Movie Review: Avatar

THREE THINGS I LIKED:

1. YEP, THOSE SPECIAL EFFECTS ARE PRETTY DARN SPECIAL — There is no doubt about James Cameron's mastery of CGI after seeing the world of Pandora. And coming from someone who hasn't been particularly attracted to the gimmick of 3D since the concept was forever destroyed by Super Bowl XXIII, I can comfortably say that it wasn't but a couple scenes into Avatar before I forgot about the glasses I was wearing. Beyond that, I imagine that the film still would look equally impressive in traditional 2D and was relieved that the movie ended up being more of an experience that pulls you in rather than blows you away.
   
2. IT DOESN'T FEEL AS LONG AS THE RUNNING TIME SAYS IT IS — Just like Titanic, it was hard not to be scared off from the nearly three-hour length here. And just like Titanic, Cameron keeps Avatar moving along like a real pro.
3. WE CAN START REFERRING TO HIM AS JUST "J.C." NOW, RIGHT? — You can say what you'd like about how the man came off when he proclaimed himself "King of the World" and spoke about how long it would take for technology to catch up to his vision, but the bottom line remains this: James Cameron remains one of the most accomplished directors when it comes to getting butts into seats. His numbers speak for themselves and despite whatever flaws Avatar has, the movie is only going to give people more reason to back Cameron to reach even further out there, technologically speaking, as opposed to ever being forced to pull back.

THREE THINGS I DIDN'T:

1. SOUND FAMILIAR? — My immediate thought was similar to the title Stephanie Zacharek used for her review over at Salon, which made sense too since Dances with Wolves won Best Picture, I guess. But other younger friends of mine tossed out Ferngully, Pocahontas, The Last of the Mohicans and just about every other white man-as-hero scenario from past tales where a more primitive species needs assistance.
   
2. SPEAKING OF SOUND, J.C. STILL HAS A LEGENDARY TIN EAR FOR DIALOGUE — For all the 3D wonder of the settings, most of the characters in Avatar are remarkably two-dimensional—at best. We can definitely see the movements of actress Zoë Saldana in her performance as Netyiri, but she's little more than just a vague love interest only interested in being a love interest for the movie's paralegic protagonist, Jake Sully (Sam Worthington). More irritatingly memorable are Giovanni Ribisi's sleazy corporate type (flesh reminder that capitalism-is-bad) and Stephen Lang's crazy military guy (flesh reminder that war-is-bad too) who gets to say things like, "You are not in Kansas anymore, you are on Pandora," and "We will fight terror with terror."
3. THIS IS WHY THE RED STATES HATE HOLLYWOOD — The movie's more fascinating when exploring the conflict between the physical limitations of Sully's human Marine and the sudden freedom of his training as a Na'vi native warrior, but instead Cameron opts to lay it on thick with speeches expressing ecological concerns for Pandora. It's somewhat ironic that a movie so clearly trying to be a technological landmark of next-generation filmmaking ends up once again hammering home the purity of Mother Earth pro-environment parable.
   

25 WORDS OR LESS:

Delivers everything you'd expect except for something you didn't.