Avatar (****)

Directed by: James Cameron

Starring: Sam Worthington, Zoey Saldanha, Sigourney Weaver, Stephen Lang, Michelle Rodrigues, Giovanni Ribisi, Joel David Moore

Seen: December 17^th and 24^th 2009, January 12th 2010

**** Out of ****

For a 160-odd minutes my jaw was bolted to the floor in what was almost definitely the most sumptuous visual feast ever presented on the silver screen. Where previously 3D was mostly used as a gimmick (although in some instances to good effect), here it pulls you into a story and world so rich and complete that you cannot help but be struck speechless by what you are witnessing. Avatar is one of those movies that single-handedly takes the entire industry leaps and bounds ahead at once (think The Matrix and Jurassic Park), the kind of movie that you’ll watch in 10 to 15 years’ time and still be knocked flat for its pure visceral brilliance. The 3D in Avatar is not merely different depth-levels of flat images like we are almost getting used to, but it really feels truly 3D. Avatar is huge, in scope and ambition, on visuals and story, on details and action. Avatar is the movie event of the decade; this is the new standard in film-making…

Jake Sully (Worthington), a paraplegic marine, is asked to replace his twin brother in space, far from earth, on the planet Pandora, in their Avatar program. The program entails “driving” remote-controlled bodies reminiscent of the native Na’vi, cloned from human and Na’vi DNA, in an effort to get the natives to relocate their home on Pandora, because the human forces want the area cleared to mine a mineral, Unobtanium (not Cameron’s word, but an established phrase for a material not of our earth, call it a MacGuffin (another movie term – like the Suitcase in Pulp Fiction, it does not really matter what it is or what it contains, but it drives the plot, partially or in its entirety)). This mineral is worth $20 million a kilo, and we know what humans (Americans?) will do for valuable minerals, etc. Jake Sully’s job is to infiltrate the Na’vi (not as a spy, they know what he is), gain their trust, and get them to relocate, but this also gets complicated by the greed of the earthlings, in particular driven by Colonel Miles Quaritch (Lang), and Parker Selfridge (Ribisi, with a character name sounding suspiciously self-enriching).

Along the way Jake Sully is introduced to the rich and magnificent culture of the Na’vi, a 9 to 10 foot tall, blue-skinned humanoid race after being separated from the Avatars of Dr. Grace Augustine (Weaver) and Norm Spellman (Moore). The world Cameron has created is so vivid that repetitive viewings of the movie will most certainly reveal new things every time. The plants react to touch, be it shrinking back into its pods or fluorescently glowing. Moss lights up underfoot wherever any character goes. The completely animated world of Pandora is absolutely stunning, hence the jaw-bolted-to-the-floor comment. The Na’vi are not presented as simply another strange alien race, but as a complete culture, religion and all things inclusive. They are extremely close to nature and this is evident in both the way they interact with trees, horses (Pandora horses), and Banshees (Pandora pterodactyl-like creatures), among others. The detail that went into the creation of such a complete world is astonishing – far too much to grasp in a single viewing.

There were scenes that had me slightly perplexed and maybe a little uncomfortable (not unlike the scene in The Matrix where Neo is extracted from the matrix), but that has more to do with a different presentation of religion and/or culture than the one I’m accustomed to than the sense that this isn’t real (it is all part of that immensely completely sculptured world Cameron presents in Avatar). The movie is absolutely astounding, from the brilliantly created Na’vi (Zoey Saldanha’s character, Neytiri, required her to never be present as a human (as Neytiri isn’t one), but still act the role), to the forests and different cultures of the Na’vi, to the military technology used by the humans, to the alien wild-life on Pandora. Everything just works.

Avatar is a little bit of everything, love story, coming of age, and war and battle. There are those who’ll claim this is a rehash of older material, but those are the ones who’ll always find error with everything. The special effects are quite a jump past anything you’ve ever seen. Just sit back and let Cameron take you on the ride of a lifetime. Avatar is a game-changer.