The 'Avatar' Trailer is Online Right Here
Let the judgment begin...
Apple's version of the trailer failed all morning, but finally went live for us all to watch as the newly released teaser trailer for James Cameron's much-hyped Avatar has finally arrived.
The film has been talked about for years and over the previous year or so it has been hyped to immeasurable heights. Will it live up to the revolutionary piece of cinema Cameron claims it to be? This is your first chance to decide and you can watch it below or do the smart thing first and watch it in high-definition at Apple.com in either 480p, 780p or 1080p. Either way, the marketing machine is moving on this beast and it stops trucking on December 18.
Watch the trailer and let others know what you think in the comments below. For more information on Avatar including a look at 11 images click here.
Showing 50 Comments
~ PLEASE NOTE ~
If, in any way, your comment is an attack on the author of this post or a previous commenter, your comment will be deleted without question.
Add a New CommentNOTE: The Facebook login option has been disabled. We apologize for any inconvenience. |
Click to Read Our Commenting Rules & Guidelines
Not entirely as realistic as I hoped, the na'vi creatures being an exception, I'm assuming that the 3-D theatrtes will have some effect on the footage. Never the less, my interest had only grown in this film. Granted it's not everything that I expected, but still some of the most unique things I've seen in a long time and likley to keep me thinking about it for quite a while.
Hmm, I'm not sure what to think just yet. It's James Cameron, so I'm excited about it and totally plan on seeing it, but I'm just not sure. I'll need to see the final product to really make a decision, although I'm sure that goes for everyone. The trailer didn't blow me away by any means, but I still want to see the film. The trailer's very mysterious and intriguing, I'll give it that – a two-minute trailer with almost no dialogue: impressive.
Looks like a fuckin video game. Doesn't look as real and as game changing. I'm not thrilled to say the least.
@Shed: Ditto! The blue aliens look ridiculous, like that moment at the end of the (otherwise fabulous) Abyss when the spaceship rose out of the ocean. Obviously I'll still go watch it though…
very 'game console' looking. I suppose thought that this will look much better in 3D
Wow… this is gonna be great!
It's amazing!
Extraordinary, Magnificent, Spectacular what else to say, i can not wait to be able to see in 3-D!!!!
I didn't even know what to expect completely in regards of the imagery, so really unsure of what to think of this. I was expecting to be completely blown away and just go "that has to be real", but I didn't. Looks like amazing CGI, but still very CGI.
Despite what some naysayers think, I find Cameron to be an amazing film director and storyteller. His technical achievements is a mere bonus. Can't wait for this one, but more because of Camerons storytelling abilities rather than the fx.
This is going to be mind-blowing after watching the trailer in 1080 on a HD projector… can't wait for tomorrow when i get to see the 16 min trailer!
I would say it looks pretty amazing visually, although something about the aliens seems a little off, but maybe that's just me. Obviously the trailer gives only the barest indications of plot, and since it has only one line of dialog its impossible to gauge how the story and the performances hold up. I'm surprised nobody has mentioned it, but to me it seems very reminiscent visually of Star Wars Episode III, albeit with a few years' advancement in CGI.
Why aren't you guys talking about Sam Worthington's screen time in this? Looks as if he is only going to be in it for say 25% of it. And he was highly regarded for the role? To which point I would like to know. I thought he killed in T: Salvation.
Hope his screen time isn't wasted. That's my only point.
WOW that looks amazing.
kind of a dumb question but any thoughts on what it will be rated(MPAA wise), Brad?
Amazing, Fantastic, Can Barely breath after that… Cameron gonna do it again!
And Brad just wondering what YOU think of the trailer after seeing the footage at comic-con, which was better overall the trailer or the Footage?
The thing is, and I’m quite disappointed to be saying this, that Cameron’s Avatar seems far from the revolutionary milestone of cinema everyone is hailing it as. The CGI is good, often spectacular, but nothing to really jump out of your houses and celebrate about. I mean, for god sake, the CGI does look CGI, and I think no amount of technology can fool the human eye and the perception. One can always sense if it is a real thing, or a fake thing. And that is that….
The visuals were solid, although I can't judge it completely until I really get to see it as it was meant to be (on the big screen in 3D). Whether it is the "end all be all" of visual cinematics will be debated, but one thing both side probably agree on is that it will be technically impressive nonetheless. Personally, it's the story that will decide the movie's fate for me, and the trailer kept pretty much of it under wraps. I'll take a movie with a great story and good visuals over a movie with "blow your eyeballs" away visuals coupled with a mediocre sotry.
Let us try and decipher for ourselves what the plotline maybe.
