Why do people hate James Cameron/Avatar?

[The 1-2-3 Killam]

Maybe it's because I surround myself with hipsters and annoying elitists, but everyone I go I seem to hear people bitching about James Cameron, Avatar and how terrible he/they are. Yesterday I caught myself making fun of Cameron, because he came out and said that he was no longer working on any projects except the furthering of the Avatar universe (meaning 2 & 3). Why?

I just re-watched Avatar. It's a visual masterpiece. I hear people complain that it's not that impressive because it's all CG -- bullshit. If anything, it's way the hell more impressive because it's almost all CG. I cannot help but roll my eyes when I hear fans and consumers bitching about the differences between film, digital, CG, computer modeling and all of that. If the movie looks good, and you enjoy it, why the hell do you care how it was made? How should any level of special effects taint the way you view a product? It's like looking at a picture and not liking it purely because it's done in oils -- the picture is brilliant, but because you don't respect oils it's all the sudden a terrible painting. Enough bullshit, let the people who know what they're doing and talking about make the movies that you enjoy.

It's also a classic piece of storytelling. I've hear the jokes about Pocahontas in space - they're funny. But unless John Fucking Smith was re-engineered as an alien and fought in a giant space war, flew on dragons and fucked (sorry, made love) with his braid...I don't want to hear that shit. Everything borrows from something else, there are very few true-blue original idea out there. Shit, the damn story of Pocahontas isn't even original! James Cameron took familiar concepts and morphed them into this fantastic space epic. It's almost 3 hours long and never once does it feel like its dragging or repeating itself. There was never a point where I wasn't entertained by what was going on.

Cameron didn't just create a story, he created a planet, a people, and an entire relationship of living beings with a rich and underlying backstory. I'll admit "Pandora" is about as generic as they come -- wait, "Unobtainium" is worse. But languages and a deep religion were crafted out of nothing. It's not Middle Earth, but the whole thing is still pretty impressive.

I had some faults with the film. It's not perfect. But it is a visual breakthrough, an entertaining piece of film, had a great soundtrack and managed to bring me to the brink of emotion on more than one occasion. It's critically praised by just about every respectable critic on the planet (most notably Roger Ebert, and Sight & Sound).

So why the hell do elitists hate this movie, and James Cameron so much! The man gave us Aliens, T2 and the two highest grossing films in history! What the fuck have you done in 20 years?

 

[Harthan]

Cameron's the guy you hate because he's the kind of incredibly creative, brilliant, masterful man who cashed in and became a part of the system. He's the man everyone wants to be but hates that they should have to want to be him in the first place, because he made them have to.

 

[Pay Per Ghost]

 

[ABMorales787]

As far as I'm concerned, Avatar is about how stupid humans can be.

 

[Alex]

Haven't watched Avatar. But I love James Cameron, all the films he's directed that I've seen I love (True Lies FTW)

 

[Shocky]

Most people that say they don't like it are the ones who saw it 5 times in the theatre. Most people are just dumb assholes.

 

[FunKay the Inevitable]

I didn't like it because it wasn't anything new narrative wise and while visually spectacular, it was nothing more than that. A visually spectacular feature which lacked everywhere else. Oh and Sam Worthington sucks as an actor too. That didn't help.

 

[a0161613]

I love Avatar though I can't deny Funkay's point about Sam Worthington. He's bland, the narrative didn't help him either. Not a great casting IMO.

 

[George Steele's Barber]

Did I need to be high to enjoy this movie more?

Avatar was fine. I really don't care about Cameron's accomplishments in sound, editing, lighting and the visual. I just want to be entertained for my money. The movie felt like a really long cartoon with some cool stuff but mostly a shitty story. I don't hate James Cameron but Titanic and Avatar both kind of bored me.

 

[It's Damn Real!]

I have no idea, but I do know that the Fern Gully 2.0 comparison is spot on.

That said, I enjoyed it thoroughly.

 

[jmt225]

James Cameron comes off as an arrogant douchebag most of the time, so that's why he's not well liked.

That said, his two Terminator films were incredible. And I highly respect the work he has put into deep-sea exploration.

However, I have yet to see Avatar and very much doubt I will anytime soon.

 

[Mr. Artistic guy]

I really enjoyed Avatar and issues raised about the story being predictable were nonsensical to me. Hundreds of other films wouldn't be criticized for the same thing, it just seemed like very much the cool thing to do when it came out. It was just a great, classic story, well portrayed. Although I can appreciate the issue of the casting of the main character, he was effectively only in less than half the film as was and a voice actor for the majority of the time. I can't speak for the man himself though is I've not so much as even seen him.

 

[ScreaminNormanSmiley]

It's also a classic piece of storytelling.

lol

 

[Poop Master Flex]

James Cameron is awesome. How can you hate anyone who directed The Terminator, Terminator 2: Judgement Day and Aliens?

I didn't overly care about Avatar. I'm not saying it was bad because it was actually pretty good, just wasn't my kind of movie, besides I already have seen Pocahontas and Dances With Wolves. The 3D watching it in the IMAX is what I remember about the movie.

 

[Shocky]

James Cameron gave us Aliens, he's a great man in my book.

