Rating: 
Summary: Is reality the game or life?
Review: "Avalon" is a science fiction film, which are not too common for Polish films. "Avalon" takes place in a slightly depressing, near-future world. The film is full of symbolism, and not surprisingly Arthurian legend references. The film itself is very artistic and philosophical. I think I understood the meaning of "Avalon," but there was much that left me wondering.
Avalon is a virtual reality war game that is illegal, but a source of entertainment and even income for its players. Ash is a young woman who plays the leading role in this film. She is one of the best players of Avalon there is, and she aims to reach its highest levels. Nevertheless, what she finds surprises her. At this point, the film makes us wonder on the nature of reality. However, I thought the ending was vague and leaves one without resolution.
The director, Mamoru Oshii, is Japanese and the special effects are Japanese, but because the film is spoken in Polish and has Polish actors, I think of it as a Polish film. "Avalon" (2000) is 107 minutes long. This DVD can be watched in Polish with English subtitles, in English, or in French. "Avalon" is definitely an usual film compared to both Polish and American films.
Rating:
Summary: a really stunning film!
Review: after seeing the trailer for this film a couple years ago, i searched all over the web to track down a japanese copy of the dvd, and it was worth the search!the film is visually quite beautiful, and the fact that it was created by a japanese director with polish actors and bits of english thrown in here and there in the futuristic (?) environment makes it all the more fascinating. i never realized how beautiful the polish language is until i saw this film. highly recommended!
Rating:
Summary: A must-see for anyone
Review: Avalon, directed by Mamoru Oshii, who also directed Ghost in the Shell . . . Really beautifully done and thought provoking . . . Combined with special effects worthy of The Matrix, and boasting a great storyline that The Matrix never truly delivered. The choice of colors reminds me of both Schindler's List and .Hack//SIGN. The music score is both haunting and beautiful .If there is an antithesis to the Hollywood film industry, an antithesis that is everything a Hollywood film is often not, then this is it . . . The new dub is quite good, though perhaps missing some of the subtleties of the original.
Rating: 
Summary: Cyberpunk classic. Haunting and Powerful, but not fast-paced
Review: Avalon, not to be confused with a couple of unrelated though very good films with the same name, is a deeply haunting and powerful film, set in urban Poland, and directed by anime legend, director Mamoru Oshii. This is a landmark achievement in film-making, but admittedly its story and message are dated. Warning, the unitiated viewer should remember that this film, just like Blade Runner was created years before the Internet and all its tangent technological innovations and social influences became so ubiquitous.
Avalon the film is about life centered around Avalon, a virtual reality combat game. The game parallels the MUDs and MMORPGs we know today. Sadly, one darker aspect of Avalon (addiction and the possibility of ending up comatose) reflects unfortunate realities some have faced playing MMORPGs. The central character in Avalon is Ashe, a female player of the game. Ashe is a legend in her own right, a warrior-class player and member of a legendary but fallen team, Team Wizard. She now plays Avalon Solo. After a chance encounter with a former teammate that leads to her discovery that their former team captain and friend had been "lost" while trying to reach the end of the game, Ashe becomes focused on reaching the game's highest (and most personally dangerous) levels.
Avalon is a slow paced film. Do not expect fast-paced action from start to finish. I would say that this film is even slower than the The Matrix sequals and Blade Runner. Unless you truly love cinema and are not adverse to anything other than action flicks, you will likely find this movie boring. What may stand out to viewers is the apparent connection between this film, The Matrix, and Bladerunner. The latter film influenced Avalon just as it did every feature film within the Cyperpunk subgenre. This isn't surprising. What is notable is that Avalon was the basis for The Matrix. Fans of this film will easily spot where Matrix borrowed some of its concepts and special effects.
The CG work is done in a style that intentionally depicts a virtual world where things are only semi-realistic contrasting a real world that is lifeless. This is important to note as the CG used in the film might lead some viewers to erroneously compare this movie by today's CG standards. The urban Eastern European settings is perfect at depicting a miserable real-world existence, making it easy to understand why people flock in droves to the Avalon game.
Oshii, a master of anime, uses his anime roots to emphasize emotion and reveal some of Avalon's backstory through subtle details. For example, posters in the fashion of anti-drug ads line walls calling for people to stop playing Avalon. The most apparent detail will be use of color in this film. Without giving too much of the story away, the film has a constant muted half-tone color wash. Miramax's DVD release adds a heavier shade of orange over the original. This may be comfortable for some viewers. I didn't feel any eye strain myself watching this movie in the dark though. My only complaint about this movie is that, occasionally, scenes go on without advancing the plot, a typical complaint I have of Oshii's work in anime.
The extras on this DVD are worthwhile. There is a documentary discussing the story and special effects used. The picture is presented in Widescreen 1.85 format, enhanced for widescreen TVs. The audio is presented in Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround in the original Polish, English, and French tracks.
Rating:
Summary: A life worth living...
Review: Everyone who insists on comparing any new science fiction only to the Matrix series will lose out on the meaning and value writers other than the Wachowskies have to offer. Avalon is a completely different take on a similar theme, anomie. It has less to do with artificial intelligence and more to do with the dreams and hopes of youth. How detached the youth of today feel from the modern world and the false ethics of the ruling class is a subtle undertone in this exploration of what is "real" and what control we have over our own lives. "Why does our hero only feel alive when she is in Avalon?" is the question we are asking ourselves when we are viewing this thoughtful film. Why do we only feel alive when we vicariously experience the seductive lives of our science fiction heroes...
