I had the opportunity to see several movies over break. Unfortunately I haven’t yet taken the time to review them. That needs to change. And so I’ll start with the first one I saw (which happened to be the best).
We have a tradition in my family. On Christmas Day, we generally always have symphony beef and then go to a matinee. This is how we saw the three Lord of the Rings movies. This year we saw another epic fantasy (with a definite sci-fi flair): Avatar. By now everyone reading this has likely already seen the movie or heard enough about it to decide whether they want to or not; I don’t really expect this review to change any minds.
Visually it’s stunning, and worth seeing for this reason alone. Few movies immerse you enter their environment like Avatar was able to. Particularly the 3d version draws you in and makes you feel like you are right there. This is made all the more incredible by the world — Pandora — that the filmmakers developed. It’s unlike any we’ve seen or known. The plants are colorful and fluorescent and intriguing, and the wildlife exciting and fearsome. It’s done so well that you quickly forget all the computer animation involved.
As for as the story goes — it’s not going to win any awards for originality. I saw the plot played out in Dances With Wolves, Pocahontas, and others. It doesn’t really drift from this stereotype (in fact there is a funny summary of Pocahontas “corrected” to be for Avatar floating around the ‘net). As long as you don’t expect a groundbreaking script, though, you won’t be disappointed in this regard. Particularly if you liked the aforementioned movies, the Avatar script won’t be troublesome to you.
The message is what a lot of people have been talking about. I’ve heard many upset by the portrayal of a marine that turns on his fellow soldiers in order to help the Navi people (to the supposed point of renouncing humanity). Or the not so subtle critique of US military presence in Iraq. Or the denouncement of seemingly all powerful corporations exploiting anything (and anyone) for their own gain. Or the pantheism of the Navi people. Frankly I’m surprised that some of these are the issues they are made out to be. Who for instance is really for a standing military (or mercenary band) that needlessly shoots and kills civilians? Or the exploitation of natural resources leading to the genocide of a people? We should be ready and willing to renounce such extreme greed (and that is what the movie goes after — not the military itself or even corporations). I can understand a raised eyebrow or two at the pantheistic threads. But I think it’s probably too simple to label the spirituality of Avatar as pantheistic though. The world itself is a giant bio-network. Everything, while independent, has the means of “plugging in” (for the Navi, it’s a fiber optic cord patch in their hair). There is a deity worshipped and unlike traditional pantheism (which is by its nature deistic in the sense of a non-interventionist god/goddess) she does intervene in the end on behalf of the people. That doesn’t necessarily change the pagan ties, but it is a made up world, in a made up future, with an entirely different earth history and is something that lots of movies (including the Lord of the Rings) gets a pass for by the same people critiquing Avatar; that makes the “spiritual” critique ring kind of hollow to me. That’s all personal opinion though.
Anyways, I started by saying this was the best movie I saw this past holiday break and it definitely was. My wife and I, and my parents all thoroughly enjoyed it. I still remember when the star, Jake, flies in on a tamed dragon — the biggest on Pandora — and unites the Navi in order to try and save them. It’s epic in that it presents a world never seen and an adventure never experienced (if you discount the recycled plot elements). If you haven’t seen it, I definitely would say it’s worth it.