Movie Review: AVATAR

When I first discovered my love of film, I quickly developed respect for James Cameron. His films have resonated with me throughout my life:

Aliens is the only movie to actually give me nightmares (and has become one of my favorite films of all time.)
The Abyss was the first movie I saw more than 20 times; I studied every frame.
The Terminator was the first movie with a full-fledged mythology supporting the film itself; plus it introduced The Arnold.
Terminator 2 was the first movie that absolutely, truly blew my mind; it still does.
True Lies was the first movie where Arnold Schwarzenegger acted; it’s also one of the best spy movies ever.
Titanic…well, it has that guy hitting the propeller and the funniest line of dialogue ever.

And after all of that and a boatload of Oscars, James Cameron disappeared for a decade, making goofy documentaries that indulged some personal obsession.
And now finally: Avatar. On every level, Cameron has fulfilled the expectations that his die-hard fans have built up over the years. I’m doubt I can properly articulate why I consider this film a masterpiece, and ironically, I’ll start with its faults.
I’ll be brief and simple with the three primary problems I had with the movie:

1. Avatar has a barely serviceable plot that is a thematic and narrative carbon copy of Dances With Wolves and The Last Samurai—not a bad thing, by any measure, but wretchedly unoriginal and diametrically opposed to the ground-breaking originality of the film’s visuals.
2. Avatar borders on wholesale propaganda; I’m not sure what is emphasized more: environmentalism, anti-Americanism/imperialism, or the awfully-clichéd Native American-like spiritualism.
3. Lastly, Avatar suffers from some lame-ass dialogue; not as bad as Titanic, but damn close.

But in all honesty, these problems are found in his previous films, albeit to a far lesser degree.

What makes Avatar truly incredible is the pure, unadulterated spectacle; it is an experience unlike anything you’ve ever seen. Cameron has always pushed the limits of special effects, but he has truly outdone himself with Avatar. Just as Terminator 2 prompted a revolution in film special effects, Avatar has now done the same.

There are two seemingly conflicting constants to Cameron’s films: a stern, unwavering thematic warning against human reliance on technology and the utilization of the most advanced technology in filmmaking to tell that story. Avatar is the most clearly representative of this theme and takes it to an extreme. But instead of balancing his signature theme with his technological proficiency, the film is ridiculously lop-sided. As mentioned above, the narrative is nothing to write home about.

But Avatar contains visuals that are like nothing you have ever seen. Cameron spent part of the last decade waiting for the special effects technology to catch up to his vision and the rest of it inventing the technology to film Avatar. His presentation of Avatar in IMAX 3D is utterly different from any other 3D movie ever made. Here is a (relatively) simple run-down of three elements that make Avatar a unique experience:

1. Avatar’s 3D effects exceed any previous film by making the third dimension immersive and non-gimmicky. The worst 3D movie I’ve seen was Beowulf, which occasionally let an arrow or tree branch leap out at me (way too gimmicky,) but was otherwise unutilized. The best 3D movie was Up, which consistently used 3D effects enough to convince me the technique was for effect, not a gimmick. But it also washed out the colors and suffered from some dodgy scaling issues.
Avatar’s 3D was exponentially more immersive. The colors are vivid, sharp, and well defined*. Literally every element on-screen was not just in three-dimensions, but was scaled properly, provided realistic depth-of-field, and was used solely in service to the story—not one gimmicky object ever jumped out at my face just to startle me.
2. Every movie includes a production designer, whose primary function is to create the look of the world in the film. Cameron creates whole world in his films, and exceeds anything else anyone has ever done in film. The moon of Pandora is, from top-to-bottom, a fully realized location. After watching the movie, it was actually difficult to convince myself that the place existed only inside a computer. It is impossible to distinguish between the real and the virtual. I mean that exactly how I say it: it is impossible by appearance alone to distinguish between the real and virtual elements of the film.
3. Lastly, several movies have used motion capture to create realistic characters. Most notable is Gollum from Lord of the Rings, which presented a completely digitized character that seemed remarkably real. But for every Gollum, there were dozens of Beowulf-ish characters, whose zombie-like appearance (especially the eyes!) was creepy and a constant reminder that the viewer was watching a special effect, not a character. The alien species in Avatar cross this so-called ‘Uncanny Valley’ and become so real and lifelike that when compared solely to the human motion-captured characters in any other movie, I am more convinced that the Na’vi could really exist.

Though I articulate my experience as best I can, all of these bullets are in a way just window dressing; a complicated explanation of what I really cannot convey with words. Watching Avatar is an experience unto itself. Despite its flaws, Avatar is thrilling; it is action-packed; it is a visual spectacle unlike anything you have ever seen. And unlike almost any other movie released, the experience cannot be replicated at home. Avatar reminded me of why I love going to the theater.

Go see Avatar in 3D on an IMAX screen. No matter what your preconceptions, you will walk away knowing that you have seen something truly remarkable and enjoy the experience.


* Just like my muscles…