could he?) , blah blah blah
Obama good, capitalistic Republicans and by definition Americans BAD , blah blah blah
Hero sells out his race to help the wonderful natives BLAH BLAH BLAH !!!!!!!!!!!
gsn Says
What does this have to do with the last airbender? Where are Aang, and Sokka, and Momo?
jim_milyn Says
I like that film...very amazing..
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Dave Says
DEVIN AND CHUD EXPOSED! Why ? Well, it is a long story and actually quite a convoluted one, long story short, Devin actually got upset that he could not attend an advanced preview (as a member of press) to see an advanced preview of a picture that shall remain nameless. He also has a personal grudge against Jim Cameron himself. This i will explain, Devin has been blacklisted by FOX execs, the reason for this is partially down to the fact that Devin was obnoxious in reviews insulted core members of various teams and insinuated lies and lawsuits. This can even be seen today in his writings on AVATAR`s plagiarism claims. There is also it has to be said a great deal of backdoor shenanigans involving Devin and the hierarchy of FOX. In short Devin is blackballed. Devin found this out via his own message board forums. Now im not standing here trying to defend FOX`s output for the last 6 years, how could i ? What i am trying to inform you on is this... This is personal, This has nothing to do with fan expectation, it has nothing to do with the progress of cinema...
IT HAS EVERYTHING TO DO WITH A PERSONAL EFFORT TO DERAIL THE PRODUCTIONS IMPACT.
Yes it is pathetic, yes it is childish, but if you read Devin for any amount of time, you realise childish is exactly what Devin is. the whole AVATAR deal on Chud.com is what the online industry describe as "Leaf littering" take your core audience turn them onto your ideals and use that in turn to attack your enemies. Very simple and very effective. It has been done before and it will continue to happen. It can be a good thing, however when the motives become personal and not representative of the greater fact, that is when moral issues arise. I have it on high authority FOX and in particular Jim Cameron is highly upset with Devin and the continuing abuse he keeps throwing at not just the production but the people who this movie is aimed at (which by the way, is everyone). If you were to lay out the level of abuse aimed at AVATAR and pin that to the production outgoings, you will clearly see that Chud and the level of attack has steadily gone up with the anticipation, until finally we see an attack so blatant and mean that it will make even the most skeptic sit up and pay attention, Devin is literally trying to get third parties involved to actually file lawsuits against the core creators of AVATAR, in particular James Cameron. I am told this is serious stuff, and fox is itching for Devin to step a foot out of line so he can be drawn over the coals. This is a very childish and personal situation Devin has created for himself. My guess is the biggest backlash will eventually fall on Devin
edy Says
Are you daft? You realize that this movie has been in production over ten years right? The "draeni" were introduced in 2007. Avatar's character designs predate WOW itself let alone its expansion. Or are you under the impression that Cameron was playing WOW in 2007 or 2008 and in a matter of less than 2 years created this movie?
I also love how the history of movie (and history in general) evidently starts in 1983, never mind that the ideal of the "Noble Savage" goes back at least to the 1600s and the exploration of the new world.
But let's keep going with what you think. Ewoks started everything, Last of the Mohicans also evidently ripped off its themes of civilization versus native man, individualism versus authority from Ewoks, also the Mutiny on the Bounty. Cuz obviously everything starts with crap pop movies.
Timber Says
I'm still concerned about the seemingly derivative plot, but this is at least a trailer that explains why one might want to go see the movie, not just wait for the XBox version.
Rebecca Says
Wow, what does this have to do with the original series? I find it a total waste of money. I was highly anticipating the film. . . not so much anymore.
Aaron G Says
His movies are why i go to the theater, why we all go. Get ready for action pact, great story. He changed everything with Terminator 2 and the Abbys, made a biger then life film in Titanic, this is a mix and it will be Awsome and I do not use that word often.
Mark Says
The media's take on Avatar is peculiar. We've sat through a decade of pathetic blockbusters and you start slamming the one film from a director who'd passionate about what they do? Weird...
And The Abyss was underwhelming at the box office but hardly a flop. It's also a magnificent piece of filmmaking. Cameron hasn't let us down once. The new Avatar trailer is breathtaking.
Russ Says
Hmm, that’s odd. The Na’vi seem to be a CGI carbon copy of the Draenei race from World of Warcraft
http://www.mepreport.com/2009/10/avatar-designed-to-hack-gamers-minds/
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