Movie Review: Avatar, Starring Sam Worthington, Sigourney Weaver, Zoe Saldana and more…
If you want to get completely outside of yourself, your perspective, YOUR PLANET, then you need to catch this movie, on the big screen, and definitely in 3D.
I’m not sure how I managed to come so far as to go and see this movie, without having even seen a preview.
I am actually glad that I hadn’t.
It means that I went into the movie completely devoid of any expectation, other than I had heard it ‘was good’ and provided a commentary on the time in history that we find ourselves, albeit from a different galactic perspective.
Here is a basic plot summary for those who want it, and I promise, no spoilers:
The reason for the name, “Avatar”. If you’ve been around the web, you may be familiar with this term, perhaps in the form ‘Gravatar’ this is simply an amalgamation of the word ‘Graphical Avatar’ in other words a graphical representation of yourself, like a profile photo. However in this movie, it represents a complete physical being called an Avatar.
The movie starts with “Jake Sully” played by Sam Worthington, former marine, wheelchair bound, who agrees to take his late twin brothers place on a scientific program on the far distant planet of Pandora.
The program in question is seeking a diplomatic solution between the local population “The Na’vi” and the humans (who are ironically the ‘aliens’ in this movie).
The humans are seeking to mine a grossly valuable mineral, only found, of course near the Na’vi and mining it would destroy their entire civilisation, and eco-system as well.
The scientists are able to transfer their consciousness into a Na’vi Avatar (body) that has been grown from DNA of Human and Na’vi. They then interact with the local populace and try to gain their trust.
This is where of course, it begins to get really interesting (although, it’s totally gripping right from the start!), as mounting pressure from the ‘big ugly corporate’ in using military rather than diplomatic means of dealing with the Na’vi grows, and as a former marine, Jake Sully is pressured into passing information that would be useful to the military in destroying the Na’vi, all whilst he is becoming more immersed into their culture and begins to see the beauty of their culture and their close relationship with the environment.
To me, the real triumph of this movie is the unique beauty of everything in the world of Pandora.
The depth of which James Cameron and his team have gone to create something in which we can fully believe, is breathtaking.
Each leaf, flower, bug, seed, tree, animal, creature and beast has been crafted with the utmost care, and as a graphic designer, I feel I can truly appreciate the effort and years that have gone into this work. Fifteen years in fact is how long it has taken Avatar to come to the screen. $450
million dollars.
That’s a lot of money. But it seems as though every penny has been well spent.
Seeing it in 3D (and in fact I’d love to have seen it in IMAX 3D!) made it even more immersive, as we are right there amongst the men from the military.
Right there flying high above the ground with the Na’vi, and also running through the quite spectacular forests and ground level scenery.
There were times during this movie, where I instinctively raised my hand to swat away some bug or seed that was seemingly about to bump into my head.
I am not going to spend this review commenting on the acting of the characters, nor drawing parallels between the world of Pandora and our own.
Rather, I’m going to recommend that you absolutely DO NOT MISS this one on the big screen. Even if you are not a fan of Sci-Fi/Fantasy/Action.
This is something that you need to experience for the pure joy of it.
For a masterpiece being laid in front of your very eyes that will stay with you for days afterwards, so that each time you blink your eyes, you see Pandora in all its splendour.
I left the movie house in stunned silence, not wanting to break the moment by doing something as mundane as talking. I will definitely go and see it again, despite the higher ticket price (owing to the 3D cinema).
Go, check reality at the door and prepare for a visual feast the likes of which your psyche has not yet had the pleasure of experiencing.
Have you seen Avatar yet?
What were your thoughts on the movie?
Were you as taken with it as me?
Please leave a comment with your answers. If you don’t have a blog or website then just enter google.com in the URL box provided.
