JC's Theater Review - Avatar

 

Alright, so it might be just a tad late to be writing a review about James Cameron's latest film, Avatar (2009). Better late than never, as the saying goes, so here we go:

The beautiful and deadly moon of Pandora is inhabited by an indigenous blue-skinned people known as the Na'vi. They are much taller than humans (nearly twice as tall) and much stronger, with a powerful bone structure that makes them quite resilient.

Halfway through the 22nd century, a paraplegic marine, Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) arrives on a Pandoran mining colony after the death of his identical twin brother. He is selected, in place of his brother, to enter into the Avatar project, led by Dr. Grace Augustine (Sigourney Weaver). An Avatar is a life-form shell created from the merged genetics of the Na'vi and humans, where the consciousness of a human is transmitted into the Avatar's brain.

The Avatars are used for diplomatic endeavors, to form an understanding between the two races. In a fluke of circumstance, Jake Sully is given a very unique and personal education of the Na'vi world by Neytiri (Zoe Saldana), and soon he must choose between his loyalty to the marines at the mining colony and this newfound world.

It might be a little pretentious to call it the best film of all time, but I personally believe I'm rather safe. Find out why after the jump.

This is a movie that truly defies the concept of 'genre.'  Like the movie Australia (2008), this epic tale encompasses the adventure, action, and romance genres, but goes even further, adding in science fiction and fantasy. The characters are richly created and develop smoothly over the course of the story, which seems almost a collection of independent stories which all reach the same conclusion in a classic tale of nature versus technology.

Then, there is Cameron's world of Pandora, a vast landscape that is as tall as it is wide, with great natural arches, skyscraping trees, and floating mountains, bustling with unique and colorful flora and fauna with its own quirks and habits, richly demonstrated (not described) with an almost-documentary feel that lets your mind accept it as reality.

The type of technology presented in this film takes a bit for the mind to grasp, but the story makes it easy to understand, doesn't bog you down with needless jargon, and simply shows you how it works.

If you haven't seen this movie in theaters, YOU MUST. Unless you have a gigantic screen that can truly express the repeated theme of things being HUGE (machines, trees, formations, the Na'vi), you'll probably lose quite a bit of the awe seeing it in a smaller medium. Hell, you'll probably end up seeing it much more than once.