Avatar Review

Avatar is what you might call "James Cameron's magnum opus". With 14 years in conception, 4 years in the making and a budget of over $230 million US, this film has promise. But, does it live up to its potential? Let's take a look.

Those familiar with Mr. Cameron's work won't be surprised to find that Avatar is set in the future. We meet our hero in a spacecraft as he wakes from hibernation having arrived (after a presumably long trip) at an alien planet known as Pandora.

Pandora is rich in "Unobtainium", an obscenely valuable mineral that is used for... something. We're never actually told. Maybe it cures cancer or maybe it induces mind blowing, full body orgasms on contact. Who knows? The important thing to know is that it costs about $20 million US per KG. A private company, RDA, has set up operations on Pandora, but alas; they cannot go merrily about the business of mining the magic orgasm rock as a large number of pesky natives are living directly on top of the primary deposit of this prized resource.

These sentient, humanoid natives are known as Na'vi and are basically what I would imagine Tim Burton's interpretation of a smurf to be. They are 10ft, have big yellow eyes, enjoy spending time outdoors and taking midnight walks through neon forests. Their turn-ons include being one with nature, having their hair played with and their turn-offs are technology and wearing pants.

In an effort to find a diplomatic solution to this problem, the scientific arm of the RDA created clones of the Na'vi that a human can transfer their consciousness to and operate remotely like a ...what's the term I'm looking for? Ah, a human proxy. Yes. These human proxies are used to liaise with the Na'vi with some success, but they're still not budging from their land.

You've got conflict, aliens, marines and future science. Go!

Sam Worthington is Jake Sully, the hero of the piece. Jake earned his place in the Avatar program by being the identical twin brother of a PhD wielding scientist who was already part of the program but couldn't participate having been recently demoted to the role of "rotting corpse". Avatars are grown using their intended users DNA and since Jake's DNA is identical to that of his twin, he is the only one who can make use of it. That's what we call a "Steven Bradbury".

Sigourney Weaver plays Dr. Grace Augustine, head of the Avatar program. She's the kind of no-nonsense ball-buster that echoes her Ellen Ripley role from the Alien series; tough on "the man" and sympathetic to those in need. Show her a lawyer and she'll put her cigarette out in his face. Hand her an orphan and she'll weep as she sings it a lullaby.

Giovanni Ribisi is Parker Selfridge, the Chief Administrator of RDA, He's bottom line chasing slave of the shareholders and not exactly sympathetic to Na'vi people(?). Ribisi plays the role well, but there's no real character development here and he's limited by that.

Stephen Lang is a walking cliché Colonel Miles Quaritch. This is not a bad thing. In fact, he's my favourite character in the entire film. He's a bad-ass, military man's man. You DO NOT want to get on this man's bad side. If McDonald's were to start selling McNa'vi Nuggets™ and there was a Na'vi abattoir, you'd find Miles Quaritch on the kill floor.

Zoe Saldana plays Neytiri , the princess of the Omaticaya clan. She winds up having to babysit Jake Sully and, you guessed it, she's the love interest. She starts out showing him the ways of the forest and ends up "showing him the way to HER forest". ^{+Save that high-five for when you see me next}

The movie looks amazing. Both Weta Studios and Industrial Light and Magic were involved which means that, from a technical standpoint, the visuals are state of the art/second to none and will make you eyegasm.^{+Right click->add to dictionary} The futuristic RDA compound and vehicles along with the alien environment, creatures and characters are all brought to life as convincingly as you could wish.^{+That is, if I recall correctly. It has been several weeks since I actually saw this movie.} You couldn't ask for more in this department.

Technical aspects aside; Pandora is amazing to behold. During the day, though the species of plants may be foreign and peculiar, the alien forests aren't unlike those found on earth. However; when night falls, the jungle transforms into a black-light junkies wet dream. The plants and creatures light up with splendid neon colours in a beautiful display of bioluminescence. In terms of eye candy, this movie is Halloween for the eyes.

The 3D aspect of the film was good, but it didn't wow me like the CGI Beowulf 3D did. It is quite immersive in parts while a little distracting in others. The problem is that it requires you to focus your eyes on where the camera is focused and I like to let my eyes wander around the scene to take in all the detail. Just like conventional 2D films, if something is out of focus to the camera, focusing your eye on it won’t make it any clearer. My tip would be just to keep your eyes on the action. That said; the two friends I say it with didn't have any complaints. I wouldn't say that this movie must be seen in 3D to be enjoyed or that the opposite is true. I've heard both yay's and boo's with regard to this.

Avatar is a great film, despite having an overly familiar plot that isn't exactly air tight. It would have been a more enjoyable experience if the events weren't so predictable from one scene to the next, but what is there is solid. I'd be surprised if you didn't enjoy it. Avatar isn't as "adult" as some of Cameron's previous works, but when you consider how naive and idealistic it is, it really can't be taken seriously enough to be a grown up flick. I think he's hit the mark pretty well. You can take your kids to see Avatar, but not your toddlers. In fact, don't take your toddlers to see ANY movie. That's why DVD player were invented; to keep screaming children the hell away from me while I'm trying to enjoy something I've paid almost $20 to see. Remember: Your children should be an inconvenience to you. Not everybody else.

I’m awarding Avatar a rank of four spinning lizards out of five.

P.S. Please share your Avatar experience with us re: 2D vs 3D. These posts aren’t going to comment on themselves you know.