what I dont get is when people see this type of movie they allways have to say its the same story just diffrent people/visuals. sure it may be the same shit new smell but everyone likes it. not every movie is gonna be ground braking plot and awsome new story. It all brakes down to the hide behind a random name on the internet and bam i can call a rose shit and and expect everyone to suck my epeen. whats the point of pointing out the fact that its the same story done over 100 times again. shit starwars was the same story done over 100 times along with most movies that have some form of fantasy or si-fi aspect. if it truly bothers you that its the same story why see it?
Im, not saying anyone here is like that its just crazy that everyone says that. I know im guilty of it, i just dont get why.
Aaarrgh. STORY MATTERS. When you say something like the above, you are also in effect saying that every single song in your favorite genre (rock for example) is identical and Jimi Hendrix is no different than the average high school garage band. You are denying the possibility that some works of pop culture/art have a better structure than others - because you want to put them all in the same amorphous blob that is popular culture. Nothing is good, nothing is bad. Everything is to be judged on the content of its viscera - its explosions, body count, tits and asses, catchphrases, blood and gore and special effects.
CRITICISM MATTERS. Not the generic "THIS FUKKEN RULES/THIS FUKKEN SUCKS" shit you see on the Internet but a more detailed critique of a film's strengths and weaknesses. Ebert is a pretty good writer actually and while I don't always agree with him, he's a good critic.
So it's not the same story every time. Great storytelling creates unique and satisfying variations on a common theme - it seems similar but it has a 'one of a kind' feel to it that lesser works fail to capture. The original Star Wars trilogy was not the same story done over 100 times - it was a unique fusion of Akira Kurosawa films, the best Westerns and many other things. It was something the world had never seen before and that is why it is so important to this day.
Let's look at two movies: Terminator 2 and Avatar - both are sci fi action flicks directed by James Cameron and noted for their high tech special effects.
Terminator 2 has a great story and structure - Avatar has a bad story and structure. I don't want to get into every little detail but here are a few reasons why:
THEME: Terminator 2 has several important themes interwoven with the plot: Fate (can we change our fate?), the nature of humanity, The danger of technology/progress and our inherent warlike nature. For example the theme of humanity is shown throughout by not only the T-800's actions and his education by John Connor but through Sarah Connor's decision not to kill the engineer responsible for Skynet - this is a moral gray area. Is right to kill someone for something they haven't even thought of doing yet? How do you know it's right? These themes are shown through good storytelling and do not distract from the overall story - they enhance it.
In Avatar the themes are very simple (nature good, exploitation bad) even the nature of humanity theme. Jake Sully is a human but decides to become a Navi by the end of the movie. There is no moral ambiguity, confusion or even hesitation over falling in love with an alien and siding with them or even permanently transferring into his alien body. This is lazy storytelling because it doesn't cause us to question our own values or raise tension in the movie. Don't you think the movie would have been better if it had addressed how much of a leap it was to side with an alien species or if Jake was losing his humanity at all?
CHARACTERIZATION: Look at the character arcs of Sarah and the T800 in T2. Both start out as rather cold, hardened warriors in their own way but become wiser through the course of the movie. Sarah decides to spare the engineer's life because he has a family and as a mother she realizes the value of human life. The T800 learns why people cry and heroically sacrifices itself to save humanity and THAT MADE THE MOVIE MORE ENTERTAINING. Isn't that scene just fucking INCREDIBLE? It's not great because of the effects. It's because the T800 has gone full circle - from a soulless machine to a true hero. I could go on and on about how most of the characters changed over the movie but you get the idea.
There is NO comparable scene or character arc in Avatar. The only character who even changes is Jake and there's no real moral dilemma. He makes the obvious choices and never doubts himself or his cause.
Sooo it's okay to criticize a movie's storytelling because it's even more important than the fight choreography or CGI effects - a great story makes a kickass movie.
I'm not saying that criticism, is by any means bad, I just don't get whats the point of pointing out that its the same old movie warmed over again. Anyone that saw it can say that, unless they don't see movies often, and I fully agree that T2 had the more developed characters. Jake did question what he was doing but your right if you blinked you would have missed it, right after he got done "becoming a man" while laying in the tube he said, "Oh shit what am I doing." pretty blunt way of questioning him self but he still did it, and that's the only time he did. So it is much weaker in the plot areas, and I'm not trying to compare it to the greatest film ever made, or even a really good one like T2. I just don't get why the nature of the internet is to go on there and point out the simplest part of hey its the same story done over again.
I have to disagree with your Music comparison, there are plenty of bands out there that have a very distinct sound to them, even in the day of modern rock its pretty easy to here the difference between 2 bands that are of the same rock genre. Now in the world of rap, I have a harder time telling the difference at points, but I also don't like modern rap. Wu-tang Clan FTW!
But with a movie such as Avatar that has the plot line of Nature good, explosions bad, they played the movie out well. I cant say the movie had a weak plot, its not the strongest plot but to say its a weak plot, I don't feel gives it a fair enough opinion and to just compare it to one of James Camron's best movie isn't fair either. Its been what 18 years since that time, he i sent going to go off and make a movie with shit plot in it, he made a movie based around a new experience on a untamed planet.
Again I know that critiquing a movie is all opinion based, and were all going to have different opinions, and maybe I'm just taking the view of the typical American movie goer. I don't typically go into a movie expecting to see ground braking plot, I go in to enjoy something that is visually appealing, maybe its wrong to see a movie based on just that. As for my opinion on Avatar, I enjoyed it, Plot was good, visuals were great, over all a very enjoyable movie.
I watched it in 3d last night, Honestly I think seeing the movie a 2nd time did not help any. It really didn't change any, and we were sitting to far back on a smaller screen so the Visuals were about the same as it was in normal vision. Seeing all of the corners of the screen on a 3d movie hurts the Visual effects of it. Your right story matters, but to say its story was not there or done 100 times before, is just not fair for a movie that was enjoyable. If you didn't like the movie fair enough, but whats the point of going to a movie like that then? You should know that most movies these days are going to fall into that category of its been done before.
Just like the transformers, I didn't understand why people were harping on it so hard, Sure the plot line was weaker then the first one, but It was still an enjoyable movie. My favorite part of that movie to make fun of is the fact that the power of love saved Optimums Prime at the end, talk about cheese. Kids loved it, parents that took there kids to see it enjoyed it, the hard core movie fans or hard core transformers fans hated it. Why? Because they can simple as that. That of course is my opinion. haha!
