Avatar (2009)

I was skeptical about seeing Avatar. This film couldn’t be more over hyped than it is. It’s compared to seeing Star Wars for the first time, it’s been called James Cameron’s masterpiece (and he made Titanic), and it supposedly revolutionizes film. How could any movie possibly live up to this? The commercials and trailers didn’t really do anything for me. I thought the blue aliens looked silly at best. Well, to my surprise it does live up to the hype. There is no film quite like this one to date.

The story follows a handicapped marine named Jake Sulley (Sam Worthington) who takes a job on a moon called Pandora because he matches his now-deceased brother’s DNA and it will earn him a bonus that will allow him to afford the medical bills that will come with fixing his spine. In this future, health coverage isn’t that great either. The job consists of him linking to a man-made version of the local aliens, called the Na’vi, and using the body as his avatar so that he can infiltrate their village and convince them to relocate so that the military can mine their home for a special type of rock that is really valuable. How and why are these rocks so important? Doesn’t really matter, they just are. The military in this film isn’t exactly belonging to any particular government; instead they are described as and much more closely resemble hired guns that work for a corporation (run by Giovanni Ribisi), much like Blackwater. Jake works with scientists who are more interested in understanding the Na’vi and learning about them than they are in the rocks. So the story begins with a pretty clear line drawn: aliens & scientists = good, military and corporations = bad. The story really takes off when Jake is stranded in the jungle. He meets Neytiri (played by the beautiful Zoë Saldana) and she leads him back to her people. They reluctantly accept him and allow him to learn of their culture. Eventually Jake finds that he must choose between the aliens and his own people.

Almost everything concerning the plot and the characters are secondary to what this film really is. In fact, the story itself borrows plot elements from several other film including Dances with Wolves, The Matrix, and even Ferngully. But again, the story isn't nearly as important as the technical side of this film. The way this film is made is simply incredible. 90% of what you see on-screen is animated; the jungle, the aliens, the creatures, everything. Yet it never really feels like it is. This is practically an animated movie; clearly it’s animated, but it’s not filmed this way. Theirs is no other way to describe it. There are no practical effects and there is a staggering amount of CG, but it doesn’t seem like it. This is part of what made this film so expensive: James Cameron invented a new type of stereoscopic camera that can simulate human sight in the animation sequences (and they really work). The visuals draw you in and you become apart of the world presented to you. The only use of motion capture on the blue aliens is in their faces and this makes the actors recognizable through the animation (almost too much so with Sigourney Weaver’s character. That one was a little creepy). With the performances literally coming through the visuals and the way that it’s filmed preventing association with an animated movie, the CG just disappears. You’ll accept everything you see as what it is. Jake is a good representative for the audience as his curiosity towards everything on Pandora is mirrored in the viewer; we share his fascination and discover everything as he does. Pandora at night is a memorable sight as (for whatever reason), everything glows and lights up the jungle. It is beautiful, exotic, and incredibly imaginative. Pandora is shown in its near entirety as we see everything from the floating mountains (which are completely impossible) and the gigantic trees to the deepest parts of the jungle. The scenes where the Na’vi are shown flying on their dragon-like banshees are amazing. The situation between the humans and the Na’vi is comparable to the diamond mining in Africa and what happened to the Native Americans. The Na’vi themselves are reminiscent of the Native Americans in their tribal society.

The acting is generally good, though I’m not sure what type of accent Jake is supposed to have (maybe it’s a repressed Australian accent?), but the performance that stands out the most is from Zoë Saldana (previously seen in Star Trek). She is never seen outside of her blue alien character and she is so convincing and fleshed out as the princess of the Na’vi; by far the most intriguing character in the film. Sigourney Weaver is good but the rest of the scientists are pretty forgettable. There is another performance worth mentioning and it is by Stephen Lang who plays Colonel Miles Quaritch, the leader of the mercenaries. Basically he is the villain of the film but I’m not sure why. There is never any explanation as to why he hates the Na’vi so much or has such a vendetta against Jake (maybe Jake killed his parents?). With his scars that he wears on his face like a tattoo, he ends up being every clichéd military bad guy rolled into one. This guy doesn’t even seem to mind being on fire or the fact that he can’t breath on Pandora. I guess he just likes blowing things up. Him aside, there is nothing that really hurts this film. It is a visual masterpiece that may literally re-invent the way that science fiction and fantasy films are made. James Cameron may have worked on this film for 15 years, but amazingly, it was well worth the wait.