It is the probably the best comic film in 3D. Everything has a comic strip feel about it: the story line, the appalling dialogue, the characters, and especially the superb visual effects. And with the cartoon feel there are also lost of echoes of other films and fantasies…space ships (Star Wars), entering other worlds (Alice in Wonderland, Dr Who, Narnia), and in that world there are gruesome out of control creatures…(cue Jurassic Park and King Kong), and the confrontation between exploiting colonisers and and nature saved by a romance between an invader and a native, so they can go on worshipping trees…it’s another re-working of Pocahontas
On the down side the dialogue was sometimes so banal you had to laugh, and the whole epic went on about half an hour too long. And there was no grand music that stayed in your mind to hum on your way home. On the up side, and why it is worth seeing, is the constant flow of visual beauty. You can forget the story and the sound and just watch in silence. You will never get bored. The fact you don’t really have to worry about the characters as they are so clichéd makes the viewing even easier.
If I had anything to do with the US forces trying to contain Al Qaeda or the Taliban I would be furious with James Cameron for inflicting this film at this time in the West’s history. For the bottom line is the impression that mechanisation is evil, and back to nature is good. So while nobody can defend the baddy humans in the film wanting to blow up the natives’ sacred tree to get the mineral they need, the idea comes over that this is what the West is doing. That is not true. The West enters into business contracts for raw materials. And worse there is this general slur against the industrial computer obsessed societies, combined with the idea that somehow they have made a big mistake going down this heartless route…and so we all need to get back to nature. This is sentimental drivel. All the world needs the oil Western expertise extracts, and the idea we’d all be happier prancing around with tails is fine till you wonder what you’d do when you get toothache, or want a cup of coffee, or…..
But there you are…the Marine commando who twenty years ago would have been the hero bringing moral order to the world is now the big baddy, and the naked paint wearing native is the goody.
Time for a re-make of ‘Lord of the Flies’.
On the down side the dialogue was sometimes so banal you had to laugh, and the whole epic went on about half an hour too long. And there was no grand music that stayed in your mind to hum on your way home. On the up side, and why it is worth seeing, is the constant flow of visual beauty. You can forget the story and the sound and just watch in silence. You will never get bored. The fact you don’t really have to worry about the characters as they are so clichéd makes the viewing even easier.
If I had anything to do with the US forces trying to contain Al Qaeda or the Taliban I would be furious with James Cameron for inflicting this film at this time in the West’s history. For the bottom line is the impression that mechanisation is evil, and back to nature is good. So while nobody can defend the baddy humans in the film wanting to blow up the natives’ sacred tree to get the mineral they need, the idea comes over that this is what the West is doing. That is not true. The West enters into business contracts for raw materials. And worse there is this general slur against the industrial computer obsessed societies, combined with the idea that somehow they have made a big mistake going down this heartless route…and so we all need to get back to nature. This is sentimental drivel. All the world needs the oil Western expertise extracts, and the idea we’d all be happier prancing around with tails is fine till you wonder what you’d do when you get toothache, or want a cup of coffee, or…..
But there you are…the Marine commando who twenty years ago would have been the hero bringing moral order to the world is now the big baddy, and the naked paint wearing native is the goody.
Time for a re-make of ‘Lord of the Flies’.
I haven't seen the film, but strangely I agree completely. Is that ok?
ReplyDeleteTo agree with me...it makes no difference to realitly, but of course...
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