Last week, Fox released an exclusive three-and-a-half minute trailer for James Cameron’s make-or-break December blockbuster “Avatar” in theaters only, with the promise it would be online today. Well, while Apple and Yahoo will have the HD quality trailer later in the day (10 AM PST/1 PM EST), some international territories have already had the pleasure and the heads up team over at JoBlo’s Arrow In The Head site have put it up online (god that player is needlessly big and clunky). Well, Yahoo now has the trailer so save yourself $12 and check it out below.
As we wrote last week, this new trailer does away with namby pamby doe-eyed feel of the dreadful first trailer, and goes into full get-asses-in-the-seats mode for what everyone (ie. the studio and their publicists) are saying will be a gamechanging film. Well, we’re still not quite convinced. Cameron has never had a great ear for dialogue, and that continues to be evidenced by in this trailer with a lot of tired tough guy speak we’ve heard in other films. But the biggest problem for us is that the supposed eye-melting special effects are still nowhere to be seen or even hinted at. What this trailer does is deliver a lot of military guys, big machines, flying creatures and glimpses of the still odd-looking Na’vi on a grand scale, but we still feel like we’ve seen it all before. It also strikes us as odd that the word “3D” is never mentioned once, when it’s supposed to be the most impressive visual component of the film. We’re wondering why Fox isn’t using the fact that is supposed to change how films are made and seen altogether as a major selling point. Are they losing faith that the public is going to notice or are they hoping on critical praise and word of mouth? But the worst crime of this trailer is that after seeing three minutes of footage our excitement level on this is still simmering at medium.
Check it out for yourself below, followed by a Cameron handjob featurette on the making of the film. Our eyes glazed over when the piece started describing how the idea for the film came to Cameron in a dream (maybe after reading the novella “Call Me Joe” by Poul Anderson? Do we smell a lawsuit?).
Update: Let corporate synergy reign! The official website has been updated and in addition to new photos and wallpaper, there also convenient links to information regarding the forthcoming toys and video games. Fanboys, today is your day.
its a mega generic space opera plotline. It doesnt really matter if he ripped it off.
It does look like a rip off of the Anderson novella. I wonder if the Anderson estate will sue. And it does look like a video game. You guys are right the dialogue is a bunch of tough guy cliches. I still can't understand why the Cameron fans are getting orgasmic about this.
Well this looks decent enough…
I mean i have never liked Cameron all that much.
Aliens was ok, and T2 was great. But the rest… Mmeeehhhhh… (Yes, that's right, i thought Terminator was Meh…)
I'm sure i'll check "Avatar" out, but i don't get the hype surrounding the movie or the director…
The movie looks hopelessly repeated, especially the dialogue and the characters. The natives look like poorly developed TV cartoons.
Jesus christ, I was locked up with chillbumps the whole time. James Cameron is one incredible showman, so at its worst, it'll be a fun time spent at the movie theaters.
Cameron should just release the film in 3 minute increments every week and scrap the actual opening.
Wouldn't be Cameron's first time on the plagiarism wagon. He was successfully sued by Harlan Ellison over the two episodes of "The Outer Limits" Ellison wrote that Cameron ripped off to write "The Terminator." Ellison's name is now in the credits at the end of the film on all new video versions.
And now that I actually click through to the linked story on the Anderson novella I see they already brought up the Ellison suit. So, um, never mind.
I agree that Cameron has never been that good at writing dialog…but it feels like this trailer is using snippets of dialog rather than full readings…as if in the trailer the lines have been cut up, pauses added etc to fit with the visuals…
and as for the Ellison thing, Cameron mentioned two Outer Limits episodes that inspired him – but if you actually watch the episodes it's quite a stretch to say that he's guilty of plagarism…
and Ellison DID NOT SUE – he threatened to sue – so they settled out of court…IMO, based on the two episodes, it's doubtful that Ellison would have won anything.
(ugh, reposted due to under caffeinated typos.)
Good clarification: the studio settled before suit was brought. That said, I've watched the episodes, and I'd say it's not a stretch at all. Plus Cameron didn't just mention he was inspired by the episodes, Ellison had two witnesses (one of them a journalist) to Cameron saying the words "I ripped off.." and namechecking not only the two Outer Limits scripts but Ellison himself. I like a bunch of Cameron's films, but it's not like he's shown himself to have any real earth-shattering or even marginally original ideas himself.
Cameron didn't name check any Outer Limits episodes. He was asked by a journalist where he got the idea for the film and he replied, 'oh, I ripped off a few Harlan Ellison stories."
There were two different incidents. In one he said Harlan Ellison stories, and in the other he specified Outer Limits episodes. The latter was the one for a Starlog journalist, who was convinced to excise the reference from the piece he was writing, but who relayed the information to Ellison.
Ah, I see.
"Oh, I took a couple of Outer Limits segments…"
All in all, it's a fairly decent foundation for a case considering they're statements from the man himself.