Avatar

Right off the cuff, I enjoyed Avatar. It was a great visual experience, which at points actually sent shivers down my spine. I was convinced by the world of Pandora and found myself becoming attached to the characters. There were also some genuinely emotive moments, as when Jake enters his Avatar body for the first time and remembers what it feels like to run.

But after the fact, I’ve thought about the film very little. It was an instant gratification kind of experience, which is not necessarily a bad thing for a film. But for one as hyped as Avatar, with its lofty goals of becoming a sci-fi classic, it is a problem.

So, what would have made the film better?

1) The conflict between the humans and Na’vi should have been more complex. The film suffered from the simplistic portrayal of the earthly Na’vi as inherently pure and good, and the humans as inherently greedy and bad. Of course, four human characters switched sides, but on a grander scale it would have been more troubling for the audience if the humans were shown to be motivated not only by greed but also something like fear. Fear of their uncertain future, having decimated the Earth. Fear of the denizens of Pandora.

On the flipside, showing a negative side to the Na’vi would have again given the conflict an added layer of depth. A schism within the tribe, whereby some of the younger generation decide to join the humans and inherit their ways, would have struck hard at the Na’vi by upsetting their sense of solidarity. Also, showing the gruesome results of Na’vi frustrations – ritualistically mutilated marines, for example – would have given the audience an uncomfortable desire to side with the humans.

In this way, we wouldn’t have been left with as simple a resolution as ‘natural and pure prevails’. The humans, forced to leave, would be left desperate for another planet’s resources in the face of Earth’s demise. The Na’vi would be left with a minority adjusted to the human presence, who would then find it difficult to return to the traditional ways. All in all, a deeper conflict would leave more room for discussion and analysis, ergo, a film with a longer-lasting presence.

2) Cut out some of the more fantastical elements of Pandora. Avatar prides itself in creating a convincing alien world. For the most part, it achieves this. But a few elements act to suspend that much-coveted suspension of disbelief, notably the floating mountains and the ‘transfer tree’. I could have lived with the floating mountains, coming up with my own rationalization (supported by super-fibre vines?). But the neural transfer tree, which can transfer minds from one body to another, goes too far without proper explanation. It was at this point that I felt the film dipped into the fantasy pool and out of the science fiction pool. It took me out of the reality of Pandora.

Any other thoughts?

The Six Million Dollar Movie...

Have you ever walked out of a cinema gagging to tell your friends exactly what would have made the film you've just seen better? With armchair precision, we can read off a long list of the changes we'd make that would infinitely improve things. We can't understand how no one thought of these things before! Did the director not even watch the movie!?

This blog is for the aggrieved. For the Matrix fans who saw Reloaded and, more extremely, Revolutions. For the Star Wars fans who saw any of the prequels. For all those that saw Spider-Man 3.