WOW! Cameron takes the special effects, CGI and film industry to a new level. The special effects in this film are just off the hook, high speed-low drag, awesome! I am a fan of movies and I have never seen any special effects or CGI the likes of Avatar 3D. It’s worth seeing at the theater just for the 3-D special effects.
The Movie, The plot & 3-D Theater Experience
I have seen several 3-D movies over the years but nothing like Avatar. The scenery and creativity are something to see. The planet that Avatar takes place on is Pandora. This planet is lush green with a huge jungle and rain forest mixture. The jungle canopy, ferns and trees are enormous! The trees two thousand feet high and three hundred feet across! Everything is huge in Pandora. It’s also a magical place filled with lots of life and fluorescent plant life. A beautiful planet teeming with; wildlife, plant life, tribes of indigenous intelligent beings and natural resources. One of the natural resources on Pandora is a rare metal worth twenty million per kilo, enter man kind and the evil human race.
Minor Spoiler Alert
As you can tell I was clearly impressed by the special effects featured in Avatar. I was completely bummed out by the plot {Being raised in the north-west, I grew up in a logging family in the timber industry. After the timber industry was shut down many of us went into the military}. After seeing the movie I left feeling a bit like the anti-Christ. The evil loggers ripping the forest down for the precious metals. They are supported by the evil Army and Marines. Mankind is no good, especially loggers and soldiers. The storyline was shallow and left me disappointed. A strange twist of events lands a paralyzed Marine (Cpl Sully) in a unique position as an Avatar operator. When his mind is transferred into the Avatar body he is a deadly mobile marine again. His job is to infiltrate the indigenous tribe in get intelligence. This way if the natives don’t leave their home where the main deposits are located the military can take them out. Simple enough plan but like every other plan it doesn’t go very well. Cpl. Sully falls in love with the chiefs daughter. He also realizes that these beings are loving, intelligent, righteous and decent beings. These people won’t leave their homes and the industrial machinery is on it’s way! How can these primitive beings survive the onslaught of the high-tech and powerful weaponry of these evil earthlings?
Conclusion
I have mixed feelings about Avatar. Humanity is rough around the edges but were not all power hungry, murdering planet wreckers. I guess most viewers wouldn’t mind the indiscretions against the soldiers or loggers / miners but it left a bad taste in my mouth. That being said you won’t find a movie with better special effects period. The art and visual aspects of the film are spectacular and most definitely worth seeing! The acting in the film is fair. Sam Worthington aced his role as the paraplegic Avatar. Stephen Lang also stepped up to his role as the hard core Marine Recon killing colonel. He played his role well and as usual gives a good performance. The directing is also ground breaking. It’s hard to tell where the computer generated graphics start or stop and it blends in well with the scenes shot in Hawaii. As far as the 3-D work goes I have never seen better! The film is nearly three hours long and I wasn’t bored with it for one minute, that’s rare. I never grew tired of the visual bonanza. I have to recommend this movie because of the parts I liked.
Written & Directed by James Cameron
Sam Worthington as Marine Corporal Jake Sully
Zoe Saldana as Neytiri
Sigourney Weaver as Dr. Grace Augustine
Steven Lang as Colonel Miles Quaritch
Michelle Rodriguez as (Chopper Pilot) Trudy Chacon
Run time: 2 hours 42 minutes
Rated [PG-13] for violent battle scenes
Thanks for the read,
©Joe McMaster / 2010
