James Cameron's Avatar: Believe the hype
Our Geek-at-Large Daniel Bettridge sends us this breathess report direct from the floor at Comic-Con:
It's been described as the project that will put 3D on the map and a film that will change the face of cinema as we know it, yet up until today, save a few industry insiders, the exact nature of James Cameron's sci-fi epic Avatar has remained a closely guarded secret. So after queuing for three hours and surviving the ear-splitting din of Twilight's pre-pubescent panel, the 25 minutes of beautiful 3D HD footage that James Cameron brought to Comic Con was as fresh for me as it was for the other six thousand or so people that had crammed themselves into the San Diego Comic Con screening.
For those of you that haven't heard, Avatar, due for release in December, sees Cameron return to the science fiction genre where he made his name with films such as Aliens and Terminator. It's been much hyped and the buzz continued with the head of Fox himself rolled out to introduce Cameron and his exclusive con footage. The introduction did little to dampen expectations with a comparison to the great David Lean and the phenomenal Laurence of Arabia and after 25 minutes of breathtaking footage I can safely say that for once you can believe the hype.
It had been a day of 3D sneak peeks in the main hall of this epic pop culture event, but whereas the other exhibitors showed us tired gimmicks or 3D used to shock and scare the audience; Cameron's Avatar truly utilises the medium in a way that no other film has done so before. Famed for the depth of the worlds he creates (the alien language in Avatar alone took two years to develop) the use of 3D in this film helps to bring the alien world of Pandora to life. From elegant alien races to flora and fauna at which the mind boggles the use of 3D makes this a truly other-worldly experience. As Cameron himself said cinema is a medium that is designed to take you to other worlds, to unlock your imagination and Avatar is a first class ticket to the kind of space cinema hasn't explored for a long time.
It would be foolish of me to even attempt to sum up everything I saw this afternoon and words really cannot describe the jaw-droppingly beautiful footage I was lucky enough to see. But the wait won't be long for those of you who couldn't wait in line behind Twilight fans for three hours this morning. In what is an industry first Cameron announced that 21st August will be Avatar day across the globe as digital screens and IMAX theatres around the world will screen 15 minutes of free footage in place of a trailer. He said:
"We’re going to do something unprecedented. It’s a social marketing experiment. We’re going to take over as many IMAX 3D theatres and other select 3D theatres worldwide on August 21 and we’re going to let an international global audience come see 15 minutes of Avatar for free. It’s going to be Avatar Day"
It's an exciting move and a bold way forward for a movie that has been breaking boundaries since it was first dreamt up more than 14 years ago. It's also a wise move as whilst the film will be widely available in the traditional 2D format I cannot imagine experiencing this movie in any other way than the colour, texture and total immersion that today's footage displayed.
So, as I say, believe the hype. While many of the fans here would queue for hours to see the opening of a superhero-branded envelope, the impact and intrigue generated by Cameron's film was only truly apparent when in smug self satisfactory glory I glanced over my shoulder to see cast and crew from the morning's other unveilings as engrossed and immersed as the rest of the huddled masses. As one Comic Con veteran put it to me “In ten years of comic con nothing has come close to delivering the goosebump factor of that 25 minutes of footage.” And judging by the thunderous ovation of those around me it was a view shared around the room.
