Avatar: A good movie, but is it a great one?

First, let me say that Avatar is a really good movie and yes go and see it and in 3D. The 3D is beautiful without being thrown in your face, the scenery is often almost as great as a Yes album cover and the major characters are as attractive and likable as any found in recent Disney cartoon features. The big question is whether it is a great movie.
Coming out of the movie I found that question isn’t one  easy to answer.

  A great movie is one that would influence the whole movie industry for years, perhaps decades, to come. Avatar is definitely revolutionary in concept. Computer animation and real life action come together in a way never done before. The result is stunning. The imaginary world of Pandora is perhaps the most beautiful created for the screen to date. My main problem with the movie is its screenplay. It is far too shallow. The goodies  are all good and the baddies are really evil. The film attempts to merge all the world evils into one. Real life, however, is much more complex.

 In the recent Batman movie, The Dark Knight, we are introduced to a troubled hero who is having his doubts, and a psychotic villain who’s scars are part and parcel of his character.  Heath Ledger created a magnificent villain who remains with you long after the final credits. Anthony Hopkins’ Hannibal is but another example of what a good director and actor can do with a villain. In contrast Stephen Lang’s  scars are as forgettable as his portrayal of the all evil Colonel Miles Quaritch – a badly portrayed representative of  the rich, money and power hungry fanatics that rule the universe by force.  Sigourney Weaver who manages to hold her own as the nature conscience Dr. Grace Augustine, has of course done the role before in Gorillas in the Mist with her memorable portrayal of Dian Fossey. The remaining major human role, Jake Sully, is clumsily delivered by Sam Worthington. His portrayal of the Navi Jake, however, and Joe Saldana’s sexy rendering of Neytiri are what hold this movie together, for only when portraying Navi life does this movie really come into its own.

   Cameron, in an attempt to make the mother of all science fiction war movies, attempts to take on Viet Nam, Korea, Hiroshima, the plight of  Native Americans and Global Warming all in one breath. For added spice he compliments it with elements from every social conscious extravaganza in cinema history. You don’t have to look too closely to recognise Little Big Man, Dance with the Wolves and Pocahontas. For a film to be great, however,  it has to have its own agenda. Here Cameron fails. Avatar, however stunning it is visually, is not up there with revolutionary movies such as Citizen Kane, Henry IV Part 1 or The Godfather. When comparing it with great movies in the same Genre such as 2001 A Space Odyssey, Star Wars and Close Encounters of the Third Kind or even E.T. it is easy to conclude what is missing. Ten years from now Avatar will be remembered for its breakthrough in technology but little else. Great films have moments that will be remembered forever. Avatar has special effects.
Revisiting Cameron’s previous venture Titanic, when seen today it is still as moving as it was over a decade ago. Casablaca, Gone With the Wind, The Wizard of Oz, One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest and Dr Strangelove are examples of timeless movie masterpieces that revolutionized the cinema forever and are still a pleasure to watch. Will we really be able, in 2020, to say the same in retrospect about Avatar?
All in all Avatar is a good movie, there’s no denying that, but for half a billion dollars (including promotion costs) I feel Cameron could have purchased a better screenplay and made a great one.