"Avatar" is Better Than Good, and Even Better Than "Titanic"

Rating: 10/10 (15 January 2010)

Many critics who have reviewed "Avatar" said that they initially didn't know what to expect going in. I bring this point up because I felt the exact same way. I'd seen posters for the movie, and previews for it in the previous months before it was released, but did not know what it was about, let alone if I would like it or not. In fact, I was so unsure how I would feel about it that I saw "Sherlock Holmes" before I saw "Avatar". All I knew about the movie was that it was about blue, cat-like creatures, and it was directed by James Cameron, a guy who is very easy to dislike as a person. After all, "Titanic" broke many records, but eventually came to be seen as bombastic and meretricious. Cameron's declaring himself "king of the world" at the Oscars didn't help much, nor did his immediate public divorce from Linda Hamilton, or his long stretch of not directing a followup feature film (save the forgotten "Ghosts of a Abyss" (2003) that should have been called "The Making of Titanic", and "Aliens of the Deep" (2005)).
However, after seeing "Avatar", I can honestly say that there was not one inch of celluloid that was wasted in this film. Cameron may not be a nice guy, but when he wants to tell a story, he can tell it and not waste a dollar of his $250 million budget. As I serve myself a piece of humble pie, I'll even add that he probably does not care what an amateur, unestablished 27- year-old film critic thinks about him, and that's a good thing.
I went to see "Avatar" in 3D (which is well worth the extra 3 bucks, depending on the movie), and I was afraid to blink in case I missed something. This is an epic movie well-deserving of the term "epic". Any time there is a scene where a helicopter is flying out into the Pandora wilderness, or even inside in the scientific lab or Marine base, I was taken aback by the design and the detail of everything I saw on screen. Nowadays, saying that a movie has great special effects is synonymous with explosions and societal destruction compromising the majority of the film. "Avatar" indeed has great special effects, and those latter elements represent a small percentage of the film.
Naturally, like "Titanic", many people I spoke to had problems with the acting and the story line. One person I know called the movie "'Dances With Wolves' In Space", which I suppose it was. I also saw similarities to "Ferngully: The Last Rainforest" (1992) and "Pocahontas" (1995), but by no means was the story a blatant ripoff of any of these films. I did think the villainous characters like Colonal Miles Quaritch (Stephen Lang) and Parker Selfrige (Giovanni Ribisi) made the Native American allegory too obvious by frequently calling the Na'vi creatures "savages". It made their characters also seem one-dimensional, and they obviously hadn't been taught about the Battle of Little Bighorn in school.
Other than that, I thought the acting was fine. Except for a few times his British accent slipped through, Sam Worthington had both a commanding presence throughout the film while also being a convincing moral compass. There haven't been many actors who can pull that off while playing a paraplegic. Sigourney Weaver, being no alien when it comes to science fiction roles, also did a great job here. And Joel David Moore was perhaps the breakout star of this film, doing a great acting job that truly redeems his role in "The Hottie and the Nottie" (2008). Lang's role as the hard-ass colonel may have been seen in other movies before, but there is no doubt that Lang knows how to play a great bad guy.
Zoe Saldana, Wes Studi, and CCH Pounder essentially did voice-over work in their roles here as the native Na'vi of the planet Pandora. Still, there was not one second where their voices were not convincing. Saldana especially cemented her position as a convincing leading actress while not appearing as a human on the screen at all. I don't have to say that she deserves to be an A-lister. She will be very soon if she isn't considered one already.
"Avatar" deserves no less than 9 stars in my book. I usually give 10 stars to movies that are not only great, but really move me in some way. "Avatar" had a few weaknesses, but not enough to deduct a star from my rating. It was an enjoyable film that moved me on more than one level. I felt compassion for the characters, marveled at the scenery and special effects, and most importantly, didn't get up to go to the bathroom once during the film. When I went to see "Titanic" 12 years ago, on the other hand, I got up three times to go.
James Cameron wisely made the reported $237 million it took to make "Avatar" worth every penny. Fortunately, I wisely made the $14.50 I paid to see it in 3D worth every penny as well.