Starring Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Sigourney Weaver, Giovanni Ribisi

Directed by James Cameron

Re-Release Review, in cinemas now

A paraplegic is offered the opportunity to replace his dead twin brother on a scientific mission to a distant planet. When he is accepted by the native people of the planet as one of their own, he must choose where his loyalties lie.

We all remember Avatar, right? That’s the one with the blue aliens that’s basically Dances with Wolves/Pocahontas/Fern Gully in space? The vastly expensive, visually pretty but narratively simple blockbuster which took James Cameron years to make (and even longer to sequelise). We’re all over it, right?

Here’s the thing, I thought I remembered Avatar from a viewing in 2009. I thought it was a simple space-bound re-hashing of a familiar story that just happened to have a lot of gorgeous special FX but no depth. And I couldn’t have been more wrong.

First up, yes, it shares some beats with other stories. But it uses them to tell a narrative all its own, and one that couldn’t feel more relevant to the world than it does in 2022. This tale of corporate greed, spiritual discovery and the very human tendency to destroy beauty in pursuit of profit without thinking of the consequences feels like James Cameron might well have taken a look at the worldwide developments of the last few years before he put pen to paper. I don’t think you can necessarily call it visionary in a narrative sense, but certainly it’s a story which feels absolutely relatable right now.

The imagination on display in the design of the native creatures and flora of planet Pandora is, of course, exquisite. Cameron has always been a visual director first and that comes across loud and clear in every single shot of the movie. Bizarre alien horses, rhinos and other various creatures go beyond what many genre movies would do, taking truly unique ideas and designs and running with them. The human side of things is equally impressive, massive earth-moving machines, gigantic aircraft and even bipedal mechs showing a signature level of Cameron-esque visual detail.

As to the plot, well it’s really several plots layered on top of one another when you really come to consider it. First off there is the journey of the central character, both spiritual and physical. On the former level, Jake goes from a cynical, hard-nosed ex-marine looking for a paycheque and a ticket to his old life to a fundamentally altered man. And what’s nice here is that unlike – for example – Dances with Wolves, where that change is moulded simply by interaction with natives in general and one woman in particular, Jake’s journey is equally stimulated by his interactions with the prickly Grace, head of the science project who is pissed off he’s even here, and Norm, his geeky, awkward colleague. Jake genuinely and organically bonds with these people over time as he becomes more involved in the project, and even though he’s still reporting back to Colonel Quaritch for much of that time, that simply reinforces the natural feel of the progression, rather than a simplistic Damascene moment.

On the physical level, you have a man used to physical exertion and ability, an ex marine, who then finds himself in a wheelchair unable to walk. Part of his transformative journey comes from being in control of the Avatar body which grants him not just the physicality he lost but exponentially more. It’s difficult to really separate the physical journey from the spiritual one, easier to say that both elements form part of the whole arc, but it is noteworthy it’s all there.

It’s also a film which takes its mythos very seriously. It would have been easy to take the cynical approach of having the natives pray to a fictional deity they believed in which science could explain away. Instead, the movie takes the exact opposite approach, so that the morality lesson here isn’t that man could learn from a simpler way of life but that man has no idea what’s right in front of them in terms of scientific and spiritual discovery because it’s blinded by the much blunter, cruder physical ‘treasure’ which lies before it. It isn’t just the beauty of Pandora that is being destroyed, but a whole culture which is entwined with an essence and power which transcends the understanding of men and women who assume their way of life is superior because they’ve got guns and space ships.

The screening I attended was at a Dolby Atmos theatre with a 3D IMAX screen and therefore I can confidently say that if you have the opportunity, go and see this on the biggest, best screen you possibly can. Everything about it, from visuals to sound design is begging to be seen in the best possible format and even for me, a person not usually moved by 3D as a format, the 3D really did add positively to the experience.

Is it perfect? No. It suffers from certain basic conceits designed to get the narrative to work which don’t stand up to the most basic scrutiny. It’s also difficult to escape the feeling of another ‘White Saviour’ narrative, especially later in the film when Jake captures the Toruk, though it’s arguable that the intentions are slightly nobler than a surface reading might suggest. And unobtabium. Sorry but that still doesn’t work, even thirteen years later

But overall, it’s a genuine cinematic spectacle, from an age before every other movie at the cinema was a comic book-based blockbuster or some similar entry in a cinematic universe. It dives wholly into its narrative and wears its heart fully on its sleeve, entirely absent the sort of cynical snark which might characterise a similar effort today. I can genuinely say that having seen it now as it was meant to be seen, I am excited for its sequel, and that’s not something I would have expected going in.

Verdict: Lay aside your cynicism, ignore the incessant jokes and memes and go watch this at the best cinema you can find. You won’t be disappointed. 9/10

Greg D. Smith