I am going to state the obvious – A half a billion dollars is a ridiculous amount of money, especially for an entertainment. As of December 18, 2009 James Cameron’s “Avatar” is officially the most expensive film of all time. If that isn’t enough, it is also the first feature-length film Cameron has made since 1997’s mega-blockbuster “Titanic”. Needless to say, expectations for this one are immeasurably high. Does it meet them? Well, it depends:
Moviegoers buying a ticket to “Avatar” are going to be divided into two groups – those who are devoted James Cameron and/or sci-fi fans who cannot wait to see it and skeptics who would love to see it crash and burn. Admittedly, I was the latter. I do not dislike James Cameron; in fact I love all of his movies, which is probably what fed my doubt. He is due a dud. No love would be lost, he is still a master filmmaker, but every Spielberg is allowed his “Hook”, so to speak. With “Avatar” I found the initial trailers confusing and overly cartoony, the final price tag insulting, and the nearly 3-hour runtime daunting. I was setting it up to fail. The thing is, it doesn’t.
The plot revolves around a paraplegic marine who, due to a cruel twist of fate, is selected to participate in a program on the distant alien moon Pandora. In this program, Jake Sully is neurologically linked to an ‘avatar’ or genetically created alien body so that he may explore and study the planet, and more importantly infiltrate the native race, the Na’vi. An evil Earth corporation wants to relocate a large tribe of the Na’vi in order to strip mine their village for a rare and valuable mineral, the unfortunately named unobtainium. Jake Sully begins to question his loyalties when he successfully integrates himself with the suspicious natives and even begins a romance with the princess Neytiri (Zoe Saldana from “Star Trek” – who is still gorgeous even as a ten-foot tall blue cat-monkey). The story is the weak point of this movie. It is predictable, hackneyed, and even flat-out cheesy at times. ‘Unobtainium’?!? It is like they hired a ADD-riddled 5th grader to come up with the names. Why not Awesomium or Badasstonite? However, even though the dialogue can get distracting and pretty lame, what you see through Sully’s surrogate eyes tends to make up for this shortcoming.
“Avatar” promised visuals that would defy imagination and special effects that would set a new gold-standard in filmmaking. I am proud to say it soundly delivers on both. The world of Pandora is so stunningly beautiful and lifelike it is astounding that it doesn’t actually exist. You see it live, complete with interactive, bioluminescent flora and an entire diverse ecology of unique and fascinating creatures. It is breath-taking. It is because of this I found “Avatar” to be the only 2+ hour movie this year that didn’t have me yawning and checking my watch. There is simply so much to take in it is impossible to see everything in one viewing. Everything from the unique language of the Na’vi to the mechanics of the futuristic Human warships have been painstakingly crafted and completely realized. It is flawless – there is not a single moment reminiscent of green screens or computer generated imagery.
The trip to Pandora is one every PG-13 appropriate moviegoer should take. At best it is a humbling film experience that will leave you breathless and at worst it is an eye-opening exercise in the future of epic filmmaking.
