To quote myself: "Nice windshield, idiot."
Reason #5: The giant power armor sucks
Initial assessment: “Because, you know, nobody is going to shoot or direct smashitude at the part of your automated steel battlesuit that is either glass or totally exposed, right? If they did, you’d want to encase it in something that would offer you meaningful protection, and that would be too smart.”
Verdict: CORRECT
True to form for movies like this, the technology the humans employ in Avatar is poorly suited to combat with the Na’vi to a comical degree. True to my expectation, the villain is killed by arrows shot through the giant glass window of his steel battlesuit. Arrows. Wooden arrows. Against a space marine. Disgusting.
We talked about it on the “Are We Human, or Are We Panther?” podcast — sure, you don’t really want to be the guy who calls a movie awful just because the tactics employed by fictional armies using fictional weapons are stupid. “This movie sucks because those guys stood in a circle and shot inward so that they are almost guaranteed to hit each other” is no way to go through life — or Starship Troopers. But sometimes you need to make an exception, especially when it’s important to the story.
It was awful not just how idiotically, but how predictably the battle armor worked out. The final battle armor fight is pretty cool, but it only has the chance to be pretty cool because the villain has been severely handicapped by dumb clichés. Sure, the mecha suit is a parallel to the avatar — technology versus biology as a second body, and that has some depth — but the avatars are also products of technology (human technology, ‘natch), so in the end this doesn’t really matter. In the end, the arrow through the glass is stupider and suckier than the symbolism of the armor is cool and smart.
And it’s just tiresome how many mistakes the humans have to make to throw this game. Being a human in Avatar is like playing for the New York Mets — no matter how great things seem to be going for you, you are eternally courting improbable and embarassing failure. All they have to do is put on some masks, dig a trench around the Home Tree, put a bunch of guys in the trench with rifles, and ship them air and rotate them back to base every once in a while. You can even just put in a few pillboxes and fill them with non-toxic breathable goodness and a latrine for emergencies. If the humans do that, there is no possible way the Na’vi are going to drive them out. No possible way. If they walk out in the open, they get killed with machine guns. They only survive if they stay under cover. They have no way of cutting the human supply lines, provided the human supply lines are in the open and protected by machine guns.
We had a time in human history when a whole bunch of folks tried to defend their homeland by calling together all their able bodied men to charge on foot and horseback with courage and vigor at a fortified position defended with automatic weapons and modern communications capability. It was called World War I. It didn’t work. We had a time when elite divisions of the world’s best cavalry charged a position armed mostly with muzzle-loaded cannon. It’s known now as the “Charge of the Light Brigade,” and it was really stupid, and a lot of people died for no gain.
Okay, that was ridiculous. This one is a bit better:
So, anyway, in the plan that works, every once in a while, you move the trench forward a little, until you can shell the tree with artillery for a few weeks and seize the unobtanium (gag). The Na’vi would stand no chance against humans with 19th-century military technology, dragon troopers or no. Heck, it would be the same against 18th century military technology. Their “wait in your house until your friends arrive, then run at the bad guy yelling with sticks just before they show up” strategy might work against a human military in the modern era one time out of a hundred — maybe — but not more than that. The Na’vi would definitely get their thong-clad butts (more on that later) handed to them by Genghis Khan. Heck, the Na’vi would probably lose to a Roman Legion that had the patience to carry out a proper siege using wooden palisades defended by rock-slingers and catapultae, provided they had something to breathe while they did it.
And even if the Na’vi managed to get lucky and win one battle, they would have real problems winning a second one without some sort of, oh, I don’t know – strategy or plan-type thing.
This isn’t just a military problem; this is a storytelling problem. If the humans can be easily beaten by the Na’vi, then what is the point of their technological advantage? If the Na’vi can just straight up fight the humans and win, what’s the damned point at all? The Na’vi on their alien horses against the humans are clearly a Charge of the Light Brigade, and the Charge of the Light Brigade isn’t supposed to succeed.
Actually, the Na’vi don’t succeed. Jake succeeds, and the movie credits his victory to the Na’vi. Except for the protagonist and his girlfriend, I’m pretty sure every single one of the Na’vi that fights the humans is killed — even with the help of God. God herself, who can talk to the Na’vi directly, calls upon all the animals of the jungle and fishes in the sea to fight the invaders, or whatever crap that was, and all the Na’vi are still killed.
