So clearly it pays, quite literally, to take a 10 year break between two creative projects. Over a decade since Titanic, Cameron has done it again, breaking his own record with another special-effect marathon, Avatar.
I have a blind spot where Titanic is concerned, and it is perhaps for this reason that I somehow expected more from Avatar, although on reflection I'm not sure why. Even on paper the film didn't seem that exciting- the concept of futuristic space travel for the purpose of mining a foreign planet is a bit familiar (hello, Moon, Ghosts of Mars, etc, etc.) and whilst the idea of exploring this new world and the deep intimacies of its inhabitants as an avatar was vaguely interesting, it felt more like a SecondLifer's wet-dream. I can almost imagine a 'creative panel' of grey-faced sweaty men sitting in a dark room saying 'Hey, hey, GUYS, wouldn't it be COOL if I was, like, BLUE, and really TALL, and, and, I got to have SEX in a glowing jelly-fish forest, with this THUPER HOT blue lady with a TAIL???'
Other from an obvious lack of originality, Avatar is sometimes embarrassingly bad, in plot and in dialogue. The basic premise sees brutish military men crashing around in giant robot suits, attacking the 'indigenous', who fill the role of noble savage with gusto whilst they try and defend their pure environment and simple lifestyle. This conceit would be more at home in a 1940s colonial film, or indeed in the 1840s when it wasn't taken for granted that it's not ok to stamp all over someone else's country.
Cameron's supposed environmental message is drowned out by the self-consciously macho exclamations of the soldiers ('take that, BITCH') and the obligingly savage grunts and shouts of the natives, which completely de-values any suggestion that they're not, like, savage.
On the other hand, the visuals were quite interesting, the forest scenes in particular were beautiful in the way that some anime films can be, undulating plants, bizarre creatures, all coloured in psychedelic pastels and fluorescent. In 3D, this was worth the watch, but did not ultimately make up for the metaphorical mulch the rest of the film was.
Perhaps what has made the film's success though, is not just the pre-release hype, but is probably the fact that is was comfortable. I didn't love it, I didn't hate it. Like many products on a super-market shelf, it just slipped right into my trolley out of vague interest. I'm not sure Cameron would like this prognosis, but then again, he's probably too busy to notice my indifference, taken up as he is with laughing all the way to the bank.
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