Avatar* (2009)

This is it- the biggest movie of all time! Boasting one of the largest budgets in film history, a legion of devoted fans, revolutionary 3-D technology and (as if I could forget) the highest box-office gross of all time. There’s no doubt about it- films don’t get much bigger than James Cameron’s Avatar. But is it really one of the greatest films of all time? Is this sci-fi adventure and the technological wizardry behind it really, as some have proclaimed, the future of film?

Set 150 years in the future, Avatar is the story of a paraplegic soldier’s chance at redemption. Jake Sully’s recently-murdered twin brother was to be part of a special mission to the Alpha Centauri star system. His brother was a scientist preparing to travel to the moon Pandora, where he would use a remote mental link to operate the body of a native creature (known as the Na’vi) specifically designed to mesh with his mind. Rather than lose out on the millions of dollars it cost to produce the Na’vi avatar body, the RDA Corporation, who are funding the project to help smooth over relations with the natives while mining for a precious mineral, hires Jake as a replacement.

After arriving on Pandora, Jake is faced with conflicting motives. Dr. Grace Augustine (Sigourney Weaver) finds him an inadequate replacement for his brilliant scientist brother. The head of RDA’s security force and the company on-site administrator see him as a chance to gather valuable information on the Na’vi. They promise to fund an expensive surgery to restore Jake’s legs if he’ll report to them regularly on the natives. The largest deposit of the valuable mineral is located underneath a giant tree the Na’vi use as their home. RDA wants access to the deposit without starting a war that will turn off stockholders. All plans go awry when Jake is separated from the team on his first outing. Attacked by vicious, wild animals, Jake is saved by the Na’vi. Initially wary to his presence, they grow to accept him and Jake grows to sympathize with his new-found, blue-skinned friends.

James Cameron spent years both developing the kind of 3-D filmmaking equipment he wanted and waiting for CGI technology to advance to the point he needed in order to make Avatar a fully-realized product. Cameron’s patience and innovation are quite possibly unparalleled and they pay off gloriously in terms of technical achievement. Instead of using 3-D to throw stuff out of the screen at the audience, Cameron uses it to add miles of depth to the background. Yes, a few things pop out at you but Cameron never uses it purely as a gimmick.

The flora and fauna of Pandora are impressive. Cameron fills his world with lush vegetation that looks fantastic by day and mesmerizing by night. The animal life is creative, though some of the creatures have features that don’t seem to make sense for such a dense jungle setting. On the whole though, Pandora is a feast for the eyes. Even the Na’vi are impressive and the use of motion capture really brings each character to life. The only times the technology really betrays Cameron’s intents are when human characters are digitally constructed and when characters or creatures move quickly off the screen. In the case of the latter, I am not sure if the blurriness I saw was something that plagued all screenings or if the 3-D projectors being used in the theater I went to simply weren’t the best on the market.

As impressive as Cameron’s blitzkrieg of effects on your eyes may be, the fact that most of this world is artificial kept me from drinking the Kool-Aid and joining the shameless masses of Avatar devotees amusingly called ‘avatards.’ You can throw all the special effects and CGI you want on the screen but the simple fact remains that, in stories involving flesh-and-blood people (or in this case humanoids), there is just no substitution for the real thing. Sure, all the characters’ movements were plotted and performed by real people but it’s harder to care about them when they are ‘painted’ over by computer effects. It’s difficult to put into words but there is some kind of visceral quality lost in the translation that is motion capture.

Another key ingredient that Avatar lacks is a unique and compelling story. You’ve heard plenty of people call this movie a hybrid of a number of films- Dances with Wolves, Pocahontas, Fern Gully, etc. It seems that the deeper you root into sci-fi, the more borrowed elements you will find in Avatar. That’s not necessarily a bad thing. It’s extremely difficult to make a film anymore without borrowing or paying homage to what has come before in your particular genre. The problem here is that the ‘going native’ narrative has been done enough times that it is extremely predictable. Even if you never saw the original theatrical trailer that gave away every major plot point in chronological order, you never have much doubt as to what is going to happen.

This brings me to the crux of the matter- Avatar is not the future of film. A technical bonanza, yes; the future of film, no. Here’s why: the 3-D technology Cameron created improves the movie-going experience without actually improving the movie itself. It’s really cool to look miles beyond the edge of the movie screen but it’s not an essential element to telling the story. It’s just an extra ingredient to make the theater experience a little more special. Think about it- stripped of its 3-D effects, Avatar is just an environmentalist action movie with good computer animation. Until a film actually needs to utilize the third dimension for story purposes, 3-D is still technically just a gimmick (albeit a revamped and smartly-employed one).

Avatar could have very easily been made without all the whiz-bang technology James Cameron slaved over but I seriously doubt that it would have been received in the same way. He had a story that he wanted to tell and he knew he needed massive amounts of CGI to do it. Cameron also knew that computer animated films are a dime a dozen anymore so he decided to step up the game a notch or two. The story and characters aren’t the main attraction here. It’s really an advertisement for the next generation of CGI and motion capture technology. Cameron is offering us a new way for films to be made. Will all films need 3-D? Certainly not. But when a film comes along that deserves the 3-D treatment, it’s a safe bet that it will be worth getting lost in.

