Game in Film

Rating: 7/10 (17 January 2010)

I remember nearly a decade ago in autumn of 2002 purchasing a new game called Metroid Prime for Gamecube. I had enjoyed the hand-held Metroid titles on Gameboy Pocket and Gameboy Advance. I had no idea how the sidescrolling series would transition into Nintendo's 6th generation home console. As I finished the prologue and landed on Tallon IV, I was in awe as to what Retro Studios had created. The planet on which the game occurs is as realistic and detailed as any game I had played prior to that point. Before I started adventuring, I spent a while looking around the ship and taking in the planet. It was an immersive visual experience that I have never forgotten. The plot isn't of note, but I didn't care. I wanted to see the world through Samus' eyes; to take in the creativity of a group of people.
I know what you expect to read isn't a video game review nor a personal blog entry. In attempting to review Avatar, I continuously felt the same exhilaration I felt when first playing titles like Metroid Prime. James Cameron's film is like a video game in its preference for style over substance (not that all video games are like that). I think if audiences will walk into this film in 3D with that mindset, they will appreciate its accomplishment. It is not a masterpiece, nor is it a thinking-person's film. Avatar is the culmination of generations of science fiction fan's unconscious wet dreams. Of all the fans through the ages that have enjoyed the works of media specialists as far apart as Jules Verne and Yoshio Sakamoto, only King Cameron was able to acquire the money to create the ideal sci-fi world.
What little actually happens in this film follows a science fiction tradition that non-fans often appropriately criticize. It's derivative. It copies someone else's idea (in this case Dances with Wolves, The Last Samurai, and our cultural guilt caused by slavery, Jim Crow, and the Trail of Tears). In this version of the story, soldier Jake Sully heads to a moon called Pandora to work on a military base. He is offered the chance to create an "avatar" of himself which is modeled after the blue three-meters-tall inhabitants. He can enter a chamber and form a link with his avatar to take on his new persona. One scientist asks him to use his avatar and interact with the locals. Said locals or Na'vi are hominoids who live a peaceful, naturalistic life among the forest. They even have their own religious beliefs, language, and cultural practices. Sully becomes involved with them and after a series of breathtaking montages, is accepted into the Na'vi and falls in love with one of them.
This first half is fortunately very predictable. I didn't have to feel caught up with what was happening, so I could enjoy the film as Cameron intended. What Cameron does best in this half is depict the entirety of Pandora on screen. Nothing in the background is static and every frame has new details for audiences to enjoy. The unintelligent creatures roaming the surface have their own look that isn't replicated in others. Like in Metroid Prime, I was pleased by sitting back, not watching Jake, and looking around him. When the blu-ray is released, try watching it muted. I'm sure you will be able to have a nearly equitable 162 minutes. I'll not boldly say that Avatar is the Star Wars of this era. That film isn't story driven at all (in its first installment) but is instead an orgy of special effects.
Avatar follows its stunning first half with a Transformers inspired second half. No, it is far too conceptualized for such a comparison, but the allusions are obvious. The Na'vi, led by avatar Jake, and soldiers clash in the air for some unimportant plot detail. It was at this point when I enjoyed the film the least. Because of the on screen war, I didn't get to see Pandora. Cameron's film follows a tried-and-tested underdogs-become-champions formula that unfortunately has to resolve itself. It undoes his intention of displaying his artistry. Pandora doesn't vanish, but we see far too little of it.
Avatar isn't a perfect film. Like the genre which it represents, it fails under critical scrutiny. The Na'vi have long, dark, and braided hairstyles and are voiced by mostly black voice actors. The soldiers are almost entirely white. So, in the tradition of science fiction, there is an edge to the film which both sides of the political spectrum and people of all ethnicities have noted. Anyone remember the homophobic passages from Stranger in a Strange Land? What about the Bedouin-like inhabitants of Tatooine? Unlike another overrated 2009 blockbuster Inglourious Basterds which is actively insensitive to cultural taboos, Avatar's faults should not be seen as egregious. Unfortunately, science fiction is a world dominated by white men, and, therefore, our cultural perception results in disparity. I don't like it either, and Cameron could easily have resolved this problem by mixing up voice actors and soldiers but he didn't. Maybe the Na'vi could have had no hair. Still, he didn't do it and we have to live with it.
What legacy will Avatar have? I've no doubt it will spawn at least two sequels and a meta-series of novels, video games, and comics. Once Cameron's self-invented cameras and 3D technology are widely available, will people still be fascinated with it? I think they will, but not to the degree they are with real-life films like Dances with Wolves. Those films while equally predictable follow real life cultures in an apologetic yet glamorized role. Should you go see Avatar? Yes, I think you should. It's the King's world, and we're part of it now. But please, no DVDs, standard definition TVs, or 2D screenings.