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May 19, 2013
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 Cameron’s ‘Avatar’ Awes the SkepticsPosted on Dec 15, 2009
The film industry has produced no shortage of spectacles over the last hundred years, from “Ben Hur” to “Star Wars.” In terms of technological sorcery and visual wonder, James Cameron’s “Avatar” now ranks chief among them. We are entering an age when one must draw a distinction between the film and the experience. “Twilight,” it has been observed, is more teen social outing than entertainment. “Avatar” is an OK movie and more than a little hokey. But it is an astounding experience that takes showmanship to a new level. As I sat down for a press screening Monday, the woman behind me blurted out “I just want to see what $300 million looks like,” a hint of skepticism in her voice. By that disputed estimate, “Avatar” cost $1.85 million per minute. It looks like a bargain at twice the price. The technical achievement of the film cannot be overstated. Combining superior digital modeling, motion capture, IMAX and unparalleled 3-D, “Avatar” could easily be remembered alongside “The Jazz Singer” and “The Wizard of Oz,” movies that made the case for sound and color, respectively. Profit-hungry studios and control-freak directors have abused these technologies in recent years. I give you Jar Jar Binks, star of George Lucas’ dreadful “Star Wars: Episode I.” Robert Zemeckis’ peculiar obsession with computer effects, motion capture and 3-D projection has yielded human characters that look more alien than Cameron’s lanky blue creations.
In “Avatar,” Cameron uses these techniques to maximum effect and the results are stunning. The same skeptic who wanted to know what $300 million looked like couldn’t contain herself once the film started rolling. “Yes!” She shouted with excitement. She wasn’t alone. What does it say when the audience of a press screening erupts in applause when the credits roll? It should be noted that 3-D projection makes some viewers nauseated. Those who can stomach it will find themselves rewarded—provided they see “Avatar” in IMAX 3-D. This isn’t one for your living room, drive-in or mini-multiplex. Get on a plane and fly to the nearest metropolis if you have to. It is thrilling to have missiles launch from a 60-foot screen directly at your face or to fly through an obstacle course that seems to whiz by you on both sides, but it’s the simple shots that will really take your breath away—a plexiglass wall that floats between you and the characters on screen or embers that swirl all around. It’s difficult to convey the impact of such moments, which is probably why “Avatar” generated such negative buzz before the first reviews came out. The previews simply can’t do it justice. The performances are good for an action movie, but nothing to write home about. Who doesn’t enjoy Sigourney Weaver’s tough mom act? Stephen Lang as Col. Miles Quaritch brings the right kind of machismo, and Michelle Rodriguez, who refers to her enemies as “bitch,” is a guilty pleasure. Sam Worthington isn’t the most dynamic leading man, but he’s charming enough to get the job done. It’s a testament to the film’s technical crew that the performances of the actors playing digital characters are so compelling. Take Zoe Saldana, who nearly steals the show. She’s brilliant, sexy and sincere. That’s saying something for a cartoon character. There are long stretches of this movie that are pure fabrication—digital characters (played by real actors, such as Saldana), digital sets, digital effects—but, for the most part, it works.
The story of “Avatar” is altogether less successful. Humans have come to a planet called Pandora to strip-mine a mineral known as unobtanium. Seriously. The native population, the Na’vi, is mysterious and hostile. Think American Indian with a dash of Taliban. The humans all work for a nameless corporation. They include, on one side, a scarred militarist and his private army and, on the other, Sigourney Weaver and her lovable team of scientists, nerds and hippies. They’re there, ostensibly, to “win the hearts and minds” of the Na’vi and avoid a blood bath that would play poorly in the press back on gray, environmentally devastated Earth. To do this, the scientists “drive” avatars, lab-grown human-Na’vi hybrids. One of those drivers, a crippled Marine, is torn between the two camps. If you’ve seen “Platoon,” you know how that goes. You could play the “if you’ve seen ...” drinking game with this movie. “Star Wars” fans will enjoy hearing that the Na’vi believe in an energy, er, force, that permeates all living things. Would you believe that the main love interest turns out to be the chief’s daughter? For such an imaginative movie, “Avatar” isn’t short on cliché. On top of which, the whole premise doesn’t quite make sense. Humans are able to walk around Pandora with nothing more than an oxygen mask, and those who bother are able to communicate with the Na’vi in both English and their native tongue, so why the need for these very expensive (we are told) avatars? “Avatar” is a spectacle but it is also a love story and something of a jeremiad. All of James Cameron’s movies have some token social commentary. He’s an action director, perhaps the most successful ever, who trades in violence with a little medicine. Beware the corporation, he says in “Aliens.” “Terminator 2” ends with the line “if a machine, a Terminator, can learn the value of human life, maybe we can too.” You get the idea. His comments are generally sensible but, for the most part, window dressing. Not so with his latest, which is downright preachy. “Avatar” is a mash-up of “Aliens,” “Dances With Wolves” and “FernGully.” Never saw that last one? It’s a 1992 children’s movie about a magical rain forest under siege by evil, resource-hungry humans, and it bears an uncanny resemblance to “Avatar.” Here’s where Cameron shows that this isn’t his area of expertise. This social commentary stuff is valid and, with Afghanistan escalating and Copenhagen tanking, remarkably timely. But it’s also gratuitous.
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By Night-Gaunt, February 19, 2010 at 10:33 am Link to this comment
I can’t wait for the novel of the backstory on earth of the various human characters he is working on now.
Also another anomaly I noticed was that most of the other animal life on Pandora has six legs so the Na’vi should of had four arms to fit in with most of the other animal life. Nature is consistent as we see on our own world with four limbs, one heart & 5 digits.* But that is just me an most will not quibble over that. A good film that kept me busy through its 3 hours that just flew by.
*Exempting all arthropods of course.
Report thisBy Free Games, February 18, 2010 at 2:16 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
Watching Avatar, I was struck by the resemblance to drawings in the Dr. Seuss books (children’s books by Theodore Geisel). Anybody else think it might have been an influence? Free Games
Report thisBy Night-Gaunt, January 30, 2010 at 1:44 pm Link to this comment
The Avatars were created for the express purpose to ease the human contact with them concerning cultural shock. They may be strange still but less so with the idea of being able to manipulate the natives more easily. (They obviously misunderstood just how perceptive the Na’vi really are.) Not the first time in our own world.
The only glitch in the entire film was the name of the radioactive substance they seek so much “unobtainium” was over the top—-otherwise a very good film in all respects
Report thisBy oyunlar, January 30, 2010 at 11:46 am Link to this comment
the studios deeply distrusted and feared because they couldn’t control it—could now be Oyunlar
Report thisOyun
compartmentalized, and contained.
By Mestizo Warrior, December 30, 2009 at 2:45 pm Link to this comment
Critics who state that Avatar’s story line is bad, are obviously missing a very clear and vital lesson. That lesson is that corporations and their mercenary armies cannot just grab other folk’s natural resources without any regard to these people’s natural environment and lives without resistance! At least not on Pandora. This is what makes the story line interesting, that the Navi people by joining other indigenous tribes on Pandora along with aid from the indigenous animals and their god Eywa. Good confirmation for political solidarity and spirituality.
The fact that Cameron used Afro-Latina (Zoe Saldana) , African American (CCH Pounder), American Indian (Wes Studi) and Latina (Michelle Rodriguez) actors to play the roles of the Navi people reminded me that it is the indigenous people of Africa, N. America, South America and Mexico that have been driven off their lands by multi-national corporations with the backing of our military or the military of right wing despots (such as in Brazil)
Avatar is much more than just science fiction… it is spiritual, it is political and it is inspiring. I would urge all that are tired of seeing corporate dominance in our lives to see this wonderful new movie.
Report thisBy Job62, December 26, 2009 at 8:26 am Link to this comment
This movie goes way beyond anything I have seen on a technical level sure but also on a political and spiritual level too. Corporate “elites” will be horrified when the real power of this movie is seen after it is shown in places like Ecuador, Venezuela, Nigeria and the middle east. The corporations have sent a message “we can take what we want.” This movie stirs in the heart the will to fight, and awaken and scream back into their faces “THIS IS OUR LAND.” I remember being motivated to workout and get in shape after seeing the Rocky movies. After Avatar I am motivated to double my efforts to buy fair trade, by local and support legislation that supports peace and a just and sustainable world. If it can do that in materialist America imagine what it can do in places where the indigenous people are being threatened with losing their way of life or even complete annihilation by the insatiable greed of corporations. If those threatened people are blessed to see this film the parallels with the modern world will be clear and fertile ground for active resistance will be created. Hopefully that active resistance will be peaceful but as in the film often there isn’t time and force becomes the only option. And as in the film that resistance will be called terrorism so keep your eyes open before you choose a side.
