So this is finally the first glimpse of the film that stole the title of a popular Nick show (or was it the other way around ), a film in the making for several years and has been hailed by Youtube and IMDb kiddies everywhere as the second coming of movies. But will it live up to the hype?The first footage from James Cameron’s "Avatar" was shown the other night to attendees at the CinemaExpo International in Amsterdam and reports coming in seem to indicate that the film lives up to the hype.
According to Reuters, Cameron himself said much of the footage came from the first third of the film and there was a standing ovation afterwards. Attendees however were sworn not to report details on what they saw, but already some have come forward using code names to discuss what they saw.
Coming Soon has an insider report from a source who hasn't been hugely impressed by the first wave of the new 3D style films but was gobsmacked by this - "These creatures seem so real, that within minutes you forget you’re watching an enormous and very blue CGI character. Even the eyes are totally convincing. The characters have real personalities and a soul...How the hell is it possible that I never once felt like I’ve been watching a movie where almost everything comes out of a computer"
A source for MarketSaw says "Little fireflies and birds fly through the shots without being there. You just take them as the world, like a dove in Central Park. It's not placed there, it lives there and just happens to be in the shot... There’s a shot of leaves somewhere which is so photorealistic you don’t want to think it’s CGI. You believe this world from the get-go. It’s there, you don’t need to believe it because you will experience it". That site also has some images from the after party you can glimpse below.
UCSNord said on Twitter - "Stunning, literally jawdropping. Amazing visuals unlike any before seen, with incredible detail. CGI was photorealistic, characters look really real. Believe the hype, this movie will be massive."
Word is already filtering out that the first US presentation of footage from the film will take place next month at the San Diego Comic Con.
Obviously, I think it will be excellent sci-fi, and its already proving to have groundbreaking effects, but form what I'm seeing plotwise, I'm not really grabbed or drawn in to the story, and I almost feel that whatever good storytelling there is will be overshadowed by the effects. We'll see on this one.