Movie Review: Avatar

Maybe I'm being a little harsh, but I'm giving Avatar a solid B. I can potentially see it getting as high as an A- but I'm not there yet. Walking outside the theater we heard a young woman shout out, "I just saw Avatar and it was awesome!". My friend put it well, "I was in a awe several times, so 'awesome' is accurate." and I can agree with that.

First the good. The visuals are amazing. Cameron did a great job building a world and seemlessly introducing it to us. The characters, plants, machines, all feel real. The plot moves and the 2.5 hours do go by quickly. It's easy to follow what's going on, both as the plot introduces things and via the camera and editing. There isn't annoying shaky-cam or hyperfast editing.

The computer generated characters look real. The bizarre plants and animals all look real. I thought the sound wasn't particularly immersive but I'm not sure if that was the film or the theater. I did see it in 3D and while it was ok, I had some issues with it. I thought it often seemed a little weak, like there were several planes and the image was split among them. Also the depth of field seemed smaller than usual, things in the front and back were blurred. My friend, who does image processing for a living, didn't feel that way at all. We both agreed that while some scenes, particularly the flying scenes, were better because of the 3D, it was completely unnecessary to the enjoyment of the film.

This film is kinda like Dances with Wolves crossed with Star Wars and told via Aliens. Humans have explored a new world with an indigenous humanoid population. The corporate interests are there to mine "unobtainium" (literally) and the military is there to fight and the scientists are there to study and learn.

My issue with the film was that I wanted a bit more. The characters were all standard issue ones, you'll recognize standard character types from Aliens very quickly. And it seems that separate human groups never actually talked to each even though there were all there for the same thing (obtain unobtainium the easiest way possible and survive).

I kept expecting to learn more secrets about the world of Pandora and I never felt I got there. There are certainly reveals later in the film but I expected a bit more explanation. I admit that, going further could result in crap like midichlorians, but I don't think necessarily so. There are a bunch of times where the the native Neytiri says of the human avatar Jake, that "he doesn't see" and by the end of the film I'm still not sure what she meant by that and wish it had been explored further.

Jake is shown integrated into the native tribe, but I think it's more because he fell in love rather than he actually found them to be equals. He is just a dumb grunt marine (his wheelchair has a "grunt" bumper sticker on it), but I wish he was shown actually talking to the natives a bit more, it seems like that could have fit in 2.5 hours.

I haven't said much about the plot or characters and don't feel the need to give anything away. The film is worth seeing. You will be entertained. It's not my favorite of the year but it will make my top 10. I think Cameron invented a lot of new film making technology that others will use, but I don't think he changed story telling or movies like Star Wars did. Star Wars did change film making technology, but it did more than that.

So see it, and tell me what you think. I plan on seeing it again, probably in IMAX and I know I won't be disappointed, particularly now that my expectations are set.