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I finally got around to seeing Avatar over the weekend and I can sum it up in one word: Meh. Yes, it was visually stunning (and the only thing about the movie deserving of an Oscar), but I thought the storyline was weak, the acting was only okay and the message was pathetic.
Here is the plot of Avatar in a nutshell. A bunch of American guys want a valuable natural resource from a faraway place, but the locals have set up shop right on top of the deposit (I can’t remember them being specifically identified as Americans, but it was assumed). They need to infiltrate the indigenous people and find out what they need to do to convince them to leave, so they can take over the land. So, the white guys develop Avatars, which are basically test tube bodies, without a soul. The controller of the Avatar takes control of the body, while their own body lies in a comatose state (think serious World of Warcraft addict, taken to the next level). The hero of the story, who is paralyzed and wheelchair-bound, enters the world, is “chosen” and falls in love, so, obviously, he can’t go through with his mission and has to stop the evil white guys from completing their goal.
Going in, I knew the overall tone was going to be anti-military or anti-previous administration. I also knew it would preach pantheism (the belief that god is all of nature) (see the 1st link for more on that). Even with this knowledge, I was caught off guard by some of it (especially the nature-worship). There were a bunch of one-liners meant to jab at the past administration, such as “We have to fight terror with terror!” and (referring to the bad guy’s plans) “They’re planning some sort of Shock and Awe campaign.” There were also jabs at big business and people who don’t buy into the man-made global warming theory with, “Sure, no one wants the blood of an indigenous people on their hands, but what’s worse is having bad numbers at the next stockholder’s meeting” and “Our world doesn’t have any more green. We’ve killed our mother and they’re going to kill yours, too.”
Regarding the “anti-military” complaint, I would have to say, it is less an attack on current soldiers and more of a jab at companies like Blackwater, who hire former military to serve as security. That’s all I really have to say about that.
Prior to seeing the film, I had read about how many people were feeling depressed after seeing Avatar and I can completely understand why that might occur (see 2nd link). If you have any guilt about the United States being the big, bad guy, you are going to feel even guiltier after seeing this. If you think the United Sates is responsible for the earth heating up, or if you think god lives in, or is, all things, you are going to feel worse.
**This next part is a bit of a spoiler.**
In the end, I thought James Cameron had a great opportunity to really turn his message into something meaningful (even if I didn’t agree with it), but fell completely flat. Throughout the entire movie, you know that these “Avatars” are not real. There are computers and electricity artificially keeping you in the body it can’t last forever. It has to end. He could have had a real moral to the story. Something along the lines of “I knew I couldn’t stay here forever, so I will have to do my best to take some of the beauty with me and make my own world better.” Something like that. But, no! Magically, the nature-god allows his human soul to permanently enter this avatar and he never has to go back! I mean, my goodness, if someone was feeling depressed about his/her current state of existence, how could they possibly feel good about the hero of the movie not ever having to re-enter real life?
**End spoiler.**
All in all, with the exception of the visual accomplishments (and they were fantastic; see it in Imax, if you must), I did not find the movie worthwhile. If this were any other movie, it would be FernGully.