The jump to the rest of the humans evacuating their mining operation after they killed all but two of the Na’vi was really jarring. I guess there’s nobody in orbit and no resupply for six years? I guess the Na’vi reinforcements showed up? Is there really nobody coming to help the humans? Are the Na’vi really not in the least bit demoralized that the entire population that fought the humans was wiped out? Do they really think it’s over? Even a medium-sized human expeditionary force should be able to learn from these mistakes and just annihilate the Na’vi with little trouble, even with the help of the Na’vi BioGod, even with the help of Jake Awesomesauce Jones, Mr. Generic White Guy Action Hero. Just, you know, don’t put a screen door on the submarine, idiots.
Even if you assume that Jake’s ability to run on top of airplanes and take down entire space marine battalions by himself wasn’t just some ridiculous fluke – even if you assume he’s just “that damn good” (and we have no reason to believe he is, since he couldn’t fight a pack of dogs with an automatic weapon a few weeks ago), all the humans have to do is send some dude with a camera to keep tabs on him and just attack other parts of the planet that he is not at, and the Na’vi pose no meaningful challenge to the humans at all.
Or, better yet, send a sniper and shoot Jake in his cat-face when he’s taking a poop. Does an avatar shit in the woods?
And yet the Na’vi still win at the end of the movie. They just win, free and clear, no complications, no big sacrifices or cleverness. They just whip the humans and send them home. “That’ll teach ‘em!” This just boggles my mind.
It runs counter to the historical narrative that James Cameron is humping (Which is that indigenous peoples tend to be subjugated by more technologically advanced foreigners if they fight them openly, and then abused if they are not wiped out because of the inherent injustices of empires. When the indigenous people do resist or throw off the conquerors, they tend to do so through asymmetrical warfare and years of struggle. In this historical narrative, empires have logistical, ethical and structural problems in dealing with natives and holding large swaths of terrain, which is why they shouldn’t settle colonies, even if they come bearing gifts and aim at a net positive utility for everybody involved.). It runs counter to the other stories and movies this one is based on. It runs counter to the expectations set up by the movie up until this point.
And it runs counter to an ending that would provide us with some drama and something meaningful about how the lives of these (cat) people have been affected by what has happened. Apparently, nothing about this situation is important – the important thing is what side Jake picks in the fight. Whatever side Jake picks wins, because random paraplegic Jake is Captain Spectacular for no reason. Then it is over, and Pandora just keeps going with the victors as if nothing had happened. No pathos. No historical perspective. Head vampire is dead – everything is fixed.
When the humans come back (and they sure ought to), the Na’vi have every reason to expect to win again, and they still expect to do it with bows and arrows.
That’s dumb. That just sucks.
The bright side of all this is that it opens up the possibility that the Avatar’s Empire Strikes Back — which should show up in, what, 2014 — will be the good one in the trilogy, because it will involve the humans killing most of the Na’vi and taking over Pandora, and then the characters will actually have to deal with something for a change — other than, “Oh crap a 3D alien jungle monster! Let’s run away from it for fifteen minutes!”
“Avatar would be a lot more interesting if the aliens were like people in the important ways, but unlike people in superficial ways – like if they looked like rocks and didn’t appear to move much, but were individually sentient and communicated and built relationships with each other through speech or vibration.”
So, basically, you want the Horta in the next Star Trek movie?
@Fenzel: I love this article. Thanks for doing it. I’ve been spending most of the last two weeks defending my position on Avatar, and now I no longer have to. I can just send everyone to this post.
@Matt Alvarado: Horta in the next Star Trek movie? Best. Idea. Ever. (“PAIN! AAAAAIGH! PAIN!” — Classic.)
Yea! to the rss feed having the whole article.
Yea! to the awesome article.
Boo! to the fact that for all it’s awfulness and pain; I will join the masses and pay top dollar because this is a movie that should be watched on a big screen, not because watered down characters dressed with Calvin Klein fashion sense in a retread movie make me hot.
Nature is beautiful. We must defend it at all costs. Capitalism is evil. It is soulless and destroying the universe. Eat Burger King!
-A message from James Cameron
I dunno.
As someone who’s dispassionate about AVATAR (thought I didn’t hate it), I wish I could agree with all the points… but you missed what I think is far and away reason #1 the movie doesn’t work: the dialogue.
Cameron’s never been known for his writing. I get that. But while I’m willing to give a pass on the story structure and overfamiliarity — after all, how many stories are similar to those that have been told before? — I can NOT excuse his dialogue. It was the one place he could have actually made it original and/or interesting… no such luck. Absolutely terrible.
