Movie Moment: Avatar

The bf and I went to see Avatar this Saturday. Let me begin by saying that this isn't my kind of movie. I like romantic comedies, stupid comedies, dramas, and indie flicks. Basically, everything but sci-fi and action (well, and horror and courtroom dramas). So, I was expecting to fall asleep, as I did during Star Trek, Transformers, and Terminator: Salvation. But I didn't. My interest was held, I think, by the gorgeous colors of the mythical planet of Pandora as well as by the storyline. In a nutshell, a paraplegic ex-marine is chosen to learn about the denizens of Pandora by walking among them as a clone. As part of the Avatar program, his objective is to earn their trust so he can convince them to give up their sacred tree so that the humans can harvest some resource for profit. But he ends up falling in love with their leader's daughter, and as a result ends up identifying more with her people than his own. As you may predict, craziness ensues, ending in a series of somewhat gratuitous battle scenes. Interestingly enough, the bf didn't like the movie as much as he expected because he thought there would be more fighting. I, on the other hand, found it kind of enjoyable (again, high praise from me for this genre) for precisely the same reason. And therein lies one of the fundamental differences between men and women. Also true to form, I needed the bf to explain some of the technical and plot-related points afterwards. As someone most comfortable with character-driven tales, both on screen and in print, this was nothing out of the ordinary.