A black-and-white photo of a person mid-air in a Superman-style body suspension pose, supported by multiple hooks in their back and legs, smiling joyfully toward the camera. They are suspended horizontally in a large indoor space with high ceilings and visible rigging. A group of onlookers—some seated, some standing—watch with expressions of admiration, amusement, and support. The atmosphere is lively and communal, capturing a moment of shared experience and transformation.

Avatar (The movie)

I recently wrote about how the Saddle Ranch Chop House abuses their “Anti Gang Tattoo” Policy to keep out heavily tattooed “gang members” like myself and my tattooer friends but the real reason that we were at City Walk was to see the newly released movie Avatar.

Now anyone who knows me knows that I’m not a huge movie buff. Most of the time the biggest response you’ll get from me is “it was okay.” which generally means just that. When asked about Avatar, I said I liked it which means a lot coming from me. One of the things I liked was the integration of mods into the characters. It was so seemless and natural that is it wasn’t for the fact that some characters had stretched lobes and some didn’t, I would have assumed it was just the way they were “born”.

The movie’s male lead is a “jar head” and has stereotypical tribal tattoos.  I couldn’t find anything better so I’m using the images from the movie’s website. He’s got a tribal half sleeve on one arm which you can see a smidge of and a tribal armband on the other arm.

screen-shot-2009-12-20-at-125942-am

I’d be interested to know if these are Sam Worthington’s real tattoos or if they were fakes used for the movie. Google was about as helpful as ever in directing me to celebrity tattoo sites that had the typical Angelina Jolie tattoos and not much else.  This stuff isn’t as interesting, click through to see some more shots from the movie.

screen-shot-2009-12-20-at-125922-am

Nothing like scantily clad tiger/cat people to make your night more enjoyable. The female lead in the movie, Neytiri, has what look like 1/2″ stretched lobes, as did several of the other planets indigenous population. Coupled in with natural “stripes”, which remind me of Katzen, they flowed extremely well. I know it’s only a movie and these are just characters but that’s one beautiful looking cat lady.

screen-shot-2009-12-20-at-125907-am

The last “modification” though not a consensual one, is a mod that we’ve featured here on Modblog many times. We’ve seen all sorts of facial scarification like this one done on bouncers, bounty hunters and other people who want to look like they’ve either been stabbed or attacked by bears. Either way, I think the makeup department did a great job on this one because it looked really realistic on screen.

All of that being said, I definitely would recommend the movie. We saw it in 3D but I think it would be exceptional without the added special effects.

If I had more time, I’d make an IMDB style database of all the mods in movies, just for fun.

**Images are courtesy and property of Fox. Visit their website for more information on the movie.

Comments

200 responses to “Avatar (The movie)”

  1. Gally Avatar
    Gally

    Neytiri only has one lobe stretched. I remember being aware of it and looking out to see if both her lobes were pierced.

    It was definitely a fantastic visual treat overall.

  2. Gally Avatar
    Gally

    Neytiri only has one lobe stretched. I remember being aware of it and looking out to see if both her lobes were pierced.

    It was definitely a fantastic visual treat overall.

  3. Gally Avatar
    Gally

    Neytiri only has one lobe stretched. I remember being aware of it and looking out to see if both her lobes were pierced.

    It was definitely a fantastic visual treat overall.

  4. Gally Avatar
    Gally

    Neytiri only has one lobe stretched. I remember being aware of it and looking out to see if both her lobes were pierced.

    It was definitely a fantastic visual treat overall.

  5. Gally Avatar
    Gally

    Neytiri only has one lobe stretched. I remember being aware of it and looking out to see if both her lobes were pierced.

    It was definitely a fantastic visual treat overall.

  6. fred Avatar
    fred

    Since when was ModBlog a movie review site??

  7. fred Avatar
    fred

    Since when was ModBlog a movie review site??

  8. fred Avatar
    fred

    Since when was ModBlog a movie review site??

  9. fred Avatar
    fred

    Since when was ModBlog a movie review site??

