This Sci-Fi movie promises to shock and amaze.
Artwork by Mia Nogueira
As I found my seat in the theater and slid on the 3D glasses over my own, I was filled with dread for the movie I was about to watch. I had tried several times to convince my father to take us to a different movie, but he was determined. I hadn’t seen the trailers, but from the ads I’d seen, Avatar was sure to just be another of the nature/fantasy movies my dad was so crazy about, and that I can’t stand. I was wrong.
After a brief pan through the forest (which, in 3D, was utterly breathtaking), the scene suddenly turned Sci-Fi. This was about the point at which I realized I would like this movie. I was immediately reminded of Ender’s Game as the main character, Jake Sully (Sam Worthington, Terminator Salvation), slid out of a cryogenic chamber and into a spaceship.
