Avatar (2009)

4.0

SCIENCE FICTION

U.S. Release Date: 12/18/09

Running Length: 162 Minutes

MPAA Classification: PG-13 (Violence, Nudity)

Theatrical Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1

Cast: Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Sigourney Weaver, Stephen Lang, Michelle Rodriguez, Giovanni Ribisi

Director: James Cameron

Screenplay: James Cameron

Cinematography: Mauro Fiore

Music: James Horner

U.S. Distributor: 20th Century Fox

Review by: Carter Moulton

12/19/09

Avatar is a film that makes you hate humanity. Look at how bland our modernized world is. Director James Cameron (Titanic, The Terminator, Aliens) shows us this reality by creating a world so beautiful to the eye, we don’t want to leave it and drive our rust-encrusted vehicles home.

3D isn’t the most exciting aspect of the future of film for me; I see it as a gag, a dollar-driven scheme, a technology movies can survive without. But Cameron, who’s known for his “go big or go home” attitude, is persuasive, arguing that 3D can indeed benefit the movie-going experience. In Avatar, gone is the headache-inducing blur that makes you feel like you’re due for an eye examination; in its place are subtle textures that Cameron fine-tunes by switching focal points between the foreground and background layers—as can be seen in the opening scene, where Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) awakes in his chamber and observes two bubbles collide right in front of his eyes. These layers give great depth to Pandora, an Earth-sized moon that orbits a fictional planet—the setting of Cameron’s film.

It’s 2154, and the U.S. has set up laboratories and military bases on Pandora, studying the natives, or Na’vi, blue creatures who are about twelve feet tall, and the landscape they live in. It’s easy to spot the pro-nature, anti-war message in Avatar—it’s a social commentary particularly resonant at this hour of history. The motives behind America’s presence in Pandora are of the material nature: oil, I mean, a valuable mineral essential to Earth is plentiful underneath the Na'vi territory. On one end you have the scientists; the other, the armed forces. Each is playing a game of give-or-take regarding the best way to obtain the mineral. Holding true to the American way, Colonel Miles Quaritch (Stephen Lang), a meat-n-potatoes military type, tells his troops, “We’ll fight terror with terror.”

The scientists have a more diplomatic approach. Sully, a crippled ex-marine, is called to take part in the “Avatar” experiment after his twin brother, who was specially trained for the trial, suddenly dies. Dr. Grace Augustine (Sigourney Weaver) leads the study, in which humans inhabit avatars—vacant Na’vi bodies—by controlling them via brain activity. The scientists hope to learn more about the Na’vi lifestyle and mindset whilst convincing them to migrate to a new location.

Photo © 20th Century Fox

The plot is predictable, but Cameron’s script is tight and focused. We can tell Sully is going to end up relating to the Na’vi and falling in love with Neytiri (Zoe Saldana), a Na’vi who finds amusement in Sully’s boneheaded, American, ways. But because of the visual serenity Cameron creates on Pandora, we feel a connectivity to Sully. We too want to learn more about the Na’vi culture and spend less time at the always-grey military base. The film runs at about two hours and forty minutes, but it doesn’t feel like watching a movie; it feels like traveling to a faraway place, much in the way Lord of the Rings does.

Although the aerial battle sequences—meat-n-potatoes ends up trumping the beaker—are jaw-dropping, the most breathtaking scene in Avatar occurs while Sully and Neytiri run through the thick forests of Pandora. It’s nighttime, which for Cameron means a time flooded with fluorescent pinks and purples. The two are talking, and we see seeds from the Tree of Souls—the root of Na’vi spirituality—drift down from above. They glow a warm light as they fall. Instead of falling to the soil, they begin to gravitate toward Sully, eventually surrounding him, illuminating his arms, shoulders, and face. It’s cinematic poetry, and an example of Cameron’s dedication to his created world.

Some of the landscapes are reminiscent of Peter Jackson’s King Kong, and one can see a few resemblances to the “Matrix” series—the concept of being “plugged in” to a new world and the robots controlled by human movement—but Cameron’s film is one that stands on its own as a masterpiece of technological innovation. Think King Kong (1933), Star Wars (1977), or Jurassic Park (1993)—it’s that revolutionary.

I’m not sure if this is the future of cinema. I actually hope it isn’t. I hope this sort of wonderment is saved for the enthusiastic: those who are concerned with emotional connection, character development, and thoughtful conversation, in addition to the utilization of 3D technology. Much like computer generated animation, which started with Pixar producing touching films and has now turned into a free for all—Igor or Barnyard anyone?—I’m afraid of what 3D could do for films looking to make a quick buck. But for now, thanks to Cameron, my thoughts can find some comfort.