Movie Review: Avatar

(This article contains spoilers, but they don't matter too much.)

In the world of academia, scholars and scientists rarely achieve notoriety for original thoughts. It is usually those who present an idea built with the support of their predecessors who succeed in being recognized. For example, Benoit Mandelbrot's fractal model of natural mathematics would not be relevant if he had not corroborated the ideas of scholars before him to illustrate his point. The movie Avatar works along the same formula, by combining all of the ideas from the many movies than came before it into a single opus; the spectacular ultimate in "shame on us" movies. At 2 hours and 40 minutes, there is more than enough room for at least five allegorical plot devices, all working simultaneously in natural harmony to decisively proclaim that armies, corporations and human beings in general are heartless, cruel and unnecessary, while all life should be respected and preserved, and all humanoid species in the universe make it a point to cover their nipples and genitalia. Avatar will probably go down in history as the movie that made all those other movies relevant (and yet insignificant in its wake) because it amalgamates them into a presentation that represents a landmark in movie theater experiences.



Let me repeat that this movie is an experience and I encourage you to seek out the best way to view it; in IMAX 3D. A lot has been said about this movie's use of 3D and I find myself complicit in the notion that it sets a standard. While James Cameron's vision is probably more fully realized than 99% of the other directors out there, we can expect to see a boom of in-theater technology that seeks to expand the level of immersion that audiences have when they line up for a blockbuster. That is not to say that the dredge of romantic comedies can be improved by any means. However, I'm not in the business of making predictions, so I am going to focus on what I know already.

This movie is incredibly cool. It makes me sad to think that it will be bastardized for years to come with promotional campaigns for fast food and merchandise. There was a lot of work put into the culture of the alien (or native, depending on how you look at it) species called the Na'vi, which makes empathizing with them easy. They have their own language, lore, and customs, which provides a solid hold for geeks of all ages to emulate them at the expense of sexual exploration. It pains me that anatomically incorrect action figures will be produced, but I have to admit that I am looking forward to the cosplay. I concede that I found myself mildly aroused by the lithe, naked bodies of the Na'vi and I count it among the film's weaknesses that I did not ever see a large blue nipple or wang dangling out in the open. The perfectly shaped behinds and sideboobs will have to do.

The story, as mentioned, is not original. Many people have drawn parallels mainly to Dances With Wolves, while I see hints of almost every other epic movie in existence. I can't even take a stab to point out the "heart" of the movie because it uses so many themes at once. Whether it is an allegory for the displacement of Native Americans or if it is a plea to start being more "green" (blue?) is irrelevant to me. The point is that we've all seen this movie before, but it has never been as beautiful. No amount of spoilers can ruin this movie because by the time you get to the end battle where the bad guy is stopped right at the last moment before he can kill the hero, you've already been blown away by the fantastic visuals that make every other movie that came before it look like Gumby.

I'm not prepared to give the plot a complete pass, though. There are some subtleties, that I call anti-themes, that I paid attention to that bothered me. The first was the obvious projection of primitive humanity on a clearly alien race. The Na'vi are too human. I keep telling myself that this wouldn't be a story worth telling if they were any different, but at least District 9 attempted at least a partial departure and succeeded. The fact that the Na'vi resemble our romantic vision of a peaceful race more than a naturally occurring alien race with no connection to humanity allows the movie to be taken too bluntly as an indictment of the modern white man and his imperialistic urges.

Speaking of too much resemblance, I felt that the animal life of Pandora was also too similar to that of Earth. Owing to the randomness of evolution, I would have expected far more imaginative types of animals. Instead, we get 6-legged horses, oily-skinned dogs and hammerhead rhinos. Other thematic peeves I had were based on the treatment of spirituality and morals. The Na'vi are dogmatically monogamous, while the humans mock the Na'vi link with nature. To me, this represents more lazy storytelling, as the "mother nature" in this movie seems to be just as vindictive as the religious gods some of us worship on Earth. Except that this nature actually comes through when you need it.

While this movie was an amazing theater experience, I do not see it translating to home theater well. The shallow story may not hold up without the 3D effects and superb sound. It is with this worry that I humbly suggest that an unrated version be released for DVD. What home theaters lack in immersion, they can definitely make up for in private titillation. Give the Na'vi some nipples and don't pretend that their jewelry always conveniently covers them - not with all that running and jumping about that they do. Thank you.