It Wants to be More, but its Constant Assertion that it IS More Makes it Less...

Rating: 6/10 (2 March 2020)

Many people have already said that this film is the same story as such films as Dances with Wolves and The Last Samurai and by no means does this fact alone make this film lesser. The main issue I had with this film is how frustratingly and brutally heavy handed the themes are and the way the villains are written. I say frustrating because there could be some interesting commentary and historical callbacks to European colonialism (especially that of the East India Company in India) but it's all ruined by the writing. The villains, especially, constantly reassure the audience that they are completely unlikable and have no redeeming qualities to them whatsoever. It's a lot like what happened with Titanic except on steroids. You have a greedy, villain of the week, Saturday morning cartoon, mustache twirling, capitalist guy who only cares about money and a meat head military colonel who likes to carpet bomb now and ask questions later- so to speak. There are tons of references to European colonization in India, references to the Opium Wars and even the Vietnam War, but all of those potential callbacks go totally unexplored- and dare I say that is the case because it's completely by accident- in favor of pushing a much broader and watered down theme that technologically advanced societies are inherently bad and tribal, naturalistic societies are objectively superior. Every time I detected a subtle callback to history, the film comes around and hits me with its actual theme and I couldn't help but to feel like I was being spoon fed this and having my hand held through the entire 160 minute ordeal. Avatar could have ended up being more than what it is if it was allowed to speak for itself rather than have the writer constantly come out and tell you during almost every scene what it is about. Sometimes less is more, is all I'm trying to say.
Where this film excels is in two categories: The visual effects and the action sequences.
This film was technologically cutting-edge back when it came out, and after being around for a decade it has managed to age quite well. Despite so much of it being digitally created, it does not have that aged-like-milk visual aspect to it that a film like this runs the risk of falling into. There are some CG elements that look a bit dated but most of those are background elements that most probably wouldn't even notice. It's quite amazing how impressive this film is in the visual effects department and the unfathomable amount of work it must have taken to make it appear this way continues to pay off.
The action sequences in this film are also great. The buildup to the final battle was great and when the final battle itself commences it is incredibly thrilling in the same way a final battle in an Avengers film would be. It also helps that, despite the disappointing writing for the villains, the protagonists are written well-enough to have the necessary emotional investment to actually care about the outcome.
This film is complicated in ways that it definitely didn't mean to be, nor wanted to be. This film had a message that ironically went against what this film gets so much praise for. Avatar appeals to nature a lot and makes its point extra clear by demonizing technology and yet this film was sold on the way it pushed technology further and was going to usher in the era of 3D movies for real, this time. A film sold on its technology uses it to say how bad technology is, and is yet celebrated for both somehow? Maybe others got more out of this film than I did, but I couldn't help but to come out of it feeling underwhelmed. It keeps saying that it's more than it is but every time it hammers that in, the less I believe it.