Crap..it's a love story.

another pearl Harbour and Passendale; war-movie!! Explosions! violence! guns! Come on guys! Bring your ladies, there's some hot actors in it!

*Takes girlfriend and drags her to those movies, then rips my eyes out when saw that it's 90% love story, 10% war.**

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 In other words, I want a movie that takes place in outer space; that deals with politics on a grand scale; that focuses upon relatable human characters who are trying to make it in a big, dangerous universe.

 

So basically you want the Ender series, of which many of us have been waiting a long, long time for it to be made into a movie.

They should make a 40k movie; and NOT about those goddamn Space Marysues but about the Imperial Guard

But GW is too stuck up on those dman Space Marines that we'll have that before anything else...at least they are doing a 40k movie.

Why all the big shot movies, like Avatar, always end up being the same old crap, diffrent format story?  reading the reviews it seems it'll be a 90 minute of feel-good, 15 minutes of war, then some rushed ending that'll make sure the bad guys pay and the good guys win.

(of course reading the story, that will means that Earth won't have it's energy source and slowly die off...thanks aliens)

I think the movie looks decent. What surprises me most is I don't hear a lot of people talking about the allegory for what the movie is supposed to mirror, which is how the settlers and US Government unjustly wiped out the Native Americans and took their land.

Yeah...personally, I hate it when some movie director is trying to force down some moral story down my troat or whatever; if I want a movie with a message I'd watch a documentary, not some entertaiment big-budget blockbuster with a concience.

I think the 'message', while inspired by the Vietnam War as the movie was originally written nearly 15 yeas ago, is rather universal - many countries and governments have forced natives off of their land through means both unethical and bloody for their resources. England, Germany, America, etc. I've always found people's reactions to these facts interesting.

In any case, I'll reserve judgement until I've seen the film. From what I've been able to read so far, it sounds like it will mirrior Titanic - a massive box office success that no one wants to admit they enjoyed.

..like said, 90% melodrama, 10% action

I will give credit to the original Star Wars (episode 4) as being they type of science fiction that I like.  SW does have more than a little fantasy to it, but the original movie nailed it (particularly Han Solo).  As far as I am concerned, every SW movie since the first has been on a slow decline in quality and vision, tending more towards an after school cartoon than a serious story.

I can't believe that you are still dissapointed about ewoks are all these years. Get over it.

Oh, I'm 'over it'...all of Star Wars' 'it'.  Lucas pretty much ran a good start into the ground at this point.

As for Star Trek, again, good call.  My only problem with ST is that it is getting really boring now.  Yes, the "reboot" was well done and had some of the sci-fi vision I'm looking for, but I am just really tired of revisiting the same characters over and over and over and over....

Star wars is not "pure" sci-fi, but thats what makes it so good.

That's a matter of opinion. 

The isn't more sci-fi of the kind that you like because there isn't a big enough audience for it to be marketable.

Didn't you just say that SW and ST were the type of sci-fi I am looking for?  Those blockbusters would seem to indicate that there is an audience for that type of sci-fi.  What is more, if you add in three of the most classic sci-fi stories of all time - 2001, Alien (and Aliens, for that matter), Blade Runner - not only is there an audience for more serious sci-fi, but audiences seem to value such tales much more than all the softball sci-fi we've been drowning in lately.

Is this Dances with Wolves, with aliens?

You obviously haven't heard, but there is a 40K movie in the works.  If you guessed its about the Space Marines, you're right.  If you then guessed it was about the Ultramarines, have an e-cookie.  Of course, it isn't all bad, since Dan Abnett is the screenwriter, so everyone who isn't an Ultramarine will only get partially marginalized compared to if someone else was writing.

Ultramarines: The Movie Website.

I was a bit disappointed when I found out that this is going to be a straight to DVD movie, but I am grateful for the effort.  Hopefully, this movie will sell well and act as a piece of sales literature for a big studio production.  God knows if Transformers can get its own franchise, 40K deserves one of its own! 

Yeah, I know.  40K only has a couple dozen novels full of universe fluff.  I'm sure someone other than the Ultramarines will get the movie treatment sooner or later.  Hopefully Abnett manages to convince GW to do the next one about Gaunt's Ghosts.  I mean that novel series is only the best-selling one in the entire Black Library.

