Avatar *Here there be spoilers*

[Distracted]

Not really. I didn't say she thought she was his MOTHER. I said she felt maternally toward him. Any woman who's ever brought her sick husband medicine in bed when he was sick, tucked him in, and then kissed him good night on the forehead before turning out the light has done the same. When your man is sick you want to take care of him in a maternal fashion. All the more so if he actually suddenly LOOKED like a child, don't you think?

[WarpGirl]

Dang! I must be tired I saw the word maternal and red lights started flashing. I think it's time to turn in.

[Elessar]

OK, even though it's an equally ridiculous time for me to be doing so I'm going to go ahead and leave my review of Avatar - even though I don't think I have a lot of new things to say. If you like me anyway, continue and we'll see . I'll put some form to this so I don't ramble:


1. Pros

2. Cons

3. Favorite Parts



1. Pros

I have to think hard about this one because it's harder to distinguish pros when so much of it was great. I would say that it's greatest success was in not only the quality and definition of the CGI but the seamless transition from CGI to real film, and in the effect of the 3D experience. I've not seen any other movie in 3D though, so I can't say it's better or worse relative to any others.

The second strength was in the depth of characters (save the Colonel - like someone said, Cameron doesn't do complex villains - actually, there's an exception to that, Billy Zane's character in Titanic was complex). I felt that many of the human and Na'Vi characters were multifaceted and multidimensional. The younger chief who became chief later, I very much expected to be this 1-D uber dickhead character that Jake would inevitably end up fighting to the death. Predictability of his death aside, I was surprised when he showed openness to accepting Jake and listening to him. Even though that was in part a little more mushy gushy than the reality might've been, at least it was a 180 from his previous pattern of behavior, giving him some depth.

Third I would rank the development and execution of the love story. Most films, not to mention "cartoon" films, do an absolutely atrocious job of realistically developing a romantic subplot. While a little predictable, it was enjoyable to watch, believable in its evolution, and morally genuine in the way the characters felt about each other. What I found particularly compelling, which wasn't all that well elucidated, was the question of whether Jake felt "in love with" Neyteri when he was out of the link... it made you wonder if he could even reconcile the two worlds in his head when he was "in human form". In a way, considering the complete disconnection between the world of Pandora as he experienced it as an Avatar (particularly the difference in his mobility), and his experience as a human; it's very conceivable that the two would almost feel like playing a video game, which is sort of the implication when he says "everything is backwards now. It feels like that's the real world and this one's a dream" or something to that effect. That implies that at the beginning, he saw his experiences as an Avatar on Pandora "like a dream".

Another great strength was the personification of the NaVi. They felt very real and very personable, not cartoonish. That's not to say that they didn't feel and seem alien - very much so, but in a relatable and awe-inspiring way. Their beliefs and their culture seemed very believable, even if very abstract and hard to grasp. Cameron's inventive ideas with NaVi culture were so original (to my eyes, others who have read similar types of fantasy literature may have found it derivative), that I look back and realize that MY discovery of NaVi culture probably felt similar to European first discovery of actual Native American culture, how alien and strange it all was.

2. Cons

These are probably going to be concise because only very individual things stand out in my mind. I was, of course, not happy with how stereotypically "the military" and especially the Colonel was portrayed. I guess you can't really say that all of the Marine Corps was demonized because after all, Jack himself was former enlisted. What is a little backwards about the characterization is that if anything, on average you are going to find more Marines that act and think like the Colonel among enlisted personnel, and on average you are going to find more reserved, kindhearted, slow-to-anger, thoughtful and considerate types among Marine officers. That's just the nature of the military... I guess it's a common Hollywood stereotype to portray leaders (which Hollywood typifies as officers, even though that's a huge generalization) as big, bad brooding villains. I also didn't like how the only redeemable military person among the background characters was a female pilot. Number one, women are (don't freak out on me, this is just a by-and-large generalization) on average less psychotically aggressive and macho about "KILL EM ALL" than men, so it doesn't really lend credibility to the average male foot soldier by making her a morally conscious, considerate character. Also, again, pilots on average, are more of an intellectual breed of soldier. They're usually less YEEHAW, gung ho about the whole thing than ground pounders. So, basically, to have the only good guy military character besides Jake Sully be a female pilot, you do nothing at all for the perception being generated by the rest of the military cast that all male military ground personnel are blood thirst, light-em-up amoral psychopaths. I realize that all of the soldiers were hired guns, but still, Sully mentions that the same people who once trained as Marines to protect freedom on Earth were now being paid as hired guns. That's basically saying that the same people who once wore the uniform are these people here, so if you characterize these people here as irredeemable cold blooded killers, you're characterizing the military as that, even if they're no longer wearing the uniform, because it's the same people, he just said so. That part irritated me. It's kind of an oddball that Jake happened to be a Marine. I did like how he said "there's no such thing as a former Marine" though

