Avatar - 2009 USA d: James Cameron

Pocahontalypse Now...

I expected to hate this film completely, but thought I ought to catch up with it as it's a big, key release.  James Cameron does not do it for me.  I like The Terminator and Aliens but do not rate any of his other films - actively despising them in the cases of The Abyss and Titanic.  And so it was that I expected so very little from Avatar.

Well, it surprised me...not a lot, you understand, but it did surprise me.  The film is monumentally flawed in so very many ways, but I did end up thinking it was just about watchable and probably Cameron's best film since Aliens.  It's certainly technically impressive (as you would expect) and does what it sets out to do.

But, as I said, there are flaws. Huge, unavoidable flaws that stop this being anything other than a third rate (at best) film.  Most obviously is the film's blundering unoriginality. This is a slight story you have seen many times before (Pocahontas, Ferngully and Braveheart spring to mind) here blown up into a massive, out of control monster of a thing that runs tremendously overlong and gives off the impression of looking down on you in the audience. This is a film that screeches, "Look how important and impressive I am! I have no need of good writing, decent dialogue, good soundtrack music or dramatic consistency! I am your God!"...well, near enough!  As this napkin's worth of script is pumped up to two and a half hours and tries desperately to be the next Star Wars, all you can really see is a thin script, entirely recycled, that doesn't know whether to concentrate on spiritual/ecological concerns, criticism of military/capitalist imperialism, mighty action sequences, character development, cartoon or live action...and so it tries them all, half-heartedly and occasionally cringe-inducingly.

But if you are able to turn down your critical brain enough to ride over these flaws and look beneath them, there is an entertaining, rollercoaster of a film to soak up.  Granted it's the kind of rollercoaster you'd find in a run down, under-funded seaside town stuck in the 1950s but with a nice fresh coat of paint.

A very poor film, but not as poor as it probably could have been taking everything into account. It may catch you unawares and drag you along with it.