Here’s a sample:
Sigourney Weaver: “Hey, numbnuts!”
Michelle Rodriguez: “Get a load of me, bitch!” or “Suck it, bitch!” or “Can you pass me a napkin, bitch?!”
Stephen Lang: [insert random military cliche, like "Hoo-ah!" or "Lock and load!"]; alternately, “Here’s a reference to a movie from 200 years ago, that none of us have ever heard of or seen: ‘You’re not in Kansas anymore!’”
Without halfway believable or decent dialogue, it hamstrings the actors, who for the most part aren’t good anyway (I totally agree re: Worthington). And JESUS — it was like Giovanni Ribisi walked on to the wrong set, giving one of the worst performances I’ve seen in the last few years.
It made me realize: while the marines of ALIENS were about as cliche… that movie was supposed to be fun. A thrill ride. AVATAR, however, is “important.” While it’s also a thrill ride, it’s ultimately a message movie. And I think that hurts it most of all. (Also, compare Paul Reiser — no great actor himself — and the character of slimy corporate weasel Burke from ALIENS. Now compare Giovanni — better actor — and the character of slimy corporate weasel I-can’t-remember-his-name. Night and day. Except that Cameron’s character from 23 years ago was far, far richer and interesting, with about the same number of lines.)
Every time Cameron cut back to the humans, I immediately panicked… because I knew it meant more of his dialogue. As long as we were out running through the landscapes, I was fine with it. (The absolute star of the movie? Weta.)
Finally, I hate to see you bring in talk of box office totals — sure, the media doesn’t account for inflation, but what do you expect? Smart, balanced reporting? Instead, take solace in inflation-adjusted figures, and realize that AVATAR will never, ever have the total audience worldwide as classics like GONE WITH THE WIND, STAR WARS, etc. Isn’t that victory enough?
Found the criticism spot on. One thing I haven’t heard discussed is how Cameron glosses over the most fantastic idea of his premise, which is the actual mental-assumption of the avatar. With the humans cloning a being sans consciousness, they’ve essentially discovered eternal life. The ability to transfer consciousness from one body to a second (unthinking) one, would eliminate the many moral questions inherent in such an operation were the avatar to possess a sentient mind.
For this technology to have developed in the Avatar-World, I’m sure they’d have to have unlocked a myriad of mysteries of the mind/brain along the way. If they could transfer the data intact, they could potentially upload the same information to a network, and humans could live forever even without bodies, similar to what the Na’vi do biologically.
If the actual avatar body were simply a shell of neurons responding to remote commands from the scientists’ pods, (though it seemed a bit more involved than that to me), then their scientists would still need to possess an incredible understanding of the mind. Because James Cameron decided to focus on the other (less-inspired) visions of future technology like the mech-suits when featuring the humans, he avoided an altogether more intriguing focus. He could have raised new questions or new angles on old questions by asking What is consciousness? What constitutes a living being? If Jake assumes his avatar’s mind, is he robbing that being of its own future experiences, essentially aborting it? A true conflict could arise were the avatar to somehow become sentient and engage Jake in some sort of mind-conflict. Instead Cameron went with Capitalists:bad, natives: good. (By the way, I doubt any rational company would wreak havoc on an eco-system like that; there would be so much more money to be made by mining while still preserving the Life-Trees or whatever, in the ways of medical research, alternative fuels, etc.)
I think it goes along with Fenzel’s point about how the characters don’t reflect enough on their (incredible) situation. Jake gets a new body, and it’s just like “Sweet, now I get to be with my girlfriend.”
I second everything Mlawski said.
And I’ll also second what Brian Williams said (tell Tom I’m still sad he didn’t speak at my college graduation, for me, will ya?). And I’ll piggyback a bit and say I actually was expecting him to go in that “what is consciousness” direction at first, myself. When the hints about the plot started coming out, I thought it was going to be a mental battle between the human and the avatar, not a physical one between the Natives and the colonists. After all, it’s CALLED ‘AVATAR,’ not ‘Na’vi’ or ‘Battle for Pandora’ or anything like that. And, call me crazy, but I thought Cameron would go for something more edgy and less racistImeanunoriginal.
I still have not seen Avatar and I don’t intend to so I can’t really add much to the plot-based analysis that’s been going on, but just wondering – has anyone seen the recent news articles about people who leave Avatar “depressed and suicidal” because they’ll never get to go to Pandora? I mean, are the 3-D effects really that good? I would really, really love to meet one of these people and pick their brain about what they thought of the plot, or if they even noticed it at all.
