REVIEW: ‘Avatar’

Posted On: Wednesday, December 23rd, 2009 | Posted By: Alex Carlson

Grade: A-

After seeing James Cameron’s newest sci-fi adventure film Avatar over the weekend, I did my normal critic thing and started outlining my review. I noticed that I was pointing out all of these flaws in the film that made me look like I didn’t enjoy it. I had to erase everything that I had put down because honestly, while sitting in the theatre experiencing Avatar – I had a hell of a lot of fun.

James Cameron is often called the master of the blockbuster and with this film I understand exactly why. I found myself completely immersed in the world of Pandora and not wanting to leave. It was a visceral experience like you rarely get at the movies and the visual effects often literally took my breath away. This is the type of big budget movie that Americans deserve and I’m beginning to think that James Cameron is the only one who has the heart to deliver it.

The film is far from a perfect movie. The narrative is one of those recycled plots that Hollywood has gotten so used to. I found myself comparing the story to at least several other films (including this one) and thematically Avatar was nothing new. The dialogue was often times poorly written, certain plot points were left unexplained, and several characters seemed underdeveloped. However, this is one of those rare blockbusters where you forgive the flaws because it has so much heart.

For instance, Jurassic Park has some of the most cheesy, nonsensical dialogue ever, but you overlook it because the film is so breathtaking. Similarly, in Lord of the Rings certain emotional moments feel a bit “soap opera,” but you still get caught up in the moments because the film is so focused in its intentions. In both of those cases you forgive the film’s minor flaws because they have such power to them. And yes, I’m saying that Avatar will be held on the same level as Jurassic Park and Lord of the Rings someday.

Right from the start, Avatar commands your admiration as the film opens on a beautifully choreographed scene of workers in a zero gravity environment floating around doing their work. It is here we meet our protagonist – Jake Sully (Sam Worthington), a former Marine who is now a paraplegic. Jake is thirsty for adventure and he takes on the task of filling in for his recently deceased brother on the Avatar project, where humans plug themselves into large, blue humanoid bodies that exist on the planet Pandora.

On the planet of Pandora exists a substance called unobtanium, which is incredibly valuable – like diamonds or gold is today – and the military is there to get it. The problem is the Na’Vi people have their home right on the planet’s largest deposit. Jake is sent in to live among the Na’Vi people, learn their ways and eventually convince them to relocate so the Americans can get at the unobtanium peacefully. Jake is also there for research purposes lead by scientist Dr. Grace Augistine (Sigourney Weaver).

The Na’Vi people are an idealized and very unrealistic society. They are highly spiritual and seem to exist in a society with no war and hardly any violence. The people are so good that they even apologize to animals that they kill for food. I find their world comparable to what Environmentalists think the world would be like if there weren’t any Republicans around. The Na’Vi who most quickly takes to Jake is Neytiri, the rebellious daughter of the village chief. A relationship develops and Jake is eventually forced to choose between his own race and his heart.

James Cameron seems to be one of the only big-budget directors who can pull off a love scene in an action movie with taste. Jake and Neytiri’s love is never cheap and totally believable.

The personification of the villain in the film is a hardened American military man named Colonel Miles Quaritich, played brilliantly by Stephen Lang. However, there is a more abstract villain that exists in the film and that is the military-industrial complex. The motivations of almost all of the non-scientific human characters are detestable and they are willing to get the unobtanium at whatever cost to indigenous life. The concluding battle scene is a huge technology versus nature romp in which Cameron shows his belief and respect for the spiritual world.

It’s hard to talk about performances in a film like this where it’s unknown how much of a performance actually belonged to an actor. The type of digital capture technology that Cameron implemented caught the real emotions that the actors were portraying, but he could have easily tweaked things in editing to change the way they acted and reacted. It was great seeing Sigourney Weaver’s return to action films and Sam Worthington was perfect for the soon-to-be iconic lead role.

Bottom Line: Open your mind and see Avatar. It will not be a waste of time.

NOTE: I saw the film in 3D (not IMAX) and it was honestly not that spectacular of an addition. The tinted 3D glasses cause you to lose some of the colorful vibrancy of Pandora. I’d definitely say see it in IMAX, but skip the 3D if you can.

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