When director James Cameron announced earlier this year that he had almost completed his first film in more than ten years, people began to talk in a big way. Cameron has directed some of the largest blockbusters of all time, and, unlike other grandiose moviemakers such as Michael Bay or Jerry Bruckheimer, he’s managed to keep most of his dignity along the way. Cameron’s action films feel tighter, and his action is never at the expense of a story. And Titanic was kind of a big deal.
Well, the mystery is finally out of the bag – the big secret is Avatar. Set on an enormous Earth-like moon named Pandora, Avatar follows the conflict between humans and Pandora’s native creatures, the Na’vi. The Na’vi aren’t as weird as you might expect, for the most part they look like oversized people except they’re blue and have cat noses. However, the Na’vi are sitting on a huge mineral deposit of something called Unobtainium, (yes, it’s really called that), that in the human market can fetch billions of dollars. To coerce the Na’vi into moving off the deposit and allow the humans to cash in on the rare Unobtainium, a private corporation has developed a system of transferring humans psychically into cloned Na’vi bodies and using them as avatars who are able to enter the moon’s jungles safely. These avatars have three months to figure out a way to get the Na’vi to move before the big bad armies of Earth bulldoze the whole place and kill everyone. Phew!
The first half of Avatar is eye-rolling. It’s beautiful - breathtaking even – to look at but it’s often like running through an alternate take of the montage in The Lion King where the young cub Simba grows into a strong lion. In Cameron’s parallel, a gruff marine learns to become one with the jungle and join the Na’vi tribe. Modern technology supports the film from beginning to end, but it is especially important in supporting these early sequences, which would falter without it. As the marine and his avatar go through their transformation and the conflict with the humans draws near, I was surprised to find that the technology was actually encouraging me to connect with the big blue pixels – not through good storytelling or believable dialogue, but viscerally, through the meticulous emoting of their CGI faces.
The Na’vi characters have expressions and movements that register as absolutely human even though they are computer-fabricated. Their speech may be stilted and cliche, but their emotions register to the viewer fluidly through their faces. For people who follow video games or saw that 30 Rock episode, you can stop worrying about the ‘uncanny valley’ that plagued many of Robert Zemeckis’ films which used a similar computer technology. This is the new gold standard in CGI.
As for the 3-D, I haven’t said much because it rarely registered, and I think that’s a good thing. It highlights a few impressive sequences, but mostly the effect was immersive enough that I had no notion of it to think on while I was watching. Of course the film ends with action, lots of bangs and whizzes as the humans and the Na’vi face off. The commotion and explosions inspire awe, but Cameron has always shown a firm hand for action, and it’s nice that he doesn’t disappoint.
I went in with some skepticism – the hype on this one! – but I emerged with a satisfied grin. Even if you find your eyes rolling towards the ceiling, Avatar is a constantly affecting visual experience. If you want to pick it apart, there’s plenty to shake a fist at. It’s absolutely silly and entirely predictible. It’s a popcorn film. But it’s a great time at the movies and a benchmark in CGI effects. I say, give James Cameron another 300 million – he spends it well.