Giovanni Ribisci's character was really annoying and 1-dimensional until the end when we saw like a 1.5 second glimpse of him scowling and frowning when the Home Tree was destroyed... but that wasn't quite enough to really develop him and demonstrate any kind of remorse. He seemed reluctant before that, but not enough to actually do anything about it. If he wasn't amoral and cold blooded, he was spineless and cowardly.

3. Favorite Parts

As someone mentioned, two of my favorite scenes were

1. Neyteri holding Jake in his human form (I had been waiting for her to see him in human form since the beginning)

2. The Avatars next to the humans. The humans looked/felt like little kids being ushered out of the room.

The action sequences were great, but in particularly the sequence when the 2nd chief leapt onto the rear platform of that ship and slaughtered all those guys because that was one of the only times we saw how truly devastating a NaVi would be in hand-to-hand combat with humans that weren't in big Mechs.

I really liked how nicely they wrapped up the mystery surrounding Pandora as far as the biochemical connection between all the trees. There's talk about a grove of Aspen trees in Colorado that are all one single giant organism. Those kinds of things raise very interesting philosophical questions about the definition of sapience and sentience. Since so many movies and stories have talked about nature spirits and Gaia and all that kind of mythology, without any scientific clothing, that type of background would have felt pretty tired and unoriginal to me. The fact that it was sort of mixed with this sort of psuedo-scientific basis to some of the interactions between the NaVi and the environment, it felt more unique. It didn't remove any of the mystique or the mystery for me, though, because in the end, the deal with Eweya (sp?) wasn't really explained or quantified. Quite the opposite, when Sigourney Weaver's character said "She's real...." basically all scientific explanations were pissed out the window and we suddenly had this question of WHAT this God being they worship is. That's the essence off fantasy, and it's preserved in parallel w/ the science fiction aspect of the biochemical transmission of information, etc etc.

[Ludmila]

I stumbled on the interesting review about "Avatar" in Russian:
http://arbeks.livejournal.com/161551.ht ... ad=1321231

I translate only the small extracts:

"One can as much as one wants reproach "Avatar" in the simplicity because it is really simple according to his plot. But it is not a drawback because "Avatar" is a fairy tale about the future only seemingly based on lifelike realities. It is a fairy tale or a legend of another nation from alien world. And fairy tales do not have the smartly twirled plot, it is not necessary to them. Fairy tales at times are naive, pathos and somewhere even absurd and silly. Because they indeed are fairy tales and they have their specific purpose is to make us better, to enrapture with heroism, boldness, kindness of fantastic characters and to evoke desire to be similar to them… "

"The beauty of this movie is not only in the fine scale landscapes of Pandora, it is in the purport and in the acts about which were told. The emotional beauty of the movie is concealed inside the casket which is made by Cameron by his CGI-magic. But it may already not be seen, it is possible only to feel it. And when you are feeling it, then you is changing just a little and what is going on does not seem to you as a special effects tale about the unreal alien world which (whether by accident or not?) is so similar to ours."

