offbalance | Jan. 14th, 2010

Jan. 14th, 2010

Last night,

j_bkl and I finally saw Avatar in all of its IMAX 3D glory.

And you know what? I loved it.

Now, let's get a few things out of the way first. I've seen many of James Cameron's films. I can say that of the films of his that I've seen, I've enjoyed the hell out of all of them. The first one I ever saw was Terminator 2: Judgement Day, and it blew my 11-year-old mind. After that was True Lies, which my family went to see one rainy summer's day in 1994 and spent the next 6 months quoting extensively. (And every time since, when we've rented a minivan, someone always states: "You know what? I'm sick of being in the van. You guys are going to be in the van next time. I've been in the van for 15 years, Harry!") I somehow missed out on The Abyss until I was 16 or 17, but I loved it from the minute my dad pushed play on the director's cut. (If you're familiar with the film, the phrase "Love You Wife" makes me bawl like a toddler with a skinned knee. If you're not familiar with the film: NETFLIX. BLOCKBUSTER. LIBRARY. VIDEO STORE. NOW.) And of course, I saw Titanic. I ran to see it the first weekend it was open because I figured it would be in and out of theaters in minutes. (This is probably why I'm not a highly-paid film executive.) I enjoyed it, too. Appealing actors, beautiful visuals, amazing effects, and enough story to remind you that you're watching a movie of some kind. It's something Cameron does well. He's more interested in tinkering with his effects than anything else. Hell, I still wonder if he made Titanic as an excuse to build the little submarine camera-pod thing he and his brother created to film the actual ruins of the real ship. Cameron is a gizmo freak. He likes things that go bang. He likes things that crash. He likes big shiny pictures. In many cases, though, I wonder if the script process of late has gone something like this:

Flunkie: Um, Mr. Cameron?
Cameron: Yes?
Flunkie: The effects look great, sir. The action sequences are fantastic. I think it's all coming along well.
Cameron: Ah, it is, isn't it?
Flunkie: Just, um, one tiny little thing...
Cameron: What? Did I forget something?
Flunkie: Oh, not much sir...just maybe..um, you know? The story? Some character development? Little things.
Cameron: ::smacks forehead:: CRAP. WILL SOMEBODY GET ME THE BACK OF AN ENVELOPE?

I've never attended a James Cameron movie expecting overly complex characters or story arcs. The guy does things well, but constructing complex plots and characters isn't exactly one of them. But you know what? That's not what I expect from the guy. And it's not what I expected from Avatar. What makes Avatar worth the price of admission is the unbelievable visuals, jaw-dropping effects and pulse-pounding action. Which is what I wanted and Cameron delivered in spades. There’s a battle scene that makes the battle of Helm’s Deep from LOTR look like a scrimmage. Holy shit, for that alone he deserves Oscars for visual effects, sound editing, editing – anything you can hand out for the feast for the eyes that he put together.

I have a few more spoilerish thoughts below, but a few non-specific things that I know a few of you will howl "spoiler" at, so if you're so concerned, use your mouse's scroll button now.

The story we’ve seen before. Big Evil White Man wants something! Inconvenient Natives are in way! BEWM wants it, so they send someone in! Someone the send finds that the natives have beautiful, spiritual way of life, and falls in love. (Dances with Smurfs? What?) Old story, done before and done better, probably. But again, this was never his strong suit.

I thought that he at least had some fun with it, calling the material BEWM was after “unobtanium.” Doesn’t matter if it was land, oil, gold, diamonds – everywhere in the world throughout all of history, there’s been unobtanium of some kind or other. I thought it was a wink at the audience, a way of saying to not pay such close attention to the item being sought, it could be anything. The point was how we were going to get it.

I would also like to point out that I've known people who've lost mobility, due to accidents or disease (and in one case, both). My uncle lost his leg, and although he was not confined to a wheelchair, the loss of that leg was utterly devastating to him. Even though he had a decent prosthetic and a modified car and so many other aids, he would have done anything to get his real back, were it possible. He told me so. If, heaven forbid, I was confined to a wheelchair, I would be inconsoloable at best, and at worst, suicidal. So, Jake's initial desire to have his mobility back by any means possible made sense to me. It wasn't something that he'd lived his entire life without happily and didn't know about what he was missing. He was a Marine. He relied on his physicality, and it was a part of the core of who he identified himself as, both as a human being and as a Marine. The lost of that was a loss of his self, and that can't be ignored.