We went to see Avatar today. Not the I-MAX 3-D version. That was sold out except for the 2:05 AM showing.
I'm a science fiction fan. But maybe because of the outstanding reviews I was expecting too much. Yes, it was a good film. The special effects, especially the aliens, were very good. But it is a highly politicized story.
First -- I said I'm a science fiction fan and this was a story that has been retold many times. It was a re-hash of the evil white man steals natural resources from the natives (who are only at the bow and arrow stage), but the evil white man's technological culture is defeated by a white man (or group) that turn against their own evil culture. It's a story that's been told many times. Avatar does throw in another political twist taken from many other stories... "mother nature" or maybe call it the "nature god" saves them in the end by sending the animals to defeat the evil invaders.
Yes, movies such as the classic Star Wars, do borrow a lot of themes from previous films. But this one is worn out in the 70's. The science fiction of the 70's frequently featured the theme of earth being "raped" of its resources by the turn of the century (the year 2000). With the result being that the forests are gone the air so polluted that you can breath it any more. That's part of the back story of Avatar. The humans come from an earth that has been stripped of its forests and mined into a slag heap. But that didn't happen in the 30 years from the 70's to now, and it's nothing more than liberal wishful thinking that they hope they can use for give them power.
Is it worth seeing? Yes, the special effects are good, even though the story makes this film a bore and a real loser.
Posts
