The Internet hasn’t been very fair to Avatar so far. Before it was even released, and only promotional pictures and plot synopses were available, the legions of internet neckbeards and sneering basement-dwellers were typing their wotsit-stained fingers to the bone in every available effort to savage the film and deride it for all that they were worth.
And that was well before it was released. The story was dismissed for being a clone or copy of Ferngully, or Pocahontas, or Dances With Wolves. The Na’vi aliens were ridiculed for being ‘furries’, or ‘Garfield’ or other such tiresome comparisons, and all sorts of other idiotic bullshit was levelled at the film before anything more than a teaser trailer had been released.
These all-knowing, all-seeing mystical internet nerds, with their uncanny ability to predict the reception and content of the movie, also attacked James Cameron’s ability as a director and his involvement with films, which is surprising, considering he’s directed some of the best and highest regarded sci-fi films of all time – namely, Terminator, Terminator 2 and Aliens (also regarded widely as the best film in it’s franchise).
Of course, the Internet Hate Machine comes equipped only with selective vision and memory, so these have now been forgotten about.
Now that Avatar has been released, and more information is available about it, some of these comments have been addressed – and I’ve been to see it.
And I’m glad, pleased, and proud to report that the Legions of Dumb can go screw themselves with a strapon chainsaw – Avatar is a good movie!
It is by no means perfect – the story is, indeed, remarkably similar to Dances With Wolves, and yes, Ferngully. But even Cameron himself admits that, and that doesn’t mean that it’s boring, or twee. You might know what’s coming, and what to expect – but you aren’t bored getting there, and the journey itself is a spectacle to behold.
And therein is the greatest achievement of the film: Visually, it is absolutely astounding. The sheer spectacle of it is something to behold. Everything is astoundingly realistic and detailed to the eye, so much so that it is far, far too easy to forget that you’re watching a film where virtually all of the sets have been created on computers, as well as all of the vehicles and most of the props.
Trees and foliage bend and whip realistically in the wake of aircraft. Water flows and splashes. Light shines as it should.
The world of Pandora, where the movie is set, is realised well as an alien world. The wildlife is drastically different and unusual in contrast to Earthen creatures, and even the plants are different and spectacular. The views are astounding, and the planet feels and looks ‘different’, whilst still having a level of detail and visual depth that allows it to seem real, and ‘there’.
The human side of affairs is also equally well-realised. Machines are striped with dirt, and used marks, given panel lines, exhausts, rivets, and all other manner of working and ‘used’ details to make them have the same depth. Everything is picture-perfect – which is even more astounding when you get to the ‘blue furries’, or as they’re actually called, the Na’vi.
More than half the film is spent in the company of the aliens, and as such, it’s evident that a lot of effort has gone into making them as realistic as possible. Especially so, considering that the films’ central lead is the ‘Avatar’ of the title, and has to be recognisable, and express emotion realistically.
Motion capture of course isn’t a new thing – it’s been used for years. But here, it’s blended with a variety of other technologies and techiques, leading to characters that are expressive, mobile, and agile, even if they are not realistic – they are,
after all, ten foot tall blue-skinned aliens – interesting and engaging to look at.
So much so, that after they first appeared, I quickly forgot they weren’t real, and very much got on with enjoying the unfolding story as it happened.
The character performances aren’t amazing – but neither are they a slouch of slacking. Many of the cast are handpicked by James Cameron to perform in the movie, due to his familiarity or previous associations with them from earlier projects. As such, any qualities that might make them reminiscent of characters from those movies are probably intentional.
Especially effective is Zoe Saldana, who plays her role as Na’vi princess Neytiri well, making her exotic and intriguing, as well as fierce, strong, and resourceful. Her voice is used well, and with depth, to come across as an alien who has learned, but is not familiar with human language.
Similarly, Sam Worthington plays the role of Jake Sully well. His character
comes across as a regular guy, albeit a Marine, and one who has been confined to a wheelchair, who is pretty easy-going and seems pretty nice. His simplistic nature fits the film well, and he plays the character to a T. An especially joyful moment is the first time he gets to control his Avatar body – and thus gets to walk again. I couldn’t help smiling along with him as he felt the enjoyment, and it was an uplifting moment.
There are a few moments when his voice acting isn’t quite up to par, but they dramatically fade away beside the amount of other things to enjoy throughout the film as a whole.
As mentioned previously, the story isn’t amazingly new, but it is still exciting, fun, and has it’s share of thrills, spills, and moments of joy and tenderness. It probably won’t make you cry, but there’ll be bits when you smile in excitement or enjoyment at what’s happening, and I wanted the good guys to win – which is unusual for me, since the bad guys were the ones with all the cool toys, which is the stuff I go for.
The film does have moments where it can be preachy. The message about environmentalism, and explotation of resources and the ravaging of the ecosystem and that knowledge is preferable to force, are laid on quite thick and simplistically, and it is easy to see them. However, that is not by definition a bad thing, and does not detract from enjoyment of the story. No morals are ‘spelled out’ as such, and they are simply shown ‘as it happens’ on the screen, rather than labored over. It’s certainly no worse than any other popcorn blockbuster, and considerably better than many others have managed in the past.
