A 2 1/2 MINUTE AVATAR CHASE SCENE IS ONLINE
- By Devin Faraci
- Published 11/24/2009
- News
Hey remember the Core chase in Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace? That was what came to mind while watching the below clip from Avatar. At least that's what came to mind when I saw this clip at Comic Con a number of months ago. It isn't the mechanics of the Core chase that I'm reminded of - Star Trek's ice planet chase was much more reminiscent of that - but rather the weightlessness of the action. Pixels chasing pixels through a pixel world.
I didn't watch the full clip as presented below because I'm in a hotel in Vancouver, where the internet stinks. But while up here I did meet some interesting people with some interesting perspectives on Avatar - people who have seen it, and people who have worked on it - and the most interesting thing I came away with was the question of whether or not the final film could contain unfinished effects. The people who are getting this film ready for its December 10th premiere in London are probably working like they've never worked before in an effort to bridge the gap between what the movie is now and what it needs to be on release. Best of luck to those guys, and I hope they get a serious bonus.
(A quick addendum: yes, I know most huge FX films go to theaters with unfinished FX. Most huge FX films aren't being sold as game changers, and they don't cost as much as Avatar and thus need to make as much as Avatar. If you're leading the marketing with your amazing visual FX work, you have to be willing to take lumps if your visual FX work isn't finished or up to snuff.
Get all pissy because I'm not as psyched for Avatar as you are on our message boards.
I didn't watch the full clip as presented below because I'm in a hotel in Vancouver, where the internet stinks. But while up here I did meet some interesting people with some interesting perspectives on Avatar - people who have seen it, and people who have worked on it - and the most interesting thing I came away with was the question of whether or not the final film could contain unfinished effects. The people who are getting this film ready for its December 10th premiere in London are probably working like they've never worked before in an effort to bridge the gap between what the movie is now and what it needs to be on release. Best of luck to those guys, and I hope they get a serious bonus.
(A quick addendum: yes, I know most huge FX films go to theaters with unfinished FX. Most huge FX films aren't being sold as game changers, and they don't cost as much as Avatar and thus need to make as much as Avatar. If you're leading the marketing with your amazing visual FX work, you have to be willing to take lumps if your visual FX work isn't finished or up to snuff.
Get all pissy because I'm not as psyched for Avatar as you are on our message boards.
Spread The Word
Related Articles
Comments
Comment #1 (Posted by Matthew H.)
You're right ... it feels very weightless. Can't think of another way to put it. Nothing feels remotely real about it. I don't care how many things come out of the screen or how big the screen is, unreal CG is still unreal CG.
Comment #2 (Posted by johnnywakerblack)
What's amazing about this film that's supposed to be so ground breaking is that everything that has been shown has bored me to death. This is James Cameron trying to be cool and hip with the kids when he is most clearly too old to know what that means.
Comment #3 (Posted by troy)
its a little weird that the giant monster trailing him feels more real. and what's with using the t-rex roar from jurassic park? i know it has been used before but why not atleast try and make something new/different?
Comment #4 (Posted by smurfdeath)
90's Halo playin babies will love this film.. 70/80's babies, disappointed with Star Wars CG and CG in general see little in the way of a hopeful future.. maybe a more original story eh? groundbreaking will have to wait..
Comment #5 (Posted by Jimbo)
That looks like a video game. A very good one, but still a video game.
I feel bad for the people working on this. I imagine that they feel like they're working on something groundbreaking, but there's no way it can live up to the hype. Nothing short of Jesus and Buddha appearing at the same time in Times Square could live up to the hype. Who knows, maybe it will still break ground, but I've seen nothing yet that confirms it.
The other thing that bothers me is that these aliens were also supposed to look like they fit in with their world, like a proper evolution. The only indication of that I've seen so far is that that T-Rex sounding creature was able to get under roots and such. Maybe the movie will get deeper into it and I'm just being picky.
By the way, you've pissed off everyone at Marketsaw again Devin. Somehow, by writing about how you're not hyped up for Avatar, you're bashing and discrediting all the hours of hard work done by everyone under Grandmaster Cameron.
Comment #6 (Posted by Sawyer)
The Smoke Monster from LOST is more realistic and frightening than this. They should have just used that money as a bail out for banks/car companies, it would have been more usefully wasted.
Comment #7 (Posted by Hal Hartley)
That's not the T Rex roar, don't know what you're talking about there; of course they had original sound design. Also, meh.
Comment #8 (Posted by 65.605)
I'm much more impressed by the dude's stormtrooper like aim.
