Avatar(2009)- User Reviews

Kevin Wetmore 12/6/11
American Theatre on Film

Avatar Review
As we close in on the two year anniversary of the release of the most successful box office hit in history, James Cameron’s Avatar, I cannot help but applaud the film each and every time I view it. Whether it is the special effects, which are visually beautiful and truly original, or the epic plotline involving the indigenous and the humans, or even the wonderful acting from Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana and Sigourney Weaver, this movie captivated me from the very beginning, until the credits stopped rolling and I saw nothing but a blank screen. Avatar is also the first and only film ever to gross more than $2 billion, surpassing Cameron’s previous box office hit, Titanic. As the basis for a supposed trilogy, Avatar introduces us the planet known as Pandora, in which the Na’vi, a race of 10 foot blue skinned humanoids, coexist with nature, until Americans discover a rare mineral, and begin to mine the Na’vi homeland for profit.
The film’s main character is Jake Sully, and his journey and story in the world of Pandora, where he has taken his brothers place in the Avatar Program and encounters and learns the ways of the a Na’vi clan, the Omaticaya. Sam Worthington portrays such a unique man in Jake Sully, mainly because Sully has gone through hardships beyond our understanding. Being unable to walk, betraying his own race, being threatened by both humans and the Na’vi at times, and losing a brother must make for one hard character to portray, but Worthington nailed it. The sincerity, yet brutality in his voice as he speaks to the Na’vi after their HomeTree was destroyed, truly brings out the best of the character because he expresses his love for the Omaticaya and it shows his passion to actually help them defeat the humans and get them off Pandora. Worthington was not the only star of the film. His opposite and love interest in the film, Zoe Saldana portrays Neytiri, a blue skinned Na’vi, who just so happens to be the daughter of the clan leader.
Despite being a real human in real life, Zoe Saldana, along with the other actors who were “Avatar’s,” had to use performance capture and computer editing to transform them into 10 foot tall lizard and feline like aliens. Saldana’s fierce portrayal of Neytiri takes the audience through an emotional rollercoaster, because she kindles a relationship, both friendly and sexual, with Jake Sully. Throughout the film, Neytiri’s morals are tested while teaching Jake the ways the Omaticaya, because he introduces her to a new culture, and she cannot accept Jake’s way of life compared to hers. Neytiri also briefly breaks off her relationship with Jake, due the bombing of HomeTree, the truly enormous tree where the Omaticaya live in, which resulted in the loss of her father. However, after Jake rallies the Omaticaya, Neytiri falls back in love with Jake and together, they unite the Na’vi clans and expel the humans from Pandora.
The world of Pandora is hard to describe, because in every scene, we see so many intricate details that we are mesmerized by the beauty that Pandora offers us. Whether it may be the floating Hallelujah Mountains, or the mystical forest which has flowers and trees that are more beautiful and detailed than the next and even the wildlife is different than that on Earth. On Earth, we have a few predators we have to worry about, such as tigers and sharks, but imagine being chased by a Thanator, which happens to be quite a large panther, or imagine being on the back of a banshee, which is a large pterodactyl like animal. Another fearless creature we encounter is the Toruk, which is nicknamed, “last shadow” by the Omaticaya and it is a large orange animal, similar to a banshee, only much larger.
The plot of the film is eerily similar to the way that early American settlers took the Native Americans land to use it for their own personal gain. In the film, the mining company RDA is in search of unobtanium, a rare mineral which fetches quite a hefty price back on Earth, and there is quite a large deposit underneath HomeTree. During the film’s climax, the Americans bomb and destroy HomeTree, and we see the devastation upon the faces of the Omaticaya, and although this is just a film, I could not help but feel very uneasy about this scene. The ruthless display of violence was cruel and unusual because you’re talking about bows and arrows versus firearms and gunships, so clearly you could tell that this would not end to well for the Na’vi.
Avatar revolutionized film as we know it today, due to the fact that since the success of Avatar’s use of 3D, many films decided to film this way in hopes of reaching the same level of success. Through the use of CGI and very skilled artist, the film depicted a beautiful and mysterious world that introduces us to many and varying different flora and fauna and new possible designs for weapons in the near future. The length of the film is also quite appropriate because in order to get a full understanding of the film, it has to take its time to dive deep into the underlying issues in the film as well. Finally, after watching this film for the umpteenth time, I cannot help but wonder about the next two films that will proceed this one and how they will match up against this one and how they are going to expand on the relationship of Jake and Neytiri and the world of Pandora.
All in all, if I were to rate the film on a scale of one to ten, it would clearly be a ten because of its mastery to capture the audience’s attention throughout the entire film. The acting all around was superb and the visual effects were truly ingenious and unique. The design of the Na’vi also should be applauded as well because they incorporate some distinctive features from the real world actors and put them on the “Avatar” body. The new technology introduced in the film may seem farfetched, yet it may be possible that one day we could use those types of machinery as part of our everyday life. To conclude, if this film was able to impress me the way it did, I cannot help but be anxious for the release of its sequel in 2014.