All in All, Avatar is not a perfect movie, but then what movie could ever be? It could certainly use a better ending theme, for one thing.
But it does contain a massive amount of things that do add up to a damn fine piece of cinema, and I can guarantee that most people will enjoy the time they spend watching it. It’s exciting, and beautiful to watch, and it does what movies are very much supposed to do – entertain you. It really is something that deserves to be seen on a big screen, and very much comes across as an ‘event’ movie.
It has also achieved the goal of being a technical masterpiece in it’s visual brilliance and flair, and that in itself is another great reason to see it.
Ignore the ignorant, tiresome and dull internet dickwads who will drone on in their nasal whines about how bad it is, and refuse to be dragged down by their wotsit-fingered grasp. Go see the movie, and make your own opinion, because otherwise you’ll have missed out on something, new, different, and ultimately, extremely enjoyable.
It was awesome in a brainless Disney movie kind of way. If you treated it as a kids movie and didn’t expect much else, it was very entertaining.
Not $500 million entertainment though. Transformers 2 had just as much spectacle (though a more stupid story) for half the price. This film is a glorified tech demo in 3D cinema, a technology designed purely to get people to shell out more for their tickets. It’s funny how people go on about how many cliches there were or how contrived the plot was, when they have so many more legitimate things to whine about.
As a film, it was kinda fun. And I respect Cameron’s attempt to sneak anime into a film that even the most mundane of people will watch. I don’t know if I’d buy the DVD, but I might download it.
Not in an argumentative or accusatory way, what would have made you happier with the movie? Obviously, I thoroughly enjoyed it, and was happy to have spent my time on it – as you can see from my review.
I know the writing wasn’t brilliant, as you say. I’m just curious, really. And as I said to you before you went to see it, and just after I did – I knew you wouldn’t enjoy it as much as me, as you have higher standards and are far more critical than I am.
All of that aside, my other point in this review was that it didn’t deserve all the shit thrown at it that’s it had by the sci-fi fandumb so far, because it isn’t nearly as bad as all that.
And yes, Transformers 2 was far, far more stupid.
If I could say anything? It would be that Neill Blomkamp had been given the concept, technology and money to make it instead. The Film itself would only cost $30 mil to make, and the rest would be spent on tech that would reach out of the cinema screen and give you a Blow job.
In all seriousness, I’m not sure how I really feel about the film. On it’s own as a cinema experience it was good, but when you realise that now Hollywood is going to think that maybe $500 million for a movie isn’t such a retarded idea… And the fact that this is a result of the industry clutching at straws to stop the internet taking their money away.
From what I’ve been hearing on the inside, they’ve been riding a lot on this, and how the result influences filmmakers habits remains to be seen.
…On the other hand, there was a bit where a guy got into a mech while he was on fire and jumped it out of an exploding jet. And that I certainly approve.
Just realised I didn’t say anything about the writing itself.
It was a masterpiece of manufactured escapist bullshit, the kind that Disney are masters of. (different from usual Hollywood fare because they have to balance creativity and profitability. How do you keep a film about talking lions safe for the more boring demographics?)
When you’re expecting that, a well written kids film, where there is an adventure and a hero’s journey in an unfamiliar land, then the film is excellent.
When you expect something more complicated and mind blowing, like District 9 or Batman Begins, then the film is a failure.
Don’t be offended by internet fuckwads, the fact they hold The Dark Knight on a pedestal despite a rambling slow pace, blatant plot holes and ‘Saw Syndrome’ (For the first 2/3rds of the movie, whatever you think up to stop the villain, he’s already thought of that and set a trap, whatever it is.) should be a sign that they don’t really have any taste.
I think ‘Saw Syndrome’ is my new favourite descriptive phrase! I have to use it more often!
And yeah, I agree with your comments about the writing. Basically, it sums up to being an enjoyable movie as a movie, and a technological triumph too, but the actual movie part isn’t an epic thought-provoking film – just an entertaining romp, which is fair enough.
The thing about Saw Syndrome is that it’s supposed to show how clever a villain is, but when you remember that the whole thing is written by one guy, it’s really fucking stupid, of course the Joker knows Batman is going to trace his bullet by scanning his fingerprints using a magic minigun… Not because he’s figured it out by sheer logic or by just covering every base, but because the writer needs him to not get caught for another half an hour. (When he makes his whole ‘I don’t have a plan’ speech.)
‘Death Note’ showed how it should be done by taking you through every single step of the plans… including measures that don’t end up being used. Actually, Kira Vs Batman… Who would win?
For someone that many consider to be a condensed ball of hate, I’m surprisingly receptive towards a good entertaining romp. They require much more skill to write than you’d think. It’s easy to write from the heart, just ask your aorta. But to write within the boundaries Hollywood sets you? That’s real mastery.
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