Review: Is 'Avatar' really worth the hype?

'Avatar' - Twentieth Century-Fox

Debates continue to be waged amongst the many various and frenzied forums, blogs, and in the news cycles about whether James Cameron’s future fantasy flick Avatar is really worth the hype. What hype, exactly? Well, there are quite a few glowing reviews to consider when it comes to Avatar.

Here’s a selection of what some of the top critics in the industry have had to say about the film:

• “Watching it, I began to understand how people in 1933 must have felt when they saw King Kong.” J.R. Jones, Chicago Reader
• “I have seen the future of movies, and it is Avatar.” Tom Long, Detroit News
• “I had the feeling coming out of this movie that I haven’t felt since maybe I was eleven years old in 1977 and I saw Star Wars for the first time.” A.O. Scott, At the Movies
• "Avatar is an entertainment to be not just seen but absorbed on a molecular level; it’s as close to a full-body experience as we’ll get until they invent the holo-suits. Cameron aims for sheer wonderment, and he delivers." Ty Burr, Boston Globe
• "Mr. Cameron's singular vision has upped the ante for filmed entertainment, and given us a travelogue unlike any other. I wouldn't want to live on Pandora, mainly because of the bad air, but I'm glad to have paid it a visit." Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal
• "James Cameron's Avatar is the most beautiful film I’ve seen in years." David Denby, The New Yorker
• "There is still at least one man in Hollywood who knows how to spend $250 million, or was it $300 million, wisely." Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

Of course, the positivity surrounding Avatar in the critical regime is finite, and there are a few, like Jake Coyle from the Associated Press, who found the film to be a bit lackluster and dispirited. “A movie whose effects are clearly revolutionary, a spectacle that millions will find adventure in. But it nevertheless feels unsatisfying and somehow lacks the pulse of a truly alive film.” Another noteworthy assertion against the film is made by those who believe Avatar has an elitist or counterintuitive message on the race front.

'Avatar' - Twentieth Century-Fox

Still, with a general perusal of the room, you’d likely find pairs of rarely raised thumbs floating eagerly into the air at the mere mention of the film’s name. And the box office reflects that enthusiasm quite earnestly. (At last count, Avatar surpassed $300 million in ticket sales on the domestic front and edges toward an $800 million worldwide intake.)

Of course, fares in the marketplace aren’t always the most accurate thermometer by which to measure a film’s real caliber (and the Boston Globe’s Martha Bayles would chalk it up to tactical marketing by Twentieth Century-Fox). In this case, though, the hype is rightly placed. Those vetting Avatar for the Academy Awards seem to agree.

Owen Gleiberman with Entertainment Weekly states that Avatar’s race for the Oscars (as against Jason Reitman’s similarly acclaimed Up In The Air) is the most significant contest since Forrest Gump and Pulp Fiction. Meanwhile, Tom O’Neil with the Los Angeles Times speculates that Avatar could easily swipe nine (yes, nine) nominations.

Looking glasses put aside, as it stands, Avatar is a killer exemplification of the possibilities for cinematography. James Cameron has, once again, revolutionized the world of film-making with his extraordinary gift for viewer relationships. With Avatar, film-going once again becomes a full-on experience instead of an afternoon activity.

Why? Several reasons.

'Avatar' - Twentieth Century-Fox

For starters, the movie is astoundingly and overwhelmingly gorgeous. No one moment - blue, green, or white – misses a beat in being well-crafted and intoxicating. Pandora becomes, quite simply, home for two and a half hours (a home which you never want to leave). From the stunning concepts employed in the floating mountains of Pandora to the creepy techno-garbage dreamed up as a wicked consequence of militaristic progress, the look of Avatar is unmistakably imaginative. Cameron’s use of the cinematic technology at his painstaking disposal is flawless, and his confidence with the direction was clear throughout the film.

So, as a tribute to both himself and the cultured film world, Cameron doesn’t bank it on the visuals alone. He’s brought in a well-equipped cast to parlay his explosive vision, and they do so with great success.

