Dir: James Cameron, 2009, USA, 161 mins approx.
Cast: Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Sigourney Weaver, Stephen Lang, Michelle Rodriguez, Giovanni Ribisi.
Reviewed by Martyn Bamber Note: This review contains spoilers.
3D visuals and presentation, two-dimensional story and characters: that's a succinct way of describing an initial reaction to James Cameron's latest work Avatar , a combination of science fiction and fairy tale that represents the director's long-awaited return to feature directing since 1997's Titanic (not counting the deep sea documentaries he made in-between, the most well-known probably being Ghosts of the Abyss from 2003). There's the good: the visual effects (stunning and convincing), the creature and machine designs (imaginative and suitably otherworldly), the action (epic and gripping). Then there's the not so good: the story (engaging but nothing new) and dialogue (ranging from dull exposition to clichéd pronouncements). Audiences will undoubtedly be im press ed by the visual effects and 3D feel of Avatar , but will they be engaged by the conventional narrative and stereotypical characters?
The story is set in the future, and begins with a young, disabled marine named Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) arriving on the beautiful world of Pandora, a planet being mined by humans for a precious mineral, dubbed “unobtanium”. A large deposit of this valuable mineral rests under a settlement of the Na'vi, the indigenous people of Pandora. Jake joins a research team headed by Grace Augustine (Sigourney Weaver), a doctor who is studying the Na'vi and their world, and he is assigned to operate an Avatar, a biologically engineered Na'vi body that can be remotely controlled in an attempt to study the inhabitants of Pandora more closely. But Jake is under press ure to gather secret intelligence on the Na'vi from a tough as nails Colonel (Stephen Lang) and a sleazy corporate representative (Giovanni Ribisi), both of whom see the Na'vi less as a new species to be befriended and studied and more as an obstacle standing in the way of their business interests. We see Pandora and the Na'vi almost exclusively from Jake's point of view (with a voiceover and video diary entries letting us in on his thoughts about the mission) as he learns more about the Na'vi culture and people. As the story develops, Jake develops a growing attachment to Neytiri ( Zoe Saldana), a Na'vi who saves his life and teaches him about her people and her world. But Jake's blissful existence with the Na'vi is shattered when he discovers that the Colonel is plotting an aggressive action to force Neytiri's people out of their home. Jake decides to take a stand against this action, shifting his allegiance from helping the corporate and military representatives to empathising with the Na'vi.
Avatar is primarily a straightforward good versus evil action adventure film but it also touches on a range of other subjects. It's a familiar story about the destructive effects of colonialism that substitutes the Na'vi for Native Americans and human beings in general for European colonialists. The story also takes a stab at contemporary reference with regard to recent US military action (substitute “unobtanium” for “oil” and “Iraqi” for “Na'vi” and you have a clear parable about recent events in the Middle East). It's a film decrying the destruction of the environment by humans, with the story stressing the need for people to connect with and understand the natural world and a technological filmmaking marvel that shows the destructive aspect of technology while conversely demonstrating how scientific knowledge and equipment can help people understand other worlds and cultures.
Avatar also shows how we can change our identities and broaden our experience by using (and fusing with) technology. The humans and their environment are depicted with live action footage that often confines them to interiors (or they wear breathing apparatus in the visual effects Pandora environments, as the air of the planet is harmful to the human body), while the Na'vi/Avatars and their world are shown as visual effects, which allows humans operating the Avatars to free their minds, inhabit other bodies, interact with the inhabitants and their environment, and survive unaided on the surface of Pandora. This use of technology by the characters in the film could almost be a literal dramatisation of the increasing digitisation of our world. In the 21st century real people exist in digital domains (on the internet, using phones and computers), as much as or even more than they do in the physical world. People spend a lot of time using their computer-based identities and enjoying the opportunities these digital identities afford them, which function as an extension to their real world selves (an idea also touched on in films like Tron , 1982, The Matrix , 1999, and this year's Surrogates ). Jake is confined to a wheelchair in Avatar and he's thrilled when using his Avatar for the first time, as it allows him to experience walking again. As the film goes on, the Avatar opens up more opportunities for Jake, allowing him to interact with the Na'vi and their environment, which opens his mind to new ideas. But the film often skims over these interesting issues to focus on its conventional love story and on the conflict between the humans and Na'vi.
