Hey guys and gals. Today's article is first off not a rant about how good or bad Avatar is. I for one think movies should be enjoyed rather than judged because you can't judge them based on other films that aren't like it. Second, this is all opinion based on personal theories and should neither sway yours or others judgment. Third, I'm not nitpicking this movie and I'm not a fan boy of Cameron. With that all said let me begin that we all know that AVATAR has become in essence a phenomenon, it has a following called AVATARD'S, it has topped Cameron's over biggest film and we all heard the jokes that its dances with smurfs, Pocahontas in Space, and this movie somehow made the academy give Cameron an OSCAR nod. We all know this stuff and saw it all go down, but there are a few things that this film fails to do and its never mentioned on the IMDB's goof page. So I'm gonna point out a few these problems that are never mentioned or glossed over.
Alright first off lets begin with the planet of Pandora itself, where the entire story takes place and has two main settings, the human colony and the Na'vi forest. We are told that their atmosphere is highly dangerous and deadly to humans, they said your unconscious in 20 seconds and dead in 4 minutes, first off, why that huge gap time....we see Jake choking to death way past the 20 second mark and seemed dead way before than, but got lucky because his alien girlfriend saved his life. Another instance was when the evil army guy goes out to shoot at the heroes escape, its debatable that he was outside long enough to get unconscious even if he held his breath....his lungs would exploded from the planets condition. The next thing I want to bring up are the Float Mountains, I admit that they are really cool in concept and seeing something like that is amazing...but whats keeping them floating, is the gravity so thin in that one section it makes them float or do the have a such a strong magnetic force of similar poles, that its keeping them up, you need to explain how things work. Also with those mountains, they have waterfalls, how...wouldn't there be an unlimited supply of water....now they said on IMDB's FAQ page some interesting theories but again..any mention in the movie would help at least. The last thing I want to mention about Pandora is the Unobtaininum also know as Macguffimanium(it motives your plot.lol. rifftrax) anyway. This is supposed to be a scifi action movie so why couldn't they add in a tad bit of fantasy elements and call this metal something cool like Ohricalcum or Mythril, or Uru...something cool, not something so stupid.
Next aspect to bring into question are the natives itself, the Na'vi. The Na'vi are giant blue cat aliens with long hair tails that have a living USB port at the end. While the design is interesting it seems way too simplistic. When I think of aliens, I think of something with a lot more definition to it, like the xenomorphs or the predators, these aliens are way too human in design. Another thing that made me thing was when we saw the other tribes, those tribes didn't have a different look to them, if history taught us anything is that not everyone looks the same, different regions make a person look different, like the tribe who lives on the cliffs by the sea, wouldn't they be more muscular to keep a strong hold on the rocks. Another thing was they were ALL BLUE...every tribe was the same color, like in the Native American tribes, which the Na'vi are similar too, are not all the same skin tone, some are darker or lighter. Also the one problem with the Na'vi was the androgyny of the people. Everyone looked the same, there was little to no distinction between male and female unless you got REALLY CLOSE. Like in most animal species and in better Sci-fi books they mention that skin tone is the distinction between male or female, and a few cases height, but that seemed to be a universal thing among the Na'vi. Another thing thats never mentioned is any know history of warring tribes, they seem peaceful amongst each other but they show they are a war tribe, we see no farming tools or any mention of what they make or eat to survive. With the main species done with lets go onto the invaders.
The Humans are the next part of that brings even more head scratching moments, I'll try to get them all in this. Alright first off what attracted them to Pandora in the first place, what gave them the knowledge of Unobtainium, how long has this expedition been going on, why would you hire soldiers who are such dicks, why are the scientists looked down upon, why would clear cut huge sections leading to the tree you generally just go in a straight path, why don't they check further than just a 1,000 clicks or 621 miles...it seems possible to check vaster areas. Why not inform the Na'vi they have something you want and perhaps have them help if they know what it is or why you value it. Why doesn't ANYONE inform Jake of whats out there or anything on Na'vi culture or beliefs. Why is the villain such a evil dick, and why don't we see the "dying" planet called earth. Which has a plot hole when the evil army guy said that was some "MEAN BUSH" and then Jake mentions that the forests are dead later in the film. Almost everything on the human aspect makes little to no sense, they seem to be there just for the sake of being there. Alright one more aspect to bring up and thats the story.
Story wise, this tale has been told before, many times over the years, but this is the first time its done in such a technical level. While it seems that many nitpick the story I found only a few things that needed to be mention that failed to make it in the script. First off the Na'vi never use any thing thats made from Unobtainium, we never see them go under the tree and find the mine mecca that is the Home tree. That was needed to make a stronger connection. Another aspect I mentioned was that Jake or someone mention when and how they found Pandora and the discover of this mystery metal or the natives. The final fight was indeed amazing but was totally one sided for quite awhile, I'm surprised that none of the Na'vi got a hold of human weapons(maybe thats for the sequel). Another thing we never see is the fate of the other AVATAR program people, we see some in the end as they stay behind but nothing is mentioned until the very end. Also they had way too many montage moments, they totally disconnect us from whats happening, we skip the entire 3 months in less than 5 minutes. They focused WAY too much on flight scenes and we RARELY were on the ground during those moments. Other than those I couldn't find anything else to find wrong.
So overall, a film such as this is perfectly flawed yet it has an enjoyable factor because of all the time and resources it took to make the film look gorgeous and the facial movements are amazing. They truly captured these people like many have tried. While I don't think it deserves all that hype and praise, I do think such a film as this is like most things these days is a phenomenon and will have a future in the pop culture for all eternity. There you have my thoughts on this, hope you all took something from this. And I will post my comic reviews later today. Til then BlackAirsAki OUT!!!!