Avatar Review

For a while now I have flirted with the idea of putting some movie/tv/book critiques up on my blog. I have been held back mainly by the fact that I think most critics are self-important, pedantic wannabes who lack the creativity to make their own new things, so instead analyse the creations of others, often stroking their own underachieving egos by lambasting the work of their creative betters. So a critic I would rather not be. However, I often find myself most in the mood to share my opinions after I have read a book, seen a movie, or watched TV. So I found myself in a quandary: how to blog about movies and books without stooping to the level of critic.

The solution I have come up with is this: I am in no way qualified to claim to be an educated, hoity-toity critic, but I am an opinionated consumer. So that is what my reviews will be: consumer opinions, nothing more. Anyone who takes them to be educated criticisms is only fooling themselves.

So lets begin: Last night we went to see the movie Avatar in 3D. Dana and I debated whether we should go or not, since we both had heard mixed reviews. Some people said it was mindless drivel, while others thought it was the best movie experience ever. We finally decided to see for ourselves.

My personal verdict is leaning strongly towards Best Movie Experience Ever. I give it a 9 of 10. However, the Best Movie Experience Ever is different than the Best Movie Ever. This was clearly an experiential movie, and was also clearly meant to be. The 3D effects and the pure visual beauty of this movie were phenomenal. At several points I felt like I needed to dust ashes or dirt off my legs from explosions on screen. The action was phenomenal, and the only thing that kept me from feeling like I was flying my own dragon/bird thingy was that the floor didn't move. It was truly an overwhelming, convincing, transporting experience. It was one of those movies where you leave the theater knowing that the extra money you dropped was worth it simply for the experience. Even the extra money they make you pay for the 3D glasses was worth it.

But if you are going into this movie expecting to see a new Tale of Two Cities or Les Miserables, you are going to be disappointed, and it is your own dumb fault. It is not high literature. The plot is familiar and predictable: hard-bitten soldier contacts new culture, learns to love them, then works against his old people to save his new people (see: Dances with Wolves). Character development is formulaic, and there are a thousand things you can find that his movie does not do. Again, if you came into this movie expecting an academic or intellectually challenging experience, then you deserve to be disappointed, and it is your own dumb fault.

Avatar is a roller-coaster, and a dang good one. It is thrilling, exciting, novel, beautiful and powerful. You should go into this movie expecting a roller-coaster ride. Anyone who climbs into a roller-coaster expecting it to be like driving a Bentley is just showing that they are either completely retarded, or they have no idea what a roller-coaster is for.

Anyway, I came out of this movie thinking two main things; 1: The critics who have panned it for being non-intellectual have only managed to display their own shortcomings: they wanted this movie to be something it wasn't, and were unable to appreciate this movie for what it was.
Go and see it, and see it in 3D in the theater. You will love it, as long as you don't expect it to be Traffic or Million Dollar Baby. But even then, it remains a good story in it's own right, which brings me to 2: Even though the story is not new or original, it still manages to do one thing that much of "high art" fails to do: it tells a story that taps into a larger social consciousness. It tells the story of a people who wish they could go back and undo the harm they have done, of a people who regret what they had to lose in order to get what they have gained. It tells a story that virtually everyone can relate to, even if it is merely on the level of being a good person and protecting the weak. So what if that is not ground breaking? If every new work of art has to break new ground, then there is no room at all for tradition and convention. No room for familiarity or culture. In a very real way, revisiting these kinds of stories is more important than bringing new innovations to the table. We don't know if the new is worth the paper it is printed on, but the familiar themes of the past have already shown they have power and value.