Matrix meets Ferngully

My daughter Em and I decided, after tonight's viewing in a local IMAX, that Avatar is--in high concept terms--The Matrix meets Ferngully.

Liked the 3D, but the plot was too stock and the villains were too cartoonishly drawn, so once you got past the initiation front-half, your mind wanders during the all-too-predictable back half. As much as I loved all the gee-whiz stuff, and it truly is amazing, I found myself thinking up more interesting alternative plots while the second half unfolded.

And frankly, that's not like me whatsoever. I love to get lost in plots. I love to be clueless and suspend disbelief. I don't like to pull back from the screen whatsoever. But time and again I found myself wondering why Cameron didn't go down this alley or that one, all of which seemed more interesting (his realized world is truly fascinating) than the tired plot I knew was coming.

In that failure, Cameron is the anti-Roddenberry: shift humanity hundreds of years and we still encounter only the worst traits on display--and completely in control of the story (unfortunately). The same can be said of his vision of technology: we can create the avatars but have no more anthropological good sense than first-contact explorers from the 15th century; we can travel the universe but still can only--apparently--mine resources in a manner of some Middle Earth kingdom.

Cameron is a great director--unbelievably talented. But he's like Spike Lee. He simply should not write his own plots, because they're so stiff, ideologically speaking, that they diminish the product. What's so amazing is that his skill as a filmmaker often overcomes the material--transcending it.

As a side note, I see a very bright future for Zoe Saldana. She did wonders with the role. And the 3D technology is very engaging. I could see a lot of action movies benefiting tremendously from this new approach.

Comments

[Dan Hare]

The stereotypes of the military were pathetic and unimaginative.I know a fair number of military and the current post baby boom gen are smart, and nuanced and far more interesting than Cameron portrayed. The 3D was super cool though. A friend of mine is marketing a low end 3D camera set up for 'indie film makers' so I anticipate far more 3D in the future.

[Political Season]

The conservative movie going public is panning Avatar for some of the reasons you noted and for the film's I hate America subtext, nonsense portrayal of bucolic natives and other liberal, left wingy undertones.

I'm still trying to decide if its worth the 2.5 hours of my life to go see.

[Jon D'Angelo]

My initial thoughts were who the hell taught Cameron how to run a damn insurgency, frontal charge against a line of Marines, brilliant idea! I liked how the Marines (minus their retardation) were taken back to their roots as a counter insurgency force, minus a real COIN strategy besides smoke/holes.

[David Emery]

Good review, thanks! How about reviewing "Sherlock Holmes"? ;-)Happy Holidays to all!

[stuart abrams]

I saw an interesting take on "Avatar" as representing a kind of guilt-ridden racism that runs through a lot of Hollywood epics (Dances With Wolves, Dune, Last Samurai). The white guy joins the non-white culture and perceives it to be superior and is ashamed of his own culture. He then becomes the leader of the non-whites and saves them from them from the whites. The white guy becomes the uber-non-white guy. Combines racial guilt with racial supremacism.

[Ed Camera]

Marines from Aliens, helicopter pilot from Aliens, over enthusiastic marines from too many movies to mention, company man from Aliens........it's all been done before, but as you say a visually impressive movie.

[damien]

There was a great movie treatment of the us-meets-them trope and that was the Antonio Banderas movie, The 13th Warrior, where he plays an outcast Muslim nobleman who joins a Viking trading party and returns with them to Scandanavia. What made the trajectory of the story interesting was the evolution of a mutual respect - Banderas' character brought something to the table, but he wasnt going to end up a leader of them.

[Dave Goldberg]

This post is a little late, but I just got back from the movie. Visually stunning, but it seemed like a rescript of the animated movie "Atlantis". It had all the same characters, including the cute and quirky mechanic (recast as a helicopter pilot), and the mad Colonel (recast as a mad Colonel).