James Cameron's "Avatar" reminds me of "Jurassic Park" because it's, um...how shall I say this..."brilliantly produced" or has "stunning cinematography" or something like that, while being unsatisfying, even annoying. Putting aside what really didn't work for me (which I'll get to), it's an eyeful. It's not riddled with candy moments nor painfully full of its visuals as Jurassic Park was, however, but a big story in whole 'nother, amazing world, full of...everything...an action movie should have. Not specific places where we go "oooh, here's the [insert eye-popper], wait 'til you see it," but throughout.
The digitally-sourced world of Avatar is perfect. Not too perfect and plasticky but lucious, messy, and believable. So much so it doesn't even occur to the viewer -- this technology is finally that good.
So, with that let's get to what the rest of my brain thought of it. There are two conceits burdening this film I think most adult viewers will mull over at least a little, firstly the cheese. The part about earthy, svelte good guys with arrows and knives whupping space marines with really edgy hardware and escorting them off-planet, old-school style. Avatar is some solid filmmaking so this outcome has a rationale -- the planet yields evidence of sentience, most of the critters have what amounts to an external neural interface, blah blah, so it's not nuts, it's just...wrong. Painful, I suppose, is the way to put it.
I balk at happy endings, it's true, but admittedly they happen even in real life. The curmudgeon in me likes epic victories hard won, so one antidote might've been more gore and loss of life among the principals. Eh...maybe, but the ending itself really did me in...the part about them winning. Would I be happier if opposition was crushed, with (e.g.) the hero crated off to grimy old Earth as a traitor? Huh...maybe, but that'd be an entirely different movie, and I'd be pondering how little redemption there was to walk away with. Naw, I guess happy endings are ok, even like this but...suppose the post-industrial me doesn't want perky indigenous types to win?
There's that...maybe I'm happier with re-validation of the American myth -- the one about white folks having a birthright to North America (or having won it, fair and square). Yeah, in a sick way, I suppose I'd be a little comforted if all that alien awesomeness -- very awesome awesomeness, to the point of too much awesomeness -- were ground into ash and money. Anyway, I'd expect this on Earth, what with history and our own planet-god apparently content to let humanity finish up on its own. If that makes me a stick in the mud, I can accept that.
Moving on, item two would be the doable do-over underlying the movie, and I confess a big, personal element to my reaction. After years in and out of hosted realities I understand the frustrating push-pull between these and meatspace ("real" reality) pretty well. The idea of a life-sized reset button is also at least interesting for most folks, particularly career people like myself with water under the bridge and families and all that jazz. This alternative would rock hard -- jacking into a new, perfect body, training with native bad-asses to be become a messianic bad-ass, hooking up with alien hotties, etc.
Despite my built-in compassion for the main character (a paraplegic veteran), it was therefore a pisser to see this concept hit so hard. This guy got wired up and really did...exactly that. Until he finally gets the girl-thing and to stay as his Avatar, for life. Damn. What's the point of this sort of escapism, then? To rub my face in our racial/cultural background, finishing with a big "neener-neener" about everyday existence on Earth? Thanks, bunches. I didn't realize such a reliable story and stunning a production could leave me loathing (sub)urban life in the developed world any more.
Alright, never mind then -- time to wrap up. Going back to the production, if there was ever a proof-of-concept for digital back lots, etc., it'd be this movie: A rich, crazy jungle-water world spawned entirely from a server farm. On the other hand, this brings me back to the "Phantom Menace," another movie obviously (once I learned how it was made) driven by a single-minded vision, a heap of money, and a massive, digital media production line. There were no technical/realism limitations to give either filmmaker cause for doubt or reconsideration. Avatar was perfectly conceived, planned, and delivered from a lot of cubicles and one, comfy chair in James Cameron's office.
And this film is still worth a watch in a decent theater, if only to mark its moment. Plug in anyway, get a good night's sleep afterwards, then find some beauty in the real world.
