I am certain that this film needs little to no introduction. Avatar is the legendary James Cameron's return to cinema screens after the dreadful Titanic and his semi-documentary films Ghosts of the Abyss and Aliens of the Deep. With Avatar Cameron is clearly back at doing what he does best-balls to the wall action; a smarmy DiCaprio and a nauseating Winslet are nowhere to be seen thankfully. With titles to his name such as the sublime Aliens, probably my favourite sci-fi action flick of all time as well as the incredible, mind bendingly awe inspiring T2: Judgement Day which improved the childhoods of each and every boy I have ever met Cameron had a lot to live up to. Having carved a name for himself with his ability to make an action flick that packs an exciting punch as well as delivering a narrative that is relatively fresh and original to audiences containing dynamic, interesting and memorable characters my expectations for Avatar were very high to say the least.
First and foremost I need to explain just how absolutely amazing Cameron's use of CGI and performance capture is in this film. The alien race of Na'vi look so so convincing and realistic in their movements, skin tone, reflexes, facial expressions even down to the way that light reflects off of their bodies that it makes the film completely engrossing. Never have digital technologies immersed me so fully into a story that is clearly about as fictional as anything you could wish for. The live action footage of people looks just as realistic as the footage of the Na'vi. I cannot begin to impress how amazing the effects in this film are, you will have to see it for yourself. Cameron spent ten years developing the digital technologies and designing a new 3D camera with Sony until the technology was present for this film to be made-it was worth the wait. The art design of the planet of Pandora is as awe inspiring as the creatures that inhabit it. This really is a film where the design team have put an incredible amount of effort into creating a cohesive world that physically lives and breathes before your eyes. Rarely does a foreign landscape feel so tangible and interactable with-the 3D certainly helps to immerse you into the landscape.
I could talk for days about how incredible the film is visually so it is probably best to move on, I think you get a good impression of how impressed I was with this aspect of the film. However I always really knew that visually it would be nothing short of balls tighteningly fantastic having seen alot of press footage for it and knowing of the huge effort Cameron had invested into getting it right. My main concern with the film would be how much attention was payed to the characters and the narrative- both elements that on the surface you would think are easy to get right in an action film but in reality are very hard to get right and more importantly to make memorable. As I mentioned earlier Cameron is the king of creating fantastically dynamic characters that at the same time as fitting into Action movies generic conventions stand out as being more than just a tool of the genre. Fortunately the films characters do have depth and are dynamic, engaging and on the most part memorable. Sam Worthington takes the lead as a crippled marine bound to a wheelchair called Jake Sully. His character is afforded some emotional depth with his existential confusion over his brother's death and his inability to walk. When he enters the world of the Na'vi he finds a reason to live again. You get a strong impression of his desire to break free from his human bonds but also his initial guilt in abandoning his race. Don't get me wrong- Jake Sully is nowhere near as interesting or complex as a character such as Sarah Connor but is afforded with enough depth that his presence on screen is engaging and relatable to. Sigourney Weaver gives the stand out performance of the film as the scientist in charge of the Avatar project, the complexity she brings to a character of relatively minor significance in the grand scheme of things is very admirable.
What is interesting in Avatar as opposed to other Cameron movies is the subtle shift in what engages you as an audience member. In Avatar it is the visual effects and the plot that really hold your interest in the film, it is the planet of Pandora and how beautifully realised it is that makes this a memorable film, certainly to a greater extent than the characters. This is in contrast to Aliens, The Terminator and Terminator 2 where for me it was the characters that gripped me through the film to a greater extent than the CGI (which is still impressive to this day, most notably in T2). Cameron has managed by some miracle to keep the visual allure of the film as exciting and entertaining from the very first frame to the very last frame. I said I wouldn't carry on talking about how visually impressive this film is but it is hard not to.
My other concern with the film would be how well constructed the action scenes would be. What impressed me most about this film was that it does not follow the usually linear narrative trajectory of a modern action flick of 'plot progression-unnecessary fight-plot progression-unnecessary fight etc.' where the action scenes have little to no purpose on the arc of the film. Instead in Avatar there are actually surprisingly few action scenes, do not let this put you off though, let me assure you that the final battle scene redefinies the boundaries of what epicness had previously been considered to be. What's more is that each battle scene has a clear purpose to the progression of the themes in the film and in developing character. Not a single fight is simply 'bad guy vs. good guy' like is seen in far too many modern action films and I hate to name names-actually I don't hate to name names: Transformers 2. Each battle has a clear moral or thematic resonance running through it.
I am sure you can tell that I really like this film. There are problems with it but frankly I don't want to mention them because they are minor and I only noticed them when I was looking for problems with it. A friend of mine pointed out grumpily that if it was 2154 they would have invented some kind of different wheelchair. He is probably rightbut, who gives a shit? It is only once in every ten or so years when an action move of this calibre is brought to screens-with new digital technologies allowing film makers to tell grand stories in new and exciting ways the fear is that the focus will be on the aesthetics as opposed to the narrative, characters and emotional core of the story-again I would like to point at Transformers 2 as a reference point here. Fortunately Avatar does none of these things. It is a very well rounded piece of work that is simultaeneously exciting, enthralling, throughtful, moving and most importantly memorable. I could not recommend that you see this more, some films are made simply to sweep you away and for you to enjoy it-this is one of them and it does it very well.
