Avatar will be available at redbox locations on Tuesday May 18th.
Its 160-minute length and surprise-free story may sag here and there, but on the big screen Avatar delivers more than enough action-adventure thrills and jaw-dropping visuals to make it well worth your time.
So, what is this Avatar thingee-ma-bob anyway?
As much as fanboys have been geeking out all fall (and especially the past week) for writer-director James Cameron’s decade-in-the-making follow up to Titanic, the fact is many non-geek (aka, regular, normal) folks still have no idea what Avatar is or why they’re supposed to be running around in a state of anticipatory euphoria over it. Or worse, they’ve had weeks of Avatar ads shoved down their throats and are sick of being told they have to go see what looks like a video-game remake of Ferngully, with giant sexy Smurfs reenacting Dances with Wolves.
So here’s what Avatar is:
–Two hours and forty minutes of absolute eye-and-mind-blowing, beautiful sci-fi action-adventure fantasy that really must be seen on as big a screen as possible.
– Cameron’s techno gauntlet being slapped across the face of every other action-fantasy director out there. The 3-D motion-capture CG technology that Cameron has developed for Avatar opens exciting new doorways to putting anything you can imagine on screen, just as he helped lead the way for CG imagery with The Abyss and Terminator 2.
– And to paraphrase Bull Durham, Avatar has a $300-million-dollar supermodel body with a five-cent head. Cameron has the stunning visual splendor down pat, but for all the eye-popping beauty, Avatar‘s story, characters, dialogue, and even the supposedly “amazing” imagination and design laid out by all this 3-D CG mastery are mostly corny, well-worn clichés. Still, hokey as it is, the story is solid enough to work as needed.
Avatar is set more than 150 years in the future, on a distant moon called Pandora (most of Cameron’s names seem to come directly from a 14-year-old geek’s notebook), where Earth corporations are hoping to strip mine the lovely, lush landscape for a rare and valuable mineral called Unobtainium. (See what I mean about the names?) This means either relocating or plowing over the moon’s native inhabitants, the 12-foot-tall, blue-skinned, elegant and noble Na’vi. In order to facilitate negotiations, human scientists have developed “avatars”—lab-grown Na’vi bodies that humans can access mentally and “live in,” thus both protecting them from Pandora’s poisonous-to-humans atmosphere and its pretty-but-deadly fauna, while ideally making diplomacy with the Na’vi run more smoothly.
Dropped into the middle of all this is Jake Scully (Sam Worthington, Terminator Salvation), a paraplegic Marine who hopes that by helping the Corporation and its military “security” contractors he can earn expensive surgery to repair his spine. He’s assigned to the Pandora science division and taught by its head (Sigourney Weaver) to operate a Na’vi avatar. But giddy with the ability to walk, run, and jump again in his Na’vi avi, Jake quickly gets lost in the rain forest of Oz, is adopted by a tribe of Na’vi, and taught the ways of “The People” by the chief’s lovely daughter Neytiri (Star Trek’s Zoe Saldana). If you can’t see where all this is headed, then you’ve probably never heard of John Smith and Pocahontas or A Man Called Horse.
But all that plot stuff I just told you? You can fuggitaboutit. Supposedly Cameron has had the Avatar story idea for decades and was just waiting for CG technology to catch up so he get it out of his head and onto the screen. (He’s said that seeing Gollum in Lord of the Rings convinced him the time had arrived.) But along the way the hi-tech cart got out in front of the big, blue horse. Because Avatar ultimately is not about that fairly familiar story and its very predictable characters—it’s about how impressive it all looks when rendered in 3-D digital CG on a giant screen.
And it does look very impressive. Sixty percent of Avatar exists only on servers: The Na’vi, their pristine world with its floating mountains and menagerie of day-glo critters, and the Corporation’s bad-ass military gunships are all computer generated. Yes, that does give the film a sheen of video-game artificiality, but rendered at such a mind-blowing high level of detail and epic scope that you quickly forget and forgive the vague sense of shiny hyper-unreality.
Throughout all this, there’s a pretty heavy-handed eco-message laid out about the Na’vi’s bond with their environment and the immorality of uprooting a native culture and committing genocide just to get at valuable resources. The Na’vi are draped in enough Native American and African signifiers so that no one is going to miss Cameron’s clear allegories. There’s also a healthy dollop of Gaiaism and New Age mysticism poured over it all.
