Avatar is an epic tale of marauding humans decimating a far away planet for financial gain. Paraplegic marine Jake Sully (Worthington) is enlisted on a prestigious mission to take control of an alien body and gather inside intelligence on the planet's native race - the Na'vi, blue skinned warriors who live on top of a valuable ore. Whilst learning their culture, he finds himself falling for a warrior princess. As a human army slowly approaches to destroy their land, Jake must choose between the humans and the Na'vi.
All eyes have been on Avatar since it was first announced over four years ago. The first feature film from James 'King of the World' Cameron in over twelve years since his record-smashing Titanic, Avatar currently stands as the most expensive film ever produced. Cameron invented his own technology to be able to fully realise the 3D world that he had envisaged, with the promise that this was going to change the face of cinema.
Has Cameron pulled it off? Absolutely. Seen as intended on a 3D enabled IMAX screen, this is a new high in cinema, incomparable to anything seen before it. Cameron has built an entire living world from the ground up and has spared no expense in making it breathe, glow and pulsate. Avatar is the work of a master craftsman, refusing to compromise in any facet of detail. The WETA-produced special effects are seamless: aliens, humans, machines and weaponry all come together and it's a sight to behold (especially in the jaw-dropping battles). It's wonderful to be able to see how far CGI technology has come (since it was arguably first invented by Cameron in his underwater 1989 opus, The Abyss), and what its capabilities are in the right hands.
However, even though Avatar is technically brilliant, it is by no means a brilliant movie. Avatar is not the best action film ever made, or even the best film of James Cameron. There's a malaise within the storytelling department that lies solely with the script, a 'disney-fied' conglomeration of Braveheart and Dances with Wolves. Overloaded with cliched plot-points and unintentionally laughable dialogue, it's a sore-point for the film that lies in direct contrast with the visual splendor on show. That said, it's very easy to forgive when a film is made this well.
Avatar has thrown down the gauntlet for all other film makers out there, this is a technical highlight for cinema that deserves to be seen by anyone with a passing interest in the silver screen. Pure escapism, Avatar is not so much a film as it is an experience.
Jonny Dawson
