Do your homework and take your pick from this six-pack

Avatar: A wonder to behold, a story to forget

I had more than a few reservations going into James Cameron’s Avatar. It wasn’t the hype so much (“the most expensive film ever made!”) that made me leery – we’ve been down that road before with the writer-director and that flick he made about the big boat turned out all right. No, it was the fact that the trailers and nearly all of the press failed to shed any light on what the plot of the film was. Yep, those weird blue creatures look neat and the planet they inhabit is certainly a place I’d willingly spend a weekend. But just exactly what is happening there?

The folks at 20th Century-Fox, who bankrolled this extravaganza to the tune of either $250 or $350 million depending on who you believe, are no dummies. They’re leading with their strong suit where Avatar is concerned and that surely is its visuals. Without question, Cameron is one of film’s great visual stylists and he proves it again as he takes us to the moon Pandora, a lush wonderland inhabited by majestic blue creatures known as Na’vi. They live in perfect harmony with their environment and Cameron and his special effects crew bring all of this to wondrous life. Whether hunting, bounding through trees or simply conversing against a gorgeous background, the Na’vi and their world is a visual knockout, far more vibrant than any other setting created for the screen. There’s the potential for Pandora to be referred to in the same reverential tones as Oz, Hogwart’s or the varied worlds in George Lucas’ Star Wars films. It’s that memorable.

Too bad the story isn’t as groundbreaking, or at the very least, edgy. Paraplegic Marine Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) is promised a radical spinal cord surgery if he’ll infiltrate the Na’vi, using an avatar that will make him appear to be one of them, and send back intel to the powers that be, who have dubious intentions. Seems they want to mine a rare mineral that can be used to generate energy and they want to “relocate” the Na’vi in order to do so. However, once Sully falls in love with Neytiri (Zoe Saldana) and recognizes the purity of her race, he begins to have second thoughts about his mission.

Dances with Wolves told this story much better. It becomes apparent, once we’ve gotten over the film’s “wow” factor, that the plot is secondary for the director, nothing more than a clothesline for him to pin his visuals on. I wouldn’t object so much, but the film’s bloated running time (nearly three hours) makes for tedious going because the story holds no surprises. The military skirmishes that ensue become repetitious and numbing. That being said, Avatar should be seen on the big screen and in 3-D. Without question, it’s a marvel that in the end can’t be undone by its pedestrian narrative. For good or ill, much like Transformers, this is the future of mainstream cinema.

Grueling Road worth traveling

John Hillcoat’s The Road has been sitting on the shelf for more than a year and it’s no wonder. This is hardly a reflection on the film itself, but rather the difficulty in marketing