The funny thing is that it’s really Cameron, not Jake Sully who has gone native over the years. He was once a techno-lunk who loved nothing more than coming up with cool weapons and tough guys (or gals) to use them. But since Titanic (or really, The Abyss), Cameron has embraced his spiritual, romantic side. (See, there’s still hope for Michael Bay!) In fact, the Space Marines of Aliens (still one of my favorite action films) are now the gung-ho, blood-thirsty thugs of Avatar. It works out well for Cameron the reformed warrior—in this best of both worlds he can preach all about peace, love, and understanding the land and its peoples, while still strutting along to a noble warrior’s code and staging massive testosterone-fueled battles full of kick-ass future-military weaponry.
And it’s in those air battles that Avatar, for all its tree-hugging sappiness, truly entertains—the last 40 minutes of the film feature an epic aerial dogfight between the metal-machine military ships and the Na’vi’s swooping dragon-fly-lizard mounts that is just all sorts of fantastic. Cameron has usually been earth- (or sea-) bound, so to watch him cut loose in the air on such a huge scale is Avatar’s biggest visual treat and the best showcase for its 3-D dazzle.
Unfortunately, for the rest of the film, all that 3-D CG dazzle is put to use on creature and landscape designs that look nice, but are anything but “alien.” Long-time sci-fi fans won’t find much on the screen that they haven’t seen before: Pandora is a rain forest decorated with coral-reef colors, the floating islands have been done before, and the beasties on land and in the air are pretty typical looking—like the Na’vi, they are mostly vibrantly tinted Earth creatures with a few parts swapped around. This is partly because for all his muscular cinematic instincts, Cameron is not a highly imaginative creator–but he is also savvy enough to know better than to put truly alien designs on the screen and thus confuse or, well, alienate a broader, mainstream audience.
Another nagging problem with Avatar is you don’t feel any real threat to Sully when he’s facing off against Pandora’s critters. The mental connection between human “driver” and avatar is never fully explained, but there’s no indication that if Jake’s avatar Na’vi were to be eaten it would have any physical effect on his mind or human body. (The only “cost” is a literal one—we’re told the alien avatars are very expensive to produce.) So we never really worry about our hero. That underscores one of Avatar’s subtexts: This is a film that centers on the use of avatars to fight and “play” within an alien world—all of it created in our world by using super-advanced video-game technology. In that sense, Avatar really becomes a film about gaming, about the psychological experience of leaving your mundane human body and living in an artificial world much prettier, more exciting, and more fun than your own.
In Titanic, Cameron tapped into a perfect, box-office-busting mix of cheeseball romantic melodrama and epic, gripping ship sinking effects. With Avatar he’s hoping to fold his old-school military-tech-action leanings into the mix. The question is, will non-geek, non-sci-fi-loving folks sign on for the ride? The inevitable romance between Sully and Neyteri is clearly shoehorned in amidst the action sequences in order to draw in the female audiences that made Titanic (and Twilight) such huge hits. But whether today’s Earth humans will emotionally buy into the love story remains to be seen. Certainly the Na’vi are nicely rendered and fully expressive—despite the initial Smurf jokes, you quickly forget you aren’t watching real, living beings.
Still, Cameron will never be mistaken for an actors’ director. While Saldana is terrific as the Na’vi warrioress (the CG characters are “acted” through motion-capture, same as Gollum and Scrooge were in LOTR and A Christmas Carol), Worthington comes off as an uninteresting, uninspiring lump in both his human and avatar bodies.
Weaver, Cameron’s Aliens star from 23 years ago, is a welcome human presence, although neither her nor Worthington’s avatars look and feel as fully realistic as Saldana’s Neytiti does. Giovanni Ribisi is mostly wasted as the Coporation’s representative on Pandora, and as the head of the security force, the excellent character actor Stephen Lang (Public Enemies) does as much as he can with the military megalomaniac stereotype.
Stunningly beautiful, Avatar is a thrilling one night stand for your eyeballs, but you don’t want to wake up the next morning and try to have a conversation with it. But now that Cameron has bullied and pioneered his way into this new cinematic territory, I can’t wait for another film maker to show me something on screen I have not ever imagined, let alone seen before. I keep thinking of how Brian Wilson’s Beach Boys and Lennon’s Beatles pushed each other to create better and better albums in the ‘60s. So ignoring for a moment Cameron the hack writer, congratulations are in order for Cameron the maestro of spectacle. And here’s hoping that in the near future some other director out there—known or unknown—takes up his visual and technical challenge and steps forward to outdo Avatar.
Posted on December 18, 2009 at 1:34 pm
Ferngully!!! I KNEW the look of this movie reminded me of something. That’s it! Great review!