On a side note, excuse me Avatar Jake, but you best be respecting overeducated New Jerseyans. There are more of us than the Jersey Shore would have you believe.
(And speaking of which, thanks for the Scotch Plains shout-out on 30 Rock, Brian Williams. My whole town was very excited.)
I think the worst thing about Avatar was not its flawed character design or dialogue. (I wasn’t too off-put by either.) What got me was the incredibly cliche’ed conclusion of the film, the macho showdown. This battle played out just as you’d expect it to, and there was very little difference from watching a battle in Lord of the Rings.
Now I actually enjoyed the first hour of the film because I like hardcore science fiction. I thought it was interesting how they made it seem like Pandora was “real,” like it was a place people work and live in. I liked how the Na’vi religion and spiritual stuff was scientifically explained… But once the whole “fight for survival!” stuff came, I felt like I was watching the battle at Pelinor Fields, but with blue direhorses instead of real ones. I was expecting to find a magic ring that controlled the entire Pandora ecosystem.
First of all, however much they spent on it, it was worth it. The movie is just jaw-dropping. I’ve never seen anything that looks remotely close.
HOWEVER… is there such a thing as a movie being TOO beautiful for its own good? I watched it on IMAX, and I don’t think anyone even BREATHED during this thing. No one cheered when something awesome happened, laughed at a joke, or even went to the bathroom (that I noticed). Everyone sat in stunned silence. I honestly think the overpowering visuals got in the way of connecting to the story and the characters.
Then again, it might have been that there wasn’t much to connect to. When I think about my favorite moments of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, a lot of them are Viggo or Ian McKellan doing or saying something awesome – not the big effects. Don’t get me wrong, big effects are peachy. But not to sound like a cliche, but what people loved about The Dark Knight was Heath Ledger, what they loved about Iron Man was Robert Downey Jr., what they loved about Star Trek was the prefect casting in general, etc. Sam Worthington may be a good actor, but he has precious little to do here.
Pete, I’m totally with you about the silliness of the Na’vi’s full frontal attack on the space marines. I can’t believe that was Jake’s master plan. Just charge with bows and arrows. I mean, he of all people should know their firepower and tactics. Can’t the Na’vi at least TRY to flank them or something? Build a couple of Ewok-style booby traps? His argument the scene before that was, “We know these mountains well, and they don’t.” But that doesn’t seem to really help them, does it?
My all-time favorite stupid movie battle tactics has to be The Matrix Revolutions, in which both sides are completely insane. The robots choose to kill hundreds of thousands of humans by literally stabbing them all to death, individually. Instead of, you know, dropping a big bomb, or some nerve gas canisters. And the humans have the ability to release these EMPs that will instantly kill any robot within a mile. And they choose not to do this because… actually, I’ve never understood it. Why, when on the verge of complete annihilation, do they not just use the damn EMP. Instead, Jada Pinkett Smith has to show up and use it. And then she gets scolded for reasons I don’t comprehend.
@Belinkie: “Sam Worthington may be a good actor…” Wow, that took balls.
;p
In all seriousness, though, do you enjoy it when you’re in the theater and people jeer and cheer and make a bunch of noise during the film? I see that happening more at event and hype movies than I do at “serious” ones. So it not happening for you at _Avatar_ was pretty strange, I’ll grant you, given the “event movie” nature it had/has, but I’m not surprised for reasons you yourself said: the script was lacking. The “comedic relief” wasn’t very funny (or at least wasn’t lolworthy- maybe tiny chuckles at most); what should have been big emotional, cheer-worthy moments (like Fenzel’s example of when Mighty Whitey turns down his legs) left a lot to be desired; when the main villain finally gets it; etc. I don’t really think it had to do with the visuals depicted onscreen, but just the lack of awesome in what was *happening* onscreen.
(So as a sidenote, I’ll postulate _Avatar_ was both a success and failure as an event movie. Yeah, it generated a lot of pre- and post-release hype (and is still raking in uber $$$$), but it didn’t generate the emotional experience and group enthusiasm *during the showings* more successful event movies have and do.)
And the reason I think it occurs that way is the nature of the presentation. Event and hype movies generate a sort of group mentality and appreciation, so it feels safer to make noise and stuff when viewing one. Whereas other movies, it doesn’t feel as “right” or “acceptable” to do so. When it *does* happen at “regular” (for lack of a better term) movies, the person is labeled by everybody else as “that” person. “*That* guy.” “*That* gal.” Basically, you’re part of the mob at an event movie if you do something that could be taken as distracting at another kind of movie. In the former, you’re one of many, in the latter, you’re a lone jerk.
