Avatar Review

The nearly three hour epic that is Avatar is built around uncanny special effects and the expansion of third dimension film technology. Unfortunately the script and direction fail to deliver in several aspects causing the film to be nothing more than a bloated Hollywood spectacle.

Sam Worthington plays Chuck Sully, a wounded marine who replaces his recently deceased brother on a special mission to become an avatar scientist on the moon Pandora. Sully is confused about his mission and uncertain about his direction in life. He has a somewhat greedy mentality. He wants to complete his mission, return home and repair his spine so he can walk again. If he does his service well then the contract army which he is currently working for will front the bill for the surgery. As the only funny moment in the film, James Cameron takes a second to jab the health care system and it's failures some hundreds of years into the future. Back to the film. Sully is ignorant of his own situation and the situation fallen upon the Na'vi people. The Na'vi people are a clan of indigenous people on the moon Pandora. They sit on land where a valuable energy producing mineral is heavily sought after by a human corporation.

Humans have been on Pandora for years. The humans on Pandora consider this foreign world an equivalent to hell. We arrive on Pandora with Sully as Colonel Miles Quaritch (Stephen Lang) greets his new recruits and warns them of the dangers of Pandora, the Na'vi and the unfamiliar world that surrounds them. Humans have been there long enough to mine the mineral, create a market for it on Earth, and attempt several diplomatic efforts to obtain this mineral without success. The film does not update the viewer on what diplomatic efforts have been attempted other than building a school, why those attempts have failed and what has kept the itchy trigger finger of the contract army from going ballistic on the Na'vi for so long.

For some reason, the diplomatic efforts don't actually include politicians but a corporate executive, the colonel and a group of scientist, led by Dr. Grace Augustine (Sigourney Weaver) who have tried to learn the Na'vi culture. This is where director/writer James Cameron begins to lose the script. Each one of these branches or groups of people display every stereotype we normally associate with these groups. The Corporation, represented by the awkwardly cast Giovanni Ribisi is primarily concerned with making a profit at all costs. He is introduced to the viewer with a very common visual, practicing his putting on a fake golf green. The army, most notably represented by the colonel is like all army representations in these type of films; a representation summed up in the philosophy of shoot first, ask questions later. The army quarrels with the scientists and calls them pansy tree huggers. Of course the scientist are naive. They either ignore or are blind to the corporations intentions and spend most of their time trying to convince the single minded "bad guys" of how much humanity can learn from the Na'vi and their biology.

The rest of the film continues with bland writing. Sully through science links his crippled body with that of a genetically created avatar of a Na'vi warrior. He attempts to become a member of their society while spying for the army. He gathers intelligence for them then falls in love with the Na'vi princess, Neytiri. It is the wounded soldier meets noble savage and turns his back on the society that hell bent on destruction. Sully, as his avatar alias, predictably falls in love with the princess. He predictably is the only one who can save them from the humans. He predictably does something only 5 Na'vi have ever done to unite and save the tribe. He predictably becomes a Na'vi through spiritual transformation, literally. Most of these predictions come easily through set ups during the course of the film. There is the montage of his Na'vi training, military check ins and video daily diaries that serve as narration. The use of narration in these type of films is also very common. Countless movies have used the Pocahontas and John Smith story line but it's not the lack of originality that ruins the film. It's lack of innovation and lack of details within the characters that makes this story so bland. There is little exploration to why the characters do what they do or what makes them tick. What we do know is so basic or common knowledge that watching the movie hardly seems necessary.

Throw in some questionable plot points that defy logic. For instance, the Michelle Rodriguez character that defies orders during their attack on the Na'vi people without being caught or disciplined. If there was any sense of realism to the picture then she would have been disciplined and jailed thus not allowing her to rescue Sully from imprisonment and then fighting alongside the Na'vi during the raid of their village. This chain of events seems unlikely because of the colonel's attention to detail and how much he values the mission. But that is a loophole like many others casually neglected.

There isn't anything really special about the direction. It does all the basic things a big action, science fiction adventure. Sweeping cameras, fast editing and big explosions. It might feel larger or more encompassing because of the 3-D. The acting is remedial, it's also not helped by uninspiring dialogue and stationary blocking. It is at times hard to judge the actors and the possible restrictions they faced because of the technology during shooting. On a good note, kudos to the film for having the worst pre-fight inspiration speech since Independence Day.

It can be hard to ignore a film that denounces technology from a director fascinated by its commercial use and appeal. The Na'vi people feel that there is no use for technological advances because their connection with their natural world gives them peace, satisfaction and balance. Eventually it would be Sully that rejects technology by preferring the Na'vi ways, forgetting that it was technology that allowed him to become an avatar. It is ironic because in many ways the film is built through and by advancing technologies within the medium. Technology has caught up with Cameron's vision and without it the film would have never been produced.

The positives. The special effects are great. I am not going to bash technology. This is a blog. I personally feel that the jungle sequences are better than the plane, spaceship or ariel sequences. The 3-D was seamless and lacked gimmicks. In the eyes of this viewer, the 3 dimension technology was so fluid that it was not noticeable.

In the end, Avatar is a movie like many other Hollywood spectacles. It is an unchallenging, large, flashy and bland. The movie does nothing new except find new ways to be shiny. A film does not stand alone on special effects. At almost three hours long, Avatar has predictable plot twists causing the film to drag and become rather dull even during some of famed action sequences. Avatar is not a good movie. It's a story worth talking about. Imperialism does not look the same as it did 100 years ago but that doesn't mean it has vanished from our society, our world or possibly other worlds. The film is another take on several westerns like Dances With Wolves. The comparison is so obvious that even Cameron casted the great Native American/Cherokee actor and activist Wes Studi to play the Na'vi Chief. Another culture imposing its will on another for commercial gain. There is no doubt that Cameron has made a film appropriate for the time.

It is predictable and predictable is not the primary flaw. As someone who loves art, I look for new ways to say old things. How do we tell our children, wife/husband or friends that we love them in a distinct way that separates them from the rest. How do we create images of Christ or Buddha in new ways that distinguish them from the rest? There are countless films about boy meets girl, they fall in love and live happily ever after but it's the details in those films that make It Happened One Night, Annie Hall or (500) Days of Summer not only good or great but special. Each one of those films essentially doing the same thing but each having a distinctive voice that separates it from one another and the rest of the pack. There are countless films that tell the same story Avatar tells and the only things special about this film is the special effects and that seems a little shallow to me. Like I previously mentioned... special effects do not make a movie. There has to be more than special effects or gimmicks and without such things Avatar is exceedingly lacking.