The Last Mindbender...

Right, left, and center.

Now, today I'm going to be doing one of my movie rambles, so unfortunately for comedy, and fotrunately for your time, there will be very few links to TvTropes.

What I intend to talk about today is something I have already looked at, but not thoroughly explored; Avatar. or, more accurately, it's successes and failings, and what I like and do not like about it, and why.

To preclude this rambling dissatation of the blockbuster, I will start by stating what I look for in a movie. If my opinion is not the same as yours, then you can safely disregard anything further I have to say.

In a movie I look for several things:
1) Memorable characters.
2) A clever storyline that is well told.
3) Either a strong sense of drama, or a keen sense of comedy and wit.
4) A realistic, or at least probable, storyline.
5) a Crowning Moment of Awesome.


Now, you will notice that nowhere in there is 'fantastic special effects', 'explosions', 'bloody murder' or 'gratuitous sex scenes'. This is for a very simple reason;

Making a film is about telling a story. Writing a book is about telling a story. Telling a story is about providing a world that the audience can not only be entralled by, but encompassed in. A good story is one where, if the viewer is not careful, he might believe the peice of fiction he has just seen might have been a documentary. A good story is one you can lose yourself in, and never be found.

Now that I have expressed my views about movies as a device, i will proceed on to Avatar.

To look at the first point: Memorable characters.

Not really. They had potential, but we've seen these archetypes millions of times before, and often done much better. Want an ex-military man who gets caught up in things because of his morals? I give you Mal. Want a female lead who is more than capable of coping by herself? Elizabeth Swan is one I found immensely more enjoyable, just because she had a little bit more personality. (Neytiri wasn't actually that bad a character, in this respect. Probably one of the more developed of the lot, and the one who went through the most of the sparse character development).

HOWEVER, There is one character I really liked. Coloniel Miles. Sure, he was quite shallow, sure, he was fairly one-dimensional, but as a villain that's all he needed to be. The most important thing is that he had CHARISMA, and a moral position you could draw with a ruler. I found myself rooting for him at one point...

This is the thing that alienated me the most about Avatar; the characters were either ones you weren't supposed to like, or ones that... well...

Let's just say that Jake had me facepalming a lot. What really cemented my dislike for him is at the end, when he, as the physical embodiment of the Deus Ex Machina or whatever, starts gathering the tribes. His 'YEAH!' was painful.

So what DO I think makes a good character? Well, i've identified three types of character I find good.

1) a character that is deep (has a lot of history and personality)

2) a character I can relate to (The archetype most used my the film industry).

3) A character that, if nothing else, has STYLE. Whether he be a badass, a comedian, a SCARY scary actor, or simply Crazy Awesome, these characters get me every time.

So. That's a NO for number one. No really good characters to be found here.

So, what about criterion number 2? 'A clever storyline that is well told.'

I'm going to break it down into two parts. one: A clever storyline? Bolluks it is. Straighter than John Denny on a rack. No plot twists here, people.

but well written? Oh gods yes. For what they had to work with (Apparently a video casette of 'Pocahontas', a copy of Mass Effect and some duct tape), the writers did a SPLENDED job incorporating the rather convoluted storyline. However, they still failed to cover it all up, for me. The story all seems horribly convoluted, and they, again, made the protagonist the greatest idiot on the planet.

So, again, no for number 2.

Number 3? Now we might be getting somewhere.

Avatar is strewn with drama, comedy and scenes saturated with Awesome. unfortunately, the characters and the storyline limit the amount of cheering you can do and still feel good about, but they have to fight for every inch; Avatar has spectacle and conflict galore.

Number 5. 'A Realistic and probable storyline.

No. The combination of improbably sexy aliens, glowy bits, the fact that every alien seems equipped with a universal USB in the back of thier heads and the ASTRONOMICALLY SWIFT ascention of Jake to basically Na'vi WAR LEADER was so convoluted it made me cry a little inside. Wouldn't happen.

Number 6, a Crowning Moment of Awesome.

This one we can safely give the thumbs up. The point where the forest/life/gia/ godess gets all of the MASSIVE KILLER ANIMALS to start fucking things up? Aweosme, and no two ways about it.

So, there we are. The full run-down of my opinion of Avatar. It was okay. Fun to watch, nothing special. If you want me, I'll be watching V for Vendetta...

Fortune and Favors,
~James Brown.

P.S. if anyone has an issue with what I have typed today, by all means, email me! I'd love to have some stuff to talk about here!

P.P.S. And don't say 'but the effects are revolutionary!' Good for them. Effects are still only a means to an end.