mOVIE & eNTERTAINMENT

Brilliant! After a highly acclaimed body of work that included the likes of Terminator 2 – Judgement Days and Titanic, James Cameron has raised his bar so high that all the euphoria surrounding Avatar was quite natural. But even the die hard Cameron fans never anticipated that the film will be a breakthrough in stereoscopic filmmaking. Yes, this is an epic visual masterpiece and only someone like Cameron can ever have the vision and courage to even think of such a film, leave apart serving to you on a platter! With Avatar, James Cameron had taken science fiction film making to an entirely different level.

Jack Sully in Na'vi Avatar

Avatar takes us to Year 2154 when RDA Corporation, a research outfit of human beings, are mining a precious metal called unobtanium on Pandora, a lush moon in the Alpha Centauri star system. Pandora is inhabited by local tribe Na’vi, a ten foot tall blue skinned humanoid species. To facilitate the extraction of the minerals and to grow relationships with the Na’vi, scientists develop Na’vi-human hybrid bodies called Avatars. They are operated with the help of mental links by genetically matching humans. After the death of his twin brother who was a scientist trained avatar, the film’s protagonist, a paraplegic war veteran, Jack Sully (Sam Worthington) replaces him. Jack is convinced by the head of RDA’S security forces Colonel Miles Quaritch (Stephen Lang) that his paraplegia will be completely cured if he befriends the Na’vi and passes him crucial information that will help the humans to relocate the Na’vi from Hometree, the largest base of unobtanium. But a series of events follow, along with Jack falling in love with the Na’vi chief’s daughter Neytiri (Zoe Saldana). What happens next and what path does Jack choose at the end, is the story all about.

When An Avatar Falls for A Na'vi

Both Sam Worthington and Zoe Saldana’s acting are commendable. The way the actors displayed emotions even through the Avatar characters, were truly amazing. Zoe Saldana gave a strong and emotional performance despite the fact that we never saw her real face. Cameron’s eye for details was once again visible throughout the film. In this make belief world, we never feel alienated and credit goes to Cameron for this. He had made it look so real that while watching the movie; unknowingly we become a part of it. The Special Effects are mind blowing and that’s undoubtedly the major attraction of the film. The way Cameron used SFX and weaves them into the storyline effortlessly is mind blowing. Cinematographer duo Mauro Fiore and Vince Pace have done incredible job. There are only two areas that many may feel that the film has faltered. After providing us with such wonderful music in Titanic, James Horner was quite predictable and clichéd. There wasn’t any new offering from Horner and sometime the music was felt to be out of sync with the film’s environment. The other area that could have been improved was the storyline. Though Cameron’s idea was quite original, but the blending could have been better in terms of novelty. Especially the ending was quite predictable. How many times have we seen in movies that the hero befriends the enemy, wants to destroy them, has a change of heart mid way and finally joins the enemy forces to fight for justice? Isn’t it an old wine in a new bottle? But despite these flaws, Avatar is a visual masterpiece and a cult movie in the sci-fi genre. And since it was released in all formats including IMAX 3D-movie buffs should go an experience it. Who knows, we probably have to wait for another decade or more for such a visual treat!