Cast: Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Sigourney Weaver, Michelle Rodriguez, Giovanni Ribisi
Genre: Action | Adventure | Sci-Fi | Thriller
Release Date: December 18, 2009 (US)
Company: Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation
Plot
Jake Sully, a paraplegic war veteran, is recruited to travel light years to the human outpost on Pandora, where a corporate consortium is mining a rare mineral that is the key to solving Earth’s energy crisis. Because Pandora’s atmosphere is toxic, they have created the Avatar Program, in which human “drivers” have their consciousness linked to an avatar, a remotely-controlled biological body that can survive in the lethal air. Reborn in his avatar form, Jake is given a mission to infiltrate the natives of Pandora, the Na’vi, who have become a major obstacle to mining the precious ore. Over time, Jake integrates himself into the Na’vi. As a result, Jake finds himself caught between the military-industrial forces of Earth, and the Na’vi, forcing him to choose sides in an epic battle that will decide the fate of an entire world.
Review
IN years of development and four years of production no detail in the film is unimportant. Cameron’s collaborators excel beginning with the actors. Whether in human shape or as natives, they all bring terrific vitality to their roles. Mauro Fiore’s cinematography is dazzling as it melts all the visual elements into a science-fiction whole. You believe in Pandora. Rick Carter and Robert Stromberg’s design brings Cameron’s screenplay to life with disarming ease. James Horner’s score never intrudes but subtly eggs the action on while the editing maintains a breathless pace that exhilarates rather than fatigues. Not a minute is wasted; there is no down time.
Kirk Honeycutt, The Hollywood Reporter
NO director to date has built a world of this scale, ambition and complexity before. Avatar is an astonishing feast for the eyes and ears, with shots and sequences that boggle the mind, from the epic – a floating mountain range in the sky, waterfalls cascading into nothingness – to the tiny details, such as a paraplegic sinking his new, blue and fully operational toes into the sand. The level of immersive detail here is simply amazing.
But, as much as technology aids and defines Avatar, it’s also a love letter to humanity and the glory of mother nature. The analogy with the Vietnam and Iraq wars is obvious, but Cameron, in siding with the insurgents, is also asking fairly complex questions about what it means to be human. “How does it feel to betray your race?”, Sully is asked at one point, but by then, Cameron’s point has been made: the humans here are the monsters; avaricious, rapacious, planet-killers. There’s never any doubt that Cameron considers the Na’vi to be more human – freer of spirit and emotion, more connected to the world around them.
Chris Hewitt, Empire
AVATAR is not simply a sensational entertainment, although it is that. It’s a technical breakthrough. It has a flat-out Green and anti-war message. It is predestined to launch a cult. It contains such visual detailing that it would reward repeating viewings. It invents a new language, Na’vi, as The Lord of the Rings did. It creates new movie stars. It is an Event, one of those films you feel you must see to keep up with the conversation.