And I hardly ever see people get up to go to the bathroom during movies, which is just a practical thing, imo- it costs a lot of $$ to go to the movies, so I assume people want to get their full monies’ worth and stay for every second of the film they possibly can. I know _I_ always go to the restroom right before previews to avoid getting up, and I’ve never been to the movies with people that did things differently. So I have trouble accepting they didn’t take a piss because the movie looked so pretty- my assumption is they already did it. And even without the fiscal aspect, it’s still distracting to get up in the middle of a movie, so again, back to what’s “acceptable” at movie theaters. Do you really want to single yourself out as “That Guy,” the one that couldn’t hold it in for twenty more friggin’ minutes? YEESH! It’s a matter of courtesy to your fellow viewers to relieve yourself in a timely fashion before the movie starts.
Of course, one could argue _Avatar_ was *so* pretty that they wet themselves in their seats.
@Belinkie in re: comment number 2 (you must have posted that as I was typing my first response to you… Ahem…) (so sorry for this double-post)
It sounds rather facetious, but I think your beefs with _The Matrix Revolutions_ are easily explained by the lack of religious (namely Christian) symbolism in the solutions you propose. Killing the robots with the EMP would have taken out opportunity for Neo to act as Jesus, etc. Jada getting scolded? That’s what happens when those Not Chosen try to play God or act above/beyond what God has planned for them- it’s naughty, they need to know their place. Both sides were protected by very blatant Plot Armor, ergo both sides acted totally stupid.
@Ken: I would watch the hell out of blue cat hobbits.
This review speaks the truth about this movie. I love how the story wasn’t denounced for its lack of originality but rather because that story is bad. However, I thought about none of these things when I saw the movie, twice. It’s weird, everything written is true, but I just don’t care.
It’s odd because I agree with the whole story problem, acting problem, and the idea that this article is critical for the sake of being over-critical. However, for people who don’t (I don’t know, write…..review….etc) the problems listed are non-issues. It was a fun movie, not dumb like Transformers but not emotionally character driven like The Blind Side (or whatever, you know, that movie that pulled on your heartstrings and made you think). Avatar uses its visuals to cover up some of these problems. Why not accept this? People don’t go to someone’s house and pick up the couch cushions to see if there’s a stain on the other side. Sure, the stain is there, but no one cares because you can just sit on the clean side.
Besides, now Cameron can write a story in this millenium. The sequel will, if Cameron follows logic, be better. He most likely won’t use a crummy formulaic storyline this time and he can work on his dialogue. This trilogy hopefully will not follow the current progression of sequel qualities. I’m talking about Spider-Man and Pirates of the Carribean.
I think Avatar is the Debbie Does Dallas of special effects porn.
@Tim, thanks for that comment. I think you’ve captured my feelings on this movie and these criticisms of Avatar in your words.
As for the sequel, if I were to trust anyone with making a sequel of anything, it would clearly be James Cameron. Terminator 2. Aliens. ’nuff said.
As for other recent sequel problems, sure, the 2nd and 3rd Pirates movies were crud-tacular, but 2nd Spider-Man movie was quality, no? The 3rd was a stinker, yes, but the first Spidey sequel in some ways exceeded the original.
It seems pretty inevitable that there will be an Avatar sequel, and I think it’ll be significantly better than the original. However, as with most franchises, it’ll start to stink pretty quickly after that point.
My prediction. You heard it here first.
Cameron is a hack, plain and simple. Why not just make a cartoon? Why go through all the time and money to develop this more “realistic” CGI when it borders on the cartoon form anyway. Show a cartoon in 3D; show it in IMAX. This is not ground breaking to me. Making a cartoon look less like a cartoon is not advancing the art of making films. It is advancing the art of making Hack-Films. I would have been more impressed if Cameron was actually creative by stripping off the gimmicks, (i.e. most of the movie) by filming in actual locations and putting actors in blue-laxtex and trying to create a BELIEVABLE world that way. Instead, Cameron creates the most expensive cgi-cartoon ever made. Cameron did indeed advance movie-making, he is the greatest hack who ever directed a movie.
AVATAR: The Sequel
(Several Earth months after the first movie, a NA’VI comes to one of the human research stations to find all the humans preparing to evacuate)
NA’VI: What’s going on? Where is everyone going?
