I Still Don’t Quite Get Avatar

Avatar is simple, easy to follow and grasp. It is one of the most successful films, based on an idea by James Cameron. Plot is aliens and humans, who have discovered a resource they want. The plan is getting the aliens to agree to let them mine it. A story about the environment and colony past just set in a distant land and in the future. The core concept of the movie is rather dark, adult. Yet presented in a family-friendly way. Exploring an important part of human history. The story keeps things light, lets you fill in the rest. Does not overburden you with details. As such a successful film, it never really had the same impact as others. Nothing in Avatar has been parodied, or jokes or lines repeated. Given how shallow the story is that makes sense.

It has been a wild success at the box office. First movie came out in 2009, more on that later. Released in 2009, it provided the perfect escape for audiences during the subprime loan crash. Maybe that’s why it works. After the explosion of banks and greed, how nobody was held to account. This story follows familiar overtones and was perfect timing. A weird world yet feels very relatable when you consider the message. After 13 years, a sequel had been greenlit. Released in 2022, in 2025 the third one out of a planned five is released. As an idea, the echo of 2008/09 still holds audience attention.

As an idea it’s nothing new but it’s a rather rare thing in Hollywood. Still seems to have a timeless quality about it. It’s not a book but something James Cameron came up with. It’s not an adaptation, just something that in the history books with a modern twist. What makes it even more unique comes from a director with a stunning past collection of films under his belt. Avatar is James Cameron’s last project. His passion project before making Avatar, he made Titanic in 1997, which helped fund this idea. Quite a jump really, from 1997 until 2009. He tried to make it before but his vision and technology of computer-generated effects never aligned together. Everything he tried just fell short of his grand vision. That, until he could finally do it. Cameron is a rather successful director, 2nd highest grossing of all time. Yet Avatar, unlike the rest of his work, never really connects for me.

To me, Avatar does things backwards. James Cameron builds a world and the story follows afterwards, instead of doing the story first and filling in the gaps. Of course, he could have done it the other way around. He decided this was better. Maybe that’s due to the fact it’s so simple. It allows you to put yourself into the world and feel like you’re part of the story, not watching somebody narrate it to you.

Small confession here: I never watched it on release. Which is why I’m writing this blog. It took me a while to watch it, and then I forgot about it until the sequel came out. I was shocked to discover just how well it did. Which made me curious about it. I value story over spectacle. Finding it sanitized, black and white. Hints of greyness but never brave enough to explore it. As such I can remember the moments, set pieces over the story, its visual over emotional. Characters I can’t remember, their names. Good example of this is 3D effects that what people talk about over the story. Something you don’t see at home but can see in theaters. That moment sticks in my mind even if I haven’t seen it in 3D. 

Never really was a big movie-goer. So something had to grab my attention to get me to go. Never really cared for the 3D. Just remember hearing 3D and thinking that going to be awful. 3D tech has come a long way but still is lacking. Timing was off too — it never really came at the right time for me. Therefore never really cared for it. Other stories and TV shows caught my eyeballs. X-Men for example, LGBTQ seeds that I never understood until later. Marvel and its stories spoke to me. Blue aliens not really. Never really had that same appeal, not for me that is. Yet mainstream geek / nerd culture rejects it, does not talk about it. But somehow it captures an audience that big. It feels like a subculture that never touched my own. I knew of it much like I know about country music. Just never listened.  Just remember hearing about the effects, not the story. That rubbed me the wrong way really.

I do have to admire and respect what James Cameron has done here. It’s spectacular a film that pushes the limits of what special effects could look like. He takes his time to produce something of the highest quality, instead of following the Hollywood trend of overworked, underpaid crews. His production team clearly knew what they wanted and spent the time making it look as perfect as possible. That obsession shows up in every detail they even created a language for the film. It’s a showcase of what this sort of cinema can be. A fantasy blockbuster, blue and beautiful, as realistic as possible while pushing technology to its limits, fully bringing people into the world of Pandora.

At 162 minutes about 2.7 hours it’s a long film, and while I can’t deny how good it looks, it never really pulled me in. Building a billion-dollar movie series from the ground up, based on nothing but an idea, is no small achievement. The special effects alone show a level of long-term vision and discipline that few films ever manage. In that sense, it puts a lot of Hollywood to shame. I can respect the craft, the obsession, and the ambition even if the film itself never really resonated with me.

Will I watch The Way of Water and Fire and Ash? Probably. And I’ll likely rewatch Avatar too. I do want to refresh myself on what it actually is, rather than what I remember it being. Rewatching it now, the first few minutes really do set the tone, and it finally clicked why audiences responded to it the way they did. The atmosphere, the immersion, the invitation into the world it makes sense. I may still not love it, but I understand it a lot more than I did before.