The Avatar trailer premiered in theaters last Friday, with the online version coming up Oct. 29 – why on Thursday instead of tomorrow doesn’t make sense to me. Cam versions have been up since Friday morning, but since I have standards in resolution, I refused to watch the bootlegs. Which means I had to buy tickets for Saw’s fifth sequel.
But man, it was worth spending 12 bucks to see the trailer.
At 3 minutes and change, the Avatar trailer is the longest I’ve seen – not including Extended trailers which I don’t really count as trailers since they’re cut for a particular venue and not for the general audience who I’m guessing see most if not all their movie previews in theaters.
Why is Avatar’s a minute longer than the average trailer? The movie is a science fiction epic that is comparable to a very few (Star Wars), a science fiction epic in a time when every other movie is either a sequel or remake. Yes, the movie makes use of new camera technology, which most people won’t realize or care to know (though they should because it has attracted directors like Steven Spielberg and Peter jackson). Yet Avatar is a movie event and James Cameron is the reason. The trailer makes damn sure to remind you he’s responsible for the best action movies and the highest grossing of all-time. They pretty much title card his entire filmography.
I’ve already gushed over the special effects and how the motion/emotion capture is what separates Avatar from other movies of its kind. There is a shot in the trailer where Neytiri pulls back on a bowstring; there is tension in her movements that gives her weight – and there should be weight because, again, beneath the computer renders the movements and expressions are still the actors. Look at that shot of her turning toward the camera, look at the way her upper lip moves. If she was an animator’s creation, I’d think the lip-twitch a nice touch; since it’s an actor’s performance, I like to think there was a reason behind the motion.
Perhaps my favorite shot is one of Col. Quaritch (Stephen Lang) drinking coffee as his gunships in the background unload their ordnance. In the hands of a lesser director, conveying the antagonist’s attitude toward human life would involve something that feels like comic-book knowledge. Selfridge (Giovanni Ribisi) might have the lines that show he views the Navi as nothing more than tribals in an industrial universe, and while your first impression of Lang is nail-tough general, by the end you’ll know he’s not only as heartless as Selfridge but also comfortable within the slaughter.
Sure, the story when reduced is Space Dances with Wolves, but that doesn’t bother me. I prefer simple premises over high-concept because they are the most reliable. The more complicated you make the premise the more difficult it will be for the audience to see the plot and make sense of the characters’ purposes and growth.
Even though the trailer is 3-minutes long, the first few seconds gives you all the information you need about Jake and his story – “I became a marine for the hardship, told myself I could pass any test a man could pass. All I ever wanted was a single thing worth fighting for.”
And this is why James Cameron is the king of the world. He knows how to direct action. He knows how to tell a story – and despite the technology he created and the amount of detail he put into the world around Jake and Neytiri, he knows these ultimately serve the story – “Film-making is not about sprockets. It’s about ideas, it’s about images, it’s about imagination, and it’s about storytelling.”
And just as important to me, he knows how to frame performances. Cameron is known for his technical and logistical prowess as a director and his perfectionist attitude when it comes to the details. Yet he still understands the power of the actor’s performance – “When we unpack these shots, sometimes our jaws just drop at the verisimilitude to the actors. And that’s what thrills me most. I’m kind of over all the design stuff. That was the first two years. I’m kind of used to that stuff now, the floating mountains and thousand-foot trees. But when I see Sam Worthington captured exactly at a critical-performance moment – that still gets me.”
A story’s premise is the easy part, and for better or for worse, we already know the ending. The fun is how the story is executed and if it can deliver the dilemma’s without betraying our trust. And Cameron has never allowed gimmicks to define his storytelling.
…Ok, my favorite shot – the first appearance of Sigourney Weaver. She may not be Ripley of Aliens, but it’s Weaver in a Cameron movie.