We see the Sam Worthington character gaze at the avatar in awe, we see him on a bed, we see him acquire the avatar and we next see a live avatar with a face structure pretty similar to Worthington. If you don’t recognize his face, recognize his voice when he says – This is great. The accent is unmistakable. So the Worthington-avatar, or whatever the film chooses to call it, would venture into the planet. The first half might involve his adventures, with dinosaurs like thingies, and his romantic flings, especially with that lady avatar, the one who is flying on that thing that looks an awful lot like a pterodactyl with a spear thingy in her hand. The second half might reveal that the Worthington-avatar was duped to provide a gateway so that humans could invade the planet. And blah. And blah. And blah.
I don’t know, I maybe super wrong, and I wish to the almighty I am absolutely wrong on all counts, but that is how it seems at the moment.
Now the interesting thing. The references to 2001 are quite obvious. The star gaze. The heart beat feel to the entire stuff. Is it a case where Avatar is some kind of a take on 2001, where the humans are now the aliens who would pave the way for this humanoid kind of race? I don’t know, but it seems unlikely, because there seems to be a whole lot of obligatory action.
@Colin: @Shed: @celendine: @Brian: Oh man, this thing looks fucking stupid. The CGI looks so fake, like walking Gollums which is probably where Cameron got his idea from.
I'm totally disappointed like you guys. But then again, I wasn't looking forward to this movie that much and I knew Cameron is only good in mind for Terminator and Terminator 2. This movie's saving grace has to be its plot which looks to be dull. Man creates avatar, transfers mind into avatar, avatar becomes friends with locals, locals and man fight. Who wins? Who knows? Yawn…
You know what guys. I was thrilled by the trailer I must admit, very impressive; however, it didn't knock me off my seat or anything. But, given the fact that this is a James Cameron film and given the fact that every critic who's been granted access to footage of the film has hailed it as a "game changer," I'm still incredibly excited about this film.
Let us not forget, this is the man who brought us Terminator 2 & Aliens and then, in 1997, somehow managed to turn the most expensive movie ever made into the biggest box office smash of all time and even tied the record for most Academy Awards with said film (Titanic).
Since exploding onto the scene with The Terminator in 1984, James Cameron has built a career based on fantastic scripts, envelope-pushing special effects & solid performances by actors and actresses (not all being A-listers). He has proved himself time and again to be a master of cinema – in 25 years he's never made a subpar film, NEVER; so, I would imagine that Avatar is going to be a phenomenally successful film.
Long live the King!
I thought I was watching THE PHANTOM MENACE.
The creatures that the movie is named after looked less realistic than Jar Jar Binks.
My heart sank by the time I got to the end of the trailer.
I've been walking all day long like some kind of zombie in a stupor.
I'm hugely disappointed.
To tell you the honest truth, from that trailer, it seems like James Cameron is going the way of George Lucas. Too much lower quality CGI. I mean I'll see the movie, but I'm not expecting much.
I think he's relying a bit too much in the "Anything James Cameron touches turns to gold" factor.
watch it on apple in hd, very impressive
We travel into the deepest confinds of space to discover aliens with an American accent? Hows about that?
It looks good, I wouldn't say revolutionary, but it's Cameron so effects aside it looks intriguing and I'm sure the story will be good.
Probably the end result will be stunning but for the trailer, it didn't really impress me as much as I'd expect. And I'm a big fan of James Cameron, so probably this could work out. All I can say is, the CGI is breathtaking and maybe on December 18, it could really wow people.
The CGI isn't the point…what Cameron's been referring to as revolutionary is the relationship between directing and a CGI world. What (should be) revolutionary about Avatar, what Soderbergh/Jackson/Spielberg have said is revolutionary about Avatar, is the integration of the real world and the CG world. The point is to have actors and CG characters connect in ways never before, a seamless integration of live humans and CGI, and personally, I don't think we can judge that based off a trailer.
Now, with regards to the CGI, the rendering looks a bit off at times, the lighting a bit fake, but there were some downright incredible, mind blowing shots in there also.
Also, there's a huge difference between watching the embedded version here and Apple's 1080p (sorry Brad!). Given the difference there, I'm confident everything will look even better on a big screen
the film looks amazing i know it's in 3d but is there hope it will in 2d so i don't have to pay $7 per person if it's only in 3D
@Chris C.:
Well, like they say, things never stick at first. But later on, it could be stunning. Based on what is seen here, it's still breathtaking (although like you said, better on a big screen). And yes, maybe Cameron did show a visionary connection between actors and CG characters. But that's to see on Dec. 18.
cool but not awesome
im not diggin it
I think it looks really cool but let me say something..
there are people who's saying the trailer is bad or awful simply becaause it doesn't live up to expectetions. Hey, you gotta know, those expectetions were never real, that's call MARKETING. You can't grade the trailer by if it pleased you or not, judge it like a normal film, and personally I had an above-the-sky expectetion and it for me, it didn't live up to it. But still, I think that the traileris really good, expectations aside, and that I'm dying to see this movie.
This was such a huge dissapointment. It's a pass for me.
Very predictable, very lame. Very bad CGI, too video-game like.
