Avatar
The other day my wife and I went to see Avatar in 3D. I have to admit, I absolutely loved it. Probably one of the best movie experiences I’ve had in a long time. Right up there with the whole Lord of the Rings saga. I have to say Cameron has done a spectacular job inmaking a epic film that will live in history along with his other triumphsof Titanic, Aliens, and The Abyss (yes, The Abyss is a classic movie that everyone should watch if you haven’t because it’s amazing!).
A quick plot overview. Avatar takes place on a planet’s moon that is almost 6 years travel time away from Earth. Pandora is inhabited by natives that are over 7ft tall, blue skinned, and remain rustic and lacking many of the technology that we humans possess. The humans are on the planet to mine a product called “unobtainium”…which if you are a mechanical engineer you will laugh heartily at that.
I have to tell you what I mean about unobtainium. Someone in the engineering world will conceptualize a new product and it always demands these things: strength, practically weightless, and extremely thermally conductive. This stuff doesn’t exist, so we call it unobtainium. Unobtainium the magical material that solves all problems but doesn’t exist, so cannot be obtained. Click to Close
This is a classic plot line. Pilgrims or Frontiersman vs Indians. Forresters vs Rain-Forrest. Fern Gully. A major human corporation wants the massive financial benefit of a certain resource, and the natives are in the way. The way they work with this hiccup is that a group of scientists that are studying the planet and its resources. The scientists have the ability to transfer consciousness from the human body, into the body of an artificially grown native creature called an Avatar. A disabled ex-marine is selected to posses one of the avatar bodies, he meets the natives and is commanded to learn their ways to help the company mine a rich field of unobtainium. Cultures collide, the marine becomes friends with the native “Na’Vi” people, and the evil corporation oversteps and causes havoc.
Although there are many hints of environmentalism and Hollywood politics as usual, Cameron doesn’t press the politics and it’s a situation that anyone would want to avoid. Driving a less advanced (in the commonly attributed sense of the word) people from their home in search of riches.
Giovanni Ribisi plays an excellent company man that seeks the money and power over resource protection. Stephen Lang plays a rough neck Colonel that’s paid to lead his band of mercenaries to keep the mining safe. Sigourney I Weaver heads up the science crew, while Sam Worthington is the lead Marine/Avatar. A host of other characters make up the Na’Vi people, headed by Star Trek’s Zoe Saldana.
This movie is an amazing epic that never once felt like an animated film. The approach to filming is similar to that which Robert Zemeckis seems he can’t get away from anymore. But Cameron has surpassed Zemeckis’s approach and the blending of the real and the CGI is astoundingly fluid. The story line is solid and execution near perfect. I will say that I would be supremely surprised if Cameron and company isn’t highly rewarded come Oscar time. The Weta Workshop (the same effects company used for Lord of the Rings) is quickly becoming the go-to major effects company and making Industrial Light and Magic (George Lucas’s effect company) seem second rate. Weta’s design genius and unique vision is one of the chief reasons this film is so good. One of the key things I liked about the vision is the fact that 100+ years in the future we aren’t advanced to the point of shiny sleek quantum powered crafts. The “helicopters” look just like something that could be built now, but does have tech that’s too advanced to be built now. I love that, it makes it feel real.
I know of a few people that can’t get past the very environmentalist opinion of the movie but I think running a native people out of their homes simply for financial gain is a horrible situation and I can sympathize with that aspect. To be a hundred percent honest, it is a fantastic movie that should be seen in you can. Secondly, it should be seen in 3D. I can understand watching it the normal way if that’s the only option, but the 3D experience is fantastic. You are immersed in the moon Pandora’s world and at times feel like you can reach out and touch some aspects.
If you love epic films, this is a can’t miss. I suggest you go out and watch it as soon as you can. Seriously.Click Here to Watch the Trailer
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Amanda
