Avatar (2009) is yet another movie in the vein of Star Wars: The Return of the Jedi (1983), The Last of the Mohicans (1992) and Apocalyto (2006) about the “fact” that white people are technology-driven gold-diggers and indigenous communities are pure-spirited naturelovers.
I think we all get it already so I’ll spare you a lengthy analysis of how this is a parable for numerous such stories from history, including that of the Native American struggle, or even the current situation in the Middle East. Therefore, it would be a good idea to forget that paper-thin premise and just focus on the glorious visuals, where the movie quite literally shines. But first allow me to rant a bit more.
I intentionally read nothing about the film going in, so all I knew was that it is set in an unspecified future and that I get a nifty pair of 3D glasses (read: computer-generated special effects galore). My ignorance was not a problem though, because I could immediately hear (and see) the story cogs creak into motion as I was told in glorious voiceover (yuck) some cockamamie backstory so generic I had already forgotten it by the five-minute mark.
“I want to live on Pandora!” sobs Nadia for half an hour after the movie.
Jake Sully (Sam Worthington), a young Matt Damon-type marine in a wheelchair, somehow joins a military megaproject to mine unobtanium (no joke), a valuable substance concentrated under a patch of land on the moon Pandora. The only way to do that is to uproot a large alien community, ideally by convincing them to leave, or by using force “if necessary.” Nadia tells me James Cameron spent the last five years working on this film, but beyond this premise I doubt he spent one month on character development. Good thing the movie was in 3D, otherwise I would have grown tired of the two-dimensional characters well before the juicy battle sequences began.
The military sends an undercover team of recruits to mingle with the natives, vicious-looking but ultimately lovable Smurfoids with long sinewy limbs. To help them fit in, the recruits are put in tanning beds on steroids, where they hibernate and “dream” through alter-egos, or “avatars,” that take on the form of the natives, in a manner somewhat reminiscent of La Jetée (1962), which I should mention is still one of my top five sci-fi movies of all time.
Upon landing on Pandora, hero Jake’s avatar gets into a scuffle with the local wildlife and is separated from the rest of his team. He is saved, in typical movie “meet cute” style, by Smurfette (a nuanced performance by Zoe Saldana and one of the few intriguing characters in the movie). Eventually, he is accepted by the natives as one of their own and sympathizes with their plight, but not before handing his superiors all the necessary intel to bomb the hell out of the natives.
This megabattle takes up the last third of the three-hour opus, yet I was pleasantly surprised to find myself entertained even after having sat through endless scenes of Jake and Co. taming a series of wild beasts then flying them all over the place. The visuals are extremely detailed, very rich in texture and color, and beautifully rendered. For once we have computer-generated characters that don’t talk and walk like they’re herniated, and battles that are not just a mish-mash of explosions, but rather well-choreographed sequences during which I was able to follow the actions and emotions of all the main characters.
Besides a mild headache, which I assume was brought upon by the 3D, what I felt by the end is both fascination that I could actually sympathize with a bunch of blue computer graphics and frustration that I did not get the chance to learn more about their community aside from the fact that they enjoy slipping into mass trances as their spiritual leader chants to some tree-god.
Corinne gave the movie a 10/10, arguing that it’s OK for story and character to take a back seat to such entertaining visuals. To that I say fair enough, despite recognizing elements from countless other sci-fi movies like Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978) and RoboCop (1987). However, considering the fact that I donated almost three hours of my life to the movie (and I’m 33, so every second counts), I wish Avatar had one less flying-beast sequence. Instead I might have enjoyed a couple of more intimate character-driven scenes, say of Papa Smurfoid cooking lunch with his daughter and maybe Mama Smurfoid telling her about the birds and the bees, or their Pandora equivalent.
Rating 6/10
Directed by James Cameron • Starring Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Sigourney Weaver, Stephen Lang, Joel Moore, Giovanni Ribisi and Michelle Rodriguez
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It would have been much cooler with a few more intimate character-driven scenes as you pointed out. I've always been into RPG's like Advanced Dungeons and Dragons (AD&D) and I liked your one example of Papa Smurfoid cooking lunch with his daughter... possibly something glowingly yummylicious or horrorlicious :D
It would have been much cooler with a few more intimate character-driven scenes as you pointed out. I've always been into RPG's like Advanced Dungeons and Dragons (AD&D) and I liked your one example of Papa Smurfoid cooking lunch with his daughter... possibly something glowingly yummylicious or horrorlicious :D
I definitely agree, wanna live in the pure world, Pandora. Human is sometimes stupid, and they opened the Box of Pandora....And it happened very sad and poor things....The movie made me very pure! I try to protect nature hardly!
I definitely agree, wanna live in the pure world, Pandora. Human is sometimes stupid, and they opened the Box of Pandora....And it happened very sad and poor things....The movie made me very pure! I try to protect nature hardly!