Ryan McNeil
A funny thing happened as Leona Lewis started singing at the end of AVATAR. I set my 3-D glasses up on the brim of my hat, allowed my eyes to adjust themselves and took a deep breath after spending nearly three hours on Pandora. I felt amazed, enthralled, and even a little moved. And then it dawned on me…most of what I was just feeling was in reaction to a cluster of CGI characters! This doesn’t happen to me – I don’t easily get emotionally invested in a being created on an iMac. Actually that’s a lie – Jar Jar Binks did annoy and nauseate me, but I’m talking about positive emotional investment.
In that respect I gotta hand it to James Cameron – he sure has created something unique if a bunch of blue cartoons can move their audience the way AVATAR does.
The year is 2154. Man is scouring the galaxy for a mineral called unobatanium – the stuff is wicked-powerful and worth a fortune. The good news is, man has discovered the motherlode. The bad news is, it’s in the hostile natural environment of a planet named Pandora. The worse news is, that it’s directly under the native settlement of the Na’vi – a humanoid species standing nine feet tall with big cat-like eyes and long tails. Oh yeah, and they’re bright blue.
Our protagonist dropped into the middle of this problem is Jake Sully (Sam Worthington). Jake is an American Marine paralyzed from the waist down. His twin brother had done a lot of work on a project to infiltrate and observe the Na’vi using an Avatar program. The idea is to uplink one’s brain and nervous system into a cloned Na’vi body. He is reluctant but agrees. The project leader Grace Augustine (Sigourney Weaver) is reluctant and unconvinced. According to her, it takes a lot more than just a matching set of DNA.
During an early assignment, Jake is separated from the other Avatars and stumbles his way towards the Na’vi settlement. It’s here that he first encounters Neytiri (Zoe Saldana). After sparing his life, she comes face to face with Jake. She knows he is not part of her tribe, but is unsure about where exactly he comes from. When he is presented to her tribe, it is decided that he will be trained in their culture. Thus an insider for the unobatium mission has been chosen.
As Jake learns the ways of the Na’vi, his superiors keep a close eye on him. Grace is excited and encouraging about his level of research. However, people like Col. Quaritch (STephen Lang) and Parker Selfridge (Giovanni Ribisi) are antsy. They are quick to remind Jake why he is there, and seem ready to move in and get the payload they so desperately want – with Jake’s help or without it.
Quite honestly, expressing my feelings on AVATAR seems to be a bit tricky. Let me start with the obvious – I loved it. There are few films made these days that must be seen in a theatre – I mean really, how much is it worth to watch a Michael Bay Pyrotechnic Extravaganza?? AVATAR is one of the few. It’s said that the film was in development for fifteen years. If that is true, then every day of that stretch was time well spent.
Not only is the animation stunning, but the rendering of the whole film in 3-D seems like it takes the medium to a whole new level. The 3-D in this film is not used to achieve cheap stunts and trickery. Instead, it is used to give the run through this jungle a density it wouldn’t otherwise achieve. It has been said by some that the watching this film in 3-D is headache inducing. I for one can tell you that I got through all 161 minutes of this flick, and my head feels fine.
What makes this movie work is how it submerges the audience into Pandora. From the sight of banshee filling the sky to the sounds of insects zipping past your head – every sensory moment of this film has been designed to draw you into this story and not let your mind wander. It’s rare these days that the theatrical experience of a movie goes to such lengths, and a moment you can’t fully appreciate until you’re neck deep in it. However as we all know by now, visual style will only get you so far – it’s all for not if the story sucks.
While the story isn’t perfect, it is indeed well mapped out and engaging. I was surprised at just how moved I was during some of the film’s most dramatic moments, especially since my heart was being moved by a bunch of blue CG beings in their lush CG environment. What James Cameron has done, is create an entire alien race and culture and given them a mythology all their own without going overboard and losing the audience-at-large. Essentially, he has done what George Lucas always wanted to do, but never could…on his best day…with an entire team of monkeys on typewriters backing him up.
Building on the mysticism of Pandora and the Na’vi, Cameron uses a traditional story of forbidden love to draw us into his greater themes. The film has a strong undercurrent of environmentalism, especially in the way The Na’vi are at one with their surroundings. It also has a lot to say about the nature of imperialism. Specifically, that every superpower looking to invade a solemn region to take what they want face drastic unforeseen dangers. Gotta hand it to the guy – that’s some pretty good subtext to work into a flick about tall, dragon-riding, archery-lovin’ smurfs!
