To hell with the muted, awestruck tone of the teaser. Fox is preparing to go live with a new theatrical trailer for AVATAR, and it is all about the sound and fury. This is the spot that's supposed to sell the uninitiated on James Cameron's IMAX 3D "game-changer". It's also the one you either saw in theaters this week or via an unwatchable bootleg on YouTube.
It will debut on Apple's movie trailers page Yahoo! Movies - in glorious Quicktime HD - tomorrow. For now, it is available in serviceable TrailerAddict HD. Have at.
Love that shot of badass Stephen Lang (as Colonel Quaritch) calmly knocking back a cup of joe as all hell breaks loose around him. I have a feeling he's going to be my favorite thing in this movie.
As for the storytelling, it looks like Cameron is going to be as direct with his message as he was in T2. I wasn't expecting a shitload of nuance from this film anyway, so as long as the characters are engaging and the action is ferocious, I'm okay with J.C.'s Stanley Kramer touch.
Overall, this is a very impressive trailer. My only caveat would be that, for all of its world-creating brio, the film feels kinda small in a weird way, like it's confined to about six or seven locations. Then again, the film is also close to three-hours long, so it's possible that Cameron is only sticking the tip in right now.
But wait, there's more! The Film Stage has tracked down a four-minute featurette that covers some familiar ground about the development of the film and the uniqueness of the physical production. But there's some new footage in here, so it's definitely worth your time. Check it out.
And it's gone. Oh, I... Oh, I'd... better learn how to face it.
December 18, 2009, folks. Is this the AVATAR you've been dreaming of for the last decade?
