The Catholic Writers Guild

JMJ

I can’t tell you how many times I have argued with an Avatar fan about how the silliness of the visually stunning movie. They eventually ask me how I can hate the highest grossing movie of all time. I don’t hate the film. I enjoyed watching it and appreciated the revolutionary skills the animators needed to create it. My biggest contention is the cartoony portrayal of the antagonists: the angry Marine colonel and the greedy corporation, and the idealization of the protagonists, the Na’vi (blue people).

If you haven’t seen Avatar, but you have seen Dances With Wolves, then you have seen Avatar. The stories are very similar but that could be its own blog. The quaint tribe of blue people lives in complete harmony with nature until the violent military and a company seeking natural resources join together to attack. The dialogue and characterization of the bad guys is done purely to evoke hatred from the audience. The whole movie preordains the result because the bad guys are so bad they have to lose, and lose badly. Despite the eye candy of world class special effects, the movie leaves a lot to be desired to someone who enjoys a good story arc and plot development.

Without any spoilers, here is my quick review of Avengers: Infinity War. Marvel has spent a lot of money and movies to create a rich array of good guys. Iron Man, Captain America, the Hulk, Black Panther, Thor, and many other superheroes make up the Avenger team or fight with them. Together, they need to fight against the alien super-villain known as Thanos. This villain appeared in previous Marvel movies and wasn’t given much depth due to the fact that writers left him in the shadows for the most part. Finally his back story is revealed and we get a villain who has a dark and utilitarian purpose that modern viewers can identify in the culture of death. He aims to control the population of the universe by culling half of all sentient beings. He tells Tony Stark aka Iron Man, “The end is near, and when I’m done, half of humanity will still exist. Perfectly balanced, as all things should be…and I hope they remember you.”

Thanos has a dark purpose, evil at its core, but the writers take great pains to make sure the audience is not quite sympathetic with the villain, but at least can see that he is doing what he thinks is right. He goes about his insane plan because his own planet was destroyed by over population. In his mind, he is setting things right. The movie is a great morality play focused on the idea that the ends do not justify the means. I don’t know if the authors set about to make a pro-life movie but they succeeded in doing so. It is an action packed adventure that acts as a great guide to writing an ensemble movie with the right mix of comedy, drama, and meaning that most action fans will love.