This “movie review” is coming from someone who has absolutely no authority whatsoever to critique or analyze a movie, I am simply a movie-lover, in college, studying film, who hoped Avatar might be like it was cracked up to be.
People who know I was one of the nerds who waited up until midnight to then watch a 2 hour and 40 minute movie, have pestered me with questions, asking what the movie is like and the best answer I can come up with is as follows:
You know that dream you always wish you could have had when you were a kid? The one where you hit your pillow and find yourself to be 10 feet tall, a different color, you can jump higher and run faster, you can connect with animals and then ride them, then plants interact with you, and you made friends and then got to fight something? – Well maybe that wish was just mine… but that was Avatar.
Before I get any further, I have to suggest to you (yeah you, the person reading this right now) to see it in 3D – the 3D experience in this movie is comparable to the first time you happened to see High Definition TV after years of standard definition.
The 3D takes a solid 15 minutes to let your eyes and brain adjust to it. In real life you get to choose what to focus on in your own 3D environment but in the movie the focus is done for you, so it isn’t until you sort of “give up control” of your eyes’ depth of focus that you begin to feel like you are the camera and you get to fully take in the new world James Cameron created.
The only downside to the movie is the unabashedly political undertone in which Cameron and his team entirely oversimplify the War in Iraq that he obviously criticizes throughout the film. If the circumstances in Iraq were the same as they are in the human’s assault on the Na’vi in Avatar, then even the farthest right wing conservative would be in agreement on who the protagonists are (Jake Sully and the Na’vi) and who antagonists are (us greedy humans). This however does not inhibit the story-line which is good enough to stand alone (without the special effects, I mean) and only further proves Cameron can simply make a good movie.
All in all, I was blown away. I began to halt my anticipation a couple of days prior to the movie’s release just in case it was a huge flop as some had anticipated, but I do not see any glaring signs of a budding box office dud. It’s one of those movies that people will talk about and refer to for quite sometime and you will find yourself the outsider if you have not seen it.
Go see it, and be prepared to suspend reality – a lot.
- Ted
Well written review. To me, the best thing about this movie is the total immersion you feel when watching it. What the plot might lack in development and unseen twists (to be honest the trailer sums it up nicely) is more than made up with the level of attachment that you develop with the characters. There’s something about feeling like you’re standing right next to the characters that makes you really feel connected with them, you know? To me, the only flaw in this movie is what you mentioned about the political undertones. The obvious pro-conservation tone was woven nicely into the story, but the Iraq parallels seemed forced at best. The worst part though is that when the strength of the movie comes from its power to transport you to another world, it’s unsettling to be so rudely pulled back into the real world. To be honest, I had forgotten that there were people sitting around me until the “shock and awe” line was delivered and you turned to me and scoffed about how obvious that reference was. I almost jumped in my seat. Anyway good luck with actually having the avatar dream. If it would even compare.
I liked the movie but, I liked the chick i took to it better. NERDS!!!! hahaha