20th Century Fox | USA | 162 min
Bursting with the energy of invention, James Cameron’s technological epic Avatar shows us how stories will be told in the future, in turn giving us a story to tell the moment we see it. To tell our friends what they missed or have yet to witness – computer-generated beings sweating in fear and crying in heartbreak and cursing in tongues that don’t exist on this planet, or in this solar system.
For a film built on discovery, it only seems appropriate that the plot should echo that of legendary John Smith and his exploration of the New World, which resulted in his love for it and for Pocahontas, its first daughter.
Jake Sully (a very capable Sam Worthington) is an ex-Marine without the use of his legs, whose twin brother has just died while serving a science project on a planet called Pandora. Jake is called on by his brother’s employers to step in, thanks to his identical genetic makeup. Without much convincing, Jake goes determined to “make a difference.”
And that he does. Jake works under the eye of a disapproving Dr. Grace Augustine (Sigourney Weaver), a thick-skinned genius who invented the developed avatar technology, enabling humans to fuse their minds with the bodies of one of Pandora’s indigenous species, the Na’vi. Though she regards Jake as “jarhead,” soon enough he is running around in his 9-foot-tall blue avatar body, running and jumping about like he hasn’t in some time as a human.
He gets lost from Augustine and his far smarter peer Norm Spellman (Joel David Moore) after angering a Thanator, a huge prehistoric-looking beast with large sharp teeth and greasy skin. Left alone in the wilderness, Jake is rescued by an exotic, beautiful Na’vi named Neytiri (Zoe Saldana). She is stubborn, tough and smart, at first frustrated at this human impostor, then curious. So is her tribe – Neytiri turns out to be the tribe king’s daughter. It’s about par for the pocahontas course from there on out.
Cameron’s story is left wanting, and, in some respects, so are his characters. But then Dorothy was just a farm girl thrust into the world of Oz and Luke Skywalker wasn’t too far from that. Avatar‘s defining characteristic is its proclamation that 3D technology and CG animation can do what it always promised: create another world that can immerse viewers as though it were real and alive.
Luckily, Cameron has come equipped with his new world, full of plants and animals and explanations for all of them. Good explanations too, ones that work towards the plot without feeling overly cheap, whether they be floating jellyfish (which the Na’vi hold in high regard), or the violent, high-flying banshees, a.k.a. uber-dragons. Cameron has described Pandora as “the Garden of Eden with claws,” and he’s exactly right. This is the birthplace of something new and visceral and with an uncertain future.
3D’s reemergence is confirmed here, both in relevance and importance. However, it also speaks to the difficulties present in achieving such a feat. Specifically, $500 to $600 million dollars in spending. How many films (and fimmakers) can rake up that much? One of the only ones just made his film and the other two (Peter Jackson and Steven Spielberg) are in the middle of their own (Tintin). Aside from that what/who?
Until there’s an answer to that question, we will have to sit and watch (or not watch?) the gimmicks of 3D and the mediocrity of middle-budgeted CGI. Granted, there will be gems like District 9, using special effects for a specific purpose or character, Pandora will be something far away, defined only by the creatures trapped on Earth, telling rudimentary stories of their home. If only these things could continue to keep our attention. Unfortunately now, with films like Avatar offering the whole world in its best version, the best version of something partial slice will be the worse off.
This is the strange time, the awkward time for this kind of technology. Like the decade after The Jazz Singer and sounds suffocation of movie space, a lack of funds and equipment and able bodies will hinder Cameron’s sole visual achievement from extending in any real way.
This is the waiting time for many, the feeding time for some. Cameron’s film begs the question: what next?
Who will be the one to answer?
9 out of 10
What did you think of Avatar? What do you think of this new technology?