Avatar (2009)

2019 marks the 10th Anniversary of “Avatar”, James Cameron’s sci-fi epic that took the worldwide box office by storm with its depiction of the alien world of Pandora and its themes of ecocide and the treatment of an indigenous community by a capitalist corporation. So to celebrate 10 years of blue aliens, 3 upcoming sequels (that keep getting delayed) and its recent box office defeat at the hands of “Avengers: Endgame”, let’s dive into “Avatar.”

Hands down the best and most memorable aspect of “Avatar” is its breath-taking visuals. Even after 10 years the CGI is still stunning, the vibrant and rich world of Pandora is photorealistic and the creatures and characters that populate it feel like living breathing beings, rather than a group of pixels created in a computer.

The only times the effects looked less than amazing were when the robot mech suits were on screen; whilst the suits themselves looked fantastic, the compositing of the humans onto the CG robots was jarring enough to take me out of the film for a few seconds.

Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Stephen Lang and Sigourney Weaver are all great in “Avatar”, their performances weren’t exactly Oscar worthy, but they’re still decent.

The themes of “Avatar” range from deforestation to corporate greed, which are all implemented into the plot in dramatic and heart-wrenching ways. The film uses its sci-fi setting to tell a story about humanity’s destructive tendencies, causing it to decimate the environment and other (usually innocent) native groups. Some viewers may take issue that these messages are told in an incredibly unsubtle way, but personally, I wasn’t bothered by this.

It baffles me that of all the blockbusters to be released in the last 20 years, this is the one that ended up becoming the highest grossing film of all time for a decade. Correct me if I’m wrong, but no one seems that excited for “Avatar” 2, 3 or 4 because the original movie didn't make a big cultural impact when compared to the frenzy that surrounds "Star Wars" or "Wizarding World" films. It never turns up on Best Films Ever lists and when people talk about James Cameron movies, the main ones that get mentioned are either “Aliens”, “T2” or “True Lies.” It’s just weird that this movie was so huge when it was released, but then it simply vanished into the aether.

I don’t have any major criticisms with “Avatar”, the plot isn’t particularly original and it drags slightly during a few scenes, but overall, it’s a very consistent film.

In conclusion, “Avatar” is a good film with impressive action and moving moral messages. I thoroughly enjoyed watching it again (since I hadn’t seen it in about 8 years), but I don’t think it deserved to be the highest grossing film of all time and it’s definitely not the best James Cameron film. I’m interested to see where the story goes in the sequels, but I’m not counting down the time until we return to Pandora.