As I look back on some of the seminal motion pictures that have changed the way movies are made and how we watch movies in the past 30 plus years be it the original Star Wars Trilogy, Bladerunner, The Terminator, The Abyss, Terminator 2, Jurassic Park, and the recent Lord of The Rings Trilogy I see that every generation of film goers has a moment of witnessing a game changer so to speak in movie making.
This brings me to James Cameron's Avatar a labor of love 12 years in the making. While I hope we don't have to wait another 12 years for another Cameron masterpiece I must say that the wait has been well worth it since Cameron brought to the world the biggest blockbuster of all time Titanic. Avatar raises the bar in ground breaking special effects and epic story telling.
The story takes place far into the future in the world of Pandora where corporations are mining a precious mineral to save a dying Earth. The inhabitants of this world are an alien race called the Na'vi who are in conflict with corporate interests and are determined to protect Pandora's resources. To infiltrate the Na'vi race the Avatar program is created in which human "drivers" have their consciousness linked to an avatar, a remotely-controlled biological body that can survive in the lethal air. These avatars are genetically engineered hybrids of human DNA mixed with DNA from the natives of Pandora... the Na'vi.
Chosen for this program is Jake Sully a marine played by star in the making Sam Worthington. Jake is paralyzed from the waste down but is chosen for his genetic match to his twin brother a dead scientist who's DNA the avatar is based on. With the help of lead scientist Grace played by Sigourney Weaver Jake is reborn in avatar form. Under orders from Colonel Miles Quaritch played with bad ass perfection by Stephan Lang Jake has one mission infiltrate the Na'vi and get them to re-locate peacefully or be moved by force. Upon Jake's near death at the hands of one of Pandora's dangerous wildlife he is rescued by a Na'vi princess Neytiri played by Zoe Saldana. Neyteri reluctantly becomes his teacher in the ways of Na'vi culture and from this Jake comes to respect the Na'vi people as his relationship with Neytiri deepens. This of course conflicts with the plans of a corporate worm played by Giovanni Ribisi and Jake's original purpose for infiltrating the Na'vi. From there he joins forces with the Na'vi in a fight to save a world that he has grown to love.
Comparisons on story can be made to Dances With Wolves and more recently The Last Samurai on where a group of people force their principles and exploit another culture. Even more apparent is a commentary on the military occupation of Iraq by corporate sponsored hired guns. That being said James Cameron has crafted a film like you've never seen creating an eye popping alien world. I must admit I was skeptical of how realistic the Na'vi creatures would look but now having seen the film these are the most photo real CGI creatures since Gollum was introduced to the screen in the Lord of The Rings Trilogy. It would have been easy to cut corners and make the Na'vi look no different from one another but that's not the case as every character has it's own distinct personality. The nuances and slightest emotion is realistically rendered in these digital creations. Because of the realism put into these characters I grew to actually care about them and not write them off as pixels created on a computer. As for the world of Pandora it is a world that's as photo real as it gets. From spectacular flying banshees to dangerous predators let's just say paying the extra couple of dollars to experience this film in 3-D is well worth it. James Cameron having helped develop the technology to make this film possible uses 3-D not as a cheesy gimmick but in service to the story. You are not watching the film but experiencing it. The final large scale battle is a fantastic display of special effects wizardry and photography. It took me back to my giddy 5 year old self in believing a man could fly in my first movie going experience viewing Superman 2, and of course to the early 90's viewing the ground breaking Terminator 2 seeing the T-1000 in liquid metal glory. With a reported budget of $300,000,000 not including marketing costs you can see every dollar being well spent while viewing Avatar.
Besides some of the clunky dialogue a very minor complaint I can't praise this film enough. Walking out of the theater I felt what movie goers before me must have felt when George Lucas introduced to cinema a galaxy far far away, a feeling that movies will never be the same.
Welcome back Mr. Cameron
By: Darren Maginley
12/24/09
Monday, November 30, 2009
Welcome to my Blog,
I'm a little new to this as a good friend of mine has been encouraging me to do something like this for a while so here it is. This is a work in progress but over the next little while I hope to have some photos posted as I'm an aspiring photographer and maybe a movie review or two as I'm an avid film buff.
