Directed by: James Cameron
Venue: The Esquire Theatre (Sacramento, CA)
December 24, 2009 (10:15 p.m.)
Starring: Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Sigourney Weaver, Stephen Lang, Michelle Rodriguez, and more
Grade: A
Recommendation: It’s a looong movie, that goes by very quickly (I didn’t even have to use the restroom! And I always have to use the restroom!). A Cameron film, it is a complete movie: it has a plot, interesting (archetypical) characters, and is set in a world of pure imagination. Set your brain on neutral and enjoy the experience.
Review: (Spoiler)
The imagery of Pandora (the alien world) is absolutely amazing. The construction of the animated characters (the Na’vi) and the native species of flora and fauna is entrancing. In 3D IMAX, the visual splendor of the movie surrounds you and draws you in.
The story is without question a blunt allegory or two or three: borrowing heavily from recent history as well as the United States assimilation of the indigenous American people. In stark contrast are the technology-heavy, consumption-driven “aliens” (humans) and Pandora’s native humanoid species, the Na’vi, which practices a lifestyle that is much more ecological and spiritually balanced. As preachy stories go, the plight of the Na’vi is suffocating, while the analogies to more modern conflicts are delivered painfully bluntly in dialogue (in case you miss the “subtleties” of the actions). There’s nothing wrong with the opinion or voicing it, perhaps the directness is a bit over the top and seems to come out of the blue (so to speak).
A Cameron film (like Titanic, the Abyss, Terminator 2: Judgement Day, etc.), Avatar is a character-driven, action-packed, science fiction drama that unfolds so fluidly that it all but encourages the viewer to melt into the strange world. We are introduced to the alien way of life, through the sympathetic eyes of a character as lost in this world as we are. We see the whole drama unfold through the eyes of a man (a Marine, Jake Sully) who finds himself (a bit lost), trying to “walk in someone else’s shoes”. It is through his point-of-view that we experience the lifestyle of the Na’vi, which is a very cool fantasy with foundations in real belief systems from our own little blue world.
While brilliantly executed, the story tends to be predictable and the characters overly archetypal, but all in a good way.
My only complaint is the final execution of the “big finale”. While the theme of the movie was understanding and integrating yourself into to someone else’s way of life, I was sad that more of the Na’vi philosophy or methods of hunting or battling a larger foe weren’t incorporated into the climax of the film. I would have liked to see a less-balanced attack that better utilized the strengths of the Na’vi and their weapons/skills (especially since they knew what their main threat was), instead of using them like cannon fodder against a more “effectively lethal” opponent.
Casting: Sam Worthington (Sully) does an awesome job, both as a life-action and voice actor. The same can be said for Sigourney Weaver. Zoe Saldana (who is the new Uhura, in the re-launched Star Trek), CCH Pounder ("ER"), and Wes Studi ("Last of the Mohicans") bring the Na'vi to life with their distinct voice-talents. While Stephen Lang delivered a convincing and (if not intentionally) over-the-top performance as the bent Colonel Quaritich... with a note to Fox, if you haven't called him about playing Cable to Ryan Reynolds Deadpool, get on it!
Venue: On the outside the Esquire looks like a cute, little throwback theater. On the inside, it’s mostly chaos. All the seats (for Avatar anyway) were “reserved” seating and sold at the box office and online. In this day and age, if you’ve come to expect that buying your tickets online makes getting into the theater easier and faster, that is unfortunately not the case at the Esquire. Tickets are only available at will call, which is the same line to purchase tickets. Of course for Avatar, most of the tickets were sold out (only the front row was available), so the huge line was simply to pick-up tickets. If it weren’t bad enough that you had to line up to get your pre-paid tickets, the line was constantly being jumped by people trying to get their parking tickets validated.
On the other hand, once you got through the line to get your tickets, you still had to wait in a second line to get into the theater. This line actually had a “Disneyland-like cattle line” that wrapped around the lobby and out the door. Yet inexplicably, there was a second door open to the snack bar, which was then letting people funnel right into the theater.
The theater itself was great. It was small (compared to today’s multiplexes), but the rows were spacious and it seemed like there wasn’t a bad seat in the house.
The movie started about twenty minutes late. I imagine most of their (big) movies start late, as they try to manage the crowds in and out and take the 3D glasses from the “dump” bin, to the pick-up drawers.
As theaters go, the Esquire is a nice place to see a 3D IMAX movie, if you can ignore the utter chaos of actually getting to your seat.
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