Six-legged horses and helicopter geckoes: A review of Avatar

(WARNING: SPOILER ALERT)

Six-legged horses. Helicopter geckoes. Dragon-like birds. An entirely alien world with a psychedelic set of flora and fauna, together with an amazing set of floating mountains . . . that is what awaits viewers of Avatar, the blockbuster movie which shows us exactly what James Cameron was working on during his twelve-year hiatus. Cameron spent around $300 million dollars to bring this baby to the big screen, a feat only made possible by his previous blockbuster project, the extremely successful Titanic, which brought him both fortune and acclaim.

At the outset it seems like it was time and money well spent. Observing the plant and animal life, as well as the landscape, of Pandora can leave one breathless in awe. Cameron succeeds in bringing an entirely (well, almost) new world to life.

Avatar wallpaper from the official site.

Plot Snapshot

“Avatar” revolves around Jake Sully (Sam Worthington), a former marine who lost the use of his legs due to a military operation, and follows him to his new post on the planet Pandora for a human company aiming to make millions by mining a mineral called “Unobtainium,” which is native to Pandora. The largest concentration of the mineral is right under the revered Home Tree of the indigenous Na’Vi people.

The plot of the movie explores how the earthlings deal with this situation.

Option 1: Give ‘em carrots. Penetrate the Na’Vi community. Learn their language. Establish a school. Give them goodies that will make them friendlier to the humans.

Option 2: Beat ‘em with sticks. Even while pursuing Option 1, the corporation should prepare for the worst case scenario, which is nothing less than all-out war against the natives.

Jake Sully finds himself working for the advocates of both options: head scientist Grace (Sigournery Weaver), as she tries to understand and win over the natives using artificial replicas of the Na'Vi which are controlled by human operatives (the titular "Avatars"), and Colonel Miles Quaritch (Stephen Lang) as he searches for methods to beat the natives to submission.

The problem is that Jake Sully, in his Avatar form, falls in love with Neytiri, the Pocahontas of the Na’Vi who later serves as his community guide and mentor. When an important part of the heritage of the Na’Vi people is destroyed, Jake decides to subscribe to a third option, one that involves siding with the Na’Vi people against the greed and the machines of his fellow earthlings.

Shock and Awe (to forget the plot)

“It’s some kind of shock and awe campaign,” says Trudy, the tough yet sympathetic gunship pilot in the film. She is describing the military strategy of Colonel Quaritch, but the phrase is also a fair way to describe the visual effects of the movie. Avatar succeeds in making moviegoers suspend their disbelief as they gape in wonder at Pandora’s planetscape. The story becomes secondary to the setting. The science of how a human could reside in and control the Avatar is taken for granted (and even when explained, the science is pretty thin).

As far as visual spectacle goes however, Cameron remains at the top of his game. He has effectively pushed the boundaries of CGI and 3D animation and I would not be surprised if this heralds a new era in photorealistic movie animation.

Themes and Similarities

The movie builds on some concepts that viewers might find familiar, whether it be the design of the mechanical power suits (The Matrix Trilogy anyone?) to the Surrogates central conceit of "real" humans piloting synthetic replicas. Stripped of its science fiction tropes, the movie's plot also calls to mind Dances with Wolves, which explored how a foreigner could adapt to the ways of a native community, as well as the aforementioned Pocahontas with its love story between the foreign invader and the native woman.

The movie does make an attempt to explore a variety of issues, the most evident being environmental issues (Jake explains the plight of humans in this manner: “there’s no more green from the planet where the skypeople came from.”) The movie paints the mining-for-profit operation in a harsh light, emphasizing the destruction of forests and habitats. Cameron also seems to take a swipe at former U.S. President George W. Bush as Colonel Quaritch, the main villain, spews a number of Bush-isms (or their equivalents) such as “we’ll fight terror with terror”.

In contrast, Avatar extols the connectedness of people with each other and with the world beneath, around, and above them. Did anybody hear the Na’Vi translation of Joey Ayala’s “ang lahat ng bagay ay magkaugnay…” (Okay, just kidding. :D)

True, the movie still presented the manly foreigner as the savior of the Na’Vi people, but it also stressed the importance of respect for the environment and the power of a community to defend itself against powerful interests motivated by greed.

A Nice Place to Visit…

In the end, Avatar is an entertaining movie, not because of its brilliant story and plot (brilliant is not how I'd describe them), but because it is a cinematic rollercoaster amidst the amazing vista of a living—if alien—world.

Avatar is still showing in 3D-enabled cinemas (it's probably the only foreign film in theaters right now) at the SM IMAX theaters at Mall of Asia and North Edsa.

Further Reading: