16th January, 2010

JOY NICHOLAS

Avatar (M)

In a word: Deja vu

A FAMIILIAR TALE?: While the special effects are "amazing", Joy Nicholas says she was disappointed with the familiar storyline. "(M)y real issue is with the complete lack of originality (aside from the fact that the main characters are blue) in this movie."

Normally, I would say I’m a huge fan of recycling. I pride myself in putting as much as possible into the recycling bin, I buy recycled office paper and other recycled goods. But recycling story lines for films? There I draw the line. Especially when the said film is being touted far and wide as “new” and “breath-taking”…like Avatar.

The film is about a paraplegic ex-Marine named Jake Sully (played by Sam Worthington) who, through the death of his twin brother, is recruited to use an avatar to conduct research on the Na’vi tribe on the planet of Pandora. It is hoped that he will be able to build trust among them and convince them to leave their sacred, giant tree which contains a wealth of unobtainium, a newly discovered element that will save Earth and its inhabitants from an impending energy crisis.

Unobtainium? Really? The writers couldn’t even come up with a better name? Sorry, that’s an aside. The nicest thought I have with regards to this film is that the special effects were amazing and often quite beautiful. But even they weren’t enough to keep me focused on the story line of the film as it progressed from one predictable event to the next for 162 minutes. Soon I was paying far more attention to the pain in my posterior end that came from sitting for so long. There was also a great deal of New Ageism that at times was unintentionally comical (the ground lighting up under the Na’vi’s bums as they worshipped around their tree, for instance) – though this amusement provided a welcome respite.

But my real issue is with the complete lack of originality (aside from the fact that the main characters are blue) in this movie. A friend of mine referred to it as Dances with the Last Blue Samurai, but that’s hardly giving Avatar full credit for its movie recycling program. For instance, there were strong resemblances to the children’s film Fern Gully, some of the music seemed to be the same as that in Gladiator, and Sully gives a speech so closely resembling William Wallace’s battle cry from Braveheart, I fully expected him to say, “They may take our tree, but they will never take our freedom!”

If you enjoy the experience of deja vu at the steep cost of a movie ticket these days, then I do recommend this film. I admit that there were people at the showing I attended (a rather astonishing number of them, in fact) who actually applauded at the end. I did a little too, but that was because I was so happy it was finally over. But if you’re just excited about the 3D aspect of it, then I suggest investing in one of those books with 3D pictures in it. At least those are surprising the first time through.

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