“Avatar:” Sci-Fi Movie or Intergalactic Vacation?
James Cameron, the creator of cinematic classics such as “Aliens,” “The Terminator” and “Titanic” proves that he is still a master filmmaker with his newest film “Avatar.”
The special effects of this film make it more of an experience than an actual movie. The convergence of special effects with a veteran director has set a new standard in the movie viewing experience. From the moment the previews cease until the rolling of the credits, the audience is dropped into the wonders and dangers of the alien world known as Pandora.
This three hour galactic joyride employs a whole new gallery of visual effects like nothing audience members have ever seen before. The effects are the backbone of the movie and drive this interstellar experience. The 3-D far surpasses the archaic days of the 3D Robot v. Godzilla days; not only can this creation be viewed in the same manner we experience every day life, it is also being premiered at IMAX in all of its glory. Arrows, bullets and spears jump out of the screen while the depth perception and panoramic sound in scenes of dialogue deliver the perception that the audience is actually on the planet.
A wine connoisseur would say drinking the finest wine in a waxy paper cup rather than a crystal goblet is a sin because some of the flavor is lost; such is the same with watching “Avatar” in regular 2-D. “Avatar” is a delicacy of cinema that must be watched in 3-D to be fully savored and enjoyed. An extra $5 for the 3-D experience delivers a vacation to a place that audience members could have never imagined.
However, while the movie’s special effects may take audience members to uncharted frontiers, the plot is very familiar ground.
At the beginning of the story, the audience meets Jake Sully (Sam Worthington), a paraplegic Marine who travels to the alien world Pandora in order to carry out his murdered brother’s researchcontract, a special program where humans drive physiologically-controlled Na’vi bodies called Avatars.
Pandora is a tropical planet filled with untold dangers and peril like toxic atmospheres and deadly beasts. Within this world lives a group of very tall, very thin, blue-skinned aboriginal-like natives called the Na’vi.
The company Jake works for is scouring the planet for a precious metal called unobtainium (go figure, since 1957 aerospace engineers have actually used this term to name material which would be perfect in every way except for the small fact that it doesn’t yet exist). Unobtainium is the only reason the company is on this planet, yet the substance is never fully explained ---don’t ask what unobtainium is, don’t ask what it’s used for; they won’t tell you, and it sells for twenty million dollars a kilo for some unexplained reason.
Through this Avatar project, Jake is able to explore the jungle and in doing so meets Neytiri (Zoe while the audience takes part in a crash course of “how to be Na’vi 101” which consists of hunting animals with bows and arrows and taming dragons. These are breath-taking scenes courtesy of the outstanding special and visual effects, but the actual content employed in these scenes can be found in any western movie where the white man lives amongst the Indians.
Through this “Na’vi manhood training” experience, Jakes grows very close to the Na’vi, especially Neytiri, to the point where Jake is torn between his bond with the Na’vi and his allegiance to his own race. This is very dangerous because after Jake is accepted to the Na’vi clan as an equal, the company starts bulldozing the Na’vi land in order to reach the precious unobtainium that lies beneath.
“Avatar” employs several highly controversial themes that are sure to spark feverish debate. The aliens on Pandora are blue but the message of the movie is very, very green.
This movie is highly charged on the liberal side of the political spectrum chastising almost everything America is engaged in from careless manipulation of the environment to the use of military force. In a scene where futuristic helicopters and combat robots slaughter scores of Na’vi, viewers may get a very strong anti-military vibe. Unfortunately, “Avatar” is assembled in such a way that the actual message of the movie and the context in which the messages are told may contradict.
Audience members looking for finer details in the story are sure to encounter a massive black hole. Details such as what unobtainium is (and why the Americans want it) or what made Jake a paraplegic are non-existent in this story.
These lack of details don’t really harm the actual plot, but they do impede the development of certain characters.
No other character suffers more from this than Colonel Miles Quaritch (Stephen Lang), the leader of the company’s military force on Pandora. Instead of being developed into a complex character whom the audience may side with, Quaritch is portrayed as a blood-thirsty inhuman murderer whose only interest is the destruction of the Na’vi. Had Quaritch been developed more, the whole story would benefit. Suppose for example this Colonel was only on the planet in order to raise enough money so his wife or daughter could have an expensive life-saving procedure? Nah, the bad guy has to be despicable, ruthless and hideously ugly like every other movie.
All said, “Avatar” still is not only one of the greatest movies of the last 12 months, but also will probably go down in cinematic history at least for the next decade as the first of several spectacular adventures that redefine moviemaking. As an entertainment experience, no other movie rivals it. As a story, “Avatar” is ridiculously unoriginal because everything from miniscule plot devices to the actual plot itself is borrowed from so many well known movies. Mr. Cameron, if you do choose to do an “Avatar 2,” keep the experience but terminate the clichés. ★★★★
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