AVATAR

AVATAR (20th Century Fox)
Written and directed by James Cameron

Sometimes a decade just isn’t long enough to develop a cinematic masterpiece, so what’s another four to five year’s? I mean, given what his last film did at the box office and award shows, I think we all can respect James Cameron and the time needed to create his follow-up to TITANTIC. Hard to believe, but TITANTIC took over the world way back in 1997, roughly three years after Cameron came up with the idea for AVATAR. That’s right; this guy actually had both ideas churning in his ‘think-tank’ at one point in time, a chilling thought for those directors out there hoping to get a shot at something big one day. But, for Cameron, that’s just scratching the surface of what he’s capable of doing both writing and directing major motion pictures. Because if there’s one thing we know about this guy, when he does something it’s big and AVATAR is a prime example of that.

The film begins in the year of 2154 and takes place on a large moon known as Pandora. This moon of Polyphemus is one of three gas giants orbiting Alpha Centauri A, precisely 4.4 light years from Earth. And Pandora was known to hold a mineral known as unobtanium, a very powerful and virtually invisible material, said to be impossible to find. So, for master miner Parker Selfride (Giavanni Ribisi) and his team of scientists’/ mercenaries’, this was a great opportunity to tap into this forbidden world and take advantage of this fabled rock. Unfortunately for them, they were not the only one’s on this lush moon, as Pandora was inhabited by the Na’vi, indigenous humanoids standing nearly 10 feet tall with tails. Worshiping a mother goddess known as Eywa, the Na’vi made no mistake about their intentions and way of life, which was essentially to live in harmony with its natural habitat and/or world. Unable to breathe Pandora’s atmosphere, humans struggled to get close to the Na’vi, resulting in the creation of the Avatar Program.

This program, led by Dr. Grace Augustine (Sigourney Weaver), developed human/Na’vi hybrids that were meant to bridge the gap between the two species, so that they could learn from Pandora’s most loved "people." By sharing his/her genetic material with an avatar, they would mentally be linked, thus allowing them to control the avatar while sleeping in a controlled environment or hyperbaric chamber. So when ex-marine, turned paraplegic, Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) gets called up to replace his twin brother, who was killed in action, the decision was made. With the same genes, it was an easy fit for the team of scientists, vaulting Jake into this incredible world he never thought was real until he experienced it through his own avatar. There to gather only intelligence, the job was supposed to be cut and dry, but Jake fell in love with this new world and more importantly, Neytiri (Zoe Saldana) a female Na’vi more exotic than he could ever imagine. A bit stand-offish at first, Neytiri was led to trust Jake in a series of signs by Eywa and it was here we are introduced to Pandora’s greatest assets of natural and unnatural elements that could only be found in one’s dreams; resulting in an adventure full of love and war that will have you speechless long after the credits roll.

The true star to AVATAR is James Cameron, but the cast he managed to put into motion came through time and time again. It’s not the easiest task to act in front of nothing but a green screen behind you, but these actors do it and nowadays, it’s almost becoming more natural than not. How far we’ve come with technology and yet, we still need the physical presence of the actor(s). Being able to mold an entirely computer-generated body around a single actor’s facial expressions had never been perfected until recently, thus forcing Cameron to delay this project for years. Funny how advanced his idea was and yet, he still had to wait for technology to catch up. But, it’s a good thing, because without CGI, this cast would have never had a chance to succeed. And truthfully, there’s no need to go through the cast, because frankly, with everything else going on in this film, you really don’t care. That’s right, so for all those fans looking for some groundbreaking performance, you’re barking up the wrong ‘Hometree.’ This cast was there for support and although a few of them hit their marks well (i.e. Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana), it’s not why AVATAR shined so bright.

There’s no doubt that AVATAR is something we have never seen before and that’s for good reason, given its vast development, which started a long time ago. This was not supposed to be just any film as writer/director James Cameron made sure of that, but even back in the mid to late 90’s, he knew the technology needed for this. That’s what impresses me, so for him to slowly mold this story and film into this format is quite the feat, as almost every detail to this film has Cameron’s fingerprints on it. Even the inspiration and artwork behind some of the Pandora creatures were from Cameron’s own hand, so don’t think for a minute this film was not taken seriously. And this technology I speak of needed to make all this work was something no director had ever used prior to now. So, instead of adding the CGI-driven environment after the actor’s motions had been filmed/captured, Cameron used a new “virtual” camera to film the motion of his actor’s, with the exact computer generated backdrop he wanted for that sequence.

This allowed him to see how everything would look during filming, which proved to be a huge asset at the end of the day. Essentially, he could add, delete and make changes on the fly while shooting the live action right before his eyes. Anything he wanted to do differently during the actual filming, he could do, which is scary for a director as thorough as Cameron. And to me, this only helped him with the overall “feel” of the film, which was as real as it gets. It’s funny to say that about a story based around a fantasy world such as this one, but I felt as if I was in AVATAR, completely submerged within the action and adventure. Now, maybe that was because of the 3D aspect, which I strongly recommend over the 2D version, but either way, Cameron made sure to bring the audience into his film like never before, creating a world that felt like a dream. The uncanny visuals and colors were incredible leaving you almost breathless at times, so who cares if it runs close to three hours long. I would have sat for another three hours if you had let me, which should tell you all you need to know about this film overall.

AVATAR certainly won’t draw everyone in, as no science-fiction film does, but it should. I can’t remember the last time I had this much fun watching a film and actually not wanting it to end. That speaks volumes at what director James Cameron has done with a project that very clearly meant a lot to him. Words truly cannot describe the feeling you get after watching this film, so take my word for it and just see it, for you won’t be disappointed.

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