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 espite
better than expected special effects, there's one thing the Singapore sci-fi
flick "Avatar" can't quite overcome -- well, okay, there's a lot of
things, including stilted acting, awful dialogue, and most of all, a story that
seems cobbled together from what seems like every American sci-fi film from the
past 10 years. The film's heroine is the improbably named Dash MacKenzie
(Genevieve O'Reilly), a bounty hunter who she spends her time hunting down sim
thieves or loaders or whatever it is the film's fictional sci-fi universe calls
them. To be honest, the movie throws so many made-up cyberpunk babble at you
that it's nearly impossible to keep up, and after a while you start to not care.
In any case, back to our protracted mish mash of a story.
Dash is soon contracted by mega corporate bigwig Joseph Lau (a one-note David
Warner, playing villainous to within an inch of its life) to hunt down an
ex-employee who has something of great value. Apparently Dash's reputation as a
bounty hunter is so impressive that bigwigs like Lau must have her
services, or he mind as well give up. At least that's the impression one gets
from the script by Christopher Hatton, who in a bit of trivia, is married to
director Jian Hong Kuo.
And so Dash goes around town talking to her VR buddy Julius
while meeting with eccentric characters like Joan Chen, playing a woman obsessed
with staying young. Then there's Dash's ex-boyfriend cop Victor Huang (Luoyong
Wang, "Dragon"),
with whom she has no chemistry whatsoever. Then again, there's not a whole lot
of chemistry in "Avatar" at all. When Dash first meets Chen's Madame
Ong, the two engage in what is supposed to be witty back-and-forth. I say
"supposed" because the scene, like most of the film's attempts at
personal interaction, fails so miserably you can't help but feel embarrassed for
the actors, especially the veteran Chen.
As for Dash, I'm sure the character was supposed to have an
abundance of charm and affability, and I bet the words "devil may
care" and "incorrigible" were used to describe her in the script.
Unfortunately the Dash that shows up onscreen is shockingly bland, and one gets
the feeling that Dash is cashing in on charm credits she never had. O'Reilly
seems to have bought into the character and performs accordingly, so it's open
to debate rather the character's flatness is the result of poor acting or
lackluster direction by Jian Hong Kuo. Or maybe the script by Hatton just wasn't
good enough to reinforce the character's supposed winning personality.
The film certainly doesn't get off on the right foot. As
any novice screenwriter can tell you, if your main character is a badass and
everyone knows it and will constantly refer to it (as is the case here), then
you better establish her badassness from frame one. What we get instead is Dash
chasing an Asian guy down a street, and then tackling him before putting him
into custody. The rest of the film, alas, is similarly muted and, as my nephew
would say, lame. You never quite understand why Dash is supposed to be such a
badass headhunter (as her chosen profession is called in the film), since all
she seems to do is walk around asking questions, something you'd think anyone
with legs and a mouth could do. Needless to say, I am unconvinced of Dash's
credentials as a badass.
"Avatar's" use of a racially mixed cast is
interesting, if ultimately regrettable. The problem is that the two groups of
actors -- Westerners and Asians -- seem to be approaching the script from two
completely different styles, and as a result there is no seamlessness in the
character interactions. The film also borrows heavily from "The
Matrix" in look, story, and theme, and although this charge has been
thrown around quite a bit, it very much fits here. By the time the film's
conspiracy angle is revealed, you'll swear you were watching "The
Matrix" all over again, complete with random digital "codes"
racing about incoherently in the background.
There might have been a good story
here once upon a time, but the resulting movie can only be called an unmitigated
disaster. The film's clunky first hour consists of almost nothing but prodigious
exposition, something "Avatar" tries to hide with non-stop CGI and
whiz-bang sci-fi, but after a while you start noticing that the script has still
not yet explained its world an hour into things, and all that whiz bang sci-fi
stuff doesn't seem quite as whizbangy anymore. Actually, the film's social
engineering plot is actually more reminiscent of Alex Proyas' brilliant "Dark
City". The filmmakers even throw in a little "Johnny
Mneumonic" and "Circuitry Man", if you can believe it.
"Avatar" isn't really as bad as I might have
made it out to be, which isn't to say it's really any good, either. The
direction by Jian Hong Kuo is unimpressive, and as mentioned, the acting is
average at best. But in the realm of small favors, at least "Avatar's"
fictional cityscape isn't derivative of "Blade Runner", which is
always a good thing in this day and age of copycat cinema. It's too bad the film
never takes full advantage of its futuristic landscape, and even once The Matrix
-- er, I mean, the corporate conspiracy -- is revealed, the film continues to
plod along aimlessly, seemingly determined to keep things as dull,
uninteresting, and as uninvolving as possible.
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