A Look at “Avatar”!

I don’t know how many of you are looking forward to James Cameron’s Avatar this December, but I’m going to assume it’s everyone. Never before have I heard a movie called a 'master piece' well before it was even in post production. Though hype is often mis-leading, I’m the fool who falls for it every time.
The guys with ‘The Insider’ have recently been privileged enough to get a screening of actual footage from the first hour of the movie, and my hype is hitting critical mass.

“I've just returned from a preview screening of James Cameron's hugely anticipated movie "Avatar" at the Cinema Expo in Amsterdam and I'm still feeling the after effects of this jaw-dropping experience…
In the first scene we see Sam Worthington's crippled ex-marine Jake Sully, who just arrived on the planet 'Pandora.'…Sigourney Weaver's Dr. Grace Augustine explains to Jake how the process of transporting your mind into an Avatar works. Although the scene is mostly exposition, we've got a good look at the lab and more importantly we get a first glimpse of the Avatars, the Na'Vi lookalikes. These tall blue creatures lie in water tanks, waiting for their human to 'jump' in their bodies…
It's the third scene where my heart begins to pound like crazy. Jake and Norm will inhabit their Avatar for the first time. They enter some sort of capsule and - flash – their mind enters the blue creatures, now lying on hospital tables. And not before long Avatar Jake wakes up. And it took my breath away. I thought--just like you guys--that I've seen it all with Gollum, or The Hulk, but Cameron has done it again. These creatures seem so real, that within minutes you forget you're watching an enormous and very blue CGI character. Even the eyes are totally convincing. The characters have real personalities and a soul.
In the next couple of scenes…my mind begins to work overtime. How the hell is it possible that I never once felt like I've been watching a movie where almost everything comes out of a computer?
…The last scene wasn't completed. What we saw, was sort of a video-game version of the mother of all battles. Countless numbers of Na'Vi riding their Banshees [dragon-like creatures] attack [an invading human] fleet. I can't wait to see the battle fully rendered.
Overall I was really impressed by what I saw. The effects are in a league of their own. After some disappointing or even pointless 3-D movies, "Avatar" may be the first movie where 3-D is properly utilized.”

For full article see: Avatar

Yep, that just happened. I don’t think I’ve been this excited about a science fiction/fantasy movie since “LOTR: The Two Towers” (I admit, “Revenge of the Sith” did not excite me until I actually saw it). Below are some pictures (concept art) to help put visuals to your excitement.





What do you guys think, will Cameron return to cinema—after a 12 year absence—as a legend?