“I See You” – AVATAR – Movie Review
By Nicole Yvette
Year: 2009
Director: James Cameron
Cast: Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Sigourney Weaver, Stephen Lang
The hype is true; “Avatar” is like no film you have ever seen before. It
is completely original and a tribute to James Cameron’s direction and
imagination. It is not only original, but extraordinarily stunning and
shows how far CGI has come.
Former marine Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) is sent to
the planet Pandora in place of his recently deceased twin brother
in order to fulfil his duties. Pandora contains a rare mineral called
“Unobtainium” which has drawn humans to its surface.
Already inhabiting the planet is an indigenous race called the Na’vi who do not appreciate
the human’s disrespectful mining of their home. Taking part in a new
program, Jake is given a biological surrogate, “an avatar,” resembling the
Na’vi which he will be able to mentally control. With his surrogate, he
becomes part of the indigenous tribe and comes to understand them more
than any human ever has.
It is impossible to encompass the story behind “Avatar” in a paragraph, as
there are so many underlying themes that contribute to the story. Pandora
is a complex world, but also, an extremely beautiful and intriguing one.
Despite the movies length it keeps the audience captivated from the first
scene to the last. James Cameron’s writing and direction created the
world of Pandora and showed what an amazing imagination he has and
an even more amazing talent for being able to bring this world to life.
“Avatar” is first and foremost visually stunning. Many images in the movie
are completely breathtaking. When the scenes of Pandora at night come on
screen you will hear mummers of awe from all the spectators at the cinema.
The combination of real life actors and CGI characters works extremely
well, making you almost forget that you are seeing a computer generated
world. The combination of the two is one of the reasons why “Avatar” is
so successful. It is a fantasy film which is, at the same time,
realistic.
Sam Worthington is the star of the film and does a great job of bringing
emotion and depth to his character. Sigourney Weaver is also noteworthy
as the tough-talking scientist. However, it is not the acting in the film
that is the stand out. The main attractions of the film are the graphics
and Cameron’s direction. Cameron could be on his way to another Oscar
nomination for this film.
“Avatar” is one of the best films of the year, and if you are only going
to see one film at the cinemas this year, it should be this one.