Let me start this by saying I am a geek. In fact, I am an uber-geek and someone who loves everything that is geeky in the world!
With that in mind, I was so sick and tired of hearing about "Avatar." I was sick and tired of being told how cool it was going to be, how it was going to change movies, how it would change the way I would watch movies. I started to feel like I was being told that if I did not like this movie, I was not a good geek but some poser geek - or maybe not a geek at all.
So why did I get in line at 11:15 p.m. Thursday to wait my turn to go in and see "Avatar" at 12:01 a.m. Friday? Because I am a geek, and that is what we do, right?
Let's start with a quick synopsis of the move (just in case you have not read a magazine, watched TV or used the Internet): “The story of an ex-Marine who finds himself thrust into hostilities on an alien planet filled with exotic life forms. As an Avatar, a human mind in an alien body, he finds himself torn between two worlds, in a desperate fight for his own survival and that of the indigenous people. More than 10 years in the making.” (rottentomatoes.com)
So how was it?
It was fantastic.
I could not get enough of the world we were thrust into. The world that I knew was 100 percent computer-generated, but after the first 15 minutes, I forgot or just did not care. It was so real - so incredible - that I felt like I was there.
If you saw the original "Matrix" in the theater and remember the scene when Trinity stopped in midair for the first time, you get how I felt when we descended onto the planet for the first time.
The acting had its flaws, and the music left a lot to be desired, but the action - the story - was so much deeper than I thought. I really thought it was just going to be the usual "we want what they have, so we kill them to get it" stuff - and it was - but it was told to us so, so much better than we have seen it before.
Yes, the action at times made me a little queasy, but I never felt sick. (There were some in the theater who had to get up and run out at certain junctures.)
Yes, some of the dialogue could have come from a bad sci–fi video game.
But is that why you went to this movie? Again, I have to ask: Did you see the effects? WOW!
Will this movie stand the test of time? Heck, no - and most non sci-fi/geek fans will walk out wanting their money back. For everything I loved about this movie, it's by far not perfect. But that said, I still think it's incredible.
I will say: Do not judge this by the trailers. It is so much more and so much better than what we saw. This is a movie that needs to be seen on a large screen - and by seen, I mean experienced in the way only a movie of this size can be.
As I write this, at almost 4 a.m. Friday, I am going to end by asking: So who wants to go see it again?
Repeat iReporter Adriana Maxwell of Marietta, Georgia saw “Avatar” last night and was quite impressed with it. She says the 3-D effects were the most seamless she has ever seen within a live action film read her review.
Editor’s note: Topher Kohan is the search engine optimization (SEO) coordinator for CNN.com, a “Star Wars” aficionado, a tech dork and an all-around good guy. (No, really, he is — just ask him.)