The Big One

So where to start with James Cameron's little film Avatar (2009). It cost nearly 300 million to make, nearly 400 million with advertising. It has grossed a gizzillion dollars, it has taken home the golden globe for best picture, it proves once again James Cameron can do no wrong no matter how big the risk. Overall the film should be considered a success and no blogger is going to derail it, nor do I feel like it deserves to be derailed.

Overrated seems to be a word that is thrown around when it comes to this film. However I don't think that word really applies. It is rated how it should, it is visually stunning, engrossing, but the dialogue and story are old and recycled. When your watching it for the first time (and you should watch it in 3D, not only for the glasses, but because it does add an element and isn't distracting) it doesn't matter how one dimensional the characters are, Cameron sweeps you up in this amazing new land and if you go with it you will have an amazing time. What the characters are saying doesn't really matter either, they could say something like "Gammill would make a super hot Avatar" and you would just gloss it over because Cameron's strengths are not in his writing but in his visual storytelling.

What I am really interested in, is what this technology means for future films. I see this going one of three ways. You could have the Pulp Fiction problem where a bunch of movies come out after that try to be like Avatar but don't have the same talent behind them. The technology could stay to expensive to use frequently and we only see the bigger and better names using it for good. The final option is it could kill cinema as we know it and everything turns into a technical free for all, and all our filmmakers forget completely about story and acting. I hope for the middle option.

If you are the only person who hasn't see Avatar, see it, what's another 12 bucks to James Cameron at this point? I don't think Avatar has repeat viewing appeal, its magic is in discovering Pandora for the first time, just like its main character Jake Sully.

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