Multi-Million Dollar Avatar: Big Review

Written By: mike on September 23, 2010 No Comment

2009’s Avatar is the latest multi-million dollar epic film written and directed by award winning director James Cameron. Avatar is a Science Fiction off world epic set in the year 2154 that stars Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Stephen Lang, Michelle Rodriguez, Joel David Moore, Giovanni Ribisi, and Cameron alumni & veteran actress Sigourney Weaver. The story takes place in the exotic rain forested moon Pandora that orbits a large gas giant planet near Alpha Centauri. The RDA Corporation has discovered a precious mineral on Pandora curiously called “Unobtainium” which has a substantial commercial value. To extract this mineral they will have to bulldoze their way deep into the moon’s lush rainforest. But there lies one obstacle, the native humanoid indigenous inhabitants called the Navi.

To counter the ten foot tall blue skinned Navi, the RDA has employed its own security force known as the SEC-OPS which is largely composed of American Marines. This is where we are introduced to Sam Worthington’s character Jake Sully who has lost both his legs in his military service. He is offered a chance by Colonel Miles Quaritch (Stephen Lang) to acquire new legs through an advanced treatment if he accepts a mission to go to Pandora and become a member of an RDA Avatar Program run by Augustine (Sigourney Weaver) to infiltrate and learn from a the Navi by use of a genetically grown human-Navi hybrid avatar that is controlled remotely by a human operator who does so by attaching a virtual reality like head set device in an enclosed sleep chamber. RDA program is scientifically run but under the watchful eye of the RDA’s private Military who has an entirely different agenda. Augustine is not happy to have a “jarhead” in her project nor is Jake Sully happy to be looked at as some inconvenience. Once the headset comes on, Sully is taken on an adventure he couldn’t have ever imagined. One moment he is wheelchair bound the next he is running through his new avatar.

It is from this point in the film we are truly introduced the world of the Navi. The rain forest moon contains spectacular free floating islands in the sky and waterfalls that defy imagination. Jake is flown by a futuristic helicopter piloted by Michelle Rodriguez (of Lost fame) in with the team of scientists led by Augustine into an insertion zone where they make contact with the Navi. It is here where Sully meets Neytiri (Zoe Saldana) who teaches him the ways of the Navi. While Augustine and her team is there to learn the Navi culture, Jake is there to reconnaissance the primary source of the Unobtainium which lies at the bottom of the Navi’s home and most sacred Hometree, which is a massive skyscraper scaled tree critical to the moon’s biosphere and Navi culture. Sully’s true mission is to convince the Navi to leave their home so the mineral below can be exploited by the RDA and its war machine. Regardless of Sully’s efforts, Colonel Quaritch plans to take the mineral by force if necessary which leads to the destruction of the Hometree and a betrayal of trust to Neytiri.

A question of conscious takes place in the aftermath of the destruction which finds Jake Sully switching sides against his own Marines. He recruits what help he can but ultimately he must earn the trust of Neytiri and the Navi he has betrayed that leads to an all out battle for survival against the off world invaders. Now if any of this sounds familiar, that’s because it is. There are elements to this story that justifiably deserve the Fern Gulley meets Dances with Wolves comparisons. And likewise, the film contains plot throwbacks to earlier Dolph Lundgren films like Red Scorpion where a military officer makes the moral decision to switch sides in favor of an indigenous population he has been sent to oppress. As one might expect, some will call this an anti-military film but it is more of a morality story reminding us of our past where colonial powers have exploited indigenous peoples throughout history and often with disastrous consequences for the native people.But don’t get me wrong, I did enjoy Avatar. Despite the age old theme of the repressed fighting for their freedom against a more powerful enemy, James Cameron’s dazzling innovative special effects are quick to captivate an audience and leave then in visual awe. James Cameron has literally reinvented 3D technology in filmmaking which will inevitably take the Science Fiction genre for the foreseeable future to the next level. This entertaining film is over some three hours in length and destined to become a Science Fiction Classic!