The master of action, special FX and the king of the world in Hollywood terms is back and I can definitely say I have missed him since 1997’s Titanic especially after seeing Avatar. If not Avatar James Cameron should have made another movie in between, but I guess developing the technology behind Avatar took all of his time. The movie itself is exceptional, not in terms of storytelling or acting, but definitely yes in terms of where movie making is headed in the future with the use of technology and the special effects involved.
Avatar is set in the year 2154 on a distant planet called Pandora, which is important to humans because it contains an extremely valuable mineral called Unobtainium, which costs 20 million a kilo (wish I had some of that stuff). Unfortunately, the planet Pandora is home to the Na'vi who are totally in tune with their environment and will not stand any human infiltration. Enter Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) a disabled former marine whose twin brother was working on a project in which humans take on the Avatar of the natives Na’vi in an effort to interact with them and learn their ways. Jake Sully is asked to be a part of this Avatar program and take the place of his twin brother who has been killed. The United States Army also takes this as an opportunity and enlists Jake to learn the ways of the Na’vi while on the Avatar project and uncover the weaknesses of the natives Na’vi.
The Avatar project is headed by Dr. Grace Augustine (Sigourney Weaver) and Parker Selfridge (Giovanni Ribisi) is the corporate honcho whose job it is to procure the Unobtainium and the army is headed by Colonel Miles Quaritch (Stephen Lang). Jake gets into his Avatar and infiltrates the Na’vi and even finds a girlfriend in Neytiri (Zoe Saldana) who befriends him and teaches and trains him in the ways of the Na’vi. Jake initially begins by passing on information to the United States Army, but soon falls in love with the Na’vi and begins to rescind on his decision to help mine Unobtainium. Needless to say Jake and Dr. Grace get thrown out and the project becomes military only with a lot of missiles and explosions thrown in and a lot of innocent Na’vi getting killed. Finally it is up to Jake, Dr. Grace and a few others like Trudy Chacon (Michelle Rodriguez) who take matters into their own hands and along with the Na’vi defeat the United States Army and restore peace to Pandora.
The special FX and the CGI in the movie cannot be compared to anything since this is the very first time they are being used but needless to say they are exceptional. Performances are okay since nothing much is required in terms of acting, but Sam Worthington should be hitting the Hollywood highs. Sigourney Weaver and Michelle Rodriguez are kind of wasted and one gets to see Zoe Saldana only as a native Na’vi. The real star in Avatar are the special effects and on that front alone Avatar is a must watch. The final battle sequences are nothing short of epic where James Cameron lets loose and turns it up several notches showing the rest how action ought to be done. I for one am eagerly awaiting James Cameron’s next and hopefully he will not make me wait another decade this time around.