So, a rare trip to the movies.
Generally a movie has to have qualities that demand big screen viewing to get me to a cinema.
Avatar certainly qualifies on that count.
Living in Mount Gambier means that 3D is out of the question, though the movie would certainly look spectacular in that format.
I don’t think it’s the future of motion pictures. The technological blending of digital effects and live action is now pretty seamless. Everything looks about the same.
James Cameron and his designers have created another world in their visuals.
Others have observed that the story-line is somewhat derivative. My daughter commented that the plot takes one part Ferngully and one part Pocahontas. Add to that measures of Independence Day and even the romantic beats of Cameron’s previous epic Titanic (this time it is the male who is ‘rescued’ into a life of freedom by the female) and you’ve pretty much got it covered.
Those who have read C.S. Lewis’ science fiction Space Trilogy will note some familiar elements of a human afoot in an alien culture. In Avatar, however, Lewis’ Christian ethos is completely absent.
Conservative columnist Andrew Bolt provides a fairly standard evaluation of the animistic/pantheistic and new-age philosophical elements that permeate the plot. He manages to work up a good head of steam associating the basic theme of repelling the militaristic invaders as a critique of recent US foreign policy which vindicates the environmental movement.
I don’t know if that level of evaluation is necessary. As previously mentioned ‘repel the invaders’ is a fairly standard plot point. Independence Day, Mulan, The Patriot, Pearl Harbour, Aliens Vs Monsters, The Castle and any number of others use the device in some way or another.
Making the ‘aliens’ the heroes and the ‘humans’ isn’t even that unique. The original The Day The Earth Stood Still mined that territory.
But that means that it’s a good plot. People like to support underdogs, particularly those under threat from invaders.
Cameron genius as a film maker is that he invites us to sympathise and empathise with unlikely characters in his movies. A death machine (Terminator), low status drifter (Titanic) and alien ‘tree-huggers’ (Avatar).
So, what are we left with?
(Some Spoilers)
It is very pretty.
The couple at the romantic center of the movie are ‘married/mated’ for life before they get physically involved. (An improvement on Titanic)
‘Unobtainium’ may be the dumbest name for a macguffin since the word ‘MacGuffin’ itself. (That reminds me, I haven’t watched The Maltese Falcon for too long.)
The military villain of the piece did everything but wear a black cape, twirl his moustache and laugh evilly every time he was on screen. Not too much moral complexity on display here, folks.
The business villain of the piece goes home at the end. Presumably he will receive a government bailout package and gain a handsome bonus.
The ‘male’ figure does not make it through intact but he has a more positive outcome than that of the Terminator or Jack.
It is very, very pretty.
Avatar’s legacy will be felt in the technical quality of motion pictures. But it does not have the qualities of story that will have me watching it time and again.
mgpcpastor's blog 