Sam Worthington (Terminator Salvation, Clash Of The Titans) presents a terribly convincing and enticing “Jake Sully” – in both forms of flesh. No matter the words spilling from his lips (or the team he seems to be playing for) in the film, one can’t help but to root for him. Zoe Saldana (Star Trek), whose human face is typically an asset and compliment to any shot she appears in on-screen, delivers an exotic and, when necessary, sultry performance as “Neytiri.” Saldana’s ability to transcend the super-CGI mechanisms necessitated by her part in this film speaks volumes of her capacity as an up-and-coming superstar. Sigourney Weaver (Alien, Copycat), too, wiggles her way across the screen with command as “Dr. Grace Augustine.” It’s as though she’s laid in wait for this exact place in a film and came back full throttle without batting a single lash. Other performers of note in the film included Stephen Lang (whose part as the hard-to-kill Americanoid “Colonel Miles Quaritch” makes even the toughest wince), Giovanni Ribisi as “Parker Selfridge” (a role absolutely made for Entourage’s Jeremy Piven but executed perfectly by Ribisi), and, of course, the one and only Michelle Rodriguez (who makes good on her unstated promise of a she-woman with a low bull tolerance and a big badge of courage with her work as “Trudy Chacon”).

Even beyond the lovely visual nature of the film and the spot-on casting, Cameron’s tedious attention to detail is apparent in the bare bones of the project as well. Some might call a hotly political, environmental, (perhaps religious?) and social statement a trite diatribe for film, but others, who can appreciate the impact that such messages can and will have for widespread and impressionable audiences such as those built-in for a film like this, might not.

'Avatar' - Twentieth Century-Fox

The story being told in Avatar is that of the Na’vi people – indigenous humanoid dwellers of the twenty-second century planet Pandora – as through the eyes of an ex-marine-turned-volunteer-science-experiment, “Jake Sully.” Sully fills the shoes of his more appropriately involved scientist brother who passed away in an unfortunate robbery incident. He is asked to link into and pilot an avatar, a biologically concocted mixture of human and Na’vi DNA, in order to study and immerse himself into the native culture. Two forms of alternative motives from the human end, aside from scientific gain, are at play here as well. For starters, the company outfitting the operation wants the Na’vi to relocate from their home (“Hometree”) in order that they may drudge up the uber valuable “Unobtainium” that lies beneath in droves. Meanwhile, the military presence is led by one who would have Sully deliver sensitive and crucial information for a “back-up” plan in the case that diplomacy isn’t effective. Sully is more than successful in assimilating into the ways of the Na’vi, and his struggle with how to proceed is the crux and meat of the story in Avatar. Needless to say, there is a war of interests that reflects, quite heavily, those of a veritable plethora of factions. So, some might get bored with the good guy versus bad guy, native versus conqueror, Dances With Wolves bad guy goes good to protect good guys course. . . still, others might find the story worth re-telling, especially if done in the way that it has been here.

The communication had between the various characters in the film is, perhaps, one of the richest portions of it. Clearly, time and energy galore was spent in giving a distinct and measurable voice and persona to each and every player in the Avatar gamefield. It is clear in the film that every line – from the communications between Jake Sully and Neytiri to the background dialogue transpiring off camera – was cherry-picked for its benefit to the film’s authenticity as a stand-alone storyline.

Finally, there’s the music – the precise, riveting music – in Avatar. What better to accouter genius than its equally intelligent twin sister? There are two things working with Avatar’s soundtrack: mood and tempo. And those work well. It is remarkable thing when a movie’s musical accompaniment is so befitting of its arrangement that it can nearly go unnoticed. In this case, only a careful ear will distinguish the film from its score and soundtrack as the two gracefully pounce from element to element in complete coalescence.

So, that’d be direction, cinematography, plot, dialogue, performances, and storyline all in the bag for Avatar. Thus, if the question is “Is Avatar really worth the hype?” here are two simple words in response: “You bet’cha.”