A visual feast

Rating: 9/10 (2 January 2010)

Newspaper resident right-wing spleen merchants have written this movie off as a product of James Cameron's hippie sensibilities (Nature good, Civilisation bad) but the plot is so ordinary it is not likely to have much persuasive value. Visually it is something else. With Planet Pandora (technically a moon), Cameron, inspired by the Amazonian rain forest and Jurassic Park, not only has created a 3-D world of beauty and splendour, he has staged some truly spectacular action sequences, particularly in the air (Harry Potter and his flying broomsticks on steroids). The average viewer is going to be swept away by this, not by the clunky plot, which revolves around a mining venture on a distant planet being obstructed by the locals who are justifiably upset by the intrusion.
What upsets the Right's cheer brigade is the "simplistic" portrayal of the military as moronic thugs, when we have all those brave men and women out there defending freedom and our oil supplies price in Iraq and Afghanistan. Since this is a science fiction fable the analogy is likely to be lost on most viewers – they are more likely to see it as a steal from "GI Joe"). As Jake Sully, the central character who changes sides in the battle, Sam Worthington is not a traitor to his race, as the cartoonish Colonel Quaritch (Stephen Lang) calls him, but someone who realises that what is being done to the planet and its people in the quest for "unobatinium" is morally unjustified. Perhaps our columnists would like to take a look at what has been done to the environment and population by mining in New Guinea, for example.
Leaving aside the politics, Sam Worthington has just the presence for his part. It was nice to see Sigorney Weaver, an old hand in Cameron movies, back as the crusty but likable scientist Dr Grace. I also liked Giovanni Ribisi as Selfridge the mine manager once I realized he wasn't Jerry Seinfeld. He was the epitome of the corporate shyster. The unsung heroes of all this are the animation and special effects people , hundreds of them including Weta of NZ, who have put their experience in Lord of the Rings to good use.
To revert to the political, we might ask why there is an apparent "left wing" bias in Hollywood movies. The answer of course is that the Right have no imagination, a vital attribute for a successful innovative movie maker. Cameron might write clunky plots and corny dialogue, but there's nothing wrong with his visual imagination, and he has the ability to engage the primal fears of his audience, if not their intellects, and to entertain.