Avatar, the movie. The good, the bad and the ugly.

Rating: Null/10 (12 February 2010)

THE GOOD: I anxiously awaited the opportunity to go and see James Cameron's latest sci-fi epic Avatar. I was not disappointed. This movie is a masterpiece with a complex story about humans from a future America, driven by greed and profit, who are mining a rare element needed for industrial purposes back on Earth. The planet called Pandora, that contains this rare substance is a sight to behold with all its unique natural beauty but it is populated by a race of beings, the Na'vi, that have little or no technology and are spiritually entwined with the natural forces of their planet. The planet is also extremely toxic to humans who are only able to work on the surface using genetically created avatars, virtually identical to the inhabitants. The story begins well after the mining operation has begun and the humans have already constructed immense scientific laboratories along with their gigantic excavating equipment. The mining operation is protected by a quasi-military army of mercenaries. The latest member of this force is a wheelchair-bound ex-marine named Jake who was a last minute fill-in for his deceased brother. Seems the avatars are created using DNA from their human partners and the ex-marine's DNA was a match for his brother's avatar. The blend of photo-realistic animation along with live acting is the most amazing thing I've ever seen. While sitting in the theater watching this film I easily understood why it took so long to make.
I was already a big fan of James Cameron since I have several of his movies in my sci-fi movie collection so I watched this movie with a favorable bias. Cameron gave us The Abyss, Aliens and the first two Terminator films which were all some of the best sci-fi ever produced. It has been said that James Cameron started working on Avatar soon after he finished making Titanic over ten years ago. The level of technology required to complete his vision did not exist so he literally had to invent some of it. Those who enjoy sci-fi movies know that these kind of films do not get reviewed as fairly as others. Professional film critics often judge a sci-fi movie by the standards one would compare a script to Shakespeare. While dialog and plot are important it is the quality of the spectacle that counts the most and James Cameron has provided the highest quality of both by giving us a complex story that is well written along with an eye-popping visual extravaganza.
THE BAD: For some weird reason Avatar has attracted dozens of critics who have condemned this film for being everything from anti-American, to anti-religious, to even pro-communist and almost any other detracting sentiment you can think of. The movie takes place almost two centuries in the future in a time no one can contemplate so because the human characters were American and they were the bad guys the movie was anti-American. If this comparison is justified then every film that depicts bad politicians or evil government assassins should also be anti-American. Because the native inhabitants communed with nature on a level of connectivity we cannot fathom does not make this an anti-religious movie. That religious angle was offered up by a preacher, by the way, who probably saw sin and corruption everywhere he looked. As far as the pro-communist complaint, that was probably the result of the way the alien inhabitants lived. These disparaging remarks haven't convinced anyone from staying away as this film has just surpassed the box office record set by Cameron's other epic, Titanic. I don't know anything about James Cameron's politics, religion or lifestyle and I don't care about them either. I am a patriotic, conservative, Christian Republican and I loved this movie in spite of what others have said.
THE UGLY: There is only one part of this movie that I did not like and it was the presentation in 3-D. I have not seen a 3-D movie in over 50 years and back then it involved wearing cardboard eyeglasses with red and green lenses. This modern version of 3-D uses gray polarized lenses and while the 3-D effect works the glasses dim the vivid images on the screen. I plan on seeing this movie once more in the theater in the 2-D version and I look forward to later this year to being able to buy the 2-D version in Blu-Ray. I also hope that now that James Cameron has the time maybe he will make a Blu-Ray issue of Titanic.