Depending on who you ask, James Cameron’s Avatar was either one of the most spectacular science fiction films ever created, or it was a load of overblown rubbish. The film maintained its status as the highest grossing film of all time (not adjusted for inflation) for ten years until Avengers: Endgame came to dethrone it, only to regain its position at number one just a few months later following a brief re-release in Asian territories. Plus, for better or worse (probably worse), it ushered in perhaps the largest worldwide cinema upgrade ever seen as thousands of theatres across the globe upgraded their projection equipment in time for the films launch to show the film in its intended 3D format.
But Avatar was not without its problems, namely a predictable and somewhat culturally insensitive story that mirrors other cinematic greats such as Fern Gully, Pocahontas, and Dances with Wolves. Now, thirteen years after Avatar's release, Cameron’s promised sequels are finally on their way, with Avatar: The Way of Water releasing this December. To celebrate Fox & Disney have re-released the original Avatar, now remastered with 4K HDR, remixed for Dolby Atmos, and with some quality-of-life improvements to the extensive CGI. So is Avatar one of the best sci-fi films of all time, or is it indeed overblown rubbish? There’s never been a better time to take a look back and find out.
The year is 2154 and humanity has depleted all of Earth’s natural resources, turning to the stars to find alternative forms of energy. On the moon of Pandora, they have discovered a resource that seems to solve all of their problems. However, the planet is inhabited by an indigenous tribal species known as the Na’vi, a people who aren’t too fond of aliens settling in and destroying their habitats.
Former marine and paraplegic, Jake Sully (Sam Worthington), travels to Pandora to replace his deceased brother in the ‘Avatar’ program. The program sees a group of scientists, led by exobiologist Dr. Grace Augustine (Sigourney Weaver), pilot genetically engineered Na’vi using a genetic cerebral link. Jake is tasked by Colonel Quaritch (Stephen Lang) to gather intel on the Na’vi and try to encourage them to leave their home so that the company can start mining there. But once Jake accidentally falls in step with the local tribe and begins to learn their way of life from the chief’s daughter, Neytiri (Zoe Saldana), he realises that Pandora has so much more to offer him than Earth ever could.
But Avatar was not without its problems, namely a predictable and somewhat culturally insensitive story that mirrors other cinematic greats such as Fern Gully, Pocahontas, and Dances with Wolves. Now, thirteen years after Avatar's release, Cameron’s promised sequels are finally on their way, with Avatar: The Way of Water releasing this December. To celebrate Fox & Disney have re-released the original Avatar, now remastered with 4K HDR, remixed for Dolby Atmos, and with some quality-of-life improvements to the extensive CGI. So is Avatar one of the best sci-fi films of all time, or is it indeed overblown rubbish? There’s never been a better time to take a look back and find out.
The year is 2154 and humanity has depleted all of Earth’s natural resources, turning to the stars to find alternative forms of energy. On the moon of Pandora, they have discovered a resource that seems to solve all of their problems. However, the planet is inhabited by an indigenous tribal species known as the Na’vi, a people who aren’t too fond of aliens settling in and destroying their habitats.
Former marine and paraplegic, Jake Sully (Sam Worthington), travels to Pandora to replace his deceased brother in the ‘Avatar’ program. The program sees a group of scientists, led by exobiologist Dr. Grace Augustine (Sigourney Weaver), pilot genetically engineered Na’vi using a genetic cerebral link. Jake is tasked by Colonel Quaritch (Stephen Lang) to gather intel on the Na’vi and try to encourage them to leave their home so that the company can start mining there. But once Jake accidentally falls in step with the local tribe and begins to learn their way of life from the chief’s daughter, Neytiri (Zoe Saldana), he realises that Pandora has so much more to offer him than Earth ever could.
Before I get on to talking about what works and doesn’t work in the film itself, I want to take a moment to talk about the legacy that Avatar left behind…or the lack thereof in some cases.
It cannot be understated how much of a global event Avatar’s release was. It was marketed so heavily in every single market, and it had been in development since 1994. This was Cameron’s baby, and especially following the massive success of Titanic, all eyes were on him to deliver something just as monumental for Avatar. But Cameron didn’t believe that technology was up to scratch for what he envisioned for Avatar, and so he spent the best part of a decade working with special effects houses and with technology companies to create new forms of motion capture, and played a large part in developing the twin lens ‘Fusion Camera System’ that allows filmmakers to shoot films in stereoscopic 3D. Avatar was set to revolutionise the way audiences watched films with this innovative new 3D system, and theatres were eager to showcase that by replacing projectors with brand new top of the line 3D capable equipment. I even remember my local independent cinema gearing up for the release by upgrading one of its screens to 3D ready for Avatar’s release. This is simply unprecedented, and then when Avatar opened it really set the world on fire. Everyone was watching it, and everyone was talking about it.
