The thing to remember with this film is that it is an event. You aren't going to see a movie, it is more like an experience. You are going into another world in a way that you never have with a film. The 3d is engaging but it is not the novelty 3d we've come to know where clowns throw pies at the audience or an explosion jumps off the screen and rolls over the crowd. This is more like you are physically present in this world and the characters can't see you. This is why it is so important that you see it on the big screen. I am selling it short, but the words haven't been formed yet to describe the event. This movie is a game-changer for Hollywood. This is sitting in a black and white movie when Dorthy opens the door of the house to find the technicolor of Oz. This is cinema.
You may have heard criticisms regarding dialog or the story itself. I will concede that the story is not original, somewhat predictable, and even cliche at times. The thing to keep in mind is that James Cameron has been working on this for over 10 years. He wrote a script for THE movie he wanted to make and developed it over years. He was creating a multimedia piece of art that said something, instead of trying to anticipate what an audience wants. He didn't care that the story had been told before because the scenes were just his commentary on consumerism and humanity in regards to just how dirty and horrible we really are.
We are introduced to the Na'vi and their planet which we've discovered has a commodity called Unobtanium (no points for originality there), which is worth like 20 million dollars a pound or something. The particular tribe of Na'vi that we follow in the film live in a tree that makes a redwood look like a blade of grass. I mean this thing is huge. Like our native people, they view nature as their mother and live to worship it. They fully understand that they are a part of the larger collective that is like an ecosystem, but somewhat different. Everything functioned together as its own living organism. There is a constant theme of networked energy and that they are only borrowing the energy before it is returned again and recycled by another essential part of the whole. I can go on about this buddhist aspect of the script, but if I were to continue, it may reveal surprises you won't want spoiled. This is a reoccurring theme throughout the film.
When the experience is over you are kind of left in awe that something like this got made at all, and I'm not talking about the largest budget in film history. This film forces you to identify with the native people and shows you just how savage we really are. The reaction isn't like 'wow we do that. How terrible.' It is more like 'Holy fuck! Are you kidding me? What is going on? Why? ::cry and curl up in your seat in discomfort:: The genius is that he shows it to you like any other film, then it doesn't stop. You have to watch their pain and then with the 3d you actually feel it as if it were happening to you. He still doesn't pan away or move on, you have to listen to their death curdling screams and make sounds of pain you'd expect to only hear at places like Auschwitz. I mean you see what is happening to them, but you totally understand why it is happening and just want to hold them and explain to them - because they are ignorant to how we work. We are the aliens.
I want to go into so much detail about this film and it has been what has been holding my review back. I don't want to spoil anything for you. All of the criticisms you have heard are bogus and likely produced by writers who are trying to stand out from the crowd, so they're fishing. The only thing I wish were different about this was the score. This was decent, but it needed John Williams. That feeling you get when when the helicopter lands on Jurassic Park for the first, with the regal and enticing horn-centric score, this what you feel thru all 3 hours of Avatar. The score just failed to capitalize on that emotion. Also, I felt that more could have been done with the character regarding how his disability affected his psyche in everyday decision making scenarios.
James Cameron had said in an interview that he wanted Pandora to be the Garden of Eden with teeth and that is exactly what it is. It is Utopia being introduced with humanity for the first time. By the end of the film you are just angry that you are human. I mean you are just so mad and the thoughts of Iraq and Afghanistan pop in and out of your mind. We approach the Na'vi as savages in the beginning and we leave them as the race we aspire to be. It sounds as if this film is sad and frustrating, but somehow has managed to be the complete opposite. You walk out with hope.
This movie got made in this political climate. What may very well be the most successful film in human history is about the western world finally saying they are sorry to the indigenous people across the world. This film is telling Iraqi's that the American people do not support our governments actions, and it is a message that will be received by those people watching it right now (assuming it is playing there). This film documents the struggle between corporatism and liberalism and the history that is being made right now in so many countries around the world. This is a diplomatic achievement as well and proof that art transcends culture. Art can bring enemies together and put things into perspective.
Avatar was a masterpiece and I beg you to see it in theatre, in 3d.
