Movie Review: Avatar (2009, Directed by James Cameron)

I can’t remember the last time I was more conflicted about a film than I am about James Cameron’s multi-mutli-multi-million-dollar spectacle Avatar. I cannot deny the visceral impact of Cameron’s much-labored-over visuals. I’m not sure if 3-D technology has ever been used more effectively than it is in the film’s first hour. I completely bought into the world of the planet Pandora, where the natives are blue and the plantlife is luscious beyond belief. I felt that I was not merely observing this world, but rather becoming an active participant in it. I have never felt this visceral involvement to the same extent in a previous film.

Unfortunately, Cameron’s incredible visual achievements are in the service of a very mediocre film. While the basic story about a paraplegic marine taken on a Pandorac mission involving a technologically-unbelievable, yet nevertheless impressive avatar interested me early in the movie, the story’s payoff was weak at best; nonexistent might be a more accurate description. The script and acting (with the notable exception of the luminous Zoe Saldana) were lazy, one-dimensional, and bland. There isn’t a single line of dialogue in the film that doesn’t simply serve a functional purpose in the plot. I cared little about the film’s characters in the second half because they are nothing more than cartoons. I would have followed the protagonists of Pixar’s Up, WALL-E, or Ratatouille to the ends of the earth. In contrast, I was indifferent to the tribulations of Avatar’s earthlings and blue people alike. I believe my apathy was a direct result of Cameron’s laziness in screenwriting and character development. As a result, the last forty minutes of the picture were completely wasted on me. I stopped caring what happened to the characters at about the two hour mark.

I could go on and on for pages about the film’s inconsistent and potentially troubling thematic concerns. Let’s just say that Avatar attempts to be a political allegory, and a completely non-subtle one at that. When I tell people that I believe No Country for Old Men to be an allegory about the war on terror, I often get blank stares. It is precisely the Coen Brothers’ subtlety in treating political issues of today that makes it a great achievement in filmmaking. On the other hand, Avatar chooses to conduct its political analysis with a sledgehammer. I have heard both liberals and conservatives attack Avatar on ideological grounds. On one hand, it is a clear indictment of U.S. foreign policy. On the other hand, Cameron undercuts whatever peace-promoting message he might have in mind by filling the film’s entire second half with messy, destructive battle sequences worthy of the latest Michael Bay offering. If Cameron really believes we should “give peace a chance,” why does he fill the entire second half with death and destruction on a grand scale?

The fact that critics from such diverse backgrounds have attacked Cameron’s political themes does not prove the story a nuanced and ambiguous exploration of international concerns. Rather, the criticisms serve to highlight the sloppiness of Cameron’s script. It is clear to anyone who is familiar with Cameron’s life work which direction he leans politically and the values he is hoping to promote in Avatar. His failure in effectively demonstrating those ideals shows how amateurish his writing and vision for Avatar really are.

You may ask whether or not Cameron’s failings on an ideological and literary level diminish the visceral reaction I had to the visuals in the film’s first half. The answer is a resounding “yes.” While I think Avatar will indeed be studied in the future by cinematic technicians to determine how Cameron managed to compellingly create such a fascinating world, I don’t imagine those who care about story and a complete artistic achievement having much use for it. My hope is that a truly visionary director will take Cameron’s visual innovations and figure out how to turn them into a movie worth watching. I’m talking to you Quentin Tarantino, the Coen Brothers, and/or Martin Scorsese!