Rating: 
Summary: Not the Original Directors Vision!
Review: Here we go again. MIRAMAX basterdizes another movie. MIRAMAX tends to buy the rights to these great movies & then changes them. I've seen the original AVALON so I can comment on what's been changed. First, the original washed out color of the film is replaced with an deep orange. This really ruins some of the original scenes.At least some colors in the original movie came out. MIRAMAX has ruined the directors vision. If you have this DVD see the extras on the cinamatography & SFX. At least there you'll see the original color that was intended by director Mamoru Oshii.The 2nd thing that's been added is the additoinal dialogue. The main chracter explains the game after her 1st victory. This has been added by MIRAMAX. And lastly at the end or character explains it all or tries to.All this was added to the movie. The directors intention is to make you guess & ponder this wonderful story. But MIRAMAX has decided for you. About the only thing I'll give them credit is the great English dub. I also enjoyed the extras. I have to give this 3 stars. If you can write a protest letter to MIRAMAX. It's so sad how a american Distributor can tamper & ruin a directors vision. I'd recommend getting a foreign version of this movie if you can.
Rating:
Summary: Not the Original Directors Vision!
Review: Here we go again. MIRAMAX basterdizes another movie. MIRAMAX tends to buy the rights to these great movies & then changes them. I've seen the original AVALON so I can comment on what's been changed. First, the original washed out color of the film is replaced with an deep orange. This really ruins some of the original scenes.At least some colors in the original movie came out. MIRAMAX has ruined the directors vision. If you have this DVD see the extras on the cinamatography & SFX. At least there you'll see the original color that was intended by director Mamoru Oshii.The 2nd thing that's been added is the additoinal dialogue. The main chracter explains the game after her 1st victory. This has been added by MIRAMAX. And lastly at the end or character explains it all or tries to.All this was added to the movie. The directors intention is to make you guess & ponder this wonderful story. But MIRAMAX has decided for you. About the only thing I'll give them credit is the great English dub. I also enjoyed the extras. I have to give this 3 stars. If you can write a protest letter to MIRAMAX. It's so sad how a american Distributor can tamper & ruin a directors vision. I'd recommend getting a foreign version of this movie if you can.
Rating:
Summary: Please do not accuse without research!
Review: I am shocked to see the review which says that Oshiisan has copied the concept of Avalon from Matrix .The whole concept of plugging in, right down to the plug points on the neck of the characters, has been ripped off in Matrix from Oshiisans Ghost in the shell,he does not have to steal what is his,second please, Trinity is a human clone of major Kusanagi of Ghost right down to the way she fights, and the lobby shootout is clearly inspired by the
shootout in the last shootout in Ghost "bits of concrete flying everywhere" etc, and even the poses when characters land after making a leap are copied from ghost "on one knee".Avalon is for people who like Japanese Anime which over the years has inspired the likes of Matrix.And this is something the Wachowski's themselves admit.And a good movie can be in any language for one to appreciate ,I couldnt care if it was russian or polish.I think
people should refrain from tearing down something which they dont know much about.
Rating:
Summary: Please do not accuse without research!
Review: I am shocked to see the review which says that Oshiisan has copied the concept of Avalon from Matrix .The whole concept of plugging in, right down to the plug points on the neck of the characters, has been ripped off in Matrix from Oshiisans Ghost in the shell,he does not have to steal what is his,second please, Trinity is a human clone of major Kusanagi of Ghost right down to the way she fights, and the lobby shootout is clearly inspired by the
shootout in the last shootout in Ghost "bits of concrete flying everywhere" etc, and even the poses when characters land after making a leap are copied from ghost "on one knee".Avalon is for people who like Japanese Anime which over the years has inspired the likes of Matrix.And this is something the Wachowski's themselves admit.And a good movie can be in any language for one to appreciate ,I couldnt care if it was russian or polish.I think
people should refrain from tearing down something which they dont know much about.
Rating:
Summary: An Interesting Film Worth Seeing
Review: I am writing this only to help counteract some of the idiocy in other reviews. This movie is not for everyone: no movie is. It is a beautifully shot, wonderfully sculpted, slow-paced, and thought-provoking movie. It does not hand the answers to you on a plate, and that may bother some people, particularly those lazy viewers who rely on Hollywood films to tell them what to think with no room for imagination.
It is not a rip-off of The Matrix. If anything, it's derivative of Oshii's earlier films and thought, which heavily influenced The Matrix. I also loved Ghost in the Shell for many of the same reasons that I liked Avalon. It has some of the pacing of Taste of Cherry. It allows a person to settle in, relax, and absorb all of the deliciousness of the style of the movie and to get inside Ash, the heroine.
The special features are worth seeing. The director is very clear in his interview what his thoughts and intent are in the film. This film is a piece of art, and as such it allows each person to take from it what they want. I can understand people not liking it, but it cannot be denied that this film was done with care and passion and expresses the vision of an interesting person.
There are so many movies out there that are merely eye candy, like the recent Star Wars films, that are so bad otherwise. And so many movies that rely on violence or special effects and are wholly unoriginal but satisfy the kind of viewer who laments how his girlfriend fell asleep and who calls the director, "pretentious." There are few people in the world with the creativity, passion, and artistic sense of this director.
Avalon is not the greatest movie ever made, or even in the top 100, but it is far better than most of the dreck released each week, and it is a movie that makes you think and stays with you. It is worth seeing by anyone who enjoys something a little different and has the patience and courage to use their own brain and not have a movie that's spoon-fed to them.
And then there's the wonderful basset hound.
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