Retro Review: Avatar

Warning: May contain spoilers. You've been warned. This entry will also include spoilers for the rereleased version, Avatar: Special Edition.

Wow, a second top ten movie in the same week. Pretty impressive, right? I would have reviewed this already, but I was waiting to see the special edition with the new footage and I did not see it in the "amazing" 3D the first time around.

Well let's get right into it.

The Story

The story... let's just get that out of the way right away! James Cameron is no storywriter. The only good story he actually wrote was Terminator. In my opinion, James Cameron is best at fanfiction or taking an idea that someone else has created and take it a step further. His specialty is sequels. His original Terminator was a success, but Terminator 2 topped that and got his 4 Oscars. Ridley Scott's Alien was just okay compared to Cameron's sequel Aliens which he wrote. And then there was the AMAZING Titanic which won 11 Oscars but was NOT nominated for Writing.

Titanic and Avatar are in the same boat (bahaha). When I tell someone what I think about Titanic's story, I say it's simply Romeo and Juliet on a sinking ship, which is basically all it is. However, everybody knows what Avatar's story is. It's Pocahontas in the future. But what overpowers the unoriginal idea for a story is the portrayal of the story on another planet, in the future, with visually amazing and original aliens.

The Acting & Cast

The cast is so amazing. Sam Worthington isn't quite at his peak in his acting ability, but this role, his role in Terminator Salvation, and Clash of the Titans is really putting him out there. I think he is really good at the scenes where you feel embarrassed for him. You know... those awkward scenes. He's good at those. Haha. Zoe Saldana was superb. She was really into her character and I feel like she made it her own. Like her character's immaturity when she was told that she needed to teach Jake; she would like whine and complain like a child.

And you gotta love Sigourney! What's great about her in this movie is that, I feel, she is very real. Like I think that is how Sigourney herself would act if she were in that situation. You know, the swearing and honest and rude comments. She is amazing and I'm so sad that her character died.

And, naturally, James Cameron added a manly female character played by Michelle Rodriguez. She did the same thing in Aliens and I don't understand why he does that. It's like one of his trademarks. But, regardless, I love Michelle and her character, so it all worked out in the end.

The two bad guys are both equally assholes and annoying. Stephen Lang plays the Colonel who is in charge of the military on Pandora and Giovanni Ribisi is the man funding it all. He plays Parker and he just wants to get his hand on the unobtainium no matter who or what is standing in his way. But. But. If an actor you like (Giovanni Ribisi) can make you hate them through their acting, then they're a very good actor.

The Visual Effects & 3D

Two words... with a hyphen: mind-blowing. The visual effects at least. They had no competition in the race for the Visual Effects Oscar. It was so amazing. The entire planet was incredible, the wildlife was so inventive, and the natives were brilliant. Everything was so real looking. I also thought the neon color style was original too. The nighttime scenes were mesmerizing to watch. This vindicates James Cameron for not putting a movie out in ten years!

I went and saw it originally back in December 09 in 2D. In all honesty, 3D isn't my favorite. 3D should just be an animated kids movie thing. However, I did enjoy the 3D version of this movie when I went to see the Special Edition rerelease. At first it was annoying because there is just so much going on on-screen that it's hard to focus your eyes. Eventually my eyes adjusted, but I didn't find it as amazing as everybody says it was. It was just... 3D.

The Special Edition

The Special Edition rerelease version of the movie featured 9 minutes of new footage. You may think it's only 9 minutes... how special could it be and why would I want to sit through a now 2 hour and 50 minute movie. Well, the deleted footage, I thought, was important footage and I don't quite understand why James cut it. Yes, the movie does make sense without it, but I think it helps people understand more. One key scene that stands out the most takes place when Jake, Grace, and Norm venture out for the first time together. They walk into Grace's former school. In the regular film, they just mention that she built a school and she used to be welcome in the tribe, but then something happened and they shunned her and closed the school. But in the new scenes, they go to the deserted school, Grace explains a little (not a lot) about it, and we see bullet holes in the side of the school. So it does help the story of what happened to Grace.

Another scene was one that I just thought was so cool. They shouldn't have cut it. It's right after Jake bonds with his banshee (the flying creature) and he's just learned how to fly. The tribe is following a stampede of hammerhead titanothere and we see The People riding banshees and direhorse trying to hunt them. I just think it's an awesome scene.

Sequels

Avatar is said to be having 2 sequels. The first one is set to be released in 2014. That's a freaking long time, but since James is so good at sequels, I'm sure it'll be worth the wait. I just hope the visual effects won't be obsolete by then. Avatar 2 will have Sam Worthington and Zoe Saldana return for their roles and it is said that the focus of the story will be on Pandora's oceans, which I think will be cool. So I'm excited.

If you haven't seen Avatar in theaters yet, I'd go see it now. I don't think watching it at home has quite the same effect as on the big screen whether in 3D or not. I doubt that it will be released into theaters again for at least 25 years. Just make the time to go see it. You won't be disappointed!