Avatar

I was debating whether to do a Bulls/Illini post or an Avatar post because I saw the movie on Friday night. I went with Avatar, but a basketball post may be in the near future. Anyway, I saw Avatar in 3D last Friday. I know its been out a while, but I really don't see too many movies anymore. I should start from the beginning. When I first saw previews for this film a while back I thought, "This is going to be horrible." When I heard how much it cost to make I said, "This is going to be a disaster." I wasn't really interested until I heard how much money the movie continued to make so naturally I had to see what all the fuss was about. Standard spoiler warning applies.

• 3D Glasses. So this is the first, non-Disney park movie I've seen in 3D. I had a little problem with viewing it at first. It kinda strained my eyes for the first half hour. I really took me out of the movie, because I couldn't really get comfortable. I eventually got used to the glasses even if they were a bit over sized and would occasionally fall down my nose. I'd like to see it again without 3D to see the difference.
  
• Storyline. The storyline was a bit predictable. From the moment, you see Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) and the Navi you realize there's going to be a Pocahontas/Dances with Wolves theme developing here. You also get a bit of a Last Samurai feel the way Neytiri (Zoe Saldana) teaches Jake how to be a Navi and train like them, which results in Jake leading them against the enemies with the advanced technology which he is familiar with. The movie doesn't seem to dwell too long and Jake's decision to accept Navi culture. From the start he is curious about it, so it seems as though the movie accepts that you must know the building theme. The only real suspense storywise happens near the end of the movie. I was curious to see how dark James Cameron would take the story. Would Jake lead the Navi over the humans and their profit driven ways, or would the machines of industry continue to destroy the nature world and rid it of its wonder? Well Cameron chose the safe side and lead the hero to victory, but I wonder if the movie would have held more meaning or if it would have been too moral or preachy they other way.
  
• Graphics/Visuals. The visuals were very impressive it the way that you accept the environment. I sat there watching the film and about 30 minutes after arriving on Pandora I realize that I'm not looking at anything real. This planet it fake. Its plants are not real. The Navi are CGI. The ground does not light up under their feet. I think that's a real credit to the movie that the visuals are so impressive you forget its computer generated. I remember watching the Matrix Reloaded and seeing the scene where Neo fights the Agents Smith in the courtyard between two buildings. The graphics were obviously trying to mix CGI shots with live action. The CGI was apparent and it took you out of the moment. Avatar was different.
  
• Empathy. I also liked the movie, because of the empathy Cameron creates with the Navi. They are these large, blue human-like beings who dwell in a large tree. Besides the obvious underdog status, if done wrong, the audience could be made to not care about these beings at all. But you get a sense for their way of life and how they think they are smarter than the "Sky people" because the Sky people don't understand certain things about life and nature.
• Negatives. One thing I though was very annoying was the name unobtainium. Really? Unobtainium? I almost laughed when I heard it. Sounds like something they would make up on a children's cartoon. I also didn't understand the character of Parker Selfridge (Giovanni Ribisi). I understand he's like the on site company executive who seems to have a conscious, but still driven by profit. He also seems vindictive too when Jake and Grace (Sigourney Weaver) fail to evacuate the Navi from the tree. I guess he's there to show the business side as opposed to the Science side (Weaver) and the miltary side (Stephen Lang as Col. Quaritch). Maybe I'm nitpicking but the character didn't seem very consistent. Another nitpicky thing was the names of the Navi. Now this ends up not really mattering, but I couldn't tell you the name of any of the Navi without looking it up. Its harder to remember unfamiliar names without a memory device.
  
• Connectivity. This is the part of the movie I enjoyed the most. The contrast between the humans and the Navi. The humans get in large armored vehicles which they control. The Navi use organic connections to control flying and horse like animals. Humans enter in data in computers and other informational networks to keep track of it. The Navi are connected to the past and their surroundings by an organic network of trees and electrical impulses that connects the environment. It's kinda of a science fiction way of looking at Native American view of the connectivity of all lifeforms. All of that said without central aspect of the film, the Avatar. Now Avatar, the movie, really ignores the moral implications of growing a lifeform to take it over. This is something which probably distracts from what Cameron was trying to achieve, but what I think is a very unexplored side. Do the Avatars have thoughts besides what the humans think? Do the Avatars dream? Is there no consciousness in the Avatar? Is it right to grow a being just to use it essential as a tool? Once again, very unexplored but not the aim of the movie.

The movie is definitely worth a look and far surpassed my very low bar for it. If nothing else it is visually stunning and crafts enough depth to make it a good movie.

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