"AVATAR" Features Overwhelming Special Effects, Little More

[Carl M. Zapffe]

"AVATAR" ('09) ... We finally saw "Avatar." At the Imax. In 3-D. It is a feast for the eyes with a splendid view of the imaginative world that Cameron has constructed for this film which has been many years in the making. In a plot eerily similar to "Dances with Wolves" and possibly even "Mutiny on the Bounty," another soldier, a marine, no less, who has been taught to respect authority without question, slowly changes his loyalties as he falls in love with the beauty and the simplicity represented by an alien culture. Only this time the locale is not the Dakota plains or Pitcairn Island, but far away on Pandora, one of several planets orbiting another sun a few light years from Earth. 

Pandora is a subtropical paradise inhabited by the Na'vi, nine foot tall blue giants who live in isolated communities on the planet. The lives of the Na'vi are closely tied to the land with a religion centered on the theme of a unified nature with trees in general and the "Tree of Life" in particular communicating through their underground roots. Needless to say, the Na'vi like their planet just the way it is, and don't look kindly upon the human visitors with their flying ships and giant earth moving equipment despoiling the environment.

Pandora is not a pleasant place for a mining colony. The atmosphere is hostile and deadly to humans, the native animal species equally dangerous, and the Na'vi only marginally less so. Like the plains Indians, they are expert shots with their poisoned arrows which have proved to be lethal to those who dare venture without armed escort beyond the protected perimeter of the colony.  

The source of human interest in Pandora is the rare metal Unobtanium which has been discovered to be abundant there. An active mining colony has been in operation for a few years, and they have hired a scientist, Dr. Grace Augustine (Sigourney Weaver), to develop an outreach program to the Na'vi. She has designed replica Na'vi bodies which can somehow be occupied by human minds, or souls, while they humans sleep in specially designed pods back at the colony. Two have been built so far, but the scientist who was to accompany Grace out into the Na'vi homeland was unexpectedly killed in an armed robbery back on Earth. 

His twin brother, Jake Sully (Sam Worthington), is selected to be his replacement since the two share nearly the same DNA. The payoff for Jake will be new legs, since this Marine combat soldier lost the use of his limbs during a military mission in Ecuador. Egging him on for all of the reconnaissance information that he can get is the gung ho Colonel Miles Quaritch (Stephen Lang). Quaritch has already come to the conclusion that these peaceful overtures to the Na'vi will fail, so he wants to be ready for an armed invasion.

After being separated from an exploration party led by Trudy Chacon (Michelle Rodriguez), Jake would have died had not a lone Na'vi, Neytiri (Zoe Saldana), saved him because she admired his fearlessness. She becomes his protector from the wild beasts and her fellow Na'vi after she sees the local spirits shower upon him like fireflies. Jake soon receives an entree into the Na'vi society and the beginning of his moral dilemma. 

To say the least, this movie is an impressive visual experience. To say it all, it is only a little more than an impressive visual experience. The setup is gorgeous and the execution is flawless. However, opinions about "Avatar" are going to run between those who feel that this is one of the best movies that has ever been made (It is #50 on IMDB's top 250 movies), and those who feel that while the first hour of the movie is stunning, the rest is only so so with a maudlin story line. 

This is another classic example of cinematic style over substance, of the special effects subverting the story. The story, which is to say Cameron's script since he wrote it, suffers from one-dimensional characterizations. In addition, the plot line fixates on overly abused leftist concepts of villainy that lay the blame on evil corporations and amoral military types, all of whom lack humanity or an ounce of personal ethics. Apparently Cameron is locked into a Nineteenth Century mindset and knows nothing about laws governing mineral rights which have proved to be highly favorable to property owners including indigenous peoples. Nor the wonderful job that our military is doing to protect the civilian populace against often insurmountable odds.

Now that I have seen the eye popping special effects on the silver screen, there remains nothing that will make me want to see it again on television after it has been shrunk down to a very pedestrian viewing size. I also could have done without all of the shoot em up warfare at the end in favor of a better written story involving, say, our brave military coming to the rescue, but then that is only in my own alternate universe. The bottom line is that "Dances With Wolves" told the same story of a soldier falling in love with an alien culture, and that Oscar-winning movie told it much better than "Avatar." (B, see it as an event film that only pops on a large screen.)

Carl M. Zapffe,

The Cat's Meow Movie Critic

http://www.catsmeowmoviecritic.com

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