A friend of mine once told me what he thought of James Cameron. His theory on the man was that he was nothing more than a plagiarizer, swiping ideas from obscure books or movies. According to my friend, Cameron didn’t have a single bone of originality in his body. From Piranha 2 to Titanic (at the time), all of his stories were pretty much stolen or quietly borrowed from other writers, directors or producers and arranged in such a way that he can never be sued. Being a fan of James Cameron’s work, I had some serious doubts about my friend’s theory.
Then I saw Avatar.
In 2009 there was this film entitled The Battle for Terra. In 1965 there was this book entitled Disquiet. Fused together, these already similar stories become Avatar.
The first tells the tale of a human fighter pilot being stranded on a planet humans are trying to conquer for its resources, being taken in by the indigenous population he must wipe out and finally, switching sides to defend his new found friends from extinction by his former people and sacrificing himself to achieve this goal.
The second has a slightly similar story but it is the planet itself that gets all the attention. It is called Pandora and features indigenous creatures and a people that are connected to their home world much like the Na’vi is in Avatar.
Add to this some elements from The Matrix, Jurassic Park, Gamer, Surrogates and even some obvious influences from the Final Fantasy series of video games, and you could have a serious law suit on your hands, but not for Mr. Cameron.
Avatar is written in such a way that no one can really say that Cameron “stole” his story. But when all the pieces come together, no one can say this is original storytelling, or even filmmaking, as it turns out, since this “new” tech is nothing more than an improvement on what made Gollum so important to the craft, not counting this new, underwhelming 3D technology.
A crippled marine is tasked with the mission of finding a way to relocate an indigenous population in order for his employer to mine a precious mineral from the ground where this troublesome people is located. To do this, he must link with an avatar body and control it in order to join the natives and gain their trust.
Avatar is filmed using a specially designed camera system and computer technology that allows animated characters to “act” and look just like real life actors.
Despite my previous comments, I very much enjoyed Avatar and it is actually difficult not to since this is all so darn familiar…
The basic story is always the same. A lone hero must overcome impossible odds against an overwhelming foe in order to preserve freedom, a way of life, and individuality. There are variants, but this has been the Hollywood recipe for over one hundred years of movie making.
Despite all its supposed innovations, Avatar is no different.
Jake Sully (Sam Worthington, channelling Marcus Wright) is a crippled Marine (with a horrible name). His twin brother died and for genetic reasons he is asked to replace him in the Avatar project, a scientific experiment that allows a human being to link with a genetically constructed body that has the likeness of the Na’vi, the indigenous, blue-skinned people of Pandora. This planet is rich in unobtanium (nice name, James…), a very valuable mineral that is highly sought after by Jake’s employer.
Jake’s mission is to infiltrate the Na’vi and gain their trust in order to convince them to relocate before the mercenaries hired by his boss destroy their home and begin mining the rich deposit of unobtanium underneath the Na’vi’s Hometree.
In true Dances with Wolves fashion, Jake learns the ways of this people and bonds with them, but when the bell tolls, he needs to choose a side. Will he complete his mission and join a psychotic Colonel in the destruction of the “savages”, or will he side with the Na’vi and protect this extremely beautiful world, not to mention his new, super hot blue wife (Zoë Saldana, steals the show!)?
Hmm. Decisions, decisions…
Avatar is riddled with environmentalist undertones, and it’s another story that hammers in our heads that we, the humans, are idiots. We know that corporations will stop at nothing to make (more) money. They will kill and destroy and there is nothing anyone can do about it. This we know because Hollywood tells us all the time, with the countless films that tell the same story.
And that’s ok. The cause is extremely important.
The problem with this and Avatar is that the film is not just about the environment being destroyed by force, by military means. The scientists in the film, led by Doctor Grace Augustine (Sigourney Weaver, excellent), are full of good intentions. They want to teach the Na’vi, they want to transmit the human culture to these people. They also want to study them. But do they want to learn from them? Do they really want to understand them? Wouldn’t education and understanding go a long way toward peace?
The main problem I had with the script is that Cameron doesn’t take the time to explore the ravages that result from the good intentions of a “civilized” world.
How many peoples have been destroyed by our need to teach them better ways to do things like farming or working, selling them the tools to work like us, for us, imposing our ways on African tribes or South American communities throughout our history.
“Never interfere” is The Prime Directive.
Instead, Cameron took the easier way by presenting us explosions and special effects, by placing all the blame on the supposed trigger happy military, by again jamming our brains with one-dimensional, clichéd characters such as Colonel Miles Quaritch (Stephen Lang, excellent) and Parker Selfridge (Giovanni Ribisi, boring, robotic) and a predictable story that doesn’t take any risks, unfortunately.
Actors are well directed overall. I feel Sam Worthington was miscast however. Although he does an ok job, his performance is bland throughout most of the film and he seems to be channelling Marcus Wright from Terminator Salvation, in what is a very similar role anyway. Sigourney Weaver plays her part very well and it is a real treat to watch her abuse and insult Mar… I mean Jake, on screen. Her introduction scene is hilarious.
Two actors really stand out in Avatar though.
Stephen Lang as Colonel Quaritch is perfectly cast here. His performance is reminiscent of R. Lee Ermey in Full Metal Jacket, although not as memorable. He is sadistic; a real threat to our heroes and you can’t help but love to hate him.
Zoë Saldaña as Neytiri is the real shining jewel of this cast. Even behind this mask of blue CGI, she manages to convey the most intense emotions of the film. Her fits of anger and sadness are perfectly accomplished and gut wrenching, and her beauty and sensuality truly shine. I don’t know how much of it is her doing, but Neytiri is one of the best performed movie characters of the decade in my opinion.
Much has been said about the special effects of Avatar. It’s an orgy of CGI, for one thing, and then there is the revolutionary 3D technology.
I saw Avatar in 3D and I found the treatment here underwhelming and inconsistent. There is a shift in perspective but nothing jumps at you from the screen, except in a few scenes, and in most parts of the film when the 3D does show up its like watching a cut scene from a 90s’ video game, when they used to film real life actors in front of a blue screen, with a picture of a miniature set in the background.
It was off.
Pandora does come to life in a few gorgeous instances but really, the experience does not influence the story and it was nothing to write home about, especially since the red/blue 3D glasses still give me a headache.
The sound effects and the music are wonderful. Absolutely no complaints here, it is top of the line quality and relevance, completely deserving the Oscar buzz.
Avatar is more than the sum of its parts. Despite all my previous criticisms, I really enjoyed the film.
It takes its time in introducing all the characters and the planet itself, its dangers and wonders and ways of living.
The Avatar program is well explained and makes sense, and its intricacies are used to good effects, like exploiting its weakness at a critical point in the film…
James Cameron knows how to film action scenes and the moviegoer is well served here. The action pieces are epic, even if their denouement is predictable. The Na’vi is a great addition to scifidom and I look forward to the inevitable sequel, just to see where James Cameron will take his new creation. The possibilities, just like the technologies, are limitless.
To fully enjoy Avatar, one probably needs to leave their brain in the car. And really, if you can’t make a 3D showing, it’s ok. The experience won’t be dramatically different.
It’s a new science fiction franchise with space ships, aliens and laser guns, which is always welcome, and the quality of it rivals that of the new Star Trek and it is definitely better then Star Wars at this point.
The visuals are absolutely terrific and the performances are fair.
Avatar is a good film but I wish all those big Hollywood producers would make special effects a support to a good, original story and character development, instead of a weak, clichéd story being the excuse to promote special effects technology.
I wasn’t bored with Avatar, only slightly disappointed.
7.5/10
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