SCIENTIST: Oh dear. We didn’t want to tell you, since there’s nothing we can do about it. A huge asteroid is heading for Pandora. The impact will probably wipe out all life on the surface.
NA’VI: Can’t you do anything? Take us with you!
SCIENTIST: We wish we could, but we simply don’t have enough resources to help you.
NA’VI: But with all your advanced technology, couldn’t you push it out of the way?
CORPORATE HACK: We might be able to, but that will be very expensive. Very expensive. And frankly, without a pesky biosphere in the way, it will be easier for us to get the Unobtanium we need. It’s not like we can live on Pandora without any help, so a devastated surface won’t matter.
NA’VI: Er……..
(Of course, it was the military that diverted the asteroid onto a collision course. But that’s Top Secret…)
Thank you for an excellent article. I wish I had written it, since it sums up my feelings about Avatar perfectly.
Ok, so me and my friend went to see this thing, where both black.
This is important for one reason, the movie is overally racist.
Only when a magic white man comes along do the Navi have any chance at all he’s so special, god talks to him , blah blah.
I could rant on this fact for days, but u know what, I would of been allright with the movie if the antangonist wasn’t so plan bland.
Take the douchbag general from every nam movie, you know the guy who likes war and killing( the big tree attack looked a heck of alot like naplam). Now roll them all into one. Refuse to give him any more of a reason to fight instead of pure rage. And to top it off we NEVER find out what unotitranium is used for, up until mr protagonist talks to god we know NOTHING about the earth being used up. ONE line to make the evil general guy more real is all i ask, a “i have a family to provide for back home, i don’t do this because its fun, i need this money”, instead we get “HELL YEA, IM KILLING SOME BLUE PEOPLE.” Don’t forget that while all the other humans in the movie can not be exposed to the air for more then 5 seconds or so without suffocating, this dude runs out of the air-lock command room and just starts firing at the one pilot who decides they want to abandon the military and fight for the blue people
To top all of this off the navi want to help a human right after seeing them destroy home tree. And since you can scientifically explain the navi’s connection to there land its now important to stop attacking them.
But do you want to know the stupidest part of this entire movie, it’s like district 9 , but instead of enforcing the reality of conquer’s essentially being wrong , although there stronger, the Navi win. District 9 got it right, you see the struggle oppressed people have, and its uncertain what will happen to them, or if they’ll ever be free. Avatar says, naw its happy if the Navi win. One word on the military tactics, im sure they’d just fire a precision guided curse or ballistic missile at what ever they want to destroy. But NOOO , even with your advance technology the forest creatures come to save the day. I’m pissed since i was hyped for this movie, why the F*** did james cameron neglect his plot while coming up with special effects.
This movie needs to be taken as a comedy, the way he bumps into a navi girl that just happens to speak english, how he’s all of a sudden a good person since he gets his freak on and thinks “hey, there not so bad” . We don’t hear any negotiations that break down about a peaceful move, naw, JUST ACTION ACTION ACTION, crap plot, love story, ACTION, somehow protagonist becomes a real navi at the end.
Best looking movie ive ever seen though, just with a crap plot.
I hate it when people disagree so much over which dumb, cliched, stultifying, off-putting aspect of a movie like this is the most dumb, cliched, stultifying and off-putting aspect. Can’t we all get along?
@David – Normally, I’d agree with you. But this isn’t some dumb blockbuster that everyone understands is just there to sell Happy Meals. This movie is probably going to win Best Picture. Let me repeat that: Avatar will most likely be crowned the greatest cinematic achievement of 2009. And because of that, this movie’s flaws MATTER.
On the other hand, everytime I start to preemptively complain about Avatar winning Best Picture, I always then think, “Well, what SHOULD win Best Picture?” That’s the catch – it’s a weak year for movies (thanks writers strike). There were plenty of good movies, but nothing seemed to get much buzz going. Nobody seems EXCITED about anything, except for Avatar. In the end, I think it’ll win partially because none of the other movies have any momentum, and partially because, for all its flaws as a piece of storytelling, it is the single prettiest thing ever made.
Are 3D glasses made from unobtanium?
@Matthew
District 9 obviously, its everything Avatar wants to be and fails to capture and it didn’t suck up hundreds of millions of dollars to make. Its message was more subtly entwined into the action and bolognium rather than being smashed into your face every 10 minutes. I didn’t even particularly like the action sequences but I still left the theater with the feeling I had spent my 10 bucks well.
District 9 is a cupcake, Avatar is a shit filled twinky.