Posted on December 18, 2009 at 1:55 pm
Amen!
There were many a time I forgot I was watching CG as the stuff looked that amazingly real.
Posted on December 18, 2009 at 3:20 pm
OMG, this could be another saga besides Twilight. Hope to God, there will not be any series of this movie-let this one be one darn movie.
Amen, this has been finally released-praise the lord!
Posted on December 19, 2009 at 8:20 pm
Great, fantastic movie with amazing special effects. Must see!
Posted on December 20, 2009 at 6:54 am
Great Movie, Fantastic Visual Effects. A MUST SEE in 3D. I saw it in 3D and it couldn’t have been better. I will see it again in standard view and determine which is better. But it was an Awesome movie in 3D.
Posted on December 20, 2009 at 10:32 am
Great Movie in 3D. Must see!!!! Will be seeing it again in standard definition and I will see which is better. Awesome MOVIE in 3D.
Posted on December 20, 2009 at 2:00 pm
My family is waiting for rent at the Redbox… :)
Posted on December 21, 2009 at 9:44 am
To moviegoer123: Don’t. Don’t wait for this one. See it in theaters. Trust me. In 6 months, you will be KICKING yourself for not seeing it in theaters. Most amazing blockbuster movie of the year. Easily.
Posted on December 21, 2009 at 3:12 pm
I’m soooo with Fiirvoen on this one!
Seeing it on your TV is slapping James Cameron in the face with a cold, wet fish…completely wrong! This is THE MOVIE to see in theatres!!!
So many movies lose their luster when they hit your home screen…especially blockbusters that let’s be honest, very few home theatres have the awesome surround sounds that movie theatres do!
As a movie geek, I strongly encourage you to see it now!!!
Posted on December 21, 2009 at 4:19 pm
Now I’m in a quandary… While I certainly agree Avatar needs to be seen in the theaters, your suggestion of slapping James Cameron in the face with a cold, wet fish is ALSO very appealing…
Posted on December 21, 2009 at 4:50 pm
To Locke, Matthew S, and Fiirvoen: You are completely right, I should see this one in the theare because I don’t want to slap James Cameron on the face with a cold, wet fish so I’ll think about this one to see in the theatres.
As a movie geek like all of you, I agree with you all.
Now I’m kind of in awe with Avatar but we will see what happens if I see it in the theatres…I’ll try not to slap James Cameron in the face with a cold, wet fish.
I knew about Titanic just last year and I knew the director last year also which was James Cameron so I should just go out there and be brave to see Avatar and give James Cameron a shot on this one.
Thanks to Fiirvoen, Matthew S. and wonderfully Locke for all the encouragement!
Posted on December 21, 2009 at 4:56 pm
Like I said: SHUNNNNNN!! SHUN THE NONBELIEVER! SHUUUUUUUUUNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNAAAAAH!
Posted on December 21, 2009 at 8:00 pm
Oh okay, I understand what you mean Fiirvoen. I’m not avoiding this film, I’m just probably be waiting for rent.
Slapping James Cameron in the face with a cold, wet fish wouldn’t be no good so I will give him credit on Titanic and this one.
Posted on December 21, 2009 at 10:28 pm
Heh…I’m glad you are considering the idea Locke, I truly am…
I mean, could you imagine, at his Oscar speech for Titanic, Kanye West runs up there, slaps James Cameron’s face with the cold, wet fish, and tells him that Beyonce had the “best video of all time?”
Now that…would be epic…
Posted on December 22, 2009 at 7:40 pm
……..
Posted on December 27, 2009 at 2:47 pm
I had no idea what this Movie was about and I’m glad i went i was pleasantly surprised, it was awesome worth seeing on a big screen!!
Posted on December 28, 2009 at 8:56 am
Matthew S., that would be very interesting but we both never have met James Cameron at all, so we can’t just slap him. Mr. Cameron is a film director, etc so we have to respect him for what he does in the Entertainment\Film industry.
I’ll be waiting for the DVD release to see it and for all those folks out there, I will research the DVD release date for you but I’m pretty sure there is no DVD or Blu-ray release date set.
Posted on December 29, 2009 at 4:47 pm
I loved this movie!!! Love,love,loved!! It takes alot to entertain me and I was fully engrossed in this movie from begining to end. I so wanted to just jump into the screen and run wild with all the blue people. I just couldn’t stand it that that was not possible…I’m going to go see it again as soon as possible in hopes that maybe a miracle should happen! A must see for sure!!
