Who Is James Cameron?

Written By: mike on November 14, 2010 No Comment

James Cameron has built his reputation on event movies – the kind everyone will tell you that you absolutely must see in theater. It’s a well-earned reputation. From Terminator to The Abyss to Titanic, Cameron never fails to present the audience with something they’ve never seen before. Often, Cameron himself spearheads the technology used to create these worlds, raising the bar and advancing the technology of film making each time. Avatar is no exception. While being widely criticized for its familiar story (being compared to Dances With Wolves, Disney’s Pocahontas, and Fern Gully: The Last Rain forest in a number of blogs and viral videos), Avatar’s visuals are truly breathtaking and worth the cost of admission – even 3-D tickets cost of admission.

Set in a future far away, Avatar follows Jake Sully (Sam Worthington), a sullen paraplegic former Marine, who yearns to return to his days of being a hero. When the RDA corporation approaches Sully with an opportunity to regain his mobility and help secure the much needed energy source mineral, unobtainium, from the alien planet Pandora, Sully is eager to sign on. His mind is linked to an avatar (a human Na’vi hybrid), which is sent to Pandora to gather information of the planet and the Na’vi to aid the mining efforts. When a vicious alien predator separates his group, Sully is rescued by the warrior princess of the Na’vi, Neytiri (Zoe Saldane of Star Trek). Sully’s world is turned upside down as he is brought into the world of the Na’vi and falls for the exotic native princess. Soon Sully begins to question himself and his mission.

It’s an old story – the invader falling for the culture (and iconic/symbolic woman) that he is to have a hand in destroying. However, Cameron’s love of storytelling and zest for film making make Avatar’s clichéd plot feel new again. Whether in the impressive computer graphics that make up seventy-five percent of the film, or the breathtaking ride of the Na’vi lovers through the captivating landscapes of Pandora, Cameron makes a giddy child out of even the most jaded filmgoers.

Avatar hits on another commonality of Cameron’s work: the evils of technology. Just as reliance on robots leads to the end of humanity in The Terminator, and the hubris of new technology leads to the deaths of over a thousand people in Titanic, in Avatar technology kills our humanity. The humans of Avatar see the Na’vi not as people but as pests that need to be dealt with. The Na’vi, on the other hand, are exalted by the film for their focus on their environment and community. These simple savages are ten feet tall to teach us a lesson about compassion – teaching humanity to the humans of Avatar as they race toward a goal of corporate greed and imperialism. This political subtext is far from subtle but neither is it distracting. What can be distracting is the film‘s clunky pseudo-science-laden dialogue. With so much attention being spent on the keen animation of the alien world and life forms, I wish a little more attention had been paid to the script.

But these are ultimately small bones to pick. Avatar is a lush and engrossing ride that has had immense and deserved popularity. And if you somehow managed to miss it during the original theatrical release, stay tuned for its re-release with eight minutes of additional footage coming in August of 2010.