Avatar: movie review
The writer-director James Cameron needed to top 鈥�Titanic鈥� and, in terms of sheer bigness, he鈥檚 succeeded. But the immensity cuts both ways. 鈥淎vatar鈥� magnifies equally what is phenomenal and hackneyed about his talents. He鈥檚 made the most expensive cowboys-and-Indians movie ever made.
Set in 2154 on Pandora, a distant moon in the Alpha Centauri-A star system, it鈥檚 about a clash between the moon鈥檚 indigenous 狈补鈥檝颈 clan and the humans who have traveled light-years to mine the moon鈥檚 precious minerals in order to stave off an energy catastrophe back home. Since the earthlings are mostly soldiers, and since their mission reeks of imperialist exploitation, the 狈补鈥檝颈, who resemble 10-foot-tall, taffy-pulled, long-tailed, yellow-eyed versions of the Blue Man Group and speak what sounds like a cross between Maori and Yiddish, are understandably unfriendly. But one of the earthlings, an ex-Marine named Jake Sully (Sam Worthington), makes some headway.
Or, to be more precise, his Avatar does. The film鈥檚 central conceit is that, because the atmosphere on Pandora is poisonous for people, they devise a way to transform themselves into genetically engineered hybrids with human and 狈补鈥檝颈 DNA. Because Jake shares the DNA of his late identical twin brother, who was trained for the Avatar mission, he becomes the chosen one. Mission commander Col. Miles Quaritch (Stephen Lang) utilizes him as his undercover spy with the 狈补鈥檝颈. The colonel鈥檚 pacifist adversary, scientist and fellow Avatar Grace (Sigourney Weaver, for that 鈥�Aliens鈥� vibe) wants to create a 鈥渂ridge of trust鈥� with them instead.
Jake is building his own bridge of trust with the comely Neytiri (Zoe Saldana), a lissome 狈补鈥檝颈 warrior who caroms through the jungle battling all manner of intergalactic beast (including one that looks like a panther crossed with a brontosaurus). For all the megamacho hardware in Cameron鈥檚 movies, he often features take-charge women (Weaver in 鈥淎liens,鈥� Linda Hamilton in the 鈥淭erminator鈥� movies). 鈥淎vatar鈥� certainly needs Neytiri鈥檚 sex appeal. Without her it might have devolved into the greatest movie ever made for 9-year-old fanboys. Which it sort of is anyway.
Cameron began writing 鈥淎vatar鈥� more than 10 years ago, but placed it on hold until the technology could catch up with his imagination. In purely technogeek terms, he鈥檚 succeeded magnificently. This 3-D epic, which is also being released in 2-D, is truly state-of-the-art. The computer-generated imagery is far in advance of anything ever seen before, and this alone gives the film鈥檚 futurism a special tingle. We feel as if we are seeing things we have never seen before.
We have, however, heard much of this movie before. We鈥檝e been through this story line before. Whizbang popular entertainer that he is, Cameron loves reanimating old-movie clich茅s. There were enough of them in 鈥淭itanic鈥� to sink that ocean liner without the services of an iceberg. In 鈥淎vatar,鈥� he flagrantly hauls out even more golden oldies. Maybe Netflix should open a franchise on Alpha Centauri.
But Cameron 鈥� like Quentin Tarantino, only much grander 鈥� is a master of pastiche. He makes the old new by investing it with a fervor all his own. It鈥檚 always a surprise to rediscover just how much Cameron cares about all this pulp paraphernalia. He also cares about the people in his movies 鈥� or at least the ones he doesn鈥檛 blow to smithereens 鈥� and this, too, distinguishes him from the usual run of catastrophe movie honchos. As corny as it is, the snugglefest between Jake and Neytiri hits home.
What doesn鈥檛 altogether work is the overemphasis on the earthling鈥檚 Vietnam-style invasion of Pandora. Some of the aerial battle scenes, complete with choppers firebombing villages, could have been lifted straight from 鈥淧latoon.鈥� (The 狈补鈥檝颈 fight back with bow and arrow.) And Cameron鈥檚 ecoterrorist and colonialist tropes are equally jarring. His boy鈥檚 book fantasyland can鈥檛 comfortably accommodate all this real-world referencing.
If I never felt entirely transported by 鈥淎vatar,鈥� it鈥檚 probably because the story thudded just as often as the imagery soared. But Pandora is still a good place to park yourself for three hours. And you get to keep the 3-D glasses. Grade: B+ (Rated PG-13 for intense epic battle sequences and warfare, sensuality, language, and some smoking.)
