Re: Avatar reviews
Martyn's review, heh:
Well...it's big, certainly. And reasonably involving - but overall, Devin's review is fair. A bit more negative than I'd be, possibly. I might give it a 6.9 out of 10 - though it doesn't lack effective comic relief, this thing is still too self-important to just give yourself over to the spectacle of it all entirely.
The 3D is good, after a few jarring moments at the start. The characters ARE likeable. The cringe-inducing dialogue has mostly already appeared in spoilers, so there's little to make things worse. The people you know are going to die, die. The people you know are going to live, live. You'll laugh where you're meant to, and also laugh (or, OK, possibly gasp) at Cameron's sheer over-the-top audacity in other scenes. You'll know exactly what's going to happen well before it does, and in case you missed the situational cues and setups, Cameron helpfully flags things with actual dialogue a few seconds later.
The story is what you already know about it and little more. The Na'vi characters might as well be named Little Bear or Wild Eagle. There's no explanation for what unobtainium is used for, why it is important (other than that it is expensive), or whether it plays a role in the planet's deeply strange and impossible Roger Dean-esque geographical features*.
The biology of the planet is really odd too; for example there appear to be two radically different native vertebrate body plans, yet these are related closely enough to share a specialized communication mechanism...which is also shared with the plant life. Huh? Oh, and the universal bioluminescence doesn't make a lot of sense on a planet that's not lacking in sunshine. But it's pretty, so who cares, right?
The allusions to present wars and politics are as clunky as everyone says, but somehow none of that stuff mattered too much, even though I was thrown 'out' of the movie for more than one stretch. The movie itself is so long, and I was having fun for much of it, so it averaged out...
When I think about the relative bang for the buck, ticketwise, I got from this movie versus, say, the more cerebral District 9, then...well, actually, Avatar probably wins. It's huge and daft and fun and amazing, and I said the same for 2012, so I'll say it here too. (Comparing my bang for the
filmmaker's buck, though, District 9 remains the clear winner.)
When the credits rolled, the audience at my screening applauded - hesitantly at first, but then with more enthusiasm when they realized they weren't going to be alone. I joined in. The hell with it, life's short, have fun where you can, eh?
That said, I reserve the right to edit this tomorrow when I've digested it a bit more.
* The 'Yes' album cover artist.
