Most of you knew that I wouldn’t have paid to see this film until it came out and dropped down to the DVD bargain bins. But once again, my femme fatale tugged on the leash and dragged me to the movies. This time however, it was to be my very first 3D experience in theatres. After the god awful after taste that was left in my mouth from the over-hype regarding this film’s release, I was adamant in not paying for it in order to do my part at showing the industry that it is in my opinion, wrong to over fluff a book’s cover in order to sell it. I firmly believe that nature should be allowed to take its course. The reviews would have been as positive if not more so, were we not already tiered of hearing about the film prior to its release. Alas, Avatar will always carry the stain of having been over-hyped. But was the term “over-hype” appropriately used, you’re all asking? Of course it was. Hype is all in good fun until there is so much of it to the point where people go right past “scepticism” and straight down to “pessimism”, even before having seen it and no matter how good the film actually is. Moderation is Key.
What is so revolutionary about it? The film making is, period. Sorry to sound so “negative”, it isn’t my intention here, I’m just telling the truth. You’ve all seen similar special effects, action sequences, inventive nature settings and imaginary species before. And the story itself has been over used to a point that it seems they’ve blown the bottom of the barrel to smithereens! Even though Zoe Saldana outshined everyone on set, the acting is nowhere above decent. No Oscar worthy performances in sight. Which is fine and was to be expected since the movie did not primarily focus on its drama scenes. Worthington did fine but nothing Keanu Reeves couldn’t imitate. And his accent slip ups were as irritating as ever especially since there was no valid reason why Cameron didn’t let Sam use it throughout the film. If his Australian accent is inconsequential to the plot, why unsuccessfully try to hide it? Sigourney Weaver was as decent and as sexy as ever. Ribisi seemed to have given us his best ever performance which is to say “only decent”. Stephen Lang was just as decent even though playing the highly clichéd military antagonist. But he did seem like he was missing something. Even though the man had crazy scars, tripled his girth and wielded a freakin’ Mech Warrior, he still didn’t scare me shitless as much as he used to in passed favourites of mine such as Fire Down Below and The Hard Way. But he still delivered what I believe the director wanted. And quite frankly, I don’t feel the director was as demanding of his actors as he should have been. It’s obvious that his main focus was on the effects and action which were brilliantly done as always but it made many supporting performances seem insignificant even though their characters were labelled as “vital” to the plot.
Well, did this movie succeed or not? That would have to depend on their goal. Since the film was meant to be a thrilling sci-fi fantasy experience, I’d have to say… “You can bet your sweet ass, it did!” But there was something that could have been improved on before the film’s final cut. The pacing in itself was a bit off. Most people that have seen it have said that the whole 162 minutes passed by in a flash. Could it be because they simply enjoyed it? I think there’s something more to it. My experience even though enjoyable, actually felt rushed. We were taken from one scene to another without so much as a breather as if we were pushed to move forward. From beginning to end, this film felt like “let’s cut to the chase”. It’s probably why I felt like most of the supporting performances could have been taken away from the film without much notice even though it would create major plot holes. There was little to no character development even in the lead’s case. It’s not so much of a negative aspect of the film per say but it felt like a mild nuisance. There seemed to be very little thought which compensated with only reaction. That’s pretty much the lead’s whole concept but for a 162 minute feature, I would have wanted a bit more elaboration in that department. Other than that, they did exactly what they set out to do which was to immerse you whole into a different world and let your senses tingle with excitement and awe as if we had gone back to our childhood innocence. The world they have created did not only look stunning but also felt REAL. Along side the on par action scenes, what I appreciated the most about this film was the whole “lore” that they created with the world of Pandora as well as the connection its inhabitants have with it. As a Shaman myself, I was very pleased with the message that was attached to the film. But it is unfortunate that it’s tied to a “fantasy” setting.
In retrospect, I can’t wait for this film to get to those bargain bins because I can’t wait to see how it will look without the 3D effect. The 3D in itself bothered me at first until it pretty much faded away beyond my perception. Roughly translated, it didn’t do its job. The most impressive 3D scene was the “REAL D” advertisement before the opening of the film where we saw the robot dog playing with the techno type ball. During the film, every single moving 3D part looked fuzzy. The still parts were fine but there were very little of those in a living nature environment. I firmly believe that the 3D element should be kept for fully animated features such as A Christmas Carol which I’m told worked very successfully with the 3D. I’m very happy to hear that Ironman 2 and Prince of Persia weren’t shot in 3D. It would have made the experience too awkward for me. But where Avatar truly succeeded was with its revolutionary CGI special effects. The “emotion” capture system they have created successfully incorporated a computer generated lead character into a live action motion picture. I can’t help but grin at the possibilities for the next Hellboy film or maybe even a Never Ending Story remake, wink-wink. Mickey Rourke sir, you no longer have an excuse to not return for another thrilling Marv story in a future Sin City flick!
So was I completely blown away? No, but I was indeed pleasantly surprised. I give it 3.5 stars out of five. So go ahead and make your Battle Angel Alita film, James. You sure did create the correct technology to give the concept justice. But don’t forget to cast Ellen Page as Gally ;)