Rant #1: James Cameron's Avatar should have been longer

Hey, remember back in 2009 when everyone was raving about movies such as Inglorius Basterds and District 9? Those were the days when people thought of going to a 3D movie as a gimmick.

"It's like it's almost touching me!"

Well that all ended when a movie by our good old friend James Cameron came along and released the blockbuster Avatar into our laps near the end of December. And boy, we sure ate it up like the dogs we are!

If you have been living under a rock for the past two years, this is what we're talking about.

People doubted it's initial success, was it going to be like Cameron's Aliens or would it be a complete flop? It was almost like Deja Vu. Cameron releases a movie labeled the "Most expensive movie ever made" and makes Billions off of it. It was almost exactly like Cameron's Titanic, a film critics claimed for being too expensive and long(A point I'll be getting to later), but turned into the hottest new film of the year.

Luckily for us, Avatar didn't win Best Picture

Everyone saw its success, most notably the movie industry. I say "notably" in a negative way, as it brought on a wave of "masterpieces" using the hot new 3D technology that the populous saw in Avatar such as Piranha 3D and Jackass 3D.

Now you get to see Johnny Knoxville being punched in the balls in gratuitous 3d!

 

Unfortunately, this isn't what I'm here to talk about, as everyone who saw a movie last year knows about this whole 3D debacle. I'm actually here to talk about how Avatar should have been longer.

This is what your reaction is right now, isn't it?

For those who haven't seen Avatar, it goes for about 160 minutes or about three hours. Now you may be thinking "Hey Brandt, why should this movie that is long enough as it is be longer?" Well I want it to address one of my main problems (And one that many others share) with the movie: The lack of character development/explanation.

 The base plot of Avatar

We have a movie full of cookie-cutter characters (Ex-Marine, Foreign(alien) chick, Scientist who dislikes her superiors, Gung-ho General,etc), and a completely unexplored future world with unlimited creative properties. With a few extra minutes, the movie could have developed the characters and society a bit more. For example, remember that whole bit with Sigourney Weaver's character and how she ran a school? Perhaps that could have been shown off a bit in flashback. 

This movie would have totally been better if she was in a Power Loader

Another thing is that we never see what Earth looks like in the future. It's the year 2154 and we never see how our society has changed. James Cameron stated that he wanted scenes showing earth in the final cut of the movie, but it felt like "the movie started twice" and had them cut. What's neat is that these scenes are in the Extended cut of the film, and are pretty damn cool looking if you ask me.

Try to find Jake Sully in there!

Several people have voiced their opinions on this film, and the one I hear the most (Besides the 3D) is the lack of personification the movie needs to differentiate it from the rest of the cloud. Without this it just comes out like Pocahontas with aliens, a film that shouldn't have grossed two-billion dollars.