Avatar

Watched my first ever 3D movie in the cinema today, at RM18 a pop I don't think it's something I will be doing often. Not that I go to the cinema all that often nowadays anyway. =P

Avatar is a Sci-Fi action thriller, so if you are hoping for a movie with rich story then you are out of luck. But if you are like me, who just want to enjoy an hour or two of action-filled movie with lots of well made cgi animations, and don't want to bring home any thought provoking idea, then jump on the bandwagon and let the actions bring you much satisfaction!

image source

Put simply, story is about the greedy human going to another planet to mine for mineral, and created these avatars, living bodies made from the DNA of human and the native of the planet, so they can communicate and mingle with the natives and seek diplomatic solution for, *ehem*, stealing their mineral.

Typically, when the natives refused to relocate so the human can mine the rich deposit of mineral under their home, the human gave diplomatic solution the finger, called the native "savages", and forced them to leave their home with brutal military action, you know, detroy their home and kill them if they dare to show defiance.

Sounds familiar doesn't it? Isn't that what the You Ass did in... oh nevermind.

I noticed an oversight in the movie, nearing the end when the crazy military commander guy trying to kill Jake Sully who was in the control pod/bed thingy within the portable lab. Remember the other scientist Norm Spellman who was shocked out of his control pod/bed when his avatar was killed? He was also in that portable lab but where did he go? He did show up at the end when they were sending the human back to Earth, so I am sure he wasn't killed. He could have helped Jake to get the oxygen mask if the director didn't just like, made him disappear. =P

Anyway, nice move, I enjoyed myself immensely. Go watch if you like Sci-Fi action movies, this is one of the highly polished ones.

Ignore the rest of this entry if you are not a gamer, specifically of Blizzard's Starcraft and World of Warcraft.

I can't help but noticed the similarity of some of the stuff in the Avatar movie with the games mentioned above. First of all is of course the title and the whole concept itself, you know, avatar, which is the representation of the gamer within the game world, or our alter ego within the game world. Instead of using the mouse and keyboard to control the avatar as in game, the movie uses the mind while the body suspended in an inactive state to control the living avatar.

The robot suit or whatever it's called, is similar to the marine in Starcraft, go go go!

The planet reminds me of various zones in World of Warcraft, the floating-in-mid-air islands thing reminds me of Nagrand in the Outland. Then there is that tree where the natives live, it's just like the World Tree in World of Warcraft. I can't make up my mind whether the native is closer to the trolls or the night elves of World of Warcraft, probably a mixture of both. And of course, flying mount! That's a cross of a drake and what, butterfly? Does hang onto cliff and trees like a bat though. =)