  10. fred Avatar
    fred

    Since when was ModBlog a movie review site??

  11. SeeeingRed Avatar

    When i saw an advertisement for that, i thought the characters looked like something from the body modification community. Interesting.

  12. SeeeingRed Avatar

    When i saw an advertisement for that, i thought the characters looked like something from the body modification community. Interesting.

  13. SeeeingRed Avatar

    When i saw an advertisement for that, i thought the characters looked like something from the body modification community. Interesting.

  14. SeeeingRed Avatar

    When i saw an advertisement for that, i thought the characters looked like something from the body modification community. Interesting.

  15. SeeeingRed Avatar

    When i saw an advertisement for that, i thought the characters looked like something from the body modification community. Interesting.

  16. brianna.throws.bricks Avatar

    i was pretty impressed with this movie
    I thought it was gonna suck

  17. brianna.throws.bricks Avatar

    i was pretty impressed with this movie
    I thought it was gonna suck

  18. brianna.throws.bricks Avatar

    i was pretty impressed with this movie
    I thought it was gonna suck

  19. brianna.throws.bricks Avatar

    i was pretty impressed with this movie
    I thought it was gonna suck

  20. brianna.throws.bricks Avatar

    i was pretty impressed with this movie
    I thought it was gonna suck

  21. brianna.throws.bricks Avatar

    i was pretty impressed with this movie
    I thought it was gonna suck

  22. brianna.throws.bricks Avatar

    i was pretty impressed with this movie
    I thought it was gonna suck

  23. brianna.throws.bricks Avatar

    i was pretty impressed with this movie
    I thought it was gonna suck

  24. brianna.throws.bricks Avatar

    i was pretty impressed with this movie
    I thought it was gonna suck

  25. brianna.throws.bricks Avatar

    i was pretty impressed with this movie
    I thought it was gonna suck

  26. Diva Avatar
    Diva

    Dayummm that alien thing has gauged ears!

  27. Diva Avatar
    Diva

    Dayummm that alien thing has gauged ears!

  28. Diva Avatar
    Diva

    Dayummm that alien thing has gauged ears!

  29. Diva Avatar
    Diva

    Dayummm that alien thing has gauged ears!

  30. Diva Avatar
    Diva

    Dayummm that alien thing has gauged ears!

  31. Rachel Avatar

    Fred: Try rereading the commentary. I was talking about the mods in the movie. The only review I said about the movie itself was that I like it. Plus I posted something short on Sunday. If you would prefer not to know about modification culture being used in regular media then skip the post.

  32. Rachel Avatar

    Fred: Try rereading the commentary. I was talking about the mods in the movie. The only review I said about the movie itself was that I like it. Plus I posted something short on Sunday. If you would prefer not to know about modification culture being used in regular media then skip the post.

  33. Rachel Avatar

    Fred: Try rereading the commentary. I was talking about the mods in the movie. The only review I said about the movie itself was that I like it. Plus I posted something short on Sunday. If you would prefer not to know about modification culture being used in regular media then skip the post.

  34. Rachel Avatar

    Fred: Try rereading the commentary. I was talking about the mods in the movie. The only review I said about the movie itself was that I like it. Plus I posted something short on Sunday. If you would prefer not to know about modification culture being used in regular media then skip the post.

  35. Rachel Avatar

    Fred: Try rereading the commentary. I was talking about the mods in the movie. The only review I said about the movie itself was that I like it. Plus I posted something short on Sunday. If you would prefer not to know about modification culture being used in regular media then skip the post.

  36. xjohnx Avatar

    just saw the movie and loved it.

  37. xjohnx Avatar

    just saw the movie and loved it.

  38. xjohnx Avatar

    just saw the movie and loved it.

  39. xjohnx Avatar

    just saw the movie and loved it.

  40. xjohnx Avatar

    just saw the movie and loved it.

  41. Jen Avatar

    Anyone that knows *me* knows I’m a huge movie buff! 😉 I just saw this tonight and I loved it! What a fabulously beautiful movie. I noticed the stretched ears immediately.

