Review of Avatar (2009) by Natdurman — 13 Aug 2010

James Cameron has returned from the deep abyss that was Titanic to create something truely remarkable. Avatar is a film shot in digital 3D. However it far suceeds, in terms of techincality, recent films such as Beowulf and UP.

It really is a marvel of architecture. The expressions on the faces of the characters are scaringly un-canny, and the same goes for the environment in which they live in. However all that said, there are some downfalls of this film.

For example, the story is extremely thin. It is very easy to get caught up in the beauty of this film, and forget about the cliche full narative, that frankly, if you noticed how bad it was, leaves you feeling like a bit of a sucker.

It follows an ex marine called Sam, and is set in the decade of 2050. It starts on board a space ship, that is approaching a fictional planet named 'Pandora'. We later learn that it contains a very valuable substance, and thus why the Americans decide to invade.

Sam is chosen, and this is where the 'Avatar' comes in. It is basically a suit that he wears during the time he is in the simulation pod (that allows him to travel to Pandora) it disguises him as one of the 'Na'vi' (the big blue aliens).

His goal is to persaude the Na'vi to move away. However in typical fashion he falls in love with one of the indeginous, and we have a classic story. A sort of good cop bad cop scenerio. The good guy being Sam who decides to betray the US and save the Na'vi.

The bad guy being an Army General that wants to invade, however he did resemble a character from Toy Soldiers. Without giving away too much, we end up with a happy ending, that like I said earlier, fails to satisfy.

However, if you mangage to ignore the story, and just marvel at the CGI, you will be pleased, this is one you have to see on the big screen though, and if you can, see it in 3D. In short it's the cherry without the cake, glamorous but with the essential bits missing.