Oh wow! I get to pick apart this movie!
Well, Avatar , this town is only big enough for one of us, and only one of us is writing this article.
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The Story
Let’s get this one out of the way: this story has been done a million times. Pochahontas , Dances With Wolves , Ferngully (minus the rapping bat).
Outsider helps native people against their own kind. Yawn.
The White Saviour Complex.
Now that we’ve gotten more “woke”(see kids, I’m cool) in recent years, this problem has been pointed out more and more often.
A white guy comes and joins a native tribe, then instantly becomes the coolest and most talented of them all.
It’s Predictable
Because we’ve seen this story a million times, we can already predict how it’s going to go down.
Jake Sully initially joins the Na’vi to steal from them, falls in love with them, his original plot gets revealed so he has to prove himself, then… oh man… I’m falling asleep…
The Tone
Despite this movie being done a million times, the tone near the end of the movie pretends to be something that’s poetic and never done before.
Oh no, are the Na’Vi going to accept you after you betrayed them, Jake? I’m ever so sad and worried.
The Dialogue
While James Cameron does visual effects very well (see: Titanic , Aliens ) his dialogue leaves much to be desired.
It tends to be full of exposition, and frankly a little bit clunky.
The Visual Effects
Wait no don’t exit out of the article!
Yes, the visual effects are very impressive and yes they’re going to be remembered for some time, but can we now admit 10 years later that some of them look pretty fake?
The Characters
Sure, I remember the name “Jake Sully” because it’s my own, but which characters do you really remember from this movie?
Zoe Saldana? Sigourney Weaver? That one guy from Ted ? What were their names again?
The Performances
Sure, with clunky dialogue the actors don’t really have much to work with, but let’s be honest the visuals are the main attraction here.
No really memorable performances, and if they were memorable they were so in the wrong way.
The Love Story
This is a tale as old as time, star-crossed lovers from warring factions, blah, blah, blah. But is any moment of Zoe Saldana’s and Jake Sully’s love actually believable?
Maybe once or twice, but again, not memorable.
The Length
Did this movie really have to be two hours and forty minutes?
We’re not telling the story of Spartacus here people, we don’t need almost three hours for this.
The Themes
The theme of this film is that “oppressive nations should not push out indigenous peoples”. Also, that you can overcome biases with love and affection.
These are themes we’ve been exploring since… well, since as long as I can remember.
The Money
In the end, one of the reasons people went to see this movie is because of how much money they heard it made, only adding to James Cameron’s dragon hoard of riches.
The Awards
The Academy recognized how the story-telling in this film was lame and only gave it Oscars for Best Cinematography, Best Visual Effects, and Best Art Direction.
Which it deserved, at the time.
The Villain
There’s an old saying that goes “a movie is only as good as it’s villain” and if that’s the case than Avatar is really, really bad.
This bad guy is cliched, evil for the sake of being evil and overall lame.
It’s Supposed To Be A Blockbuster
In the end, the most fatal flaw with Avatar is that it’s just supposed to be a blockbuster.
Not a game-changing story, not a film that will stick through the years, just one that will make a huge amount of money.
