Avatar is not a movie. It's an event!

Rating: 9/10 (20 December 2009)

Frankly, I didn't think James Cameron would pull it off, but he did. Avatar turned into a groundbreaking work of art... if you look at the visual side of the movie. If you watch this movie in IMAX 3D – as you should – it will be an unforgettable experience. You have the feeling that you've actually been to the planet of Pandora. You'll really think that an alien race like the Na'vi exist. James Cameron did a great job inventing their language, habits and rituals. He also put a lot of detail into the planet itself. The exotic animals do not all convince, but the trees, plants and insects are stunning. Especially the images of the floating mountains are unforgettable.
But does Avatar also break ground on a story level? No, it doesn't. Like many visitors have concluded before, the movie heavily relies on a flick like Dances with wolves and borrows elements from a game like Assassin's Creed. This scifi tale is pretty predictable actually, but that doesn't hurt in any way. You know the good side will win eventually and you know the hero in the end gets the girl. In order to see that happen you'll be more than willing to sit through the whole 165 minutes of the movie.
Oh, perhaps there's at least one thing that can be considered groundbreaking storywise. To me this was perhaps the first time that a director/writer succeeded in showing a believable love story between a human and an alien. The chemistry between our human hero and alien heroin didn't have Titanic proportions, but it worked.
At this point (Dec 20th) it is clear that Avatar is a big hit worldwide. I don't know if it will cover its costs but the hype is there. I only wonder if the audience understands the fact that James Cameron used two major American tragedies to achieve the right sentiment for the story. The first one is obviously the tragedy of the Native American people. Like the Na'vi they were slaughtered by the (white) men in the name of greed. In the story of Avatar they win the fight, but as we all know in real life it was different. Is this a case of alternate history? The second tragedy used by Cameron is a powerful one: the collapsing of the World Trade Centre. In Avatar it translates into an impressive and moving scene, but one could wonder if tragedies like these aren't too sacred to be used in entertainment movies like these. Here they're only used for dramatic effect, not for a (political) statement. But maybe I'm just nitpicking here.
Avatar is a impressive and unforgettable movie experience. James Cameron establishes himself as the great moviemaker he is and I cannot think of anyone who can resist his imagining of a this wondrous fantasy world. After 12 years of silence, the success of Titanic behind him and stories of an ever increasing budget, the pressure on James Cameron must have been inhumanly big. But still, the man delivers.
Avatar is not a movie. It's an event!
9/10