Avatar: Special Edition - I Finally Got to See it in IMAX!

I meant to see Avatar in IMAX while it was still playing in theaters, but I never got around to it unfortunately. After a bit, all the hoopla surrounding the movie was met with people deriding it and calling it a remake of FernGully: The Last Rainforest or Dances With Wolves. Well, going into the movie I knew it was not going to be an original story, so there was no way I could be disappointed there. But after watching Avatar on a regular screen in 3D, I was really eager to see how it played on an IMAX screen. With Cameron, you can always count on seeing his movies being with the upmost technical precision. If there is a technological glitch anywhere, it's someone else's fault, not his.

At the end of August 2010, Avatar finally got re-released specifically in IMAX theaters around the country, and it has been extended to include scenes that were not in the original theatrical version.. There is a total of 9 minutes of extra footage here, and Cameron succeeded in blending these new scenes into the film seamlessly. The new footage includes the following additions:

-There are more of the Stingbat and Sturmbeat creatures which had their own standout scenes in the first version. The Stingbats look even more wonderful than they did previously, and that's saying quite a bit.

-You get more hunting sequences including one hunt with Jake and Neytiri flying up above and shooting at the animals down below with arrows. This adds more to how Jake interacts and learns from the Na'vi, and how he is more open to being taken in by them.

-There's an addition sequence where Jake, Grace, and Norm visit a school where Grace taught at which has since been turned into a storage space (and not a carefully looked after one at that). The moment where Jake spots bullet holes in the chalkboard says a lot of how the military infrastructure on the planet is causing more harm than doing any good for the people. It's a haunting image that fills our minds with things we desperately don't want to think about it.

-We get to see a Na'vi counterattack after the bulldozers have laid waster to some of the most sacred parts of Pandora. It is a foreshadowing of the devastating battle the humans will soon bring to the Pandora's inhabitants, and of how fighting fire with fire does not always work to one's advantage. This is especially the case when the other side has major firepower.

-The sex scene between Jake and Neytiri is longer, but don't get too excited about it. There's no insertion of anything or any penetration on display here (this is a PG-13 movie after all!), just more hugging and cuddling. We still have yet to see how the Na'vi makes out with one another. I guess we'll have to wait for the "unrated" edition to see that (lol).

-There's a strong emotional scene towards the end between Jake and the Na'vi that is very much like the final moment between Tom Cruise and Ken Watanabe in The Last Samurai. However familiar or similar this scene may seem, it still adds much to the story as it makes Jake's destiny on Pandora all the more important.

Basically, all the scenes don't ever feel extraneous, and each adds much to what we had previously seen in theaters back in 2009. Say whatever you want about Cameron's dialogue or lack of original storylines, he remains one hell of a storyteller. Clearly this whole movie was in his head for years and years, and he got every last detail down perfectly. Considering how long he worked on the film, it's safe to say that he waited with extreme patience to get it all together.

Now I'm not going into another long winded review of Avatar as I did before, and many of my thoughts on the movie have not changed. I do have to say however that it was worth the $20 bucks (yes, it was that much) to see it in IMAX. The movie didn't fill the entire screen, more like three quarters of it actually, but that was fine. Witnessing Cameron's film on the biggest kind of movie screen made the experience of watching it all the more immersive. I got serious vertigo watching Avatar at times as you feel like you are moving along with the characters at certain points. I had this same experience when I watched The Dark Knight in IMAX, and there were a number of scenes that were shot in the actual IMAX format. You felt like you were floating along with the camera and wherever it went which was amazing.

I noticed even more that the 3D really brings you into the movie more without calling too much attention to it being used. After a bit, you almost forget the movie is shot in 3D, and it simply brings you more into the story than many other films are able to these days. With scenes featuring ash falling through the air after the humans wipe out certain parts of Pandora, it started to feel like it was coming right off the screen.

Also, it should be more clear than ever that Avatar is very strong anti-imperialist movie, and that it is not a fan of Americans invading other countries when they could just leave other people and their cultures alone. There's no respect for the rights of the indigenous population on Pandora, and we keep seeing that go on right here on Earth. The realization of this will probably set off all kinds of politicians, and for all the wrong reasons might I add.

Seeing Avatar on the average sized movie screen at your local theater is quite something, but it's a whole other thing watching it in IMAX. No wonder this has been such an enormous hit around the world. Avatar sucks you visually and emotionally in ways that most films don't even try to. Most people I know of these days would prefer to wait until a movie comes out on DVD, but this is the kind that was made to be seen in a cinema, let alone in IMAX.

If you liked the movie when you saw it before, and you're near an IMAX theater playing it, you will definitely need to check it out to get the full effect. This also may be the last time you ever get to see Avatar this way or in 3D. Be sure to get a ticket before the special edition disappears from theaters.

Original version : **** out of ****

Special Edition: **** out of ****
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