'Avatar' Review- Derivitive. Bland. Overhyped.
This film was released in 2009.
Avatar is a science fiction film written and directed by James Cameron. He also co-produced it with frequent collaborator Jon Landau. It had its cinematic debut at the Odeon Leicester Square in London.
Sully (Sam Worthington) is a paralyzed veteran who gets offered a job by Colonel Miles Quaritch (Stephen Lang) on the planet Pandora, where they have found a rare mineral. The plan is for Sully to infiltrate the alien tribe Na'vi and convince them to trade despite the largest deposit being near a sacred tree.
Sully successfully makes contact with Neytiri te Tskaha Mo'at'ite (Zoe Saldana) using an “avatar,” an alien clone he operates remotely. He tries to earn the respect of the tribe, even convincing them to allow biologist Grace Augustine (Sigourney Weaver) to meet the tribe. As he learns more about them, he becomes convinced they will not surrender their territory, causing Miles to take drastic measures.
Okay, I cannot complain about the actors and actresses. Everyone does a good job with the trope they are portraying. Worthington is the troubled outsider who finds a home. Neytiri is the simple tribal girl who falls in love with the outsider. Weaver is the expert who will not shut up about the environment. Lang is the bad guy who does not care about the world. Yep, they all did decent in those roles.
The issue is that this is the trouble. Everything is a bland derivative of something done better. Sully is just John Dunbar from Dances With Wolves. Neytiri is just Pocohontas from The New World. Augustine is just Kelly Scott from Lake Placid. Quaritch is just Commander Rourke from Atlantis: The Lost Empire. Not a single one of them felt unique or that you had not met them before, and that is just the main characters.
It is just the characters that are derivative. The plot is a rehash is every single “modern man falls in love with native gal” ever made. There is nothing unique about it. In fact, it is a blatant rip-off of the animated film Fern Gully: The Last Rainforest. It follows the plot beat-for-beat, just mixing in military and space tropes to make it seem different. That is disappointing, considering that James Cameron had previously been known for his unique stories and tales.
You might be saying, “Well, at least the special effects were worth it.” I would disagree. Michael Bay’s Transformers came out around the same time, and I have to say, when you put Optimus Prime next to one of the aliens, the Autobot leader looks much better. It is honestly shocking how well this film did at the box office.
Bottom line, James Cameron’s Avatar is an overhyped, bland derivative of every other film in its subgenre.
PARENTAL CONCERNS: Strong violence, Foul language, Sexual content
FAVORITE QUOTE: Everything is backwards now, like out there is the true world, and in here is the dream.
Check out the trailer below:
What do you think? Let me know in the comments below. Tell me if there is a comic book, movie, novel, or anime you would like me to review.