Welcome to Pandora; a verdant green world with an atmosphere that's poisonous to humans, and a considerable native population of large, blue-skinned humanoids who live in harmony with the world around them. When humans arrive in search of a mineral known only as 'unobtanium' the Na'vi fight back, concerned that the humans are destroying their world. In an attempt to negotiate peace, and become friends with the Na'vi, scientists develop the avatar project and create Na'vi bodies from a meld of Na'vi and human DNA, synchronised with the nervous system of the avatar's pilot so that the pilot can control the avatar, and live as a Na'vi. Jake Sully, a wounded ex-marine, takes on one of these avatars and attempts to learn more about the Na'vi.
Avatar has gotten a lot of bad, or at least tepid, press for being a beautiful but predictable film. People have said that although it is very pretty, it has stolen it's plot from a number of different films, and hasn't got an original bone in its body.
I feel this is unfair on avatar. To show my point, I will start out by discussing what I feel are the film's negative points:
It's true that the film is focused around an issue that's very much in vogue at the moment, and although it takes it out to a new locale, it's still essentially the same idea. Increasingly in films, the role of humans as bad guy is becoming more fashionable, and when you listen to the news, it's easy to see why this has percolated through into popular media. Much of the plot and thematic devices are reused, borrowed and adapted from elsewhere. The characters have clear and obvious traits, and nothing really surprised me about any of them. The romantic subplot was obvious from minute one, and a lot of the other plot devices were obvious, if not from the start, then from the second that their possibility was introduced so that their later use was not quite so deus-ex-machina.
So far, I guess, I'm agreeing with all of the other critics. However, and this is a big however, I thoroughly enjoyed Avatar. I sat willingly through nearly three hours of movie and was eager to find out what happened next, even when I knew what was going to happen next.
The overarching plot was very predictable; the fifty word plot synopsis wouldn't shock you at all, but there were moments when things happened that did surprise me. Without wanting to spoil anything, there were times when I hadn't predicted the outcome, and so I was saddened by the result. And, additionally, there are only so many stories, but there are a great many ways to tell a story. This story takes the science fiction telling, and many of the elements around the plot were brilliant; world design and technology design are brilliant across the board.
In some respects characterisation left something to be desired; each character had one trait that they were allowed to exploit, and one moment where they were allowed to show anything else, except for the lead antagonist, who was not allowed to be anything other than an irredeemable bastard. However (again), there was a lot that was good about the way the characters worked. The scientists acted like scientists. The soldiers acted like soldiers. The acting was, on the whole, excellent, and with slightly limited material, the lead cast did get to shine.
And yes, people are right, the film was beautiful. The 3D occasionally got in the way (for me), but for the most part added depth (hurr hurr) to the storytelling, and made it a great visual spectacle. The alien creature designers clearly had a lot of fun, but they ended up creating a wholly believable world. The human technology invented for the world is stunning, and there are some technologically very believable things. Indeed, looking at his filmography, one of Cameron's strengths seems to be creating generally accessible, but believable, science fiction. For this, he should definitely be praised.
The punch line is, of course, that if I was to make a list of movie features and rate each one individually, Avatar would score average at best in all but visual effects and world building. Yet, all of the elements come together in a superb package, that was supremely entertaining, and very good science fiction to boot. This is definitely worth seeing, and it was one of the most enjoyable films I saw last year.
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