in the deed the glory indeed
Well, I saw Avatar, but at least it was for free.
And let me tell you, the animals in that movie were so bad ass. They do all the leg work - those Navis would be fucked without 'em, let me tell you, and they seemed to come and help the Navis out of the goodness of their hearts - and all they get as a reward is death. This one Navi loses TWO "pets" in like five minutes. And it's like, oh, you're bonded with the animal now. If by bonding you mean rape rite, then yeah, sure, you've "bonded." And now that you're "bonded" with the animal you share its thoughts. And by "share its thoughts" you mean "take over its brain and tell it what to do."
The corporate-soldiers, meanwhile, just look at animals and go "omg monster!" and shoot.
The animals deserve to take over Pandora and kick all the rest of them dumbasses off.
I do agree with some reviews that have pointed out the worst thing about this movie is Jake Sully's character. Poor Michelle Rodriguez, bless her heart, has a much better character. Even Sigourney Weaver's scientist woman is better. I wish I could say there were good characters among the Navis, but they were all awfully drawn. They were basically just every-non-white-culture-mashed-into-one-super-exotic-culture, and they weren't anything beyond their rituals and animal control. They're just culture. No personalities. Unless you count "jealousy," because one of them has that.
The problem with Jake Sully's character isn't that he's clearly struggling to control his Australian accent, but that he becomes the "bridge" between the corporate-soldiers and the Navis. Why does he become this? Because he literally takes on the genetic code of the Navi. So if you can't literally become the Other, then there's just no hope of understanding them as anything but savages. I think my favorite part of the movie was Michelle Rodriguez pulling away from bombing the Navis, because "I didn't sign up for this." She's got no avatar. She just decides, on her own, that she has a moral objection to what's going on and decides to do something about it. Jake Sully decides to do something about it because he's become one of them and gets to have sex with one of them. In other words, vested interest, and whatever it's called when you can only be kind to someone because you directly relate to them. This is pathetic, useless, dishonest conflict resolution. And okay, I like Everlast's "What It's Like," but when movies use this trope it becomes Wife Swap, and I'm sick of it. You shouldn't have to physically become another person to keep from blowing them up.
This only works - and even then only at a, like, 10% level - in movies like Saw. Where it's like, haha, you played with the lives of others, now your own life will be blasted out of you. When it's "poetic justice." And believe me, I am not sold on poetic justice either, but it's better than use-your-new-outlook-on-life-as-a-playground for your own personal fulfillment. Cuz then you're just a colonist, bada bing bada boom.
And oh, I know, he's our "avatar." As far as the writing goes, none of the Navi characters have enough substance to be anything but exotic Others, so yeah, getting the audience to relate to the corporate-soldier-world is mission accomplished, bucko. When the Navis are written as glorified plants, that's what you get. When Pandora is just a playground, that's what you get. Your audience will relate to the humanoids whose attributes go beyond RIDES THIS BEAST and HAS MOHAWK.
From an Arcade Fire song, "Black Mirror":
"Please show me something that isn't mine - but mine is the only kind that I relate to."
There are many, many other problems with the story, but this is what immediately popped to mind for me. Ultimately, pretty forgettable and yikes, way way too long. I didn't think any of the visuals were worth writing home about - good for the moment, but so is black light - they're goddamn CGI, and some of the early scenes of the avatars looked downright sloppy. Give it an Oscar in technical achievement if you must, but let's not mistake technical achievement for movie, ok?
And let me tell you, the animals in that movie were so bad ass. They do all the leg work - those Navis would be fucked without 'em, let me tell you, and they seemed to come and help the Navis out of the goodness of their hearts - and all they get as a reward is death. This one Navi loses TWO "pets" in like five minutes. And it's like, oh, you're bonded with the animal now. If by bonding you mean rape rite, then yeah, sure, you've "bonded." And now that you're "bonded" with the animal you share its thoughts. And by "share its thoughts" you mean "take over its brain and tell it what to do."
The corporate-soldiers, meanwhile, just look at animals and go "omg monster!" and shoot.
The animals deserve to take over Pandora and kick all the rest of them dumbasses off.
I do agree with some reviews that have pointed out the worst thing about this movie is Jake Sully's character. Poor Michelle Rodriguez, bless her heart, has a much better character. Even Sigourney Weaver's scientist woman is better. I wish I could say there were good characters among the Navis, but they were all awfully drawn. They were basically just every-non-white-culture-mashed-into-one-super-exotic-culture, and they weren't anything beyond their rituals and animal control. They're just culture. No personalities. Unless you count "jealousy," because one of them has that.
The problem with Jake Sully's character isn't that he's clearly struggling to control his Australian accent, but that he becomes the "bridge" between the corporate-soldiers and the Navis. Why does he become this? Because he literally takes on the genetic code of the Navi. So if you can't literally become the Other, then there's just no hope of understanding them as anything but savages. I think my favorite part of the movie was Michelle Rodriguez pulling away from bombing the Navis, because "I didn't sign up for this." She's got no avatar. She just decides, on her own, that she has a moral objection to what's going on and decides to do something about it. Jake Sully decides to do something about it because he's become one of them and gets to have sex with one of them. In other words, vested interest, and whatever it's called when you can only be kind to someone because you directly relate to them. This is pathetic, useless, dishonest conflict resolution. And okay, I like Everlast's "What It's Like," but when movies use this trope it becomes Wife Swap, and I'm sick of it. You shouldn't have to physically become another person to keep from blowing them up.
This only works - and even then only at a, like, 10% level - in movies like Saw. Where it's like, haha, you played with the lives of others, now your own life will be blasted out of you. When it's "poetic justice." And believe me, I am not sold on poetic justice either, but it's better than use-your-new-outlook-on-life-as-a-playground for your own personal fulfillment. Cuz then you're just a colonist, bada bing bada boom.
And oh, I know, he's our "avatar." As far as the writing goes, none of the Navi characters have enough substance to be anything but exotic Others, so yeah, getting the audience to relate to the corporate-soldier-world is mission accomplished, bucko. When the Navis are written as glorified plants, that's what you get. When Pandora is just a playground, that's what you get. Your audience will relate to the humanoids whose attributes go beyond RIDES THIS BEAST and HAS MOHAWK.
From an Arcade Fire song, "Black Mirror":
"Please show me something that isn't mine - but mine is the only kind that I relate to."
There are many, many other problems with the story, but this is what immediately popped to mind for me. Ultimately, pretty forgettable and yikes, way way too long. I didn't think any of the visuals were worth writing home about - good for the moment, but so is black light - they're goddamn CGI, and some of the early scenes of the avatars looked downright sloppy. Give it an Oscar in technical achievement if you must, but let's not mistake technical achievement for movie, ok?