Last week, Fox released an exclusive three-and-a-half minute trailer for James Cameron’s make-or-break December blockbuster “Avatar” in theaters only, with the promise it would be online today. Well, while Apple and Yahoo will have the HD quality trailer later in the day (10 AM PST/1 PM EST), some international territories have already had the pleasure and the heads up team over at JoBlo’s Arrow In The Head site have put it up online (god that player is needlessly big and clunky). Well, Yahoo now has the trailer so save yourself $12 and check it out below.
As we wrote last week, this new trailer does away with namby pamby doe-eyed feel of the dreadful first trailer, and goes into full get-asses-in-the-seats mode for what everyone (ie. the studio and their publicists) are saying will be a gamechanging film. Well, we’re still not quite convinced. Cameron has never had a great ear for dialogue, and that continues to be evidenced by in this trailer with a lot of tired tough guy speak we’ve heard in other films. But the biggest problem for us is that the supposed eye-melting special effects are still nowhere to be seen or even hinted at. What this trailer does is deliver a lot of military guys, big machines, flying creatures and glimpses of the still odd-looking Na’vi on a grand scale, but we still feel like we’ve seen it all before. It also strikes us as odd that the word “3D” is never mentioned once, when it’s supposed to be the most impressive visual component of the film. We’re wondering why Fox isn’t using the fact that is supposed to change how films are made and seen altogether as a major selling point. Are they losing faith that the public is going to notice or are they hoping on critical praise and word of mouth? But the worst crime of this trailer is that after seeing three minutes of footage our excitement level on this is still simmering at medium.
Check it out for yourself below, followed by a Cameron handjob featurette on the making of the film. Our eyes glazed over when the piece started describing how the idea for the film came to Cameron in a dream (maybe after reading the novella “Call Me Joe” by Poul Anderson? Do we smell a lawsuit?).
Update: Let corporate synergy reign! The official website has been updated and in addition to new photos and wallpaper, there also convenient links to information regarding the forthcoming toys and video games. Fanboys, today is your day.
