Avatar : Movie Review

Film: Avatar
Cast: Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Stephen Lang, Sigourney Weaver
Genre: Action
Direction: James Cameron

Duration: 2 hours 43 minutes

Critic Rating:

Story: Circa 2154. The US army lands up in Pandora, an earth-sized moon in outer space. Their objective: to extract the much-needed minerals from Pandora's soil. But before they can do that, they must fight the peace-loving indigenous inhabitants of the alien world, relocate or destroy them with their spies and bombs.

Movie Review : And we thought sinking the Titanic was a titan task! Well, this time round, James Cameron chooses to play god and creates a whole new world with such exquisite finesse, aesthete and eye for detail, he almost takes your breath away. In terms of sheer technology, Avatar marks the coming of age of both CGI and 3-D cinema with its art house special effects and its shock and awe treatment.

On the one hand, it's the sheer iridescence of the canvas and the never-before contours of the creatures, the flora, the fauna flying across the screen that makes you marvel at how computers can augment creativity; on the other, it is the umpteen times you jump back to avoid the arrows, the guns or slide away from the floating dandelions and fierce raptors that leaves you completely mesmerised with this brand new cinematic experience. Truly, Cameron's vision of Pandora is pure art, with its tall, wide-eyed, slender, blue Na'vi people, it's post-modern creatures and its verdant greens.

But more than all this, it is Cameron's cry against war and violence that makes Avatar an eloquent testimonial to the present. Mercifully, the film isn't visual extravaganza alone; it has a meaningful story too that could end up making this magnum opus a modern-day parable for pacifists, climatologists, humanists, globalists.... For the filmmaker openly indicts America for its post 9/11 expansionist policies and clearly states: ``when people are sitting on shit that you want, you make them your enemies. That is the only way you justify taking the stuff away from them!'' Stuff? Minerals, here. Oil, in the real world.

It's a simple story, told straight. In this futuristic world, the US Armed Forces discover a source of priceless minerals in Pandora, a distant moon orbiting a star. They want to send in their troops to tame the indigenous Na'vi people, before extracting the minerals. But before they send their daisy-cutters and rocket launchers, they send in humans who have been transformed into Na'vi look-a-likes (they call them avatars) to infiltrate the peace-loving race and learn about their weaknesses and strengths. Enter, Jake Sully (Sam Worthington), a paraplegic marine, who is promised a pair of legs for betraying the pacifists of Pandora. It doesn't take long before Jake falls in love with the beautiful Neytiri (Zoe Saldana), the daughter of the Na'vi chief, and turns rogue on his own people. Can't blame him really, specially since his boss, Colonel Miles Quaritch (Stephen Lang) is a mean, macabre, war-mongerer who treats every non-American as ``a fly-bitten savage, living on trees.''

Avatar is indeed a complete cinematic experience, with cinematographer Mauro Fiore, music director James Horner and special effects maestro Joe Letteri joining hands with director/screenwriter James Cameron to create a strong and visually-stirring plea to save the world, before it is too late. And the only way the human species can do it is by abdicating its destructive tendencies. For Indophiles and Indian philosophy enthusiasts, Avatar is a whole treatise on Indianism, from the very word `Avatar' itself. Add to this the blue-skinned, monkey-tailed, god-like Na'vi race and the linkages could be endless....

A word about:

Performances: Surprisingly, there are no big names in Cameron's cast, but the characters are all credible and attention-grabbing. Both Sam Worthington and Zoe Saldana sculpt a warm love story as the blue-skinned human avtar and Na'vi woman. The film also marks the return of Sigourney Weaver in another tryst with aliens.

Music: James Horner composes a fine music score that has a fusion blend of both Oriental and the Occidental notes.

Cinematography: Pandora is a visual paradise, with each fern, each dandelion etched out in detail. Kudos to Mauro Fiore for this spledid tribute to Mother Nature.

Story: Cameron's story is both timely and topical with a strong anti-war statement finely blended with the evergreen romance between a human and an alien.

Dialogue: Simple, straight, yet hard-hitting, some of the lines are laced with humour too.

Special Effects: Absolutely first rate...Avatar justifies its bloated budget of being billed as the most expensive Hollywood Film at approximately $500 million.