‘Avatar’ Is Masterpiece Of Story, Filmmaking © 2010

Arriving in Randolph after six weeks of business in the outside world, James Cameron’s “Avatar” nevertheless drew a close-to-capacity crowd at the Playhouse on its second night, when I attended.

Set on an alien planet, Pandora, the film follows the interactions of human colonists with the natives, a race of blue, catlike people named the Na’vi, who live in a harmonious stable state with the extremely diverse, and totally computer generated, jungle environment around them.

The humans are there on a goal-driven mission: Beneath the jungle floor lie huge deposits of the expensive substance unobtanium. Mining it isn’t that hard, but the natives aren’t taking the clear-cutting process peacefully.

Into this deteriorating situation comes Jake Sully (played by Sam Worthington), a paraplegic US Marine brought into the mining company’s operation to replace his dead twin brother.

In a largely-unsuccessful attempt to bridge the culture gap, the mining company has created “avatar” bodies for some of its scientists: Created as a hybrid of Na’vi and human DNA, the avatars are able to breathe Pandora’s exotic atmosphere and are piloted, remotely, by human operators back in the science lab.

To the project’s head, Dr. Grace Augustine (Sigourney Weaver), Jake Sully is just another problem, but avatars are expensive and are genetically matched to the humans they are designed for—Jake is now the only person who can pilot the avatar made for his brother.

The purpose of the avatar program is to get the Na’vi to leave the area peacefully. If Augustine and her well-intentioned cohorts fall through, the mining base’s manager, Parker Selfridge (Giovanni Ribisi) is prepared to turn the situation over to the paramilitary arm of his company. This is helmed by the no-nonsense Colonel Quaritch (Stephen Lang), an ex-military man who despises the Avatar program as “a bad joke.” However, he sees in Sully a chance to get inside information on the Na’vi—assuming that Jake can do what nobody else has done, which is get them to trust him.

The Colonel is, paradoxically, the film’s most eloquent character, and Lang delivers one of its best performances.

So with Augustine and the Colonel fighting for his loyalty, Jake must attempt to convince the Na’vi that he’s trustworthy. Ultimately, he finds himself thinking more and more like them, and less and less like his human handlers.

The jungle scenery, along with the mining company’s seemingly endless fleet of helicopters, make parts of “Avatar” look like a futuristic version of “Apocalypse Now,” which is apt. The common theme between the two is the journey of a man who finds himself increasingly influenced by his surroundings.

In “Apocalypse Now” it’s a slow, inexorable descent into madness; in “Avatar,” however, it’s a trip outward and upward toward enlightenment.

“Avatar” has been simultaneously lauded and decried for its messages of environmentalism and peace, among other things. Regardless of your feelings on any of the subjects the film tackles, it would be hard to call “Avatar” subversive—it wears its allegiances on its sleeve.

All of the characters are well-developed, and though Sully himself does not stand out especially, this is because he is a vessel of perception—both for himself and the audience. Part of what ultimately convinces the Na’vi to teach him their ways is his very authentic willingness to learn.

The world of Pandora is exceptionally involved, right down to the Na’vi language—about a thousand words strong and created from scratch, according to the Internet Movie Database. A Na’vi-Klingon dictionary can only be days away at this point. In terms of storytelling, however, there really isn’t anything new under the Pandoran sun.

The aspects of militarism, colonialism, native-colonist interaction and romance all have allegories in earlier films, but it would be wrong to discount the story on these grounds, just as it would be wrong to eschew a good cake made from classic ingredients. The story told here is entirely worthy of the truly awe-inspiring visuals it complements. It may be the visuals people talk about now, but “Avatar” is no more gimmicky than “Star Wars” was when George Lucas finally figured out how to make spaceships that looked real.

Here is a story told with power, style and conviction. “Avatar” is a masterpiece.