Movie Review: Avatar

I haven’t seen a more open case of white guilt casting since the last time I saw a Brinks Home Security ad.

I want to put this as plainly as I can. This film is so uniquely awfulthat it should be legal for me to enslave and neuter any movie criticwho gives it a positive review. They should be forced to do my yardwork and clip my toenails.

But then again, I can be an extremist about such things.

This is the worst movie I have ever seen.

Consider thatstatement. I have seen thousands of movies over the course of mylifetime. This is worse than any other film I can name.
[snip]

What puts this film over the top in its road to crapville is that it is a self-loathing racist screed.

The Na’vi are all played by African-American or Native American actors (CHH Pounder, Zoe Saldana, Wes Studi, Laz Alonso). The Na’vi are blue, but their society is an idealized hybrid of African and Indian tribal cultures with some white, middle-class New Age mumbo-jumbo tossed in for flavor.

Thehumans are almost all white. There are a couple of minority actors whohave lines, but almost all of them turn out to be on the side of thenatives. Now, let it be known that I don’t normally go counting raceswhen I watch movies. I normally don’t care one bit. But in this case itwas so obvious, you can’t avoid it.

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2009-12-24