Who on earth said this was a "game changer" or anything remotely close?
By the look of the teaser, I'm absolutely not going to the theater for it.
Perhaps when we see more footage tomorrow it may get to a level of "worth it" of my $10. But even then, definitely not at a level of a top non-animated film. Call it star wars episode I spinoff if you want.
I hope it is not animated and the special effects are way better than this.
I'm not saying I won't watch it once it's released; but without hd, it looks cartoonish, it will boil down to storyline and if the 3d is senses shatering. I remember when final fantasy was released, there where some sequences(1 or 2!) that were convincing enough to fool the mind that what was on screen was real, but I remember that particular story sucking, hope cameron pulls it off!
wow, that looks sweet to me. Glad I was not disappointed.
I have to say that this movie will be good in 3d if you watch it in 3d but it still looks cool in 2d also thats's great news .I know people online are this not what i excepted it looks like cartoonish but lower your exceptation you will get a good and emotional movie in 3d i can gurantee you that.James Cameron is back at last after so many years.
I love how quickly everyone is to judge a movie that out of all people JAMES CAMERON is making. So what if the CGI looks a little funky right now? Does that make it a terrible movie that 20th Century Fox wasted their money on? Hell No. Because quite frankly the same type of pessimism was around near the release of Titanic and look how that turned out. The bitchy fanboys were completely wrong about it then, give it a chance now. It's not like this guy has ever failed at anything before.
This doesn't look good by any stretch of the imagination. I'll see it, out of curiosity. I'm far from being a James Cameron fan.
Trailer is strictly Ok. It is not as exciting as it promised to be. It lacks the feel which an adeventure to an unknown land prmoises. The Avatars also appear to be straigth out of a vodeo game. Not at all impressed with the trailer.
I feel like this is a film no piece of promotional material can do justice. This is something that must be experienced in its full form.
If this film didn't have the name "James Cameron" attached to it, nobody would be talking about the trailer now. Beacause it clearly was very average, childish when meant to be philosophical.
anyone else thinks the aliens look like Warcraft people?
I don't get this comparison to video games and references to SW Episode 1 and why this is a bad thing. Episode 1 took place in a digital fantasy world that was meant to look bright, colorfull and somewhat "fake" looking almost like a painting or a dream. What makes Episiode 1 BAD movie is the lame dialog, plot and pacing. You aren't going to have that problem with James Cameron. And as for video games. Yes …. its a video game come to life. The movie is called AVATAR for petes sake. Its about real life people experiencing a real life MMO. I don't know what you people expect. Was TRON stupid? Is the new TRON going to be stupid because of CGI? I think people are just disapointed that instead of some gritty Terminator, or District 9 type movie what cameron clearly wants is a fantasy more like LOTR, Narnia type thing. Not a bad thing at all. Its new for him … and it will be new for us. Not to mention that if he really did think of this 14 years ago … it was before XBOX, PS3, World Of WarCraft, etc. It may be that all of this was HIS idea first.
Looks like Night Elves from World of Warcraft. Or the Draenei.
As underwhelmed as I was when looking at this the other day, much of the trailers imagery is still running through me head. The military weaponry and vehicles, a battle-scared Stephen Lang, an almost fetus like blue creature that comes to life along with suspend islands and mountians and right down to the brief snippets of that planets lush surface. Don't care about the negativity that the film is getting for just over two minutes worth of footage, I'm still very excited about this film.
Hunh. I fail to be impressed. Actually, the actual cgi for the "people" of this trailer DEpresses me. They look like ps3-level renderings. Totally fake. The landscapes, machinery, and such all look par-for-course. Nothing exceptional here. Maybe the finished product will look better, but this ain't sellin' me on it.
But, what I'm really not getting is how the folks who derided G.I. Joe's horrible special effects are praising this trailer. I honestly don't get it…I mean, I see the trite storyline. I get why certain categories of people want to like this film. What I don't get is…why they want to like THIS film. It just looks plain lazy. Like Episode 3. Will we get people staring glassy eyed into space as they recite their lines without emotion? So we can appreciate the full Lucas experience? What? This is Cameron? James Cameron? From Terminator, T2, and Piranha II: The Spawning? Ok, that last one makes sense, but…
And here's Roger Ebert's reaction to the 20-minute footage. Not too different from the general consensus, i.e. The initial impression is one of disappointment.
http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090821/OPINION/908219995
I hope Avatar would be a peak/end of another era…in which sense I would be happy to see it coming.
@Satish Naidu: Completely agree with you on this one. The last thing I expected was a Ferngully type animation being passed on as revolutionary. It is a huge credit to Cameron's earlier work, then that I'd still watch it.
@Chris C.: Didn't a seamless integration of CGI and humans already take place in LOTR? From what we have of Avatar to compare with, it was also superior.
Also, if this is only good for a certain format, are all future SD DVD releases of this film redundant??