While I am still blown away by this movie and giving it top marks, don’t for a moment let me lead you to believe the film is flawless. A big aspect of the love story is deeply predictable, however it’s not the film’s worst offence. No, the film’s worst offence is a particular showdown, and the manner in which the villain in said showdown seems terminator-like for no apparent reason (Give him your best shot – he’ll take it and just keep coming). It’s an unfortunate plot point, since it lessens the impact of a truly unique film. Slightly.
Essentially, AVATAR feels like a James Cameron Greatest Hits compilation. Take the effects of THE ABYSS, the action of ALIENS, the gunfights of T2 and the forbidden love of TITANIC. Cameron has taken his best tracks from those efforts and compiled them into one imaginative playlist. It’s one carefully crafted playlist, and one with a song for everybody. It’s a rare film that employs every trick imaginable, and a film that will stay with you long after those CGI characters have disappeared from the screen.
I think I'll be seeing this Wednesday for my Sister's Birthday (no guarantees though) – it's hard to judge these sort of things. If we don't see it I'll be a bit grumpy. Though of course I've only read a handful of negative reviews, and of that handful I found quite a few to be poorly written (trying to retain pre-release disdain with post-release fascination).
Great review though, can't wait to see it!
I enjoyed this as well, though not as much as you did. You are right about it being a greatest hits of Cameron's work. I'll probably get around to posting my thoughts in the next few days.
Totally agree, man. I was surprised at how much I liked this movie. Gotta love the suped-up Power Loaders from Aliens. So badass.
I'm so glad to hear you enjoyed it as much as I did. It's been days and the experience is still with me. I'm completely submerged in the world of Pandora. I just want to go back. Avatar was the kind of movie you see to remind you why you love movies in the first place. Not why you critique them or write about them, but what makes you love them for all they are and all they aren't. James Cameron is a God in the film world and this WAS a masterpiece to me.
As incredible as the CGI and effects were, I'd watch the damn thing in black and white.
Univarn, make the time to see it in the theatre. 3D if you can. It will still be great otherwise, but to have the "experience", see it in 3D.
@ Univarn… Hopefully it's the movie of choice for sis' big day (good work with her on the podcast btw). I second Heather's point – see it in 3-D if you can.
@ CS… Good to know you dug it – can't wait to read your post!
@ Aiden… Yeah, I loved that the power loaders were back. I was wondering if anyone else in the audience got that.
@ Heather… Black and white might be interesting, but I think I'd miss those lush shades of blue, green and purple. But you're spot-on when you say that this is the sort of movie that reminds you why you go to movies.
Having already written my own review and commented on half a dozen other peoples (including Heather’s). My view was, it is a good film but it is a long way short of being a great film. Most of the things that make it great are the visuals and the effects and that is why the film isn’t great. When seen on TV and when the effects are no longer state of the art It will lose a lot of its appeal and be just another movie.
Found the film visually aressting but overall it was quite a letdown esp since the narrative was cliche as hell.
What a lovely review- I haven't seen this yet but I'm certainly looking forward to it now!
@ Fandango… "Great" is subjective isn't it? As far as the Class of 2009 goes, it's one of the greats. As far as the overall collective of movie history goes, it's certainly "very good"…but time will have to be the judge where greatness is concerned.
What I do think is great about it, is it's another example that Hollywood can make a good sci-fi action flick without having to insult its audience.
@ Jean… Yeah I know – you left that exact same comment on at least three other blogs I read. Thanks for the original insight. Twerp.
@ Alex… Thanks, glad you dig! Can't wait to read what you think after you've seen it.
nice Esperanto comment…
nice review Hats, i have to say ive enjoyed all you guys' reviews – good and bad – of this movie.
it doesnt look like my type of thing (John Candy isnt in it, for one) but ill go see it. i like Heather's comment about it staying with her days later… its great when a movie does that.
good greatest hits ananology Hatter
Very true great is subjective. For me the film isn’t great in the “class of 2009” for others it is great now and will be great in twenty years despite my assertions that it won’t age well.
It is a strange phenomenon that I appear to bashing a film that I actually quite like because so many people seem to have joined the love it or hate it groups.
I won't let the devil's advocate bloggers who are envious at the reactions of the professional critics who have embraced this film is a massively big way (New York Online Critics Association Best Film, London Film Critics Association nod for Best Picture, the effusive praise from the New York Times's classy critic Manola Dargis, and many other normally hard to please scribes who rarely embrace populist cinema to this extent.
But what does this all mean? Am I suggesting that YOU, Mad Hatter, of Batman fame should allow yourself to be captured by the Caped Crusader and programmed to conform with the big shots? Hardly. Besides, you state here that you love the film and have mounted quite an impressive defense.
