Avatar

Review by Sean Lynch

Sit back and get ready to have your mind blown - for Avatar (this decades single most expensive film ever, costing upwards of $500 Million) is one of the most visually spectacular films you are ever likely to come across.

Almost 12 years in the making (James Cameron developed technology just for this movie) Avatar is a truly epic tale which takes place on the mythical forest planet of Pandora.

It is a world full of rich colours and beauty, however, it is also the only source of the highly valuable mineral Unobtanium. Humans want it, the natives want to protect it - a battle ensues.

There is also a crippled solider (Australia's own Sam Worthington) thrown into the mix, who enters into the Avatar program (which allows him to control a remote-controlled biological body that can survive in the lethal air. These avatars are genetically engineered hybrids of human DNA mixed with DNA from the natives of Pandora… the Na’vi). 

Cameron was not interested in using makeup to create his alien species. The size and the spacing of the eyes can’t be changed. The proportions of the body can’t be changed, nor can the overall size of the character. However with Cameron's new the performance capture method, none of these negatives apply.

The amazing thing is that the CG characters in Avatar actually resemble the actors who play them (it really is all in the eyes - it's what sells Worthington's performance), despite the fact that their fundamental proportions are different.

James Cameron has always been one to explore the rapid advances in technology (having already created CG milestone characters in The Abyss and Terminator 2: Judgment Day) and he once again pushes the CG arts to new heights here. Not just with the Na'vi, but the truly stunning 3D Pandora landscape he has created that can only truly be appreciated by sitting down in the cinema, popping on the 3D goggles and letting yourself just be overwhelmed by it.

The story itself is far from groundbreaking (think Titanic meets Dances With Wolves), but it is solid story telling none the less - and that is James Cameron's (and Avatar's) real strength. He sticks to the basics of cinema that have built the industry, while managing to be visually ambitious and somehow still manages to come out on top.

Some excellent performances also drive this into "something special" territory, especially the turns by Star Trek's Zoe Saldana (yes, even though she is hidden under layers of blue skinned CGI) and Worthington (whose innocence and thirst for learning really draws the audience in, and allows them to go on the journey with him).

Detail nuts will have a field day with the mythology and backstory Cameron has created for the Na'vi, while the rest of the world can just sit back in awe of the lush rainforest of Pandora, or perhaps the floating Hallelujah Mountains, or even the human colony at Hell’s Gate.

Twelve years in the making, not perfect, but Avatar is well worth the wait!

4 out of 5

Avatar
Australian release: 17th December, 2009
Official Site: Avatar
Cast: Sam Worthington, Sigourney Weaver, Michelle Rodriguez, Zoe Saldana
Director: James Cameron