Review - Avatar

Avatar comes to us from James Cameron who made a few flicks like Terminator, Terminator 2, Aliens, The Abyss, True Lies, and Titanic. Titanic is the highest grossing film of all time, making over 1.8 billion dollars. He knows what he is doing. Cameron has been wanting to make Avatar since he was a kid, he had a script ready before Titanic, and he's just been waiting for technology to catch up to a point where the movie was even remotely possible. After Lord of the Rings, he realized the technology was possible, and thus he began making Avatar. Now, we're in the present, and Avatar has officially been unleashed to the public. The question is, will the public like it?

Let's start by talking about the story. To be honest, nothing about the story is very original at all. It's all been told before in multiple different scenarios and settings, most obviously in Dances with Wolves. The story arc is completely predicable from beginning to end, so it's really not spoiling anything when I spill the bare-bones-gist of it: A company wants natural resources that the some aliens (called Na'vi) are living on. A guy in the company is sent to learn more about the Na'vi and basically buddy up. Over time, he ends up siding with the Na'vi and has to face the consequences and lead his new people to victory. The end. The characters themselves aren't even that interesting. You have the conflicted hero, the girl he loves who is from a different people, some sidekicks that will do anything to help, an evil mastermind dude that is willing to do anything for money, and an evil for-hire mercenary that is just in the mood to kill.

If the story and the characters are both unoriginal, then what makes this movie different? It's all in the setting. The world (Pandora) is pretty dang mind boggling. The details are stunning, from the individual types of creatures to unique plants to the insane landscape. So much work and thought has been put into creating this completely original world. Even though a lot of the movie is unoriginal, Pandora itself completely pulls you in and makes you not really even care anymore. The story feels original because of the setting.

What makes Pandora so crazy is that absolutely nothing in it can exist or does exist in our world today. Every single aspect of the entire planet was created, animated, and brought to life using CGI. Over half of this movie is 100% CGI with no real actors or objects anywhere. It's all been done in a computer (like Toy Story). And the amazing thing is that when the movie switches back and forth between real people and the CGI world, I didn't notice. It felt real. It looked like it could possibly exist in our physical world. The only reason I knew I was staring at computer graphics was because I knew that I couldn't be staring at anything other than computer graphics. That's the real testament to this movie - it actually realizes borderline photographic CGI characters in such a way that the audience doesn't pay attention to the fact that they are fake.

Another thing that makes Avatar interesting is the whole usually-annoying 3D glasses thing. There's a whole debate in Hollywood whether 3D is a gimmick or whether it's the second coming. James Cameron sides with the people who think that 3D is the second coming. Thus, he created Avatar from the ground up with 3D in mind. I have to say that this is the only 3D in a movie I've ever seen that I actually thoroughly appreciated it and thought it added to the experience. "Up" did it really really well, but it wasn't necessary. Avatar is built for it. The best part about Avatar's 3D is that it rarely ever utilizes positive space (when things come out at you). Instead, it makes full use of negative space (adding depth to the picture), which is a much more believable and less distracting effect. I mentioned this about "Up", but it's more like you're looking through a window and less like you're staring at a screen, which is pretty cool. Was the 3D necessary? I don't think so, but it did in fact improve my movie going experience, which I can rarely say about 3D. You are not supposed to see Avatar in 2D. James Cameron doesn't want you to, and neither do I. Did you hear me? Don't do it.

Now let me hit on the controversy I think this flick is going to cause with us good ole Republican Alabamians. Firstly, the movie is very pro-help-the-environment and it does make some humans out to be the bad guys. However, this movie isn't some condemnation on people that aren't tree huggers. The bad guys are a company who wants resources and the mercenaries that they hire. The military is not attacking and killing natives and trying to destroy trees in this movie. The military isn't even invading some other planet. Don't let anyone tell you that. The movie straight up says that they are for-hire mercenaries. I think we all know that the morality of a mercenary is already questionable at best. This movie is in no way anti military. Also, the movie is not some condemnation of the Iraq war. It was freakin written in the mid 90s. There may be parallels to the thought that the US invaded Iraq for oil, but remember... Avatar was written in the MID 90s!


Secondly, religion. The movie does have some weird scenes with all the natives worshiping nature and a deity that binds them all together. It's extremely transcendental. I could see some Christian groups coming after the movie saying it doesn't support Christian values, and in truth it doesn't, but most all movies don't. I mean, look at Star Wars and "the force." So maybe Christians should avoid most movies. Crap, no, wait, see this. But seriously, if you don't think people should see this movie because of the spiritual weirdness, then you should probably boycott all movies involving Native Americans too. Because that's what the Na'vi are. They are basically just Native Americans, and I for one don't get weirded out seeing Native Americans dance around a fire in films. Also, and I think people may have missed this, but the deity that the Na'vi worship isn't a god at all. There was literally a scientific and a physical explanation stated in the film for this "mother" that they spoke to.

So in summary of the controversial points I saw: The military is not made out to be the bad guy, the movie is not anti-war, the weird religious stuff is no weirder than Star Wars, and not all humans are bad.

Okay, time for some closing remarks on the movie. Avatar is honestly one of the better movies I've seen this year, maybe even in the top 10. Earlier I mentioned how the characters weren't very interesting and the story was predictable. However, I failed to mention that even though I knew what was coming all the time, that never once stopped each of those events from being absolutely awesome and fun to watch. Especially the final battle scene at the end... holy crap amazing. And that's really what Avatar is. It's fun to watch, and is a ridiculously high quality movie in every way. It is honestly the most visually impressive movie I have ever seen. Ever.

Avatar is a blockbuster crowd pleaser with a tried and true story arc that continues to work and will work in many movies to come. And to top all of that off, Avatar does in fact revolutionize computer graphics in movies and makes me think that 3D, when done well, maybe isn't just a gimmick. The world of Avatar is here to stay, and I predict that this isn't the last time we'll see it. And for that, I think everyone should see it. It may not be your favorite flick, but it is a movie that people will be talking about and referencing for years to come, and you shouldn't be the guy who has never seen it. The in-theater experience of watching Avatar will not be replicated on your small TV at home without 3D. Also, I want to re-visit the world, and if people don't go see it I probably won't be able to.

Potential based on Preview: 8/10
Actual Movie: 9/10