On the subject of recommendations, I stumbled upon a fantastic piece of amateur film making the other day. It is a 70 minute video review of Star Wars Episode One, essentially detailing every reason why it is one of the worst films ever made. Many times I have been asked why I thought the three latest Star Wars films were so bad by people, the sheer list of reasons I could give them leaves me feeling mind boggled and I would often retort with something really inane like 'because it's crap.' Not only is this review very witty it is also informative and breaks down the very basics of how a plot should function cinematically and displays very effectively how Episode one fails to do this on every level. It might also give further insight into how hung up I was on how the character's should function in an action movie-something Cameron clearly does well and something Lucas cannot do. If you are initially put off by the narrators voice I would ask you to persevere-you get used to it. Click on the link below to watch if you are interested, enjoy!
Star Wars review here.
First and foremost I need to explain just how absolutely amazing Cameron's use of CGI and performance capture is in this film. The alien race of Na'vi look so so convincing and realistic in their movements, skin tone, reflexes, facial expressions even down to the way that light reflects off of their bodies that it makes the film completely engrossing. Never have digital technologies immersed me so fully into a story that is clearly about as fictional as anything you could wish for. The live action footage of people looks just as realistic as the footage of the Na'vi. I cannot begin to impress how amazing the effects in this film are, you will have to see it for yourself. Cameron spent ten years developing the digital technologies and designing a new 3D camera with Sony until the technology was present for this film to be made-it was worth the wait. The art design of the planet of Pandora is as awe inspiring as the creatures that inhabit it. This really is a film where the design team have put an incredible amount of effort into creating a cohesive world that physically lives and breathes before your eyes. Rarely does a foreign landscape feel so tangible and interactable with-the 3D certainly helps to immerse you into the landscape.
I could talk for days about how incredible the film is visually so it is probably best to move on, I think you get a good impression of how impressed I was with this aspect of the film. However I always really knew that visually it would be nothing short of balls tighteningly fantastic having seen alot of press footage for it and knowing of the huge effort Cameron had invested into getting it right. My main concern with the film would be how much attention was payed to the characters and the narrative- both elements that on the surface you would think are easy to get right in an action film but in reality are very hard to get right and more importantly to make memorable. As I mentioned earlier Cameron is the king of creating fantastically dynamic characters that at the same time as fitting into Action movies generic conventions stand out as being more than just a tool of the genre. Fortunately the films characters do have depth and are dynamic, engaging and on the most part memorable. Sam Worthington takes the lead as a crippled marine bound to a wheelchair called Jake Sully. His character is afforded some emotional depth with his existential confusion over his brother's death and his inability to walk. When he enters the world of the Na'vi he finds a reason to live again. You get a strong impression of his desire to break free from his human bonds but also his initial guilt in abandoning his race. Don't get me wrong- Jake Sully is nowhere near as interesting or complex as a character such as Sarah Connor but is afforded with enough depth that his presence on screen is engaging and relatable to. Sigourney Weaver gives the stand out performance of the film as the scientist in charge of the Avatar project, the complexity she brings to a character of relatively minor significance in the grand scheme of things is very admirable.
What is interesting in Avatar as opposed to other Cameron movies is the subtle shift in what engages you as an audience member. In Avatar it is the visual effects and the plot that really hold your interest in the film, it is the planet of Pandora and how beautifully realised it is that makes this a memorable film, certainly to a greater extent than the characters. This is in contrast to Aliens, The Terminator and Terminator 2 where for me it was the characters that gripped me through the film to a greater extent than the CGI (which is still impressive to this day, most notably in T2). Cameron has managed by some miracle to keep the visual allure of the film as exciting and entertaining from the very first frame to the very last frame. I said I wouldn't carry on talking about how visually impressive this film is but it is hard not to.
My other concern with the film would be how well constructed the action scenes would be. What impressed me most about this film was that it does not follow the usually linear narrative trajectory of a modern action flick of 'plot progression-unnecessary fight-plot progression-unnecessary fight etc.' where the action scenes have little to no purpose on the arc of the film. Instead in Avatar there are actually surprisingly few action scenes, do not let this put you off though, let me assure you that the final battle scene redefinies the boundaries of what epicness had previously been considered to be. What's more is that each battle scene has a clear purpose to the progression of the themes in the film and in developing character. Not a single fight is simply 'bad guy vs. good guy' like is seen in far too many modern action films and I hate to name names-actually I don't hate to name names: Transformers 2. Each battle has a clear moral or thematic resonance running through it.
I am sure you can tell that I really like this film. There are problems with it but frankly I don't want to mention them because they are minor and I only noticed them when I was looking for problems with it. A friend of mine pointed out grumpily that if it was 2154 they would have invented some kind of different wheelchair. He is probably rightbut, who gives a shit? It is only once in every ten or so years when an action move of this calibre is brought to screens-with new digital technologies allowing film makers to tell grand stories in new and exciting ways the fear is that the focus will be on the aesthetics as opposed to the narrative, characters and emotional core of the story-again I would like to point at Transformers 2 as a reference point here. Fortunately Avatar does none of these things. It is a very well rounded piece of work that is simultaeneously exciting, enthralling, throughtful, moving and most importantly memorable. I could not recommend that you see this more, some films are made simply to sweep you away and for you to enjoy it-this is one of them and it does it very well.
On the subject of recommendations, I stumbled upon a fantastic piece of amateur film making the other day. It is a 70 minute video review of Star Wars Episode One, essentially detailing every reason why it is one of the worst films ever made. Many times I have been asked why I thought the three latest Star Wars films were so bad by people, the sheer list of reasons I could give them leaves me feeling mind boggled and I would often retort with something really inane like 'because it's crap.' Not only is this review very witty it is also informative and breaks down the very basics of how a plot should function cinematically and displays very effectively how Episode one fails to do this on every level. It might also give further insight into how hung up I was on how the character's should function in an action movie-something Cameron clearly does well and something Lucas cannot do. If you are initially put off by the narrators voice I would ask you to persevere-you get used to it. Click on the link below to watch if you are interested, enjoy!
Star Wars review here.
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