I don’t understand the need/desire to know what unobtainium is used for by the humans. If there was an additional line of “it’s worth $20 million per kilo and it’s the only fuel source left in the universe”, would that really have made that much of a difference in terms of plot development? Even if Giovanni’s character did give us a quick 5 second explanation, it would’ve never been brought up again in the movie, nor would we’ve seen the result of unobtainium’s use. I don’t get it; why is it so important to know what it was used for?
It’s also a MacGuffin.
I remember reading some article on Cameron (idk if it’s in this thread) where he states that Unobtainium is supposed to have superconductive qualities. Also, to show the potency of the element, the traces of Unobtainium found on earth is responsible for mankind achieving interstellar travel.
Some planets and moons like Neptune are composed of liquid methane, which could power us for billions of years if it was feasible. Too bad we’d spend more energy traveling there to reap our investment.
Because people have this desire to know about every facet of something weather it’s important or not. It’s why people CONTINUE to argue about whats in the Briefcase in Pulp Fiction even though it’s not important at all.
Time for someone to invent a Shaw Fujikawa Trans-light Drive.
So, when the conquistadors invaded South America, they were actually on the verge of defeat. Sure, they had vastly superior tech, but they were badly outnumbered by the Aztecs. What helped them win in the end was that they had the smallpox assist + allied with the other natives.
So its totally conceivable that a primitive race of native american aliens could defeat advanced american weaponry. BUT, not with the way the final battle was incompetently orchestrated. First off, why the hell would you ever do a full frontal assault against a bunch of machine guns and mechs? Utter foolishness. It would have been much better to set up flanking maneuvers. Multiple angles of attack, including from the trees. To counter the mechs, they could have created pit traps. Mechs fall in - pwned. They could have also set up snares too to trap the marines. Archers from the trees could have used flame arrows to set shit on fire, and the resulting smoke would have helped screen the flanking. With all the chaos, the marines would have broken formation and lost morale.
The aerial battle was similarly poorly planned. Seriously, all they have are bows and arrows? They could have at least carried jars of tar or whatever and then thrown it at the gunship windows, totally obscuring vision. then the gunships would have just crashed and burned.
Pretty sure there was an interview where Cameron knows that there are all of these questions and that he has the entire universe really well fleshed out. Be prepared for officially licensed Avatar related books that explain more about what’s going on.
Also, I remember reading somewhere that Cameron addresses the name unobtainium. He basically says that scientists on Earth have theorized about the existence of it years ago, but have never found an actual source, and that over the years, they called it unobtainium within the community as a joke name because it only existed in theories. Then, they discover Pandora, and the name stuck with it.
From Project 880:
Cameron fills the approach to Pandora with tons of jargon and science fact; I’m not sure how much any of it would have made it in any version of this movie, but there are a lot of interesting facts presented, including a description of just why those floating mountains float. It’s actually a description that would have been welcome in the film, as it ties into unobtainium. In the script it’s mentioned that unobtainium was the joke name for the metal, which happened to stick; unobtainium is a room-temperature super-conductor, pretty much the only reason the expense of a Pandora trip is worthwhile. It’s also what makes up much of the floating mountains; Pandora, while as big as a planet, is a moon of Polyphemis, a huge gas giant with a super magnetic field. The unobtanium levitates in a high magnetic field (Cameron really explains all the science in the scriptment), and thus the mountains. Which, by the way, are very holy to Na’vi.
He like many others didn’t give it a fair chance you can tell he came into the theater hating on anything that didn’t have to do with the visuals. I hope my own review comes across as honest praise rather then mindless fanboyism:sweat:
When you have the numbers and strength of a few million rhinos on steroids and pterodactyls I don’t think you need to worry about things like strategy it’s like comparing all the soldiers thrown at Iraq vs an army of apes at least 100 times larger…sure there will be severe casualties but most will get up close and at then it’s GGPO.
yeah it does, plus a lot more. there are a lot of creatures and just random things in the world that aren’t explained or even mentioned in the movie but that you likely caught a glimpse of. explains everything very scientifically too, its kinda cool.
unobtanium is a super conductor that is responsible for their anti-gravity and anti-matter technologies, which make space travel possible. so it’s kind of a catch 22, they’re in space because of it and they need to go deeper into space to get more, so they can go deeper into space.
ps. would be cool if the second avatar movie was kind of like godfather 2 and half of it is flashbacks, to help show more and different aspects of life on Pandora. maybe what things were like before the humans during a civil war?
I was against a sequel to Avatar when I first heard it was going to happen, but now I kind of want to see where they take Jake and Neytiri. Cameron hinted that he would explore the different planets/moons in the Alpha Centauri system.
Uh, dude…you do know that the Na’Vi didn’t know wtf they were gonna face (much like native americans fought: charge right on in, cuz up until then, that’s what their enemies always did)? The humans hadn’t ever done a full-scale assault on the Na’Vi until the final battle.
yeah except for the fact that the aliens were getting rolled and pwned and slaughtered in the beggining. if mother nature hadn’t intervened, he would have lost, plain and simple. i’m saying, they could have easily defeated the marines, without intervention from mother nature.
ok, except that jake or whateve rhis name was WAS a marine. so he should have known better. as their leader, it was his responsibility to maximize the strengths of the aliens and minimize their weaknesses. their strengths were superior numbers and better knowledge of the terrain. to take advantage of superior numbers, they could have attacked from multiple angles. to take advantage of terrain, they could have set up traps/ambushes.
Basically, the Ewok strat in Return of the Jedi. I too was expecting something a little more clever than charging headfirst into the superior tech and get bailed out by the mother nature assist.
in the war of 1812 Tecumseh used to hide his warriors in the forests and ambush groups of troops to overcome their larger numbers, if the Na’vi did this it wouldn’t of even been a fair fight. Obviously there were better ways to go about attacking the humans but i think it was done this way to really hammer home that Eywa has their back. Because if they didnt even need the planet’s help Jake’s whole shpeal to the tree would have basically been left up in the air.
also they did more or less flank them from the air, it’s just the ground assault that failed hord.
I was actally a little disappointed with this movie. It was great but so predictable plus it’s just Dances with Wolves with a sci-fi twist. Not very creative plot wise. The visuals were some of the best I’ve ever seen though. The sheer size of the machinery, the plant life, crystal clear quality of the scenery was pretty breathtaking but it wore off after the first hour. Then it just kind of dragged on. Character development was kind of weak too.
Definitely not Cameron’s best work but not his worst either and his worst is better than most directors best works. I guess my expectations were too high since he directed it.
Dude…he was high on the power of his almighty penis/Turok Makto status. Common sense went RIGHT out the window.
what? this movie doesn’t need a sequel.
You know the deal man moviegoers jaded logic dictates even when it’s painfully obvious the good guys will win you have to at least try to create the impossible illusion of hopelessness, the last minute victory pulled from out the ass is like old pizza not very appealing but it’s familiarity gives you a sense of welcome comfort you can at least live with (I hope.)
And Avatar could finish way past $600M domestic (especially with a viewing boost after the awards push), and that actually would be impressive compared to Titanic’s 1997 dollars (which is something like $900M today)
Either way never ever doubt Cam at the box office.
People say this flick was too predictable and the characters too one dimensional. I can agree with this but it was done very well. It’s like being pissed at buying a sports car and bitching that is accelerates too quickly. Papa dragon can play Guile in Street Fighter 2020.