Don’t get me wrong- Avatar is still a good film. Over-hyped, but good. It wears its politics on it sleeves, which might aide in winning or losing you depending on your ideology, but most of that can be shrugged off for the sake of taking in a colorful action movie. And let’s face it- when it comes to action, James Cameron is one of the best in the business.

Repeat viewings won’t be able to recapture all of the magic (at least not until everyone has 3-D TV’s) because Avatar was meant to be seen in 3-D. If you didn’t see it in 3-D, you missed out. But fear not! Cameron is currently planning two sequels, so there will be future opportunities to see his creation in all its glory.

RATING: 3.5 out of 5

The Fast and the Furious (2001)

Not only does this film glorify the irresponsible and potentially deadly hobby of illegal street racing, it also seems to make an attempt to legitimize it, leaving me with nothing but contempt for The Fast and the Furious.

Essentially a shallow repackaging/rip-off of the 1991 film Point Break, The Fast and the Furious boasts “high-octane action and excitement” but, in reality, rarely manages to make it out of first gear. Paul Walker stars as a twenty-something undercover cop trying to break into the local street racing culture in hopes of uncovering the mastermind behind a series of semi truck robberies on local highways.

Walker makes himself look like a rookie fool by racing the local hotshots with his car at stake and losing, though he tried his darndest to win. Fortunately, a “surprise” police raid causes everyone to flee, allowing Walker to save one of the street racing gang leaders, played by Vin Diesel. Despite looking like a total stooge and the all-too-convenient raid and getaway, Walker is admitted into Diesel’s inner circle. One of Diesel’s gang sees right through Walker’s ruse but Diesel doesn’t believe it.

Walker proceeds to fall in love with Diesel’s sister and comes to embrace his new found “friends” and their lifestyle. This clouds his vision to the fact that Diesel is indeed the one behind the highway robberies and he spends much of the movie trying desperately to find evidence that one of the other gang leaders is behind it.

In the end, Walker has to make a choice. After a highway robbery goes awry and one of Diesel’s gang is seriously hurt, Walker exposes himself as a cop to get medevac for the injured. With Diesel’s operation exposed and cops on the way, Walker does the only logical thing left to be done: he lets Diesel flee to Mexico. Walker puts faux friends and a lifestyle that isn’t his above his duties as a police officer and lets the bad guy get away.

So, aside from the anti-establishment undertones, what is wrong with this movie? For starters, the writing sucks. I understand that much of the dialog is meant to be tongue-in-cheek, but it’s still woefully written tongue-in-cheek. Groan worthy lines like “You look tired, I think you should go upstairs and give me a massage” and “I live my life a quarter-mile at a time” are just a few examples of how stale and out of touch the script is.

The actors do their best to deal with the horrible prose they are force fed, but stale or overblown performances prevent the acting from achieving anything above mediocrity. Very few, if any, of the characters seem genuine. Most are built out of stereotypes and conventions that have grown to be more irksome than appreciable. Walker’s eagerness to be playing his first bona fide leading role and the lousy script make his character completely unbelievable and easy to pick out as an undercover cop. Vin Diesel appears to either have just been acting like his normal self or he decided to adopt his character’s attitude in real life. It’s hard to tell, but either way he’s a flat character and it’s hard to imagine a guy who grew up on the streets and working with cars to be such a genius at crime.

The rest of the cast is filled out with actors and actresses who have also had very little experience with main or even supporting roles. There’s a lot of raw talent in The Fast and the Furious, but it doesn’t appear that director Rob Cohen spent much time helping the young cast figure out their characters. All this untapped and unfocused talent is a lot to sit through for 100 minutes. I’d like the think the cast (excepting Vin Diesel of course) will go on to have bright careers when they get the proper amount of direction.

Some of the chase scenes and visual effects are a bit on the silly side. I mean, do we really need a CGI shot that takes us from the engine block back through the exhaust pipe? I think not. The use of computer inserted ‘speed lines’ to make viewers think that the cars are traveling really fast are preposterous. These effects make the cars look like they are traveling much faster than they really could under the same conditions in real life.

Also, some of the stunt work, while impressive looking, is very deceiving. Some of the race scene and wrecks are very well choreographed and executed, but rely on visual trickery and many modifications to pull off. For instance, very few cars are low enough to the ground to drive underneath and a semi truck’s trailer. Even one that is low enough would be obstructed by the spare tire holder and other parts that hang below the bottom of the trailer. The trucks used have raised trailers, which are easy to spot if you know where to look. It all looks ‘cool,’ but it’s not realistic.

And that’s the biggest problem with The Fast and the Furious. Much of it is just too unrealistic to keep my mind from suppressing my doubt for very long. The dialog is phony, the acting is stale and the plot is a stretch. The way they rob the trucks is really truly laughable and probably wouldn’t work.

At its heart, The Fast and the Furious is a guilty pleasure movie but it really turns out to be guilty of poor execution and being an almost undetectable rip-off. Just as Point Break sparked an interest in surfing back in the early 90s, The Fast and the Furious sparked interest in illegal street racing, a decidedly more dangerous and less athletic pursuit.

Thanks for nothing.

RATING: 1.5 out of 5