What a world James Cameron has created in Avatar. This film is ground-breaking in technology with the use of performance-capturing techniques. As you may have heard, Avatar is the most expensive film to be made. It cost $300 million to create, but money well spent. It looks like no other film ever before and if you get the opportunity you should see it in 3D.
Jake (Sam Worthington) gets a chance to fill his brother’s shoes and go to the world of Pandora and become one of the Na’vi, the blue creatures that inhabit the planet. The only way he can do this is to look like them and move like them, and that is what an Avatar will be able to do. An Avatar is a mixture of a Na’vi DNA and Jake’s twin brother’s DNA. That is why Jake was the only choice to be an Avatar.
Jake was sent in there to get to know them and then persuade them to move because under their tree lays some rocks that are worth millions and millions of dollars. But once he learns the Na’vi ways and their culture, he starts to have second thoughts and he starts to fall in love with Neytiri (Zoe Saldana). In the end, Jake chooses sides and would rather be an Avatar than the man he is.
A story like this one has been thought of before. Characters start something for the wrong reasons, but find their way and fight for good instead of evil. In this case, American military and businesses are evil and the peaceful Na’vi are good. I do think James Cameron is saying something about the world we live in today. He gets his point across by using fantasy to tell reality.
Avatar is not mind-blowing because of its story. It is the stunning visuals and technology that will take your breath away. Cameron started this project over 15 years ago, but technology was not ready. But about four years ago, he began creating this film and due to his patience and technology catching up with him, it could not have worked out better.
Sam Worthington loves blockbusters. He was in Terminator Salvation earlier this year and now this film, and next March he will be in Clash of the Titans, so his name will become more familiar to audiences for sure. He is great as Jake and is a great hero in the film. He shows great potential at being “the guy” for big budget films. And Zoe Saldana and Stephen Lang are good in this as well. Zoe plays the love interest and Lang plays the trigger-happy Col. Miles Quaritch, the main villain of Avatar and he does it quite nicely.
I have to mention Sigourney Weaver. She was in Aliens (another film directed by James Cameron) and it is nice to see her on the big screen again. Her role is being a woman who cares for the Na’vi and wants to know more about them instead of destroying them. She plays a tough woman who can kick some ass. But if you have seen Weaver in any of the Alien films then you already knew that.
James Cameron does something rare in a film like Avatar. He made a film that was over 2 1/2 hours long entertaining and exciting. There never seems to be a dull moment in the film. For every romantic scene there is an action sequence. And there is nothing like the final battle that takes up about the last half hour of the film.
Cameron allows the film to play out and the characters to develop. He spends time on everything and anything, and pays attention to details. After seeing this film, it is tough to imagine all of what you just saw came from one mind. The mind of James Cameron.
Avatar marks the first film Cameron has directed since Titanic. I am not sure if we will ever see the magic of Titanic be repeated, but Cameron has certainly lived up to the expectations. He chose a completely different genre and blew it out of the water. Like I mentioned before, the story is a common one, but the entire rest of the film is not. The film is thrilling, romantic, and enthralling. It is a trip to an unimaginable world and a fascinating experience at the movies.
Brandon Vick is a member of The Music City Film Critics’ Association and the Southeastern Film Critics Association, the resident film critic of the SoBros Network, and the star of The Vick’s Flicks Podcast. Follow him on Twitter @SirBrandonV and be sure to search #VicksFlicks for all of his latest movie reviews.
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