I include here a clip from my own piece that summarizes my own position:
"Such is this seamless immersion of what is real and what is not to create an illuminative world of arresting images, swirling, incandescent colors and an awe-inspiring beauty that elevates one’s consciousness to a state of spirituality rarely aspired to, much less achieved in any film. There is an arresting naturalism that almost leaps off the screen which is populated by sumptuous images of day-glo vegetation and the exotic creatures controlled by the Na’Vi. The lengthy stretches of the movie that are sensory and wordless are as rapturous (very much in tone poem mode) as anything every seen on the screen, and this kind of visual cinema, where narrative is more of a hinderance than a benefit, is Avatar’s most extraordinary quality and it’s true selling point. It’s true that Cameron keeps insisting that the film needs to tie together plot strands, but this was unecessary, if not particularly harmful. In this sense, it’s to be noted here that some critics have taken issue with the pedestrian nature of a dialogue, a point I reject in the name of cinematic purity. Avatar is neither a satiric comedy nor a trenchant stage drama. Characters and words tell the story, but they are pawns to purvey cinematic expression. Those who are awed by and feel the film’s magic won’t feel the simplistic dialogue which seems to combine New Age expression and macho agression, is either abnormal or detrimental. That said, it’s abundantly clear that Cameron’s storytelling prowess widely trumps his talents as a writer of prose.
But it all comes down to the wonderment and astounding visual tapestries, accentuated by the metamorphosis of a character who sees the inherent beauty in a culture ravaged by war, internal strife and foreign invasion. This creates in the viewer an emotion so powerful that it defies description. It’s almost like you found some clues to the meaning of life. But short of those lofty aspersions, the film raises questions of mortality and existence (much in the style of Darren Aronofsky’s The Fountain- a giant willow tree holding the meaning of life for all living things echoes the Tree of Life in Aronofsky’s film) and with a ruminative flow that recalls Terrence Malick) that turn a futuristic planetary action thriller into a far more profound philosophical experience. The blend of mysticism and environmentalism evident in Avatar also suggests Japanese filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki, whose influence might also be discerned in the scenes of awe and wonderment set in the centerpiece forest sequences."
In any case, I am excited more than I've been in a long time, and who would hav ethought that James cameron would be the catalyst? Ha!
How's it going my friend?
Whew. So I finally saw it. It was good. Dangerously close to perfection…dangerously. The review is good and I agree with your points, generally.
Truly enjoyed reading your review, Hatter, and NOT because you like mine first, he..he..
Yeah, the 3D glasses didn't bother me at all considering the long running time of the movie. It sucked you in so much that it's almost pure escapism. I was also surprisingly moved by the story, because like you said, visuals can draw you in only so far. I agree that this movie isn't perfect, but then again what is? Despite its flaws, Avatar is a spectacular cinematic feat.
@ Ross… Heather's right. the more hours and days pass, the more I'm liking about it. Pity that it ain't your thing.
@ Fandango… Yeah, it's hard for people to feel in the middle on this, though Lady Hatter seems to be trying. I think that the "love/hate" vibe is growing because those who love it really love it, and thus to drown them out, people have to come down harder on it and seem like haters.
@ Sam… Wow! I do believe that's the longest and deepest comment I've ever seen posted in this space. Mind if I email ya about it?
@ Andrew… Glad to hear you dug it! Can't wait to read your thoughts on it. And thanks for the well wishes.
@ RTM… Glad you were comfy while watching this bad boy in 3-D. Having spoken to one or two people with glasses, they were appreciative for the oversized IMAX goggles….not those recyclable plastic glasses they hand out at most screenings.
I can't believe this is turning into a love or hate film. It seems to have something for almost everyone. And it's do damned easy on the eyes.
Sure Hatter, my e mail address is: TheFountain26@aol.com
@ Andrew… Look at what I said to Heather a comment or two above. It seems as though that's becoming more true every day.
@ Sam… Thanks for the email conversation!
I eventually got to go and see Avatar today and have to say your review is great. Totally picks up on some of the ways the film got to me too. It really was brilliant and did not really seem that long.
It's so nice to find positive reviews of a movie that people now seem to be hating just for the sake of it.
Avatar didn't necessarily blow me away but I did really enjoy it and I will watch it again. The fact that I know it would be just as engaging in 2D show's that it's not just the fancy effects that sell. Cameron has achieved the impossible in getting you to believe in creatures which are entirely computer generated, and to never look for the join while you watch.
@ Katie… AVATAR backlash is the trendy thing right now. In two years time, all the haters will give it another look on DVD and think to themselves "Shit, maybe it's not that bad!"
Thanks for being one of the few who still dig it. makes me feel less alone.