The Black Campbell

Everything you’ve heard is true:  it’s gorgeous to look at, it’s even engaging for the first half or so.  The story is old hat.  So, what to add..?

First, if you’re going to bother to go see it, see it in 3D.  Instead of using it as a gimmick (oh, they’re shooting an arrow right at you!) Cameron uses it to create stunning depth of field.  You don’t feel like the image is a series of plates working on top of each other; the effects make you feel like the screen is more of a window, than a field for images.  One of the tricks they use to do this is to put insects, or bits of dust, ash, or what have you floating in the foreground.  It works well — there were several times I would have sworn one of these object drifted off the screen.  I didn’t notice any headaches, like I’ve heard some have gotten, but did feel like my left eye drifted out of focus a few times.

It works to pull you into the world Cameron is creating.  Pandora is stunningly beautiful, and I particularly liked the Roger Dean-esque floating mountains.  The flora and fauna is well thought out and well-designed.  However, I noted all the animals other than the natives in the piece (the Na’vi), were sextupeds — six limbs, usually four eyes, and breathing gills int he chest area.  The Na’vi are blatantly humanoid (most likely to make the love story work…it’s hard to get worked up about a love story between giant slugs, say.)

Following on that, the military technology is superbly thought out, and I wouldn’t be surprised if we see something like the movable displays on the gunships show up in the next iteration of military aircraft.  The craft — from the helicopters, to the shuttles, to the combat exos — are well thought out, completely believable, and uber-cool.  The super-helo they’re using in the combat sequences has design elements that are obviously cribbed from Aliens.  (I haven’t bothered to check, but I would suspect the gear is courtesy of the same design shop on that movie.)

The performances are adequate, with Stephen Lang doing the best job, in my opinion.  His Colonel Quaritch is undeniably a “bad ass” characature, but the actor makes him believable.  Part of the problem is the actors are emoting through the CGI characters, as well as having to work around the weak dialogue.

The story is old hat.  Evil corporate interests, supported by their mercenary army, are mining an unfortunately named “unobtanium” on Pandora, and those darned natives are sitting on the biggest deposit.  The unobtanium doesn’t appear to have a direct connection to the floating mountains (but should have!)  It’s not far fetched, this conflict, by any means.  But considering how touchy-feely many corporations are nowadays, I would expect that the PR nightmare of wiping out an indigenous species would not go over well.

The movie covers that, fortunately.  The company tried to educate the natives, provide them with medicines…all for naught.  They’re out of patience.  Colonel Quatrich, at this point, pushes the military option, leading to the big battle.

The hero, or course goes native.  This is the classic guilty white dude saved the natives theme that’s been floating around since the action stories of the 19th Century.  He falls for the hot chieftain’s daughter and after learning their ways, goes native.  He leads the ten-foot tall Na’vi against the human interlopers, with bows and arrows….not likely.  The final victory of the na’vi is about as likely as that of the teddy bears on Endor.  (Yes, I know they’re called Ewoks.)

There’s a lot to like about the movie.  The visuals are an experience!  The gadgets and sci-fi trappings are fascinating.  The story is hackneyed and predictable, and the characters are a bit flat.  Overall, however, it was worth at least one go ’round in the theater; it will lose a lot in translation to small screen.  See it in 3D, if you do.