Recently viewed: Avatar

[viktor_haag]

There's not much to say really. I'm glad I did not go see the film in the theatres.

Was it pretty to look at it? Yes, in spots, but overall the production values were a little too sugary, the colour palette a bit too doctored -- I felt a bit as if I was looking at one long Roger Dean painting, which, fair enough, is beautiful. And yet hollow at the same time.

The acting, such as it was, was competent, but none of the characters really came with much depth. Sully himself seemed the most complex and textured character, primarily because the presentation didn't seem to really hit any notes at all, and so a certain lack of strong commitment in response could, I suppose, be taken for depth (or at least suggestive of depth). But I still can't shake the suspicion that it's simply indicative of a character with a pasted on motivation and no real depth at all. The rest of the characters chewed the scenery when they were required to, and faded into obscurity when they had to.

Sigourney Weaver did her best attempt to show as "crusty but good-hearted scientist" (you know she's crusty because she's impatient and she smokes a lot).

Giovanni Ribisi did his best Paul Reiser imitation, which, in the end, was not all that effective.

Stephen Lang couldn't not twirl his mustachios enough to make you buy him as anything but Ze Evil Kommandant, and, frankly, I suspect got his forearms a bit too dirty for someone of his rank.

The plot, such as it was, was facile but functional. As with most weakly drawn science fiction it suffered from issues of scale (if I have the numbers correctly assessed, Sully's mobilization of "all the tribes there is" resulted in a mass of two thousand fighting persons? that seems dubious). It suffered from consistency issues: what exactly is the chain of command out here? Who's underwriting the mining operation? Given the alien's predilections and connection to the ostensibly astounding ecosystem, why hasn't this situation already precipitated to a crisis point? (I suspect that the answer lies in the sub-text...)

Which brings one, once again, to a narrative where the noble savages have to be rescued from their own naive circumstances by a flawed American warrior looking for (a facilely defined) redemption, and only hideous amounts of violent death can possibly bring about any sort of understanding or revelation.

I'm somewhat dismayed and shocked to see Avatar held up as some sort of paen to environmentalism, when it seems to me to be little more than a tremendously thin Gaeian fantasy without much to really recommend it.

If what you want is Gaeian fantasy with compelling stories and characters, then I say don't bother with Avatar, and go rent yourself just about anything done by Miyazaki instead (especially "Princess Mononoke", "Nausicaa", and "Spirited Away").

Comments

[pyat.livejournal.com]

It reminded me of an H. Rider Haggard novel, without as much heart or internal logic. :D

[frabjousdave.livejournal.com]

Addressing only the audio and visual experience, seeing it on Blu-ray at home was completely underwhelming compared to the IMAX 3D screening. It looks comparatively cartoony on the smaller screen.

I'm interested to see how these films look at home in 3D.

[sixteenbynine.livejournal.com]

I don't want to see this film, but I suspect I'm going to end up seeing it just to bolster a suspicion I've had about it all along: that with the same budget and scope, they could have told a far more effective and interesting story -- one along the lines of, as you put it, "Mononoke" or "Nausicaa", where the bad guys are simply one of several factions who have an agenda. (AFAICT, there isn't a single character of the depth of, say, Lady Eboshi from "Mononoke" in "Avatar".)

Wouldn't "Avatar" have been more interesting if it had been, for instance, about how both sides have to find a mutual rapprochement to solve a much larger problem that threatens both of them? Like, for instance, the encroaching senility (or insanity) of the world-mind?

[viktor-haag.livejournal.com]

Sure! But try arriving at such a solution with nothing but poison tipped arrows, tactical A2S missiles, military cassette rounds, and hunting knives... 8)