Review: Avatar: Extended Edition Director's Cut

Finally watched the Extended (16 extra minutes) version and I am very, very impressed. Even though I loved the theatrical and knew it needed work as it seemed cut down, i didn't expect the actual SE to be this good. Every scene that was restored was perfect and completely necessary. It really is a perfect vision now. I can't remember all the new scenes I watched but here's a rundown of what I thought:

The opening was superb- what a powerful, mesmerising shot of Jake in the city as they walk in slow-mo to introduce us to our world of the future. Very Blade Runner, the colours and design was fantastic. Though I never really had a problem with the original theatrical opening where it thrusts you into space (it was very much like 2001 Space Odyssey for me and worked great visually) but now the story is fleshed out more for the better- you understand better how the Pandora mission came to be, how wreckless Jake is and how he does things on a whim which is the central part of his character throughout the whole film. The image of Jake's brother's face on fire in the cremation was very strong as well, very cool meaning. All in all, a great opening and a great set-up which was cut out too badly in the theatrical.

The first glimpse of the sturmbeest herd as they graze was cool and very "Jurassic Park".

The school scene was very dark and added more depth and back story to Augustine's past. When she explains about what happened to the school later, it's also a very poignant scene where we understand more about here, as well as Neytiri and the ongoing war between the natives and the humans.

And extended scene where Neytiri and Jake walk a bit more into the night jungle was also very cool as we see more plant life and such.

Neytiri telling Jake her name was fantastic and a very worthy and additional scene. The film needed a formal introduction from her and what better way than here. Awesome acting by Zoe there with great animation and imagery of her eating. The little girl who shows interest in Jake was also very cute.

The crew getting off at the Hallelujah mountains and the shot of Jake looking up at the floating mountains from his wheelchair was awesome. I wish i could have seen this in IMAX 3D.

Jake's first flight test had a cool little scene where, at the foot of the mountains, he sees Neytiri fly past and they smile. Wonderful little moment there.

The Strumbeest stampede/hunt was awesome to watch but i think it's the only scene that felt misplaced. I don't think it flowed too well where it was placed, it just kind of felt shoved in there randomly. The scene itself was awesome and a great way to see Jake settle further into the clan but the scene felt like it stuck out, it just appears from nowhere. I also didn't like the music because it's just the battle theme again (probably because i've seen the battle too many times that hearing that music anywhere else seems out of place), but I can understand that using the battle music for this stampede links directly to when they are fighting in the finale, this time the RDA instead of sturmbeests, so it's a bit of foreshadowing as they fly, manoeuvre and use team work in the same way.

One scene which I was never happy with in the theatrical is when Jake and Neytiri first see that flying spinning lizard thing. In the theatrical it's just there with no emphasis on it- it's a wonderful little creation but it happens so fast in the theatrical that you don't have time to appreciate it and it seems that they just stick it in there for the sake of it. Now, in the Extended- we have a PROPER version where we see more of them and Jake and Neytiri play with them. Fantastic! It's like Cameron read my mind, it's exactly the scene i wanted improving, and it was perfect.

Jake and Neytiri's lovemaking was now perfect too. Showing them both doing the tsahaylu bond together was a nice touch and makes the scene make much more sense (before it looked like they were just dryhumping, now they are actually doing something). Makes the scene that much more intimate and gives more sense to when Neytiri says "we are mated for life".

The backlash towards the bulldozers where we see a shot of the burning machinery and the Na'vi shouting in triumph was a nice touch as well that leads onto the main battle, and gives the RDA a more personal reason to fight now. Having Wainbridge look at the casualties and report to Selfridge added more to this scenario as well.

Tsutey's death was hit and miss. I like how we get to see more of him as he first falls, and it's good to see that he gets a proper death (i remember asking what the hell happened to him when I first saw the movie in 09 and seeing a lot of people ask if he was still alive or not). But his death reeks of Boromir's last stand in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring "I will follow you my captain.." etc (and I really didn't need another scene like this after the uber-cliche "take... my...bow....protect the people...*dies*" scene with Etuykan and Neytiri earlier on). Still, a good and worthy send off for a good, under-apprecciated character. However, I was disappointed that we didn't see anything about Tsutey being shamed because his hair had been cut off (or something) like in the script. it would have been a nice detail to show the audience how important the hair is.

Other small scenes such as additional dialogue were well placed too. Augustine saying something like initiating the bulldozers as an excuse to go to war was again another stab at the Iraq oil/Afghanistan war scenario (along with Quaritch's "Fight Terror with Terror" line and the imagery of the tree being demolished being very similar to the Twin Towers crumbling), was nice added little touch there to further state this movie as being relevant to our times and a political statement/message that we all can relate to now (the main major point why this updating of this classic story works so well). Augustine talking to Jake about how he is losing weight and how she should stop smoking and such is also very good.

The only other thing which I was really looking forward to but didn't see is the shot of Neytiri pregnant at the end (i would have thought Cameron would have put this in here as it's in the script), but I guess he wants to do more with her before they have a child. But it would have been a nice little touch at the end.

Anyway, this movie is better now than it was before and the definitive version of it that improves on just about everything. I won't be watching the theatrical version any more. This Director's Cut is as significant, crucial and important as Cameron's Aliens Special Edition, T2 Extended Cut and The Abyss Directors Cut, hell it's as important as LOTR Extended Editions to me- deepening the story, characters, relationships for the better and making a better movie and experience. Top marks! THIS is the definitive version. I rated the theatrical a 10/10. Now, it's an 11/10 film.