I’m going to be straight with you. It’s kind of like Ferngully mixed with Dances With Wolves and some political commentary that ended up being TOO SUBTLE.
When the phrase, “shock and awe” is uttered, I half expected the actors to pause and look at the camera with a sly nod and a wink. Ultimately, I couldn’t decide which country they were talking about. I thought maybe Japan, since there were giant robots in the movie. Whichever one it is, it’s the one that apparently blows up indigenous peoples because they happen to live on some incredibly valuable natural resources. Also, the stuff is called—and I kid you not—”Unobtanium.”
As in, they were unable to obtain a better name for it.
I guess other names such as, “Dependenceonforeignoilium,” or “Petroleumite” didn’t test well with the focus groups. We also don’t even know what it’s used for. All we are told is that it’s worth a lot of “cheddar.” I mean, I don’t know if it’s a fuel source that the rest of the galaxy depends on or it’s just a metal that’s just expensive because it is fucking hard to get.
Very visually impressive, but the whole story depends so deeply on the “Mighty Whitey” trope that it’s hard to shake the feeling that you’ve seen it before. In fact, if you’ve watched Dances With Wolves or The Last Samurai, you already know what happens to the main character in Avatar.
The only differences are the really impressive eye candy and the copious explosions.
That and the blue skinned alien love scene wherein I was starting to feel awkward when it went on for just a bit too long.
Interesting and fun to watch, I was most impressed with the wildlife in the movie. You only get to see a few of the creatures integral to the plot, but throughout the movie you get to see various creatures running around. The jungle of Pandora has a definite feel, it has presence. When you watch the film and see how the fauna and the flora work together, you see that the folks behind Avatar have mapped out an entire alien ecosystem.
I’m glad that I watched the movie to see this aspect of its design.
That, and robots fighting, although that’s really only at the end of the film.