    And now I have 2 pairs of plastic 3D glasses for watching the couple of 3D Blu-Ray movies I own. So it was a win any way you look at it!

  42. Jen Avatar

    Anyone that knows *me* knows I’m a huge movie buff! 😉 I just saw this tonight and I loved it! What a fabulously beautiful movie. I noticed the stretched ears immediately.

    And now I have 2 pairs of plastic 3D glasses for watching the couple of 3D Blu-Ray movies I own. So it was a win any way you look at it!

  43. Jen Avatar

    Anyone that knows *me* knows I’m a huge movie buff! 😉 I just saw this tonight and I loved it! What a fabulously beautiful movie. I noticed the stretched ears immediately.

    And now I have 2 pairs of plastic 3D glasses for watching the couple of 3D Blu-Ray movies I own. So it was a win any way you look at it!

  44. Jen Avatar

    Anyone that knows *me* knows I’m a huge movie buff! 😉 I just saw this tonight and I loved it! What a fabulously beautiful movie. I noticed the stretched ears immediately.

    And now I have 2 pairs of plastic 3D glasses for watching the couple of 3D Blu-Ray movies I own. So it was a win any way you look at it!

  45. Jen Avatar

    Anyone that knows *me* knows I’m a huge movie buff! 😉 I just saw this tonight and I loved it! What a fabulously beautiful movie. I noticed the stretched ears immediately.

    And now I have 2 pairs of plastic 3D glasses for watching the couple of 3D Blu-Ray movies I own. So it was a win any way you look at it!

  46. Zephyr Avatar

    I dOn’t know if anyone saw the AMAZINGLY WIN nasallang one ov the other tribe’s leader’s was spOrting- my friends and I all lost our miinds~! :D\

    I alsO squee’d epically to see the main Na’vi girl (who’s name escapes me) with only one stretched ear- I recently had my ears surgically pOinted and had one lobe sewn up to try again (it was sO badly torn) so to see anOther pointy eared freakk with one stretched ear lobe made me massively happy 😀

  47. Zephyr Avatar

    I dOn’t know if anyone saw the AMAZINGLY WIN nasallang one ov the other tribe’s leader’s was spOrting- my friends and I all lost our miinds~! :D\

    I alsO squee’d epically to see the main Na’vi girl (who’s name escapes me) with only one stretched ear- I recently had my ears surgically pOinted and had one lobe sewn up to try again (it was sO badly torn) so to see anOther pointy eared freakk with one stretched ear lobe made me massively happy 😀

  48. Zephyr Avatar

    I dOn’t know if anyone saw the AMAZINGLY WIN nasallang one ov the other tribe’s leader’s was spOrting- my friends and I all lost our miinds~! :D\

    I alsO squee’d epically to see the main Na’vi girl (who’s name escapes me) with only one stretched ear- I recently had my ears surgically pOinted and had one lobe sewn up to try again (it was sO badly torn) so to see anOther pointy eared freakk with one stretched ear lobe made me massively happy 😀

  49. Zephyr Avatar

    I dOn’t know if anyone saw the AMAZINGLY WIN nasallang one ov the other tribe’s leader’s was spOrting- my friends and I all lost our miinds~! :D\

    I alsO squee’d epically to see the main Na’vi girl (who’s name escapes me) with only one stretched ear- I recently had my ears surgically pOinted and had one lobe sewn up to try again (it was sO badly torn) so to see anOther pointy eared freakk with one stretched ear lobe made me massively happy 😀

  50. Zephyr Avatar

    I dOn’t know if anyone saw the AMAZINGLY WIN nasallang one ov the other tribe’s leader’s was spOrting- my friends and I all lost our miinds~! :D\

    I alsO squee’d epically to see the main Na’vi girl (who’s name escapes me) with only one stretched ear- I recently had my ears surgically pOinted and had one lobe sewn up to try again (it was sO badly torn) so to see anOther pointy eared freakk with one stretched ear lobe made me massively happy 😀

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