Luke Himself

Avatar

January 17th, 2010 | Published under Movies | 4 Comments

What kind of a blog would I be without a review of the latest Hollywood hit, Avatar? It seems like everyone’s discussing the film, which doesn’t make it a surprise when you hear it’s the second-highest grossing film of all time, after 1997′s Titanic.

So for those who haven’t seen it, Avatar is set in the future and follows a paraplegic former marine, Jake, who joins the expedition to a Earth-like moon which has been chosen to mine an element called unobtanium. Jake is sent in as an ‘Avatar’ which is basically a physical body that mimics the natives of the moon and is controlled through humans minds remotely. They use these host bodies to explore the planet and hopefully mix with the natives to discover more about the strange and unique ecosystems of the moon, the people and other plants and animals.

Jake is being pushed by both the scientists to find out more about the secrets of the tribe and their ecosystem, and at the same time he is under pressure by the miners and their military-like regime to get the natives to move out of their sacred village so the corporation can start mining the precious resources. Jake’s Avatar becomes one of the tribe and he becomes sympathetic towards their land rites, but struggles to find a way to stop the destruction that his fellow humans are threatening the tribe and their land.

The film is directed by James Cameron, the former director of Titanic, a range of other science fiction and action movies,  including several Terminator productions. One of the films major attributes to its success is it’s use of 3D, which James Cameron in fact delayed the film’s production for until the technology was advanced enough to meet his desired needs. The 3D uses polarized 3D, as opposed to the traditional ”green and red” 3D. The polarized technology gives a much more crisp and realistic picture, without the color distortion that earlier 3D has brought us. The film is also available in 2D for cinemas where the projectors are not 3D capable. Some of the future films to utilise 3D will be Alice in Wonderland, Dragon 3D, Toy Story 3 and A Christmas Carol.

The film has a clear story line that is explained and presented very well, although on further analysis you are presented with missing background information and many plot holes in the technology, ecosystem and land. But, being an alien landscape, maybe this is intended. Aside from that, the film carries a classic love story and therefore is quite predictable. The directing of Cameron James is very evident, to the extent of being a Titanic on another planet.

The winning point for the film is definitely its use of 3D and it’s interesting development of an alien world, with creatures having common characteristics to Earth animals past and present, but also so diverse in other ways. Some elements of the landscape, such as floating islands and lit up forests, are a bit far-fetched and have no reason given for their existence, let alone their operation.

Despite not a very strong plot, with no surprises or twists whatsoever, I don’t think this will be the type of film to make your jaw drop or give you endless analysis to discuss with your mates. But as a new sneak peak into the future of 3D and the capabilities they carry for film, I think that alone is enough to recommend anyone to go see this film, even if its just so you can see the beginning of the possible future of cinema technology.