Some film fans may feel that Avatar is just a shallow spectacle compared to Cameron's earlier work, be it the taut, propulsive narrative of The Terminator (1984), the tense horror of Aliens (1986), or the longer, multi-character epic adventure in The Abyss (1989), another straightforward story involving humans and aliens that was structured around an impending armed conflict, and which featured a team looking for a natural resource (underwater oil drilling instead of mining for a mineral). But while the story of The Abyss was nothing new, the film's simple premise was bolstered by the extraordinary performances of its cast, with the standouts being Ed Harris and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio. The actors in Avatar make an im press ion, but they don't have much to work with, and are unable to develop compelling characters from the thin material. Fans of Titanic expecting a similarly moving love story in Avatar may feel that the relationship between the Jake and Neytiri lacks the charm and chemistry that Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet brought to their roles as the ill-fated romantic couple, which transcended the cardboard cut-out characters they were portraying.
Avatar sometimes feels like bits of pieces of previous Cameron works cut and pasted together. Aside from sharing the aforementioned similarities with The Abyss , the new film has some tough as nails female characters (the women portrayed by Zaldana, Weaver and Michelle Rodriguez are the latest in a long line of Cameron's strong female characters, with Linda Hamilton in the Terminator films and Weaver in Aliens perhaps being the most notable), cutting edge visual effects (arguably each Cameron film since The Abyss has foregrounded the visual effects in the marketing of the film as well as the film's narrative), a focus on military hardware ( Aliens and True Lies ) and a central love story of opposites attracting ( The Abyss and Titanic ). Avatar also has echoes of Dances with Wolves (1990) and the more recent The New World (2005), both of which told similar epic stories, but with arguably more compelling central characters and breathtaking natural imagery.
Despite these criticisms, there's still plenty to admire about Avatar beyond the visual effects . Cameron introduces the characters deftly and lays out his story clearly. He may paint his story and characters in broad strokes, but he doesn't paint a messy or dull canvas. While Avatar fails to explore the numerous intriguing ideas it presents in any great depth, Cameron still puts a fresh spin the stock characters and familiar plot with the visual effects supporting the drama rather than undermining or overwhelming it. The much-hyped 3D works well but it may surprise some people: it is subtle rather than flashy, drawing viewers into the film's world and immersing them in it rather than throwing things from that world out at them and calling attention to itself (which is surprising, considering that the new 3D process is a big marketing hook). The film is intense and involving in its action scenes, particularly in the final parts, where the identifiable Cameron third act all-action structure is very much in evidence, with the epic human versus Na'vi battle rivalling the adrenalin-pumping endings of Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) and True Lies (1994).
Even though he's on screen as a Na'vi most of the time, Sam Worthington manages to make Jake a distinctive and sympathetic hero. And Saldana, who plays a CGI Na'vi throughout, also makes a strong im press ion, although she was perkier and more interesting as Uhura in the recent Star Trek (2009). Both Worthington and Saldana are fine, but their love story feels like a mandatory blockbuster story element instead of a heartfelt romance. All the main players put in decent performances and the visual effects convincingly display the look and mannerisms of the actors playing the Na'vi's. However, it is Stephen Lang's larger than life live action performance as a deranged colonel that almost steals the film. Lang's scenery-chewing performance is as im press ive as all the visual effects on display. He scowls and yells throughout the movie and creates one of the toughest and most over the top military men in recent film history.
Overall, Avatar is an old-fashioned adventure film in new visual effects clothing. It's not a case of the The Emperor's New Clothes but it may also not be the game changing film it is touted as being or the moving story about love and sacrifice that it wants to be. Titanic may have had similarly thin characters and featured a derivative and predictable love story, but it also captured the public imagination when it was released and became a global phenomenon, which had as much to do with the charisma of DiCaprio and Winslet as it did with the then groundbreaking special effects. For all the stunning imagery in Avatar , it remains to be seen whether audiences will be hooked by the story or characters in the film. And once the novelty of seeing these new and admittedly stunning visual effects wears off, it will be interesting to see if the film becomes a firm favourite. Avatar is certainly a cinematic milestone in terms of filmmaking technology and movie marketing, but only time will tell if it will be a classic Cameron film or a footnote in the history of visual effects. Like Titanic , it's a simple, often predictable story but it's one that's spectacularly told.
© Martyn Bamber, December 2009
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