The huge success of Avatar’s 3D release meant that studios for the next few years would release every single film they could in 3D, regardless of whether it was intended to be seen that way, and for a while 3D was the only way to watch a lot of blockbuster films as tickets could be sold at a premium rate, thereby inflating the amount of money a film earned at the box office. But audiences spoke with their wallets and 3D quickly became tiresome with too few releases justifying its inclusion, meaning that cinemas were starting to struggle to make their money. 3D went the way of the dodo in the mid-2010’s (aside from in Asia where the format is still popular), and today almost no new releases are presented in 3D, instead opting for HDR formats like Dolby Vision, or for large screen formats like IMAX.
Avatar’s legacy was short lived and mostly unfriendly to consumers. Few films were ever designed for 3D and aside from one or two exceptions Avatar stood alone as a film that managed to use 3D effects for more than just having something come out of the screen at you. Not only this, but Avatar was promptly forgotten in pop culture, aside from its massive box office earnings, because of the lack of merchandise and no word of future sequels from Cameron. Its story, for many, wasn’t worth remembering, and when the new Avatar sequels were announced almost a decade later there was a collective confusion as to why Cameron was even bothering as nobody remembered nor cared for the original film anymore.
It cannot be understated how much of a global event Avatar’s release was. It was marketed so heavily in every single market, and it had been in development since 1994. This was Cameron’s baby, and especially following the massive success of Titanic, all eyes were on him to deliver something just as monumental for Avatar. But Cameron didn’t believe that technology was up to scratch for what he envisioned for Avatar, and so he spent the best part of a decade working with special effects houses and with technology companies to create new forms of motion capture, and played a large part in developing the twin lens ‘Fusion Camera System’ that allows filmmakers to shoot films in stereoscopic 3D. Avatar was set to revolutionise the way audiences watched films with this innovative new 3D system, and theatres were eager to showcase that by replacing projectors with brand new top of the line 3D capable equipment. I even remember my local independent cinema gearing up for the release by upgrading one of its screens to 3D ready for Avatar’s release. This is simply unprecedented, and then when Avatar opened it really set the world on fire. Everyone was watching it, and everyone was talking about it.
The huge success of Avatar’s 3D release meant that studios for the next few years would release every single film they could in 3D, regardless of whether it was intended to be seen that way, and for a while 3D was the only way to watch a lot of blockbuster films as tickets could be sold at a premium rate, thereby inflating the amount of money a film earned at the box office. But audiences spoke with their wallets and 3D quickly became tiresome with too few releases justifying its inclusion, meaning that cinemas were starting to struggle to make their money. 3D went the way of the dodo in the mid-2010’s (aside from in Asia where the format is still popular), and today almost no new releases are presented in 3D, instead opting for HDR formats like Dolby Vision, or for large screen formats like IMAX.
Avatar’s legacy was short lived and mostly unfriendly to consumers. Few films were ever designed for 3D and aside from one or two exceptions Avatar stood alone as a film that managed to use 3D effects for more than just having something come out of the screen at you. Not only this, but Avatar was promptly forgotten in pop culture, aside from its massive box office earnings, because of the lack of merchandise and no word of future sequels from Cameron. Its story, for many, wasn’t worth remembering, and when the new Avatar sequels were announced almost a decade later there was a collective confusion as to why Cameron was even bothering as nobody remembered nor cared for the original film anymore.
A lot of the problems people have with Avatar stem from the story, but I’d like to think it’s not as clear cut as the story being bad, but it’s more in that it doesn’t do anything that we haven’t already seen before a million times, and it takes nearly three hours to do it. The story of a white man learning about an indigenous culture and choosing to help them overcome their oppressors is not only incredibly overdone, but in the twenty-first century it’s long outlived its welcome. The most recent example of this kind of story on this kind of scale is Denis Villenueve’s Dune, but the difference between Dune and Avatar is that Dune was based off a book that was written in the sixties, whereas Avatar is an original IP. Dune can be afforded a level of leniency when presenting this white saviour story because it was written in a time where that was socially acceptable (it’s still not good, but it’s understandable), Avatar meanwhile was released in a time where those kinds of tropes were being actively phased out.