Posted on December 29, 2009 at 4:49 pm
Meh. Very visually stunning but basically “Dances with Wolves” in 3D and with blue native Americans.
Posted on December 29, 2009 at 5:02 pm
I’m still waiting for rent!
All those folks out there who are so anxious for the DVD & Blu-ray to come out, I will research the date in a few weeks. It just came in theatres, I think there is no home video release date set yet. I’ll let you know guys, when I know I will post up the release date of DVD & Blu-ray Avatar. I would have to research the date since those darn distribution companies don’t tell you anything unless you research the date. I’ll be researching. :)
Posted on December 29, 2009 at 6:30 pm
This movie is a great action,colorful,interesting theory about what are earth is really able to take and give us. dannyj do I know you? You sound like my brother just wondering if we are on the same blog! Crazy if so, but if not love the dedication of the work you put into your hobby:0) LOL
Posted on December 29, 2009 at 6:37 pm
Thanks Mr. Cameron for making such a wonderful movie. I can say you and your staff have set new standards for how movies should be made. I appreciate your teams eye on detail and the effort of the actors to bring us such a great show. Please don’t retire anytime soon, you have a great imagination and keep it coming.
Posted on December 29, 2009 at 8:18 pm
Amazing Movie !!! Went To See It Knowing Very Little About It .. At 12.50 For A Seat In 3D , I Must Say I Would Do It Again…As A Matter Of Fact I Plan To See It Again Soon… This Is A Must See Movie , I Can Only Imagine The Small Screen Giving This Movie Very Little Respect..But I Am Sure I Will Own The Video When It Comes Out… I Would Recommend This To Any And All Movie Lovers… Kick Ass Flick , Great Job Mr. Cameron , You Have Done It Again..
Posted on December 29, 2009 at 8:25 pm
There is no DVD & Blu-ray release date set yet for Avatar.
Posted on January 6, 2010 at 7:25 pm
5 stars
Posted on January 12, 2010 at 3:54 pm
Just saw it yesterday, 3d IMAX….OMG, what an incredible experience. I want to be an Avator too…I’m nearly there at 6ft 2″ but I need to work on the blue stripy skin somewhat! NEVER see this on your TV, go as big as you can in 3d, you won’t believe your eyes!
Posted on January 13, 2010 at 2:38 am
This is one of those movies I will see a few more times in the biggest digital screen available, but alas, I will not rent or buy. It is pure unadulterated eye-candy. as said before no earth shaking acting or story line. Totally a “been there done that” story. The actors are usually better than the cliche script. Many other better movies to buy in this vein….. BUT, absolutely no better big theatre experience out there at this time. It is a great theatrical experience, not a great movie.
If you are a renter-type viewer and has less than an IMax quality home theatre, Get off your butt and spend a ten. It’ll be a lot more worth it than the bad chinese take-out you would spend it on. (maybe while your at it go someplace nice to dinner for the after-glow)
Posted on January 17, 2010 at 11:02 am
This movie was AMAZING! I saw this movie in 3D, the best choice, (Well, besides Imax!). Avatar is the kind of film you must see in Imax and/or 3D to give that special “POW!” to it. The special effects were so well done, some parts in the movie made me feel I was actually there! A must see!
Posted on January 20, 2010 at 12:54 am
I absolutely loved this movie. I may go as far as to say it is the best movie I’ve ever seen.. Rivaling Matrix, Dark Knight, Pearl Harbor, Titanic, Lord Of The Rings.. It is just a step up from everything, with the stunning visual effects and bigger than life mentality. And I thought the message behind it was so powerful as well.. Just an excellently done movie. Saw it in 3D, and probably going to see it again in 3D. It’s that good.
Posted on January 21, 2010 at 3:54 pm
After watching this on 3D, I don’t want to watch any other movie ever again
Posted on January 21, 2010 at 9:02 pm
Are you sure about that L’as de trefle?
Posted on January 25, 2010 at 9:20 pm
I just saw this film tonight.
I loved the film and I am so EXCITED FOR THE SEQUELS, I am literally jumping out of my socks for the two sequels Cameron has planned to do. Can’t wait for the sequels, forget about Twilight — this is the NEW Twilight!
Posted on January 26, 2010 at 7:54 pm
I went to see this movie in IMAX 3d and like some other viewers I had no idea what the movie was about…… I sat two rows infront!! I thought it was going to be the worst but the movie was sooooo gd it didn’t matter it felt like I was in the movie. I loved it!!! Awesome movie!