AVATAR

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Overall Impression – Not the Second Coming, but it’ll do for now.

THE FOUR QUESTIONS

Who’s your main character? – Jake Sulley.

What’s he trying to accomplish? Professional: Integrate into the Na’vi people to help them. Personal: Find his place in the world now  that he’s lost use of his legs.  Private: Unclear.  Possibly believe in something in the aftermath of his brother’s death (but I may be projecting.)

Who’s trying to stop him? – Both the Na’vi, who don’t trust him, and Colonel Miles Quaritch, who feels that Jake’s gone native.

What happens if he fails? – The Na’vi will be destroyed and their sentient planet will be laid waste.

THE FOUR ARCHETYPES

Orphan – Jake’s twin brother is dead and — thanks to sharing his genius brother’s genome code — Jake is an outcast both to the scientists on the planet (he has no training) as well as to the soldiers who are less than sympathetic to a paraplegic soldier on such a hostile planet.

Wanderer – After being nominally accepted by the indigenous people of the planet, the 10 foot tall Na’vi, Jake is trained DANCES WITH WOLVES style in how to be a member of their race.

Warrior – As Jake has fallen in love with the warrior princess Neytiri, Jake fights for his rightful place amongst the people, slowly being accepted as one of them.

Martyr – Jake gives up his association with being human in order to live and fight with the Na’vi against the destruction of their culture.

AND, IN THE END…

AVATAR redefines epic for the new, 3D awareness.  As always, James Cameron is filthy with creativity and light on meaningful dramaturgy.  His story rockets along like a neurotoxin-tipped arrow and is completely and totally serviced by the characters and dialog.  I know that sounds like damning with faint praise, but it really isn’t.  One doesn’t go to a Cameron movie expecting to hear Tarantino.  You go to see a visual impresario at work, and in the case of AVATAR you get your money’s worth.

AVATAR’s problem isn’t that it’s predictable; anyone who’s seen DANCES WITH WOLVES knows the AVATAR story.  The problem with the movie is that AVATAR wears its’ story on its’ sleeve as heavily as its’ politics.  It’s the evil corporate goon from ALIENS, teamed up with the evil company from TERMINATOR 2, employing the evil soldiers from THE ABYSS.  Cameron has an anti-establishment song to sing, only we’ve heard it before.

The  compelling aspect of AVATAR isn’t the story but the integration of 3D technology into the story.  For all it’s faults, what AVATAR does do is single-handedly usher in the era of adult 3D movies.  No cheap gimmicks here; just the dawning of a new era in immersive story-telling.  For that alone, AVATAR needs to be respected.

Ultimately, AVATAR is a standard story told in game-changing style.

– Jeffrey Alan Schechter

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