‘Avatar’ Review

Release Date – 12/18/09

Jake Sully is a paraplegic former Marine who enters into a military science project. The military is trying to extract a precious ore from the planet Pandora. The only problem is the ore is located underneath the home of the indigenous people that inhabit the planet, known as the Na’vi. The science project has Sully using his mind to control an Avatar, a replica of the Na’vi created by a brilliant team led by Dr. Grace Augustine. Sully successfully infiltrates the tribe and starts gaining knowledge of the people to help his government get what they want. But Sully becomes attached to them, and one female Na’vi in particular so this causes a rift on what really is the right thing to do. This movie is a spectacle to be seen. Its beautiful to look at and uses amazing new technology. The story isn’t anything special but they more than make up for it with visuals. One of the best movies of 2009.

Sam Worthington plays Jake Sully. The guy loves every minute of his time controlling his Avatar because it gives him back the use of his legs. He goes from a nobody that everyone looks down upon to the man everyone is counting on. Zoe Saldana plays Neytiri, the Na’vi he falls for. Most of the movie is them bonding together as she teaches him the ways of their tribe like how to quickly travel through the trees, how to choose the creature to ride either by ground or air, and how to speak their native language. They become close and it’s the major focus of the movie. A love story in the oddest of places. Sigourney Weaver plays Dr. Augustine who teaches Sully how to use his Avatar. She also controls one of them herself. Something that blew me away about these things was the motion capture technology used to create them. They are 12 foot tall blue amazon warriors but the faces are replicas of their human forms. Its just something you have to see to believe. Probably the best form of this technology out there right now. When Sigourney Weaver’s blue face popped up, it pretty much looked just like her wearing an unbelievably good costume. Writer/Director James Cameron proclaimed he had something special and he was right. The only word I can keep coming up with is AMAZING. He hasn’t made a movie since Titanic and he definitely came back with a Bang!

There are not many negatives in the movie. I guess the major one was the generic storyline. Sure it has some unique qualities to it but its mainly man tricks girl into liking him, he ends up falling for her, she finds out he was originally up to no good, they fight about it, but then everything is OK in the end. Its like any romance movie but done in a way where you don’t even realize its cliché. Plus there’s awesome action scenes in there too, like Braveheart meets The Matrix. The planet Pandora is full of vibrant, bright colors from the jungles to the floating mountaintops… Yes, FLOATING mountaintops. When the action scenes do happen, it’s a perfect mixture of destruction and beauty. Cameron wanted his fans to experience this in IMAX 3D and its really the way it should be shown to get the most out of the colors, the sound, and the unique three dimensional aspect. Its really a sight to be seen more so in theaters than at home. It may not be a complete masterpiece but its something original and new which is Cameron’s specialty. The hype was definitely worth it. I See You.

IMDB – 8.9/10
Rotten Tomatoes – 83%
Movie Wiseguys – 9/10