Avatar Review

As I did not feel like posting over the break, here is my review on James Cameron's "Avatar".

   James Cameron has to be one of my favorite directors of all time, and for Aliens and Terminator 2 alone, near perfect, if not perfect sci-fi blockbusters. The amount of hype and bank towards Cameron's childhood dream must be the most found in 2009, even if previews breed caution. Cameron has set the bar for science fiction films in the past, is there any chance the mammoth that Avatar raise that bar higher?

   The story revolves around Earth's population sending mercenaries and miners to an alien world, Pandora, in search of a highly profitable mineral. The story picks up a time after the discovery of Pandora where mining has already begun, but apparently the Navi, the planet's tall, blue, tailed, tribal inhabitants don't take kindly to gunfire, so scientists developed what are essentially dopplegangers of sorts that combine the DNA of the Navi with a human. A human whose DNA is used controls these "Avatars" for the use of making better relations with the locals. After one of the human controllers dies, his genetically identical brother takes his gig and finds himself growing a more and involved with the locals, while his scientist advisor (Sigourney Weaver) is more and more pressured by the Mercenary leader. Essentially, the story combined with it's look (and the fact that its in 3D) could easily be a new story driven series on cartoon network, but with James Cameron its handled very well and is the greatest film I've ever seen that happened to have an identity crisis.

   There is never a dull, uninteresting, or throwaway moment in Avatar, the characters evolve well, and the intents of both sides slowly become more desperate, the only problem is the said identity crisis, the movie really had me nostalgic to those cartoons with a running story behind them. It's not a terrible complaint, but it should be noted that it doesn't feel one hundred percent adult. It is a great story though, however, the film doesn't stress that the humans are mercenaries, later I was still had the feeling they were space marines fighting for the greater good, so I felt sympathetic for what should've been the enemy, despite the clear greed. That and the mercenary leader isn't very good, his acting isn't half assed, but I wasn't dreading him towards the end.

   The visuals are also a great complement to Cameron's dream, its the new standard for visuals. Not only is the scenery dripping with detail out of every pore, visually and artistically. The landscapes are breathtaking,  the picture is ultra crisp, and the scenes that aren't the stereotypical galactic space colony areas are impressively unique. The overall creativity is fairly cartoonish, but the environments are very entertaining, as are the action sequences that follow. However, this film further reinforces my bias against 3D filmmaking. The good thing is it adds a somewhat cool depth to the film, and it doesn't stereotypically throw something straight at you for a silly effect, but its not enough to sacrifice making the screen look smaller, and the annoyance of wearing such stupid glasses.

   The enemy could've been better and the 3D could've been phased out, but James Cameron's Avatar is a must see for any who enjoy sci-fi. Its a high definition wonder and the new standard for visuals, even if it doesn't raise the bar for action films like the famed director has before. It may be an identity crisis, but its an amazing one at that.

4.5/5