Report thisBy Job62, December 26, 2009 at 8:18 am Link to this comment
This movie goes way beyond anything I have seen on a technical level sure but also on a political and spiritual level too. Corporate “elites” will be horrified when the real power of this movie is seen after it is shown in places like Ecuador, Venezuela, Nigeria and the middle east. The corporations have sent a message “we can take what we want.” This movie stirs in the heart the will to fight, and awaken and scream back into their faces “THIS IN OUR LAND.” I remember being motivated to workout and get in shape after seeing the Rocky movies. After Avatar I am motivated to double my efforts to buy fair trade, by local and support legislation that supports peace and a just and sustainable world. If it can do that in materialist America imagine what it can do in places where the indigenous people are being threatened with losing their way of life or even complete annihilation by the insatiable greed of corporations. If those threatened people are blessed to see this film the parallels with the modern world will be clear and fertile ground for active resistance will be created. Hopefully that active resistance will be peaceful but as in the film often there isn’t time and force becomes the only option. And as in the film that resistance will be called terrorism so keep your eyes open before you choose a side.
Report thisBy Loak, December 22, 2009 at 3:50 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
Watching Avatar, I was struck by the resemblance to drawings in the Dr. Seuss books (children’s books by Theodore Geisel). Anybody else think it might have been an influence?
Report thisBy MC, December 21, 2009 at 6:32 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
I saw the movie at an Imax and though Imax tech is primitive compared to RealD’s digital circular polarization I found it to be a fantastic film with an excellent story line. Though many readers have commented that its a hackneyed story that has all been said before they are incorrect. Though there are similarities to earlier stories, Avatar certainly goes well beyond and actually is the highest sci fi, which has the purpose to put forward new technology or new visions. This is a distinctly new vision showing how spiritual beings can actually communicate and can bring about a better place rather than the run of the mill tripe which only brings victory to those who use force and little intelligence to conquer weaker foes and other life forms in general. I highly recommend seeing it at a regular 3D theater with the RealD tech which is truly revolutionary.
Report thisBy duane, December 21, 2009 at 3:58 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
these so called experts in entertainment ought to step back and realize the the majority of the population dont give a hoot about the story line, they only want to be entertained. If they want to have to think they will. So those who wish to influence thought should just find a hole in the ground and live with it. And yes i have an education and also am intelligent enought to know that their is a child in all of us, so use it andbe a bit more happy in life
Report thisBy sns, December 21, 2009 at 1:48 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
i am stunned that Avatar is considered anything more than mediocre. the story
is plain awful, the plot twists and general story development are generic like
going through hackneyed checklists. the fx aren’t even that good. that’s right,
they are not impressive save for motion capture emoting. this thing is a stinker.
why cameron creates a new language and fauna and essentially new alien world
spending in excess of 450M is almost as bad as the thin disingenuous save the
savages Dances with Wolves nonsense. both not half-baked and overcooked
and yet how beautiful would it be to make a similar movie right here in the rain
forest where we are still cataloging undiscovered fauna and species of wildlife
as it all dwindles away—ya think 450M would preserve quite a bit of the
lungs of our earth at the expense of saving us from middling status quo
entertainment, or lack thereof, disguised in shiny throbbing cgi rainbows of
fake.
one thing all of this conclusively confirms is the idiocy of our land. forget art,
Report thisthis flick is just like crap between most people’s ears and behind their eyes.
By ceti, December 21, 2009 at 11:53 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
It was good, very good (even in 2D), despite all the
cliches. Indeed, the RDA mercenaries getting their
comeuppance, and Cameron not flinching nor being
subtle about the message is actually quite
refreshing. The storyline is more like the Mission
with a happier ending and amped to the Nth degree.
Also, this stuff is still going on in the specific
context of indigenous people being forced to relocate
due to resource extraction, and in the broader
context of imperialism run amok.
There are some unbelievable moments, but I for one am
Report thisglad that Cameron made this film and hope the vast
mainstream gets some sort of message from it, while
the more critically minded can quibble about the
troubling but unsurprising racial politics and
hackneyed script.