To add insult to injury Jake is such a blank slate of a character. He has almost no personality beyond being disabled and that’s really his entire motivation to help the Na’vi, he loves being in his avatar’s body so much that he’d rather become one of them than continue living as a human.
The antagonists of the story are also extremely by the numbers stereotypes. Quaritch is the leader of the military force that wants to wipe out the natives. He doesn’t care about relocating them, he just wants to see some action, and he’s more than prepared to commit genocide to get that. Then there’s Parker (Giovani Ribisi), the company man who’s in charge of the Pandora mining operation. Similar to Quaritch he doesn’t see the Na’vi as intelligent life and so deems them expendable. He’d rather not have to resort to killing them because that’ll make the company look bad, but he’s prepared to do it because of the unimaginable profits they will rake in as a result. They’re both serviceable as villains, but they only serve to cater to the most basic traits of villainy, they want the opposite of the ‘hero’, and they are prepared to kill to attain that.
Weaver’s Dr. Augustine is arguably the story’s most interesting human character because she has all this knowledge of Pandora and the Na’vi. For the first act she serves as the guide for Jake and the audience to understand how Pandora works socially and ecologically.
The real meat of Avatar’s story comes in the form of the world of Pandora, and the Na’vi themselves. Like Arrakis in Dune, Pandora is Avatar’s real main character. The planet is so rich with visual storytelling, and interesting information relating to flora and fauna. The Na’vi then are the ones who understand all of this and communicate with it to survive. The most engaging moments of Avatar happen in its second act where Jake begins to train with Neytiri to become one of the Omaticaya clan. Throughout this entire act we’re shown how the ecology of the planet informs everything, and how Jake must learn to communicate with nature in order to master anything he tries his hand at.
Neytiri is a great character, and Saldana delivers the best performance in the film by a considerable margin. Her growth from reluctant teacher of an insolent student into leader of the Omaticaya people is really engaging, and Saldana’s style of performance shifts dramatically to keep in line with her characters journey.
Avatar is a bit too long for its own good as well which doesn’t help matters. I do appreciate that Cameron allows the film to take its time and let the narrative breathe, but on the other hand there’s a lot of scenes that feel too long, and several moments that feel completely arbitrary. This length isn’t aided by the fact that the dialogue is horrendously robotic. Almost every line involves a character just explaining what’s happening, almost as though the film is too afraid to let you think for yourself and piece together what’s going on from the visuals.
To add insult to injury Jake is such a blank slate of a character. He has almost no personality beyond being disabled and that’s really his entire motivation to help the Na’vi, he loves being in his avatar’s body so much that he’d rather become one of them than continue living as a human.
The antagonists of the story are also extremely by the numbers stereotypes. Quaritch is the leader of the military force that wants to wipe out the natives. He doesn’t care about relocating them, he just wants to see some action, and he’s more than prepared to commit genocide to get that. Then there’s Parker (Giovani Ribisi), the company man who’s in charge of the Pandora mining operation. Similar to Quaritch he doesn’t see the Na’vi as intelligent life and so deems them expendable. He’d rather not have to resort to killing them because that’ll make the company look bad, but he’s prepared to do it because of the unimaginable profits they will rake in as a result. They’re both serviceable as villains, but they only serve to cater to the most basic traits of villainy, they want the opposite of the ‘hero’, and they are prepared to kill to attain that.
Weaver’s Dr. Augustine is arguably the story’s most interesting human character because she has all this knowledge of Pandora and the Na’vi. For the first act she serves as the guide for Jake and the audience to understand how Pandora works socially and ecologically.
The real meat of Avatar’s story comes in the form of the world of Pandora, and the Na’vi themselves. Like Arrakis in Dune, Pandora is Avatar’s real main character. The planet is so rich with visual storytelling, and interesting information relating to flora and fauna. The Na’vi then are the ones who understand all of this and communicate with it to survive. The most engaging moments of Avatar happen in its second act where Jake begins to train with Neytiri to become one of the Omaticaya clan. Throughout this entire act we’re shown how the ecology of the planet informs everything, and how Jake must learn to communicate with nature in order to master anything he tries his hand at.
Neytiri is a great character, and Saldana delivers the best performance in the film by a considerable margin. Her growth from reluctant teacher of an insolent student into leader of the Omaticaya people is really engaging, and Saldana’s style of performance shifts dramatically to keep in line with her characters journey.
