Avatar
A cold December, pre Christmas afternoon and Avatar had been released just two days earlier. A quick sitting of Chiquitos Nachos, a seasonal flurry of snow, and i enter the cinema in great anticipation. I should make it clear at this point that i chose to watch the 2D version. This is for two reasons, firstly because the film is 3 hours long and secondly 3D makes me feel claustrophobic.
Avatar, directed by James Cameron has reportedly taken ten years to make. His trail blazing special effects company, Weta Digital has relied on the advanced progression of graphics card speed and hard drive capacity in order to complete the project. Only 5 years ago this movie was impossible to render. Weta Digital are responsible for the effects in The Lord of the Rings Trilogy and King Kong and if you’ve seen these movies, then knowing that Avatar sets a new SFX benchmark should be impressive enough.
Avatar is a story about alien life form, known as the Na’vi who live on planet Pandora. Jake Sully (Sam Worthington), a paraplegic marine, is chosen after the death of his twin scientist brother to infiltrate the Na’vis. Due to Pandora’s air being poisonous to humans, his mind is mapped to a specially created Na’vi avatar, and his mission is to understand how they live and find a way to move them from their homes humanely because they live on top of a highly valuable fuel source to humans. If he fails, then the marines will move them by force.
Avatar opens with a swift explanation, sets the premise and moves quickly into the animation. The Na’vi are very tall, blue creatures, have tails and feline eyes. Their planet, Pandora, is stunning, (although technically i think it’s a moon). Full of glowing vegetation and magical creatures. I am instantly awed by the fantasy of it as my mind races to compute the realism of the graphics and how its done. I immediately think of A Scanner Darkly, but know it can’t be the same treatment due to the non human form. Weta Digital have really pushed the envelope and have superseded ‘motion’ graphics with ‘emotion’ graphics. A technological first, mapping the actors eyes as well as it’s movements, creating a real connection and pathos for the characters.
Jake Sully flits back and forth from avatar to human, which works just, but makes me impatient to get back to Pandora. Like him, i prefer it there. It takes me where i like to go in a cinema – another world, an escape, a voyeuristic adventure and it’s without question, somewhere we’ve never visited before in cinematic history.
But is the film any good? It’s hard to answer. I went knowing that it was ground breaking technology and i’m in no doubt that it is. Movie experiences will change from here on in. The story line is good but its not original and is visually derivative from Cameron’s earlier involvements. The dialogue is weak, with a lot of ‘bad ass’ marine talk. Even Sigourney Weaver’s scientist character was a hard talking chain smoker. I didn’t think anyone smoked anymore? Her casting felt a bit obvious given her role in Cameron’s Alien. Other questions would be why the Na’vi people resembled Masai warriors? (Incidentally, saved by the great white hope.) You really get the sense that this movie is about flexing the technology muscle and that the budget failed to reach the scriptwriters. It also fails in areas where the ‘ten years in the making’ hasn’t been refreshed and brought up to date. Dare i say that some of the ‘fighting machines’ were a bit old hat?
Given America’s involvement in Afghanistan, it put the military in a very bad light. I’m sure i’m not alone in wondering if it’s Cameron’s ‘nationality dig’. There are clear parallels between oil and Pandora’s fuel and of course the ‘Nam references are present throughout. Having said that, it’s good to be reminded of the rain forest destruction that still rages on planet earth and our constant disregard for Mother Nature. If nothing else, it made me think about my own impact on the world’s resources.
But can i forgive the film’s shortcomings and did i enjoy it? Simply put, yes. It is awesome. Truly awesome. Eyebrow raising and jaw dropping. All the facial emotions that Cameron’s creatures were equally capable of. A visual feast of colour, fantasy, HDR style finishes and the exciting, yet nervous feeling that augmented reality is just moments away…
I would recommend you watch it, purely because visually you will not have seen anything like it before and the price of a cinema ticket will take you much, much further than you could ever have imagined.
Posted by S-J White 7 months ago in Writing
About S-J White
S-J is a thirty-something creative director with a passion for design across both the modern marketing spectrum and film.