There is So Much to Say About James Cameron's AVATAR

Rating: 6/10 (20 December 2009)

I'm not sure where to begin with James Cameron's Avatar. I could start by saying I've been waiting 12 years for this film. I could start by saying Terminator 2 is my all time favorite movie, and I've watched it a thousand times since I was a kid. But I'm going to start with the most positive thing I could say. James Cameron is a special filmmaker. He revolutionized film-making in the 1980s with The Terminator and Aliens. He did it again in the 1990s with Terminator 2 and Titanic. So after 12 years of anticipation and hype, and all the reports of the record budget being somewhere between a mind-boggling $300 and $500 million, I expected Avatar to be the greatest thing since sliced bread.
And sadly, it wasn't. Not even close. I will admit that the visuals in the film were stunning, and sometimes made you feel like you were dreaming. Cameron has definitely spent his time wisely creating a new universe all his own, and inventing a totally new world, one that leaves us in awe. However, for a filmmaker like Cameron, the whole IMAX 3D element of the film really wore on me. After a while, I couldn't wait to take off those uncomfortable glasses which helps us "see" the stunning visuals, as Cameron wants us to, which are quite nauseating, particularly for a movie that is almost three hours in length. I've never seen a film in 3D or IMAX before, so I wasn't sure what to expect. But now that I've seen it, it begs the question, why? Hey Jimmy, you're James frickin' Cameron! You don't need 3D to make good movies, man! I feel like 3D is like cheating on a test that you've studied for your entire life. Why is Cameron trying to overcompensate for no reason? He can make superb films without any of this IMAX 3D CGI stuff.
As for the plot, well there is none. Avatar essentially features no plot, or story, other than the typical love angle, which can only be classified as being beyond cheesy. If there is a "story", you've seen and heard it many times before. A man sent in to infiltrate a band of aliens grows close to their ways and in the end turns against his own kind when the two sides battle each other out. You've seen it in Dances With Wolves, you've seen it in The Last Samurai, hell, I could even go all the way back to 1956 and cite John Ford's The Searchers as a movie which features characters who are pulled into another society or world only to become one of them. Now, before you go and crucify me and say "well every movie can be traced back to something else", which is true, you need to understand that James Cameron is a trend-setter. HE is the one that makes the most refreshing movies, HE is the one that everyone else copies. HE doesn't need to copy anyone else. HE used to create films with creative plots and likable characters, but there's nobody to like in Avatar. After all, it's not easy to relate to a CGI-made 10 foot tall blue alien.
I really expected more out of this film. The graphics were amazing, sometimes. Other times, it was just migraine-inducing. I wanted something to happen. And nothing really happened. Cameron could have made one of the all time great films if he had just put some more thought into it, and created a good story, with fleshed out characters, and a climax that doesn't come off as being a thoughtless, cookie-cutter finale. Armed with a budget of this enormity, and over a decade between narrative films, you'd think "the king of the world" would have come up with a better movie.
But I do think people will love most of the visuals, I certainly did. But after nearly three hours, it suddenly dawns on you, "is there anything else to this movie?" Because while staring at the Mona Lisa is a very thought provoking thing to do, eventually, you move on! And that's what this film felt like. A beautiful painting come to life, but one that eventually gets tired and predictable. Sadly, and despite what most of people will say, because they loved the visuals and have never seen anything like it, James Cameron's Avatar was extremely disappointing and I'm not sure if I'll ever forget this kind of disappointment for a long, long time.
I still love Terminator 2, and I still love James Cameron. But I feel like I've been waiting through a 12 year war for my loved one to return, only to see them come back a completely different person, one whom I simply don't know and can't trust anymore. Take this for what it is, an honest review from ONE viewer. Most will not be in favor of my thoughts, because it's not overly positive. But it is what it is. Avatar is not exactly a movie. It is something else. A $400 million cartoon perhaps. Or a $400 million live-action video game. It will probably be copied a million times over the course of the upcoming decade though. Maybe, hopefully, by the end of it, Cameron will return to making movies with real people again. Maybe then, everyone will copy him once more, and all movies will go back to being about real people again. I think that's something that we all want deep down inside, but, for some reason... we just won't admit it.