 

[Davi323]

I have no problems with James Cameron. I loved his work with Terminator, Aliens, The Abyss (one of my all-time favorite movies) and True Lies.

I simply did not like Avatar at all. It was terribly overhyped, and while I agree that it was visually stunning, I was bored watching it. It could have lost a good 45 minutes of extraneous plot and been a better movie. But, not liking Avatar doesn't mean I don't like James Cameron.

I think James Cameron does better when he is making straight up action movies than he does when he is trying to be this generation's Cecil B. DeMille making these grandiose "epics". I am also one of the few people that didn't like Titanic. Just too overhyped to live up to the expectations set. Had either Avatar or Titanic not been ridiculously hyped ahead of time to make it seem like both were the OMGBESTFILMEVERRRRRRRRRRRR, maybe I would have been more into them. Very few non-Christopher Nolan films with that kind of hype can live up to the expectations.

 

[justinsayne]

I found a good chunk of Avatar to be incredibly boring, like about the first 45 mins. to an hour of the film. That said I understand what he was doing in that portion of the film, with setting up the story, & explaining the world & how everything works & whatnot. Once it gets past that though I found the movie to be much more enjoyable & entertaining. Overall Avatar is a solid but fairly overrated movie, if I were going to watch a James Cameron movie I would much rather have T2 or Aliens, I feel both those films are much more entertaining than Avatar.

I remember hearing rumors when I was in HS that Marvel was in talks with Cameron to direct a Spider-Man movie, but due to a law suit over the rights to the Spidey in film & TV it never happened.

 

[Shocky]

Cameron was supposed to make X-men in the early 90's. Bob Hoskins was Wolverine, Michael Bien as Cyclops. Would have been awesome.

 

[Lee]

Cameron was supposed to make X-men in the early 90's. Bob Hoskins was Wolverine, Michael Bien as Cyclops. Would have been awesome.

Could have been worse he could have played Mario....

 

[EGU]

Although I can appreciate the issue of the casting of the main character, he was effectively only in less than half the film as was and a voice actor for the majority of the time.

Actually that's not true. He was doing all of the movements for the avatar, while doing the voices at the same time. Saying he's a voice actor would mean he's in some soundproof studio with a mic to his face, while the movements aren't done by him at all. Sure, his face was in only half of the movie, but that doesn't negate everything else. Plus, even the Avatar's face was partially modeled after his own.

Having said that, everyone is right in saying they could have gotten a better actor.

 

[The 1-2-3 Killam]

I think the big reason why a lot of people get on Cameron's case is that Avatar was really what jump-started the 3D movement in the film industry. It was catching speed before hand, but Avatar came in and did things nobody else had done, and made it incredibly popular. A lot of people, myself included, hate 3D as a gimmick and prefer the natural 2D approach to film. I get that -- for a long time I was mad at Avatar and Cameron for being responsible for that -- but it doesn't make it a bad movie.

To the point raised: 1) I'm not a fan of Sam Worthington. He's an over-actor that is always way too damn dramatic; in Avatar I think that worked for him at times. I liked his narrative, and I honestly disliked other characters a lot more than him. For the first hour, all the character interactions seemed unnatural. Like they didn't care how people fit together or that it seemed comfortable to watch, they just wanted to rush into the pretty CG part of the film. Once they got there though, that's where the magic begins. 2) It is great storytelling. The origin of the story is that its passed down from generation to generation - something doesn't have to be wholly original to be a good story.

 

[Lee]

I think the big reason why a lot of people get on Cameron's case is that Avatar was really what jump-started the 3D movement in the film industry. It was catching speed before hand, but Avatar came in and did things nobody else had done, and made it incredibly popular. A lot of people, myself included, hate 3D as a gimmick and prefer the natural 2D approach to film. I get that -- for a long time I was mad at Avatar and Cameron for being responsible for that -- but it doesn't make it a bad movie.

I 100% disagree with this, 3D was very much in use before this. People don't like Avatar because outside of the stunning visuals there's not much going for it story and character wise.

 

[Smooth Sexual Chocolate]

That movie defines canned generic processed Hollywood bullshit. The acting in that movie is cheezier than a Cena promo, and the story is not only rehashed to death; but actually takes it a step further. I mean dragons and blue people can't cover up the stench of one of the most overused storylines in cinema history.

It's generic simplistic crap, produced for the simple minded masses, one of the absolute worst films all time based on hype and revenue.

 

[Harthan]

That movie defines canned generic processed Hollywood bullshit. The acting in that movie is cheezier than a Cena promo, and the story is not only rehashed to death; but actually takes it a step further. I mean dragons and blue people can't cover up the stench of one of the most overused storylines in cinema history.

It's generic simplistic crap, produced for the simple minded masses, one of the absolute worst films all time based on hype and revenue.

This is what I was trying to get at. The thing is that Cameron full well knows better and he's proven that he could make beautiful art, but he doesn't need to do because he's too busy lining his pockets.

 

[The Big Gunnzbowski]

The letdown for me was the story. I understand that the movie was supposed to be more "visual", but how many times can you watch Pocahontas? That's all the story was anyways...