Avatar Review

Posted by Jeremy Thomas on 12.21.2009

The King of the World tries to retake his crown with a sci-fi epic. Can he do so successfully, or has Cameron's magical well finally run dry?

Directed by: James Cameron
Written by: James Cameron

Starring:
Sam Worthington - Jake Sully
Zoë Saldaña - Neytiri
Sigourney Weaver - Dr. Grace Augustine
Michelle Rodriguez - Trudy Chacon
Laz Alonso - Tsu'Tey
C. C. H. Pounder - Mo'at
Giovanni Ribisi - Parker Selfridge
Joel David Moore - Norm Spellman
Stephen Lang - Colonel Miles Quaritch
Wes Studi - Eytucan
Dileep Rao - Dr. Max Patel
Peter Mensah - Akwey
Matt Gerald - Corporal Lyle Wainfleet



Running Time: 161 minutes
Rated PG-13 for intense epic battle sequences and warfare, sensuality, language and some smoking.

At the 70th Academy Awards in 1997, James Cameron proclaimed himself the King of the World. It may have been an arrogant statement, but at the time Cameron was justified—his film Titanic had just taken home eleven Academy Awards out of fourteen nominations, tying the record set by Ben-Hur in 1959. Despite the movie's notoriously troubled production and a then-astounding budget of $200 million, the film became an unprecedented and record-breaking success with over one billion dollars worldwide. Cameron, whose career was said to be on the rocks due to the bad buzz that had surrounded the movie, had officially become the most powerful director in Hollywood and everyone was waiting to see what he would do next. As it turned out, they would be waiting twelve years. While Cameron did some documentaries, worked as a producer and had a brief time working on a Spider-Man movie, he would not return behind the helm for a big-budget feature until Avatar. The film, which had been in Cameron's mind for years, became his official next project in February of 2006. Starring Sam Worthington, Sigourney Weaver, Zoe Saldana and Stephen Lang, the film went through over a year of development before principal photography began in April of 2007. Much like his last film, a quickly-rising budget (estimated at somewhere between $230 million - $300 million), multiple reshoots and other supposed troubles plagued the film in the form of negative buzz before early reviews came in and were vastly positive. Finally, Cameron's epic return to science-fiction has been released in theaters amidst a marketing storm and such a huge level of hype that one can't help but feel a little nervous walking into it. Suffice it to say, the risk is well-worth the reward.

Set in 2154, the film stars Worthington as Jake Sully. Jake is a former marine paralyzed from the waist down during an engagement on Earth. When his twin brother is killed during a random act of violence, Jake is offered the chance to take his place on a trip to Pandora, light-years away from Earth where humans are mining the planet's vast reserves of the precious ore unobtanium. Jake agrees and joins the Avatar program, headed by Dr. Grace Augustine (Weaver). The Avatar program links humans within bodies that are the mixed genetic material of the human and that of the native Na'vi, allowing them to "pilot" the body while in a dream-like state of meditation. The Na'vi have been resistant to efforts by mankind to negotiate for the ore, and their primitive culture is on a path toward war with the military-industrial forces there to mine under the efforts of Parker Selfridge (Ribisi) and Colonel Miles Quaritch (Lang). Jake has Dr. Augustine's distrust at first and agrees to become a spy for Quaritch, but when their first foray into the hostile environment leaves Jake stranded and saved by the Na'vi huntress Neytiri (Saldana), he convinces the native people to let him try to learn their ways. Jake works both sides of the fence initially, but as he learns the Na'vi's ways and grows close to Neytiri he starts to doubt the aggressive attempt to force the natives out. As time grows short, the company grows hostile and Jake must make a choice—betray the Na'vi to side with his own people, or turn his back on his own to join with the oppressed against their oppressors.

Avatar has been James Cameron's project since its inception in 1994, before he made the now-legendary Titanic. The filmmaker wrote a 114 page script treatment and intended to make it directly after Titanic, however the project required more technology than existed at the time. Cameron has been working on Avatar (at one point called Project 880) since then, and the amount of time he's put into the project shows in the script. Epic in scale, the story is reminiscent of other epic films, such as Dances with Wolves and The Last Samurai, in which a member of an aggressive culture is shown the true way by the under-developed side. Cameron imbues his film with a strong story that is already being called a metaphor for the socio-military climate of the last several years, and it may well resonate that way. However, it underscores a more universal truth that may very well make it a more timeless story: throughout history, the more advanced cultures have often found themselves the aggressors against the more primitive people. Cameron's message here is that might does not make right, with several other themes playing along the side including a strong Green sentiment. At the heart of the film though is a strong romance, and the story that plays out between Neytiri and Jake is well-plotted and never seems like a cliché despite the similarities to those other films. After Neytiri saves Jake from the hostile creatures, she berates him for causing it by his intrusive presence; even then we can see that there is something between them. "You have a strong heart…no fear," she says. "But stupid, ignorant…like a child." It's not that hard to see what's coming from there, but getting to the end result is quite a thrilling ride.

The key difference between Avatar and its cinematic inspirations is the depth with which Cameron establishes his world. In Avatar we see only a few brief shots of Earth; almost every minute of the over two-and-a-half hour film is spent on Pandora, a world entirely of Cameron's creation. The planet is completely and dramatically established within the narrative, with nearly every moment in the first couple of acts spent further developing both the characters and the environment around them. Few science-fiction films have found the enormous level of detail that this one has without bogging down in the details to the point of minutiae micromanagement, but Cameron does it well here.