By KidGenius, December 21, 2009 at 9:39 am Link to this comment
This is essentially why I wanted to see the movie in the first place…technical advancement. If there is anything cameron has, its vision. Think all the way back to T2 in the early 90s…i was awe struck.
However, I am really looking forward to TRON Legacy which is supposedly taking a technical queue from Avatar…I’ve watched the preview about 30 times…
Report thisBy eso, December 20, 2009 at 9:42 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
I did not see this Avatar “thing” yet, but my friend in the US writes:
I just saw Avatar, which no doubt will arrive in your country some day…. its being hailed as a great movie… The techniques of animation are impressive, the story is just a re-hash of old cowboy and Indian movies where the Indians are the good guys… I mean the story line is so hackneyed it was hard to believe someone could do it with a straight face… So… While it does make a good point, it is written for the lowest intelligence and from that point of view I found it boorish and offensive…
Report thisBy Fred Harris, December 19, 2009 at 12:56 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
I’m constantly amazed at the willful ignorance, of the purportedly smart, to the power of mythical archetypes to move the human spirit. This movie does it in ways that would amuse and astound Joseph Campbell.
Report this“Avatar” is brilliant. It surrounds the viewer with wonder from its beginning and doesn’t release its gentle embrace until the closing credits.
I’m also always surprised by the mundane complaints about dialogue by those who seem to imagine their own conversations and prose somehow move evocative. Natural life, even in Science Fiction fantasy, has only fleeting moments of brilliance. This film has many more than that. I can’t wait to see it again.
By Night-Gaunt, December 17, 2009 at 12:50 pm Link to this comment
once you get passed all the glitz and wow the story is a human story. Just imagine if the Spanish could insert themselves into Aztec bodies with all their data and language? How much more easily would some of them have turned native and turned against their comrads? I like the idea but for some they are either there for the ambiance or despise it for such as vainglorious and “showboating” whereas I can see it from different aspects and appreciate them all. Politically incorrect for the right wing? You betch ya!
Report thisBy anambrose, December 17, 2009 at 2:02 am Link to this comment
Not McChrystal!
Report thisEric Prince and Blackwater!
By Ken, December 16, 2009 at 10:19 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
I agree with this article and the comments. It’s all “showmanship.” It’s all special effects… but once you look at the story (or lack of one) this film is nothing to get excited about…
The worst part of this is that it’ll still make a billion dollars. Same story. Transformers (my opinion) was a terrible, loathsome film, and yet it made tons of cash. It seems like bad movies are rewarded these days. If only audiences can “wake up” and be more selective in their movie choices.
Report thisBy tres, December 16, 2009 at 10:08 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
Sounds like a total crap. I wonder the $300million spent, how much are used to hire all these “critics”?
Report thisBy WriterOnTheStorm, December 16, 2009 at 11:27 am Link to this comment
To summmarize: a clunky collection of narrative doggerel and one-dimensional picaresque heroics wrapped
up in stunning but showboating technical wizardry… Now where have we heard that before?
Peter Scheer’s review applies, albeit in lesser degrees, to just about every Hollywood tent pole picture in the
post-Star Wars era. In the late ‘70’s, the studios began to understand that spectacle was the way to go,
since it obviated the need for story or even character. As long as the viewer was sufficiently wowed, they
scarcely noticed that the content of these trundling behemoths was negligible at best, and downright
insulting in the case of pictures like Transformers 2. Who cares if the story had all the nuance of a cudgel,
the important point was that the creative aspects of the filmmaking process—the part of movie making
the studios deeply distrusted and feared because they couldn’t control it—could now be
compartmentalized, and contained.
On the other hand, technology has always been the prime mover in the arts, wether it’s the printing press
Report thisor the Moog synthesizer, or image compositing software like Flame. I can’t wait to see what Cameron’s come
up with, but what others eventually do with these new toys is where the real magic will happen.
By sollipsist, December 16, 2009 at 8:02 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
Quick quiz: which supposedly hard-hitting progressive site did articles about Tiger Woods’ mistresses and James Cameron’s latest gross mainstream spectacle?
Report thisAnswer: Truthdig—Pandering Beneath the Headlines.
By montanawildhack, December 16, 2009 at 3:44 am Link to this comment
If you see a guy taking deep drags off a blunt in a 1991 Buick Century in the parking lot of the local I-Max theater…. that’s me…. I can’t wait to see this f*&ker;.....
Report this