Avatar (2009) - James Cameron

Ok. So. Avatar.

I remember seeing the trailers for this one in theaters first. Before any of the CG even came on the screen, I was thinking that I was going to enjoy this one. Seemed like a cool storyline and I really enjoy Sci-Fi and new and interesting planets and creatures and so on. Then the CG came on the trailer, or should I say, the entire alien race was 3D animated. Now, at this point, I was still reeling from being slapped int eh face by GI Joe. The CG in that movie was AWFUL and made it seem like they didn't even WANT to hide it. I left with half an hour left in the movie. But I digress. I just saw another movie that was going to replace EVERYTHING it could with CG and not even try to entertain. So I wrote off Avatar as being another steaming pile of film, and I wasn't going to touch it. Then, the reviews from my friends started coming in. They raved about it, telling me how fun and exciting it was. That the CG was awesome and seamless. I was blown away. I thought this movie was supposed to be clear and unadulterated trash. Touche, Cameron. Ok. I'll give it a shot.

So I sit down in the theater and watch the previews, (The Wolfman remake looks fuckin' sweet, by the way.) then the movie starts off with some of the cheesiest dialogue I have heard in a while. I started to the dread the next 2 hours and 40 minutes of my immediate life, but I told myself I would give it a chance, I continued to watch. The film starts with a crippled man getting out of a cryo chamber after a long trip to this planet named, Pandora. His twin brother was mugged and killed and was working on some genetic project to help some company deal with an indigenous people on Pandora. You learn more about it later. Oh, and just so you know what I'm talking about, the second sentence in the ENTIRE FILM is something as such: (ahem) "My brother was the scientist, I was just the grunt. Then, a man with a gun took all that away from him...for the paper in his wallet." OH GOOD, I really hope this isn't the motivation this character's every move, or I'm leaving right now. However, they pretty much just leave it at that. Later when he meets his brother's colleagues on Pandora, they reference it, but don't really delve into it. Thank God.

So our main character, Jake, arrives on Pandora and is immediately surrounded by the typical U.S. Marine stereotypes, as well as the typical American scientist stereotypes. That's fine, I've seen enough sci-fi, war movies and sci-fi war movies where I've just learned to tune them out. They go through the normal dialogue: Why the main character is special, the hard ass lead scientist doesn't believe he can do it, he believes he can...blah blah blah. Then FINALLY we get the point. He gets into this electronic bed which puts him in the mind, and control of, an alien body, bred with the DNA of his brother. OH! They're twins! Well, that works out. Anyways, he learns to control it faster than anyone else, of course, and we move on.

Now, the aliens. The CG on them was...not that bad. Pretty believable actually. I was pleasantly surprised. Especially in the face. They actually managed to map the face of the person playing that alien onto the face of the creature. It was pretty good, and I appreciated the effort. The motion capture was spot on and it was an overall seamless transition of live-action movie to animated. Not bad at all.

So, his mission is to meet with the alien race and try to convince them that humans mining for...wait for it because the name of the mineral is AWESOME... UNOBTAINIUM. Yeah. unobtainium. Yikes, that's bad. The guy who came up with the Terminators can't think of a better name for a precious metal than unobtainium? Whatever...moving on. The natives don't want their world destroyed for mining purposes, so they fight back with bows and arrows and they're seriously outgunned. Typical stuff. Also, they love nature and so on. You get the idea...and the premise of the film. Not that hard to grasp. So these alien bodies that the main character controls is known as an Avatar. They're a Na'vi/Human hybrid bred to be controlled through a neural uplink. Cool stuff actually. New twist on an old idea, but reimagined very well. The science is believable and that's what's important. So, looking like one of them is going help bring a diplomatic solution to the insurgency against the Humans. That's the idea, anyway.

So they run into the wilderness and meet up with some cool plant life. Now let me say that besides UNOBTAINIUM, this movie is fairly imaginative. The world of Pandora is beautifully rendered and thought out. As well as the creatures that we come across as the movie goes on. Again, the animated and rendering impressed me, and was some of the best I've seen in a long time. They get attacked by a huge lion thing with no eyes and they get separated. The next 30 minutes or so is pretty predictable stuff so let me sum it up for you:

He escapes the creature, and is lost in the wilderness. He fashions a spear and walks through the jungle. A female Na'vi finds him and is going to kill him, but some floating seed thing lands on her arrow and she doesn't do it. My thought there was that he must be chosen...or something. Night time comes, which is always dangerous and he is attacked by a wild pack of nocturnal dog things. He is losing the fight and she saves him. She doesn't like him because she knows he's human. Then something weird happens and he is covered by the seed things and it turns out to be a sign from the alien deity. So he IS chosen. She takes him back to an unaccepting tribe of aliens that don't like him, but soon accept him because of the "sign". They tell him that they will teach him their ways and so on and he will become one of the them.

Enter the training montage. He's getting everything very fast and so on. He learns of a legendary warrior that appeared the last time the aliens were in peril. Same old stuff. Again, the story is very cliched and leaves much to be desired. You know, to save time, I'll skip ahead to what you've probably already figured out. He turns out to be the legendary warrior again, goes against the humans and helps the alien, with the help of Sigourney Weaver and the nerdy guy from Grandma's Boy.

Enter the epic final battle between human and alien. This was the best part of the movie. Shame it took 2 hours to get there. This battle has everything I wanted it to have. Big sky fortresses, large amounts of explosives and BOTH sides taking heavy casualties. Most importantly, Michelle Rodriguez dies, and not in a blaze of glory. She messes up and dies for it. That alone is satisfying enough for a whole star in my review rating. The ending is mega happy and predictable, but that is expected as the rest of the story lets you believe.

Avatar. A movie with fantastic visual effects, great and almost seamless CG animation, decent acting, poor and predictable story.

3 out of 5 Fern Gullys. Could have been 5 out of 5 EASILY if it weren't for the writing, but then again, we've seen this pattern with James Cameron. As someone said earlier today to me, Titanic showed the same promise. Although seeing that one guy hit the propellor after he falls off the back end of the ship is great every time I see it.

Next up, Sherlock Holmes is on the block. See you then.