In the meantime, the characters are all very well-developed, from Sully to Augustine, their fellow Avatar "driver" Norm (Moore), pilot Trudy Chacon (Rodriguez), right down to the Na'vi and the supporting humans. Even the villains, who often get the short end of the stick in these kinds of sci-fi action films, come off as more well-rounded than they would be in a lesser film. There are some obvious nods to Cameron's past films—Ribisi's passive-aggressive bureaucrat is evocative of Paul Reiser's craven lawyer from Aliens for example—but the characters have a life of their own and it becomes easy to cheer for or hate them because there is enough invested for the audience to care about them.

It doesn't hurt that the acting is all uniformly good. Worthington, who was the high point of this summer's Terminator Salvation, makes a solid hero as Jake. He fleshes the character out nicely, adopting a heavy conscience over what happened to him and his brother on Earth; at the same time, when he first test drives his Avatar and gets to run you can see the exultance evident in his voice, even if his face is CGI-created. As time goes on and he goes native, Worthington does a wonderful job of portraying how drab "real" life is for him and how much he longs to return each day to his Na'vi body and the people who await him there. Sigourney Weaver is likewise excellent as Dr. Augustine, taking on the older and wiser role with aplomb. Weaver is obviously no novice to Cameron's sci-fi epics and she handles herself confidently as she gives Grace a world-weary way with the military types she has to deal with, but obvious love and affection for the natives who she knows will never accept her. The dynamic between Worthington and Weaver, two adversaries who come to respect and rely on one another, is quite the joy to see.

Similarly, the Na'vi are portrayed by a wide variety of talented actors. Neytiri is handled by Zoe Saldana, who has firmly established herself as science fiction's new "It" woman like Weaver and Milla Jovovich before her. Despite acting completely under the performance capture technology, Saldana's vocal inflections and expressions shine through the visual effects to provide a solid performance. Laz Alonso (Fast & Furious) does decent work as Jake's rival Tsu'tey and Wes Studi and C.C.H. Pounder provide gravitas as the elders of the clan and Neytiri's parents. Supporting roles are handled quite nicely as well with Michelle Rodriguez, Joel David Moore, Stephen Lang and Giovanni Ribisi all providing standout moments at one point or another.

Of course, as good as the story is the key selling point for this film is the visual effects. Cameron was wise to wait until the technology he needed was available, as his world required nothing less than exactly what is used for it to work. WETA's visual effects team does a job that is no less than mind-blowing with the world in which the film is set. At the risk of sounding cliché, Pandora is a magical place to be drawn into, and that will work very well for the film's grosses as it is impossible to truly take everything in all in one sitting. From the amazingly realistic creatures that inhabit Pandora to the miles upon miles of lush vegetation, to the grandeur of Hometree—the Na'vi's home that sits upon the unobtanium—everything is truly stunning. It is in no way an exaggeration to say that this is the most visually impressive film ever created. When the setting moves to a set of floating mountains on the planet, it is near-impossible not to sit back breath-taken at the amazing detail of the beautiful setting.

At the same time, Cameron knows not to use his special effects simply in order to draw a collective gasp from the audience; every bit is there to create a world in which to tell the story or add to that story. Even more impressively is that he uses 3D technology, but none of the shots are the "obvious 3D" shots that are put in there just because they can be. This review is based solely on the 2D version, and it would be difficult to imagine which moments stood out in 3D because they are all impressive and there isn't that "paddle ball" shot that's in there to strictly to impress and find an excuse for 3D. Cameron is a savvy enough director not to need those shots, and he knows the effects—and the film—will stand on its own without a gimmick. In fact, it can be said that perhaps this is the first 3D film where the 3D isn't the gimmick, but a tool and that is a very strong point in its favor.

What is most impressive of all the special effects is the performance capture of the Na'vi. Previous films have used performance capture to create completely digital character in life-like situations, from Gollum in The Lord of the Rings to Jar-Jar Binks and others from the Star Wars prequels to Robert Zemeckis's work on The Polar Express, Monster House, Beowulf and A Christmas Carol. They have had varying degrees of success as the technology has become more and more refined, but none of them have come even close to capturing the realism that the ground-breaking technology exhibits here. Cameron claims that 95% of the actor's performances transferred into the images on-screen, and that's very believable. Never before have CGI-animated characters been so expressive and full of life. Whether the effects for Avatar will truly change the way movies are made the way that Fox suggested may be debatable, but it is impossible to deny that they are the most stunning effects achievements ever accomplished on celluloid.

When the end credits begin to role on this film and the audience gets up to leave, it is easy to see the sequel coming—that is, if the movie grosses enough to make up for its reportedly bank-breaking budget. Cameron has invented such an amazing world and filled it with such engaging characters that one can practically feel the cash-counters at the studios rubbing their hands with glee at imagining their new franchise to milk. The good news is that in the hands of Cameron, who spent fifteen years creating Avatar and bringing it to life, nothing will be rushed and the end result will be an event likely worth seeing. And that alone is enough to make the heart soar, much like the movie itself does.

The 411: James Cameron has done it again, beating the hype and the bad buzz to deliver a film that is as much an event as it is an experience. Avatar takes a known story and spins it into something all its own based on the wondrous world and well-written characters that feature into the script. Good acting by all involved provides a solid backbone upon which Cameron and Weta can settle the unbelievable special effects, which thrill but don't restrict the actor's performances in the slightest. This is a visual feast of a film with some very solid action scenes and real emotion and heart at its core; amazingly, despite the risk of overhyping, Avatar manages to overcome the odds and become the best film of 2009, and probably then some too. So few films achieve anything even close to perfection in an all-around fashion, and even less come as close as this one.

Final Score:  10.0   [ Virtually Perfect ]