Review: AVATAR

AVATAR is a film that’s been on just about every movie geek’s radar for what seems like an eternity. I have to admit, my level of excitement has been somewhat of a roller coaster as the various marketing has come and gone. Before they showed a single frame of footage, I couldn’t wait to see what James Cameron had up his sleeve after TITANIC, which was the last feature film that he directed before AVATAR. When roughly 20 minutes of footage were screened at Comic Con, I eagerly read everything I could about it, still waiting for my first glimpse of footage.  Then, the first teaser came out. Sure, it looked cool, but did it look like the mind-blowing masterpiece that the hype would lead you to believe? Not so much. It looked more like a Final Fantasy cut-scene. Granted, it still looked pretty awesome, just not anything new or game-changing. Luckily for James Cameron, that is not the case.

Seeing AVATAR on a big screen in 3-D is nothing short of an incredible experience. The CGI, which makes up roughly 80-90% of the movie, looks both spectacular and lifelike at the same time. There wasn’t a second of the film that I didn’t believe that I was in the world of Pandora (the alien moon on which the movie takes place). Visually, this is by far the most impressive movie of the year, and sets a new standard in CGI character work. WETA far surpasses their work on the LORD OF THE RINGS films here, and if they don’t win an Oscar for it, I’ll be shocked. Just the CGI and 3-D alone are reason enough to go see AVATAR, but fortunately the story isn’t too bad either.

Avatar is the story of a soldier named Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) who has been paralyzed from the waist down in combat. The film is set in the future, when spinal injuries are easily fixed, just expensive. When Jake’s twin brother dies, he is contacted by a group of scientists who inform him about the AVATAR program which his brother was a part of. This program takes humans and links their minds into artificially created bodies which resemble aliens called Na’vi, who reside on Pandora. Each Avatar is created with the DNA of it’s human host, so only that specific person can link with it. Since Jake and his brother share the same DNA, naturally they need him to take his brother’s place.

Jake quickly learns to love and enjoy being in his Avatar body, since he now has the ability to walk, run, and do everything that he wished he could in his human body. However, life on Pandora isn’t exactly a paradise. The air on Pandora is deadly to humans, which is the main reason for creating the Avatars in the first place. And the reason why humans are on Pandora at all is a metal called “unobtainium”. As it’s name suggests, it is quite hard to find, and is worth a whole lot of money back on Earth. Unfortunately for the humans, the largest supply of unobtainium is located right under the Na’vi’s main village. You can probably see where this is headed, which essentially is the weakest aspect of the film. Story-wise there isn’t really anything groundbreaking here, but at the same time, the story never gets dull, and the characters were interesting enough that I still enjoyed the story.

The acting is all around great in AVATAR. After seeing Sam Worthington in TERMINATOR SALVATION, I was less than impressed. Here, on the other hand, his work is great, and I was completely engrossed in his story. Zoe Saldana (STAR TREK) who plays the Na’vi called Neytiri, is also fantastic, and makes a strong case for inter-species dating. Even Michelle Rodriguez (LOST, THE FAST AND THE FURIOUS) who I usually can’t stand is enjoyable in the film. Cameron gives just about all the major players their moment to shine, and none of them disappoints.

Like the CG, the action in AVATAR is incredible. James Cameron’s work on some of the greatest action films of all time has clearly paid off. Unlike other action directors (Michael Bay) Cameron realizes that the best action is action that you can actually see! You won’t see any close-up, shaky-cam nonsense here. Instead, you’ll get to enjoy the hand-to-hand combat, gunfights, arial battles, and even giant mech fights in all their clear, discernible glory. I may be over-stressing this point, but I absolutely HATE when an action film is so shaky that you can’t tell what’s happening, and, if you feel the same way, AVATAR will certainly be a visual treat for you to behold.

I highly recommend that you see AVATAR on the big screen and in 3-D. I’ve seen a few 3-D movies over the years, and this one tops them all by a landslide. The 3-D effect never gets annoying and they don’t use any cheap 3d tactics of throwing things at you. Instead, the 3-D is used to add another layer into the imagery, making the visuals pop with incredible detail. Unfortunately, it may be a while before this level of 3-D is readily available to watch at home, so make sure to see AVATAR in theatres, or you’ll regret missing out on a great experience.

James Cameron certainly hasn’t lost his touch, and I personally can’t wait to see what he does next.