Monday 21 November 2011

Avatar

Home
Smell the Movies
Smell the TV

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Year:2009
Country of origin:USA / UK
Director:James Cameron
Genre:Eco sci-fi epicness
Starring:Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Sigourney Weaver, Stephen Lang
Rating:4/5
IMDB link:http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0499549/
Tagline:Enter the World
Favourite line:"This low gravity'll make you soft. When you get soft... Pandora'll shit you out dead with zero warning."

Cameron's return to directing duties after some twelve years abstinence (I'm not counting his TV / documentary work, here, just for clarity) is a triumph.
Of sorts.
Whilst everything conceivable has already been written about the cost and the stunning visuals, it does bear repetition as, without the visual spectacle on offer, very little remains.

The plot, such as it is:
Sam Worthington plays Jake Sully, a one time marine forced out of active service by a spinal injury that renders him paralysed from the waist down is brother of a man working on a hugely ambitious science project, code named Avatar. The Avatar project operates on the forest planet known as Pandora, inhabited by many and varied exotic fauna and flora, most of it deadly, as well as the higher life form called The Na'vi, living off the land and worshipping nature itself.
The Avatar project allows humans to walk amongst the Na'vi, the Avatars themselves fully formed Na'vi, controlled by thought alone.
When Sully's brother is killed in action, Jake must take his place as only his genetic makeup is near enough to allow control of the dead brothers Avatar, and he is sent in to learn as much as he can about the indigenous people.
See, their main village, a place called Hometree, is slap bang above a huge deposit of unobtainium, and the military sorts want to strip mine it to help replenish Earth's resources.

As you may well imagine, there's a real ecological message crowbarred in here, as mankind spreads to another part of the galaxy after ruining our own world, and Cameron is as unsubtle as ever in this regard.
The movie is long, nearer three hours than two, and does labour at times, though the last thirty minutes are just dazzling, as battle commences and Cameron really lets rip with the effects.
Whilst the script is on occasion clunky, it is functional and, let's face it, no-one is watching this movie expecting Oscar winning acting or writing.
If a veritable feast for the eyes is what you are after, ytou can't go far wrong, but if it's substance that fills your particular pipes, this will be a real disappointment.
Incidentally, I can't comment on the 3D and whether it adds anything as my weird eyes are incapable of seeing 3D so, even though I saw a 3D screening, everything was flat, with no sense of depth or perspective.
Oh, and one last thing: At time of writing this is listed as 67 in the IMDB all time best movie list.
Sixty seven.
I kid you not.
I ask you....

No comments:

Post a Comment