SpuffyWeb Sadly Over-hyped

NekoHomey Purely Joyful Movie!

CrawlerChunky In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

ThedevilChoose When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

fireycam-38624 Simply, I enjoyed the journey it took me on. I liked the story and the way it was presented. For the character Ash, the game was an escape from reality and she came to believe that maybe there was a little more.At first though I thought the game graphics in this movie were a little outdated. But then you realise with the setting the character is in, they are lucky to have anything like this at all. And so it all does seem to fit together.My contribution to this, is that I checked out the 'making of' supplement to the DVD. This was an eye opener. I came to have a much greater appreciation of the movie and also the genius and work that went into some scenes by the makers.Highly recommended.

Puddncakes T As someone who is a gamer, a computer and sci-fi enthusiast, I found this to be a pretentious long winded bore. Hang on, I'll tell you why! First, the visuals. The blurry, heavily bloomed and contrasted, sepia toned imagery that dominated the film just didn't work for me. While it masked the room temperature cg elements, I found that it just made the film look muddy and I was unable to get pulled into this world.Then there is the story. The theme of "What's real?" isn't something new and I don't consider it a high end effort when I find myself strained to watch a dull woman in a bad wig stone face her way through pointless, repetitive and drawn out scenes, one after the other. I suppose the abstract, disjointed writing mixed with the director credits can allow for people to interpret depth and sophistication but for me it just didn't feel cohesive and worthwhile but rather like drug enhanced, self important, hipster produced script. I waited to be intrigued, I waited to be invested, I waited for the shots to amount to some kind of message that justified the running time and for just something, anything to actually happen. No dice! Blank and stoic leads may work easily in stylized animation but is terribly difficult in live action and Ash failed hard. Sorry, I don't think the goose laid a golden egg this time around.I will say though, the orchestral piece in the conclusion was simply awesome.

symbolt Avalon can be seen as part of a trilogy, the first installment of which would be Ghost in the Shell, the last, Ghost in the Shell: Innocence. Avalon contains many direct references to Ghost in the Shell, and shares a lot of its motif of philosophical search for the self. They also share the cyberpunk imagery, and the fact that the main heroine is an impassive female warrior. I mention all this because I think it's inadvisable to watch Avalon if you haven't watched Ghost in the Shell (and pondered on it a bit). Avalon can be extremely heavy at times. This movie does not make you think; watching Avalon is like trying to decipher a zen poem, which I think can be done, but not through intellectual decoding.In Avalon, a lone hunter in a virtual reality game shares her life with a basset dog, and all her activities seem to be centered around getting better in the illegal, dangerous game and getting food the dog with the money she earns there. The game is illegal because you can die playing it; "really" die in the concrete, bleak urban world that Ash, the main hero, lives every day. However, apart from the possibility of virtual death, the game offers a secret - the highest level, Avalon. The legendary Avalon is the "Isle of the Blessed", where King Arthur lies in eternal sleep. In the movie, it is a mystery, which haunts Ash ever since the deaths of her last player team.The search for Avalon is depicted in the most beautiful cinematography. The plot is very symbolic and should be considered so; the search for the gate to Avalon can mean many things, and the nature of the quest changes as Ash is getting closer. However, like Ghost in the Shell: Innocence, the movie is heavy and long, and the characters engage in philosophical discussion every time they can. With all its beautiful cinematography, interesting acting (very automaton-like, but intentionally so), and a set of intriguing philosophical questions, this movie suffers from heavy-handed imagery and symbols, sometimes. Hard science fiction pushes the science as far as possible; Avalon is an example of hard cyberpunk, where the confines of the conceptual world dreamed up by the director are explored fully and unremittingly.If you are ready to take a film not as only entertainment, but also a challenge to your thinking power, Avalon, like all Oshii's movies, is a thrill. However, beautiful, intellectually rewarding science fiction does not have to be longish and heavy, as Avalon is at times. Watch Ghost in the Shell before it, watch Ghost in the Shell: Innocence after it, and approach this movie at your most relaxed, for it to be a rewarding rewarding experience; it can wear you down, otherwise.One more thing: if you're Polish, watch the Japanese dub with English subtitles. The Polish lines were translated literally from the Japanese, and they are very often almost gibberish (and the Japanese voice-acting is better, too). Also, do not let the fact that the movie's virtual world seems to be set in your local K-mart detract from your watching experience.

alahey Oh, gosh, if you are an MMORPGer, (Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Gamer)you MUST see this film. The film captures why we game. Why people lose jobs, families, and money over gaming. Why people choose their addictions and escapism over reality. The movie is astonishing. But only if you're a gamer. Otherwise, the movie will seem somewhat meaningless to you. The controversy rages in the forums "worst movie I've ever seen", "best movie ever". The movie is subtle and apparently has many many levels of interpretation. This is not an action flick. It's a movie for those who want to think deeply. IMDb asks for movies that this is similar to. That's difficult. I can't think of anything. Lars von Trier's "Breaking the Waves" perhaps, or "Dancer in the Dark". These movies both deal with the fine line between reality and fantasy, escapism and realism.