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“Avatar Day” was just Friday, August 21st for some but there was definite anticipation in the air for a select few people in theaters across the country. When the giveaway site launched Monday I had a choice between Albany and NYC as my two options and chose Albany has it’s half the distance. I registered enough for myself and some guests for both show times with the plan of giving away anything I couldn’t use. I planned on attending the 6:00 pm feature and doubted attending the 6:45 showing because ‘Inglourious Basterds’ started at 7:00 pm but that all changed when the theater changed it to 8:00 pm.

We poured into the IMAX screen (the smaller digital type that Aziz Ansari notoriously hates as do I) and were seated in the middle section. The glasses we were given seemed like your regular pair of of digital 3D glasses but they were cheap and didn’t even have hinges. Also worth noting was that the lenses were like plastic film, and not hardened plastic, basically they made the glasses we got at Pixar’s ‘Up’ look like designer frames. They did seem darker than any other I have seen or used so there was most definitely a shading effect when you looked through them and this may have led to a better outcome. The lights dim and onscreen comes the talking head of James Cameron with an intro to the film and a disclaimer about it being first half shots so there’s no major spoilers. I’ve included some screen grabs from io9.com and their breakdown of the trailer in order to help:

It starts out with a cliche Marine pep talk, complete with a “some of you will die” reality check ending on Sam Worthington wheeling in with a duffel bag. You see the guy talking in the trailer because he looks like he’s been bitch-slapped by a velociraptor. This is brief and basically sets up the tone of the harsh environment that Pandora encompasses. He even makes a wisecrack about visiting Hell for any R&R needs.

Next up is Worthington lifting himself into the brain transfer machine with Sigourney Weaver administrating the process. Some wisecracks are traded and you get the feeling neither person cares for the other’s profession/status. Sam’s character Jake Sully lies down and you get to see the brain synchronization process with some nice 3D effects in regards to the computers the scientists are using. You get to see the same worm-hole looking thing from the trailer (better in 3D) as Sam is transported into his Na’Vi avatar, this is where the joyride starts.

The Na’Vi definitely look better than in the trailer, you see eyes dilating, ears twitching and the 3D effect on his skin’s surface action all look very organic and natural. Jake Sully breaks protocol and ignores the requests to take it easy and fully tests his new found ability to stand on his own legs. In response to warnings from everyone around him you get the “This is great” line from the trailer. He then blows past a nurse-type attempting to ready a sedative and runs out of the room with orders being shouted to get him back.

The next scene is in the jungle with Sigourney Weaver in her Na’vi form instructing Jake on what to do, along with the other guy you see from the trailer (played by Joel Moore). Jake is in a standoff with an animal that looks like the Dr. Moreau cross between a hammerhead shark and a triceratops. It’s a territorial standoff that culminates in another animal showing up and scaring the herd of “hammertops” off and ending in a very nice looking chase scene with it and Jake’s avatar. The ending shot is the same in the trailer with the slow motion jump of this animal and Jake running with the backpack. It’s worth noting that this scene is the best looking out of everything this showcase had in my opinion and others I was with shared the same feelings, but more on that in a bit.

Next up we have a night time scene with Jake fighting off the Pandora equivalent of wolves. He’s loosing which prompts Neytiri to rescue him, seen in the trailer as the slow mo shot of her jumping and firing off an arrow from her bow. She swats and scares off as many as possible but she ends up killing a few as well. Jake tries to thank her and gets smacked. I’ve read that this scene was at Comic Con because she lectures him on how he shouldn’t be thankful for it and how it was a sad thing. This is a very colorful scene because apparently everything glows at night on Pandora, whether this helps or hinders the CGI work is still up in the air.

In what can be safely regarded as the second best part of the preview is the dragon roosts. What we gather as a ritual is the taming of a specific dragon and it’s Jake’s turn to do so. He’s got some war paint something or other on his face and has ditched his human-ish clothing for the loincloth thong seen briefly throughout the trailer. He walks through the roosts scaring off the not interested dragons in search of the one that “chooses” him. He’s holding some kind of rope device that’s either a native animal or plant used to secure the animal’s snout. He approaches the would-be match when an unknown Na’vi says to Neytiri “This moron is going to get himself killed” or something very close to it in their Na’Vi language. That’s when you see the dragon lunge and miss and the battle begins. After a close call nearly falling off the cliff, Jake succeeds in bonding with the animal by attaching the end part of his hair with one of the animal’s antenna-esque parts. I’m not sure what one would call that part of them (tendrils perhaps?) but it could be part of their ears. He has to seal the bond by taking flight and this is a wide shot scene with much of the planet’s topography as a backdrop. It’s an initial struggle at first but eventually they come to a symbiotic symmetry and cooperate with each other. Jake shouts at it to bank left and this scene ends.

What follows last is much like the trailer and I’d estimate contains 75% of the same shots seen in it. It’s a fast paced montage of various action points which largely includes more Na’Vi screen time, including more tribe shots.

My initial thoughts on what I had just seen was that the mech machines looked the least convincing out of everything. It really wasn’t anything more then what had been done in the Matrix sequels so I wasn’t impressed at all by those. Also the scenes with CGI overload could potentially be the film’s weakest points in terms of photo-realism, this includes the night shots with glowing plant life and possibly the dragon taming scene. I blame the fact it’s all so new to our minds that we as people instantly disregard its realism. What sells me the most is the daytime jungle scenes and how the Na’vi avatars look. They sweat and it shows, their emotions are easy to see and they look just like their human counterparts. I couldn’t tell you if the jungle elements were real or fake and maybe that’s a good thing.

Skipping any script questions (like how Neytiri knows English) the audience reaction at the end was more silent than anything. Maybe the majority were still taking everything in but there was no applause or anything after the first viewing. In the second viewing people seemed more supportive and there was a decent percentage of people applauding at the end of it. On my way out from both viewings I did hear some “wows” from people which can only be good for this film.

My final verdict on this entire ensemble is that it’s definitely a step up in the CGI department, however the hype emanating out of industry people on the game changing factor doesn’t seem completely warranted. I say this as a very easy to please movie guy, so please don’t lump me in with every other naysayer. I’m very excited for this movie as far as story goes and I can’t wait to see it. The work done to make the Na’Vi look that good is commendable at the very least. From sweat-matted hair in a panic state to wiggling toes, it is pretty remarkable what Cameron appears to have accomplished. The scope of the story gives me the impression this is a 3+ hour flick, all I hope is that it accomplishes what it needs to without feeling rushed. The brightness of some of the colors might be its undoing to my eyes, I think what has helped films like ‘District 9′ is that the CGI elements are darker and fit better. From an evolutionary standpoint, what purpose does blue serve? I’m no anthropologist or sociologist but during the daytime it really creates a juxtaposition between the Na’Vi and the world they live on.