- James Cameron's Avatar in IMAX is Visually Amazing - 20th Century Fox, 2009
Avatar is not the best movie of all time. Avatar does not “revolutionize” film making either. The sure-to-receive-several-Academy-Award-nominations science fiction film is, however, a thoroughly entertaining thrill ride through an imaginative world set against an infinitely artistic canvas. And in IMAX 3D, that canvas comes to life.
Cameron, Wintston, and Weta Digital Create Make Avatar a Grand-Scale Film
With the film’s instant box office success, Avatar sequels are a foregone conclusion. In fact, Director James Cameron (The Abyss, True Lies, Titanic) made the first film with a potential trilogy in mind. With all the money pumped into it and its amenability to commercial applications, including video games, toys, DVDs, books, and memorabilia already in stores or on the horizon, Avatar can and will give all involved a high rate of return.
But why the risk? Why spend hundreds of millions of dollars on a limp science fiction/fantasy film featuring an angry race of blue archers and wannabe pterodactyl riders?
Simple. 20th Century Fox could depend on Cameron to produce. With technological innovation, Stan Winston, and Weta Digital on Cameron’s side, the director was bound to produce something unique. And Avatar is, without a doubt, novel.
Using highly advanced, motion capture animation (similar to that used to create Gollum in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, but on a much larger scale) and sophisticated cameras that mimic depth perception, Cameron set out to create a new race. With their human actors’ every facial expression and body movement captured and replicated, the Na’vi people came to life. The end result, however, still looks cartoonish, but it is realistic enough to immerse viewers into an otherworldly landscape juxtaposed with human actors.
Avatar’s Plot is Weak and Predictable but Still Enjoyable
Avatar takes place in 2154. Sam Worthington (Terminator: Salvation, Clash of the Titans) stars as Jake Sully, a former marine who has lost the use of his legs. Through unforeseeable circumstances, Sully gains the opportunity to travel to Pandora, a planet rich in a highly valuable element.
Unfortunately for those seeking the element, Pandora is inhabited by hordes of fierce creatures. Perhaps none are fiercer than the Na’vi, Pandora’s indigenous people. The Na’vi seek only to protect their home from human invasion and destruction. They are willing to kill to achieve this goal.
Parker Selfridge (Giovanni Ribisi – Boiler Room, Gone in Sixty Seconds), a corporate bigwig, and his militant security head, Colonel Miles Quaritch (Stephen Lang - Tombstone, Public Enemies), enlist Sully to infiltrate a Na’vi tribe and learn its ways. To do so, Sully is given an avatar, a biologically engineered and remote controlled Na’vi look-alike.
After learning about the avatar and the Na’vi from scientists Dr. Grace Augustine (Sigourney Weaver – Alien, Gorillas in the Mist), Norm Spellman (Joel David Morse - Dodgeball) and Dr. Max Patel (Dileep Rao – Drag Me to Hell), Sully quickly takes to his work. As his avatar, Sully has full use of his legs, in addition to superhuman strength, agility, speed, and other powers he must discover.
On a routine expedition, Sully (in avatar form) is separated from his team. Lost in Pandora’s lush forests, Sully is attacked by dog-like creatures. He is saved by a Na’vi female named Nevtiri (Zoë Saldaña - Star Trek). She brings Sully to her village.
Sully enters the village as a spy, but he learns Na’vi customs and beliefs and incorporates them into his own. He also falls in love with Nevtiri. But can such a cross-species romance survive? Can Sully come to grips with the adverse interests of his human employer and the race with which he has come to identify?
Overall, Avatar’s story derives much of its theories from nature-based religions and philosophies, coming across like something out of a Final Fantasy video game. But the plot is merely a vehicle for the Avatar’s true selling points - visually stimulating cinema matched with breathtaking innovation.
Avatar Comes Through on Some of Its Promises
In addition to fine acting and a fast-paced, adventurous plot, Avatar offers a look into a 3D, panoramic mesh of cinematic advancement. Pandora’s colors are vibrant, its inhabitants are memorable, and its world is consuming.
Overall, Avatar is science fiction done right. In IMAX 3D, it is film viewing done right, an enriching experience.
Jason Parent - Jason Parent earned his Bachelor's Degree in English in 2000 and his Juris Doctorate in 2006. He currently works as an attorney with a ...