Avatar is a bit too long for its own good as well which doesn’t help matters. I do appreciate that Cameron allows the film to take its time and let the narrative breathe, but on the other hand there’s a lot of scenes that feel too long, and several moments that feel completely arbitrary. This length isn’t aided by the fact that the dialogue is horrendously robotic. Almost every line involves a character just explaining what’s happening, almost as though the film is too afraid to let you think for yourself and piece together what’s going on from the visuals.
But where Avatar excels is in its presentation. Some of the films greatest critics will have you believe that the special effects aren’t all that, but Avatar is pure spectacle and a true powerhouse of special effects that even thirteen years later look wildly impressive in comparison to other modern major blockbusters (I’m talking about the MCU specifically). When I reviewed Dune I stated that I couldn’t imagine watching it on normal cinema screen let alone a TV or laptop, after having seen it on the UK’s largest cinema screen, the BFI IMAX. Avatar left me with much the same impression but in total reverse. Prior to this re-release I had only ever seen Avatar at home on my TV, but I went all out and also saw Avatar at the BFI IMAX and I was blown away by the scale of the visuals. There was so much there that I simply hadn’t noticed or appreciated before.
Whilst the version I watched didn’t have any HDR enhancements, I can imagine watching Avatar in a format like Dolby Vision would give Pandora even more colour than it already has. Moments like exploring the jungle at night and flying the Banshee’s would have so much more depth with HDR. But likewise, those moments in IMAX were simply breath-taking because of the extra scale afforded to the image.
James Horner’s score is a massively underrated aspect of Avatar and something that not many people talk about. It feels alive and so intrinsically linked with the film in ways that most film scores aren’t. There are moments where it genuinely feels like the voice of Pandora, with its enchanting choir and pounding drums.
Thirteen years on and Avatar is just as divisive as it was in 2009. Having seen the film again for the first time in almost a decade, I must say I was totally enamoured with its world and the Na’vi culture, but the films clunky dialogue, shallow human characters, and problematic white saviour throughline managed to keep dragging me back out again and again. I’m really excited to see what Cameron does with the upcoming sequels, and this new remastered version of Avatar is undoubtedly the best way to see it. If you’ve never seen Avatar, then go watch it at the cinema whilst you have the opportunity and see a 3D version if you can as it is one of the only films to use the format effectively. I’d also say that now is the perfect time for those who disliked the film to go back and give it another shot, but if your primary issues were with the story then this certainly won’t do anything to change your mind.
Despite all its problems I would say that Avatar is a must watch film, just for what it represents within the film industry. Without it the last decade would have looked significantly different, and I can only hope that the sequels go on to leave just as big an impact on cinema as this first outing did all those years ago. One thing is for sure though, it’s made me all the more excited to return to Pandora this December.
Whilst the version I watched didn’t have any HDR enhancements, I can imagine watching Avatar in a format like Dolby Vision would give Pandora even more colour than it already has. Moments like exploring the jungle at night and flying the Banshee’s would have so much more depth with HDR. But likewise, those moments in IMAX were simply breath-taking because of the extra scale afforded to the image.
James Horner’s score is a massively underrated aspect of Avatar and something that not many people talk about. It feels alive and so intrinsically linked with the film in ways that most film scores aren’t. There are moments where it genuinely feels like the voice of Pandora, with its enchanting choir and pounding drums.
Thirteen years on and Avatar is just as divisive as it was in 2009. Having seen the film again for the first time in almost a decade, I must say I was totally enamoured with its world and the Na’vi culture, but the films clunky dialogue, shallow human characters, and problematic white saviour throughline managed to keep dragging me back out again and again. I’m really excited to see what Cameron does with the upcoming sequels, and this new remastered version of Avatar is undoubtedly the best way to see it. If you’ve never seen Avatar, then go watch it at the cinema whilst you have the opportunity and see a 3D version if you can as it is one of the only films to use the format effectively. I’d also say that now is the perfect time for those who disliked the film to go back and give it another shot, but if your primary issues were with the story then this certainly won’t do anything to change your mind.
Despite all its problems I would say that Avatar is a must watch film, just for what it represents within the film industry. Without it the last decade would have looked significantly different, and I can only hope that the sequels go on to leave just as big an impact on cinema as this first outing did all those years ago. One thing is for sure though, it’s made me all the more excited to return to Pandora this December.