Avatar is a 2009 movie directed by James Cameron, and starring Sam Worthington and Zoe Saldana. It follows a soldiers on a future planet trying to communicate with the planets natives. This movie has amazing cgi and setpieces, however it falls into typical white savior tropes, and it’s very predictable.
Avatar follows Jake, a crippled marine who goes on assignment to Pandora, a planet where humans are mining a valuable resource desperately needed for Earth. The human’s efforts to mine the resource however, are hindered by the Na’vi, pandora’s Native people. In order to communicate and eventually drive out the native people, Jake is given an Avatar to pilot, or a Na’vi body controlled by his mind. Over time however, he falls in love with the Na’vi as a people, and eventually chooses to lead a resistance against the humans.
Avatar is most famous for it’s stellar cgi. Despite coming out almost 12 years ago, this movie could’ve been released yesterday and I would’ve believed it. The native life on Pandora, both flora and fauna, looks incredible. A lot of it is bioluminescent as well, so the nighttime scenes are absolutely beautiful. The human technology also looks realistic and gritty, and contrasts nicely with the more natural life on pandora. Additionally, the final battle in the movie, which is almost entirely cgi, looks better than some movies coming out this year. The cgi in this movie is easily the best and most unique part about it, and it still holds up today.
The acting and characters in this movie are fine overall, with few standouts. Jake himself feels a little boring, although his playful nature when interacting with many aspects of Pandora for the first time is funny, and feels realistic. Sigourney Weaver was surprisingly great as Grace, a scientist in charge of the avatar project. Her character is very gruff and sarcastic, but later opens up with her past to Jake. She’s very charismatic, and Sigourney Weaver in a sci-if movie, is always a win.
Avatars fatal flaw is that, ironically although it does a lot to make itself unique action and cgi-wise, it does very little to differentiate itself plot-wise. This movie is basically a cross between Dances with Wolves, and Ferngully the Last Rainforest. The plot is extremely predictable, and it really never strays too much off of the “white savior” formula. In fact, Jake’s conversion to the Na’vi feels almost too easy, since the only reason he joins them is to be with Neytiri. He betrays his entire race just so he can sleep with an alien he’s known for three months. It feels weird and unnatural. Besides that con however, the plot does little to differentiate itself from any other similar movie, and it really hinders Avatar.
Overall, Avatar can be summed up like this; it’s a cinematic achievement, but not a cinematic masterpiece. This movie nonetheless is a fun action movie despite it’s predictability, and it’s worth watching. After all, it is cinematic history.