Thats purely a matter of opinion. Original trilogy was good, empire imo is better the the first one and is more darker the the first one. Luke vs Vader was dark so the cartoony ewoks getting killed lightnened the mood, but were a bit annoying.

Star wars is the exception, not the rule. I can't think of any other films with space dogfights and/or giant starships that were made recently except for ST. The rest are really old.

Space sci-fi is simply too deeply associated with geek culture and so Hollywood doesn't want to touch it which is why ST was so surprising. I think that, a successful and popular ST reboot was the necessary step needed for more space sci-fi movies to be made. We will see more I bet.

Apparantly, the 40k movie is simply to see how well a 40k movie would sell and if it goes well, they're planning on making a full feature length film I've heard. Ultramarine is just the start.

Abnett got a tendency to screw over the canon material and write whatever the hell he wants.

And Gaust's Ghosts...How about a movie with Cadians in it instead?  It will show more the giant scale of war in 40K, instead of seeing some Scottish Ninja Commandos going all sneaky like like..well most action movies nowadays.

What do you have against Scottish Ninja Commandoes?

They suck?..They don't have a planet for themselves for starters?

It's like the Imperial guard Mary sues.

Cadian rules, the others drools

Just got back from seeing this. Wow. Also, the picture I posted in my OP is from the Video game, not the movie. The film will melt your face.

First up, this isn't an action movie. It's exactly the story you're expecting, with a massive finale. It's Avatar's weakest link; the story is predictable and most of the characters are stereotypes. It's been done before. However, it's never been done like this and despite the familiarity of the story and characters, it works.

The visuals are worth the hype: the promotional crap doesn't do this film justice on any level. Once it's up and running, you're there on Pandora with the characters. It just sucks you in with it's awe and wonder and you don't want to miss a second of it. I won't go gushing on; these are the best visual effects I've ever seen and you're going to want to see this on the big screen.

All the comparisons with the Iraq and Afghan war are off mark, as far as I'm concerned. This movie has more in common with Dances with Wolves than any real life events. Talk of the 9/11 imagery is also off; if you want to see that imagery you'll find it whereever you look. Avatar tells the tale we've heard before in a new way and tells it damn well; this isn't a two and a half hour long geopolitical commentary and not once during the film did I think "Oh, ok, that's referencing [event]". It's more about Humankind as a whole, rather than any single country, and how we think that we have a right to do what we do. Again, however, it's nothing we haven't heard before.

It's a great movie, made by someone who loves movies for people who love movies. It's going to change the visual effects game, but the story telling game is going to remain the same. There's talk of a sequel, and I'm hoping the talk is true; I'd love to see what Cameron and crew can come up with next. I just hope they spend a little more time on the plot on their second trip to Pandora. I'm giving this four stars.

Bit off-topic, but when talking about "saving cinematic sci-fi", i am really looking forward to Michael J. Straczynski´s remake of the Forbidden Planet. If someone is capable of doing this, i believe there is no better person than the Babylon 5 creator.

I really liked the concept of babylon 5 but couldn't bear more than 20 minutes before I wanted to gauch my eyeballs out. Not neccerially bad acting but very bad photography. Close-ups were shunned for some reason which made the whole thing totally undramatic.

Babylon 5 suffered a lot in the early run due to the use of early tech and low budget. The later episodes got a lot better at it.

oh ok thats good to know, maybe ill try again.  

I'll pass.  I am tired of remakes.  We don't need remakes of classic films that already work. The science fiction community has an overflowing library of books just waiting to be made. There simply is no need to remake old movies. 

ZehDon:

First up, this isn't an action movie. It's exactly the story you're expecting, with a massive finale. It's Avatar's weakest link; the story is predictable and most of the characters are stereotypes. It's been done before. However, it's never been done like this and despite the familiarity of the story and characters, it works.

Thanks for the review.  I will definitely be renting it, but that's about it.  Your description is exactly what I was expecting from Avatar:  all FX and a story that even you call "its weakest link". 

I'll pass and keep my $10.

Seconded: Remakes are the cancer of Hollywood...and Hollywood have had cancer for close to 10-15 years now....

I say we need more cyberpunk movies; dark, gritty admosphere, a lone hero bathing in shades of grey...tehcno-bitches too!

Glad to hear my little review helped

The story still works, and it's by no means dull and boring, but it isn't original, it's just told in an original way in a completely original setting. If other versions of this story, such as Dances with Wolves, didn't grab you, chances are this one won't.