The most anticipated movie of the decade opened to worldwide audiences in late 2009. Breaking his own previous records of most expensive movies ever made, James Cameron’s Avatar registers at a whopping $300 million.
Bordering on sensory overload, Pandora, in all its phosphorescent glory is pregnant with expectation, with alien sights and sounds that are supremely fascinating.
Avatar’s action takes place on a distant planet named Pandora, which is home to humanoids called the Na’vi. The 10 feet tall, blue skinned, long tailed Na’vi have an indigenous culture that is intensely entwined with nature. Having skinned Earth of its resources, humans have moved to Pandora to try and mine the aptly titled mineral, unobtanium.
The film follows the actions of Jake Scully (Sam Worthington), who during the course of the movie, goes from being a paraplegic ex-marine to warrior extraordinaire. Due to the death of his twin brother, Sully gets chosen to participate in an expedition to try and gain the trust of the Na’vi. He attempts to look like them by slipping into a Na’avi avatar suit that has been specially designed for him. The chief’s daughter, Neytiri spares Jake’s life and shows him the ways of the Na’vi. Over the course of the two hour film, he manages to gains their trust and becomes indoctrinated into their lifestyle.
The carefully constructed CGI generated planet is unveiled hurriedly in a bid to take audiences straight to the story. However, this inadequate introduction to the wonderful world of the Na’avi leaves audiences to draw their own conclusions about the background story. Sadly a true example of form over content, Avatar is poorly scripted, leaving it only a phantasm of the masterpiece it could have been.
It is ironic that a 3D movie has characters that are one dimensional. From the predictable cigar smoking, scarred villain, Col Miles (Steven Lang) to the jilted lover Tsu Tey(Laz Alonso), the wooden acting is saved by the aptly named Dr. Grace (Sigourney Weaver).
The interconnectedness of all Pandora inhabitants, the felling of the giant tree, the quest for unobtainum, jab at almost every global issue there is, all with a running theme of environmentalism. To add to this, Cameron seems to almost relish every plot cliché that he comes across. The last forty minutes of the film are pure celluloid pleasure, with the effects, action and actors coming together in a fitting finale.
Avatar carries the Cameronian seal of bluntly titled movies, with each one raising the bar for the cinema industry. Every flaw can be overlooked by the sheer weight of the all forgiving budget and the movie banner. Avatar joins the ranks of classics that never really managed to fully leap over the pitfalls of cinematic clichés.
Cameron has expressed a desire to produce two sequels to Avatar. One can only hope the successors will not be flung away onto the ever growing pile of forgettable sequels.
All said and done, here is a movie that brings back the magic of cinema in its full glory. If only Cameron had taken the time to garnish this delicacy a brain of its own.
(September 2010)
Blassy Boben 