Comment #9 (Posted by kevin)
This film looks awesome...i'm so happy I was directed here!! I don't know much about filmmaking. It sounds like all of you are filmmakers or in the industry, so I won't pretend to understand why you guys are all angry at the movie, but my friend sent me this page and told me to watch it cuz I haven't seen anything about Avatar yet, and if the whole movie is like this clip, I can't wait to see it! I am very excited right now! I had no idea it was going to be something like this, but I haven't seen something like this in a movie theatre in a long time. Color me extremely excited for this movie and it just became number one on my list!!
Comment #10 (Posted by smiteboy)
Hmmm, I'm interested in knowing what you guys have been creating over the last few years. Probably a giant crevasse in your Mom's couch. Why don't we wait until the final movie comes out?
Comment #11 (Posted by PeanutsInPoop)
But..but..you don't understand. You have to see it in THREE-DEE!
Comment #12 (Posted by DraganM)
Hey David. You really should do something with your impotency.
Comment #13 (Posted by ColonelCaine)
If that looks like a video game then that's definitely the best looking goddamn video game I've ever seen! But seriously, I honestly don't see anything wrong with the physics of this scene. Granted I'm not a physicist but hell, who among you people are. While it still looks like CG, by virtue of the fact that we know it's CG, that's still some of the best CG I've ever seen. I mean hell, just that last little bit where he's in the water looked pretty damn realistic to me! I'm not saying it's 100% photoreal, but I think a lot of you, Devin included, are going out of your way to ignore just how impressive these effects are. The real question is if the story is going to carry any weight whatsoever, and while it does seem derivative of several past films that have already been mentioned ad nauseum, that doesn't necessarily mean it won't entertain. We'll just have to wait and say, but I'm betting this movie delivers the goods. Now commence with telling me how much of an ignorant fanboy I must be to have such an opinion.
Comment #14 (Posted by Giraffe)
Wow, I thought people were done recycling the sounds from Jurassic Park five years ago.
And I love the hilariously trite (and also done in The Lost World) creature-has-a-hold-of-my-backpack-so-I-need-to-unstrap-it scene.
Fuckin' cartoon.
Comment #15 (Posted by Slestak)
I think the slo-mo wrecks it.
Comment #16 (Posted by Huh?)
You people saying that looks like a videogame are either blind or retarded. That is some of the best CG I have seen in years. The environment is insanely well done. Even the Navvi are starting to look really good. The problem most people have is they have no frame of reference for what a 10 foot tall blue alien would look like in reality. That's why its so difficult to make them look 'real', because you inherently know they are not......
Comment #17 (Posted by mk)
kind of a boring little sequence. seems like your run of the mill lost world / star wars prequel chase sequence. except with prettier CG. im as excited as anyone to see dragons fighting space marines, but some of these action set pieces are feel very bland.
Comment #18 (Posted by TheColonel)
That's actually among the cooler bits I've seen from this movie. I particularly love the savage tenacity of the beast. I'm still wary about the movie, and it still has the sheen of traditional CGI (good CGI, but still), but Cameron is a great director of action, whether it's pixels or people, so I expect that much to be good. Oh, and @ comments 9 and 10: What? Only people who make movies or art can have an opinion on it?
Comment #19 (Posted by I'm Onto You Devin)
Can someone explain to me what the "Core Chase" is? I had no idea we were supposed to be aware of another TPM action sequence beyond the Pod Race and the Lightsaber Duel.
Comment #20 (Posted by joe-l)
is anyone else annoyed with the chase sequences where the chaser knocks down trees and jumps through strange nooks and crannies just to chase so insignificant thing. i'm sure it happens in nature SOMETIMES (some larger predators might be able to knock down some small trees), but in film it looks so forced and cliche. also, the cgi does look very good, but the aliens look silly.
Comment #21 (Posted by novaats)
Being in the UK I find the fuss about 3D a little irritating. There's maybe four IMAX cinemas in the UK, two of which are in London. Same goes for the rest of the world - I'm sure there are lots of IMAX theaters in the US but looking at it worldwild, won't it be like 5% of the viewing audience that actually see it in 3D?
Comment #22 (Posted by AndyB)
You'd think a creature indiginous to the planet would be better able to move through the environment. I thought Cameron had made this world realistic with it's creatures and how the interact.
And the backpack part was just shit.
Comment #23 (Posted by Joe)
I am stunned at how bad this looks.
Comment #24 (Posted by Kade "Genius Face" McCaan)
It's not the look and design in the CGI that make it feel most unreal and video gamey, it's the physics. It looks fun enough but it's also very generic and unoriginal, not anywhere near the quality of action choreography I expect from Cameron. On the plus side all this relatively ordinary stuff we've seen so far is only going to help temper expectations (amongst the more sane and mature movie fans at least) so that if the film is actually something special it'll work up off of those low expectations and have even more impact.
Comment #25 (Posted by TheHerb)
Better than I expected. Still gets surreal and cartoony at times and his head has a really wonky three-quarter angle. They really need to get rid of that Slow-Mo part - totally screws the flow and the illusion. And who's dumb idea was it to make the plants look like they've been bought down the local nursery? It's obvious that it's CGI but they still manage to make it look like a backlot with the "generic Green Fern" decor. If it's close to anything, it's the TRex chase in King Kong where Anne crawls into the log with the big centipede scaremonster. There's nothing new here - just MORE. It's brute-force filmmaking.
Comment #26 (Posted by kilar)
Wow, another negative Avatar article, what are the chances!
Seriously, whats your end game here Devin? You want Avatar to fail obviously, but why? Do you not want another big budget movie that studios show faith and trust in? You want another decade of sequels and remakes? If you actually wanted to encourage the future of film you would be behind Avatar, if not for the film itself, then for the opportunity that will not be there for other directors if Avatar underperforms.
As for the effects, well nothing on this scale has been attempted and I think it looks amazing. Weightlessness, fuck me, still better than anything thats come before.
But then again I actually watch movies to enjoy them, not chop them to shreds for personal vendettas.
Comment #27 (Posted by Liquid)
what's wrong with you people. This was cool as hell. way better and more artistically interesting than your typical blockbuster michael bay palooza. Fuck it all. I was going to just bootleg it but I'll see this movie a billion times if I have to then spend the rest of my life defending it and I don't even have to see it...
Comment #28 (Posted by jokerwocky)
Cartoonish as it gets but nonetheless engaging. Which is all that matters. I mena, Mos Eisley cantina creatures were all obvious men in suits, as was Chewie but the story and characters made everyone get passed fake look. For fans, they were real. If Cameron achieves that level of emotional investement from fandom, he has nothing to fear finances-wise.
Comment #29 (Posted by Ben)
Wow, smiteboy. It took you less than a minute to use the old "sleeping on mom's couch/geek virginity" card. It must be great to have a tool like that whenever you need to shut off valid criticism directed towards this movie.
Comment #30 (Posted by You ignorant fools!)
This is a DECOY! Cameron is purposely throwing you off by releasing unimpressive footage so he can WOW you (in all CAPS) in the theater in IMAX 360! Wait until you see one of those dinosaurs take the most realistic dump right onto a ground soldier's head! Then you'll be back on the Cameron bandwagon again! Er, hmm, maybe not.
Comment #31 (Posted by Hmmm)
No other way to say this. Incredible. This scene does not feel weightless. It feels real to me, or as real as a 10 foot tall blue alien being chased by a giant monster could feel. It is shot very well, and does not in any way remind me of Star Wars Episode 1, give me a break. Anyone who doesn't recognize the achievement here needs to see an eye doctor, 'cause you're blind. Elitist pricks.
Comment #32 (Posted by BusBoy)
I genuinely think some people are alienated by CG and consequently will rubbish anything but the most invisible FX. I'm on the fence about Avatar to be honest. I'll see it. I'm looking forward to seeing it. But I won't trash a film I haven't seen based solely on a prejudice towards a particular type of special effect. And to those who think it looks like a video game, what the fuck is powering your console? A NASA super computer? Get a grip and develop some balance in your lives.
Comment #33 (Posted by RadicalRex)
Wow! looks incredible, the clothing physics is perfect, the water on the skin looks real. This will be an unmissable experience for sure!
Comment #34 (Posted by SomeDude)
I'm going to avoid name calling because I really want people to take my comment seriously. I am absolutely amazed in how people can have such differing opinions concerning this scene. The most impressive thing to me by far IS THE WEIGHT. It is magnified three fold in Imax 3d (yes I saw it), but I feel the weight in this clip alone. Nobody has combined this many CG variables with this much realism EVER. Look at Jake's face while he is firing his gun inside the tree...about as photoreal as you get (whether you like the design or not). The scene itself is visceral and pure popcorn fun! Everyone has their opinions, but it is hard to take "it looks like a videogame...cartoon...smurf...pick your insult seriously. And no, I have not worked on Avatar. Cameron does not walk on water, and I would have lit some things differently in other shots I've seen. Still in my book...this scene does significantly raise the digital effects bar. I'm crossing my fingers for everything else - the movie looks to be quite an amazing ride.
Comment #35 (Posted by mr perfect)
I think the CG looks REALLY good - some of the best CG I have ever scene. But more importantly, the the way the action is shot is great - no bs fast editing that makes the action incomprehensible (last two bourne movies). I can follow the action and there are lots of fairly long continuous shots, which I love - it creates a sense of realism in terms of action (not talking about cg).
Keep in mind people that a movie involves many elements the "look" is only a part of the puzzle.