"People from our future have intruded on another planet and have brought with them their system. And this system does not forgive those whose houses are on money. Especially it happens is ruthless to those who differs from its carriers, whether physically or psychologically…But fairy tales or legends unlike documentary stories are not subject to terrible laws of systems. They must end well to give to us (who is living in a severe reality) hope and to make us just a little lighter and better. Therefore it is so good that in the end of "Avatar" the essence of the whole planet rises against black implacable force. And if our Earth cannot protect its children let Pandora can."

[Distracted]

Thanks Ludmilla and Elessar. I'm actually going to see Avatar again this afternoon with my parents. Taking them to this movie is the gift I gave them for Christmas. So I'll probably be all excited tonight about the new stuff I'll notice this time around.

[Ezinma88]

PS: did anyone else notice the year is 2154?

Yes, and I refuse to believe that ANYONE will still be smoking by then. Let alone respected professionals.

[honeybee]

Actually, I think that it's pretty clear that Earth has become a dystopia. So, I doubt the powers that be would be terribly concerned about stopping people from smoking and many people wouldn't care about their long term health.

I hope people won't smoke that far in the future, but in the Avatar-verse it just seems that it's one more thing that makes Earth crummy and Pandora utopia.

[Distracted]

She's got a younger, stronger, tobacco free body waiting for her. And she's WAY stressed trying to save her favorite primitives from imminent destruction and is intelligent enough to realize that she probably won't succeed. I might smoke too in her situation. Or drink. Or maybe just eat too much chocolate.

[Ezinma88]

Those would all be fair points if all the characters were chuffing away/snorting snuff/or otherwise indulging in 'bad' habits. But, Grace was the ONLY person I saw doing so.

[Distracted]

She's in charge, Ezinma. When the buck stops with you it's a mite stressful. Believe me. I know this.

[Linda]

I haven't been to a movie in a theater for a couple of months...I guess the lastest ST movie was the last time! I am intrigued by the comments here, so I think I will drag my daughter to this one with me. It sounds like we both would enjoy it. Too bad Warpgirl does not live near me or I would swing by and pick her up too.

[WarpGirl]

Aw Thanks. However I accept that I will have to get the DVD.

[Ezinma88]

She's in charge, Ezinma. When the buck stops with you it's a mite stressful. Believe me. I know this.

Indeed, it is often stressful being in charge Distracted. But that's the only thing you've said that I agree with.

I'm sure Parker Selfridge, the mining operation's corporate administrator, was also feeling a whole heap of stress. Sure, it was of a different kind than Grace's and from a different source.... but it was severe stress none-the-less.

And, yet it was not to tobacco that he turned.....

It was to mass murder..... oh, and golf.

All I'm saying is those smoking scenes seemed extremely odd to me, especially when put in context with everything we know about the other humans on Pandora.

[Distracted]

I would imagine that the writers thought that making her a chain smoker made a cerebral character more approchable and "real" to general audiences, smoking being something that "real" people do, and all that. It seems stupid to me that a scientist would choose to deliberately expose herself to a known carcinogen, but then I know doctors who smoke. Nicotine is, after all, more addictive than cocaine. The curious thing about this character is that if you assume she spent 5 years in cold sleep to get to Pandora, even if she was a heavy smoker before she left she would have been off the stuff physically and long past physical withdrawal symptoms by the time she arrived. Starting again would have been just plain stupid at that point. The writers probably didn't think that through, though. Smoking was probably just supposed to be her "humanizing character flaw", given to her so Joe Schmoe in the audience could identify with her. At least they didn't make her a drunk. Although that probably would have been more believable it would also have made her incapable of doing her job.

[WarpGirl]

Dis I look in lab coats and scrubs pockets to check if the people working on me are smokers. They either have to bend over if you're low on a gurney. Or if you're on a table so you can usually see the box. Honestly I think when people are that stressed, smoking is more believable then drinking. For a couple of reasons...

1. Easy access. Put a pack in your pocket and go.

2. Time saving, it doesn't take long to smoke a ciggarette, it's the chatting with other smokers that takes forever.

3. As you said no impairment to do your job.

Now don't get me wrong smoking is not the smartest thing a person can do to themselves. BUT I find it less rediculous than getting drunk and not being able to do your job. Scientist, OR medical professional.