You've Seen It All Before

Rating: 3/10 (2 January 2010)

If you like heavy-handed metaphors, laughable dialogue, and predictable plots, you'll love "Avatar," auteur James Cameron's latest creation.
Technically, "Avatar" is a blend of Cameron's past efforts. Like "The Abyss," it taps into the supernatural qualities of nature. Like "T2," it captures humanoids visually using innovative special effects. Like "Titanic," it juxtaposes a Romeo/Juliet-type romance with chaos and destruction. Unfortunately, while those three films are great, "Avatar" is not.
James Cameron has never shied away from foreshadowing. Every one of his films builds suspense through eerie happenings, musical cues, and suspicious dialogue early on. "Avatar" takes foreshadowing to a new level. Early on, characters literally say what is going to happen for the rest of the film. You could easily outline the entire plot about twenty minutes into the movie. Obvious parallels are drawn early on between the Na'vi (the blue humanoids) and the Native Americans, with the greedy white invaders standing in for....well....greedy white invaders. Then you get the obligatory environmentalists, as well as the morally conflicted protagonist. The plot proceeds as you would imagine. I won't spoil it, but as I said, it basically spoils itself. In fact, it bears a lot in common with Disney's "Atlantis," a much better film.
Even with a hackneyed plot, one would expect that the great James Cameron could weave a great film through effects, actors, and plot tweaking. The plot rarely wavers from that which is expected. While plot twists are obnoxious in most cases nowadays, one or two would've been welcome here- so long as they weren't outlandish.
As for the acting, it's not bad. Sam Worthington's Australian accent seems out of place, but he puts in solid work as the subdued paraplegic protagonist. He struggles with the daily video diary entry scenes, but these are simply plot devices on Cameron's part to inject narration. Some of the supporting players are real stand-outs. Giovanni Ribisi provides comic relief as the mostly apathetic corporate representative on board. His character serves no purpose other than to provide laughs, but he manages to steal a few scenes with his dead-pan delivery. Sigourney Weaver is very good as the ship's leading scientist. She molds a complex-seeming character out of one that was surely flat on paper. The cast's best performance comes from Stephen Lang as the grisled colonel. The character is a cliché, but Lang allows the audience to relate to his perspective.
Visually, the film is very pretty. The world certainly looks real, the blue people move about smoothly, and the battle scenes look convincing. What's lacking is visual flourish. The Na'vi look off-putting and somewhat stupid, and their strange screaming does nothing to dispel this. The creatures on which they fly look like something straight out of "Star Wars Episode III," and the same could be said of the lush tree-centered environment. The choreography of the battle scenes is also mostly weak. It doesn't raise adrenaline so much as it numbs the viewer.
On the whole, "Avatar" is derivative plot-wise and lacking in style and novelty visually. However, some solid performances and a few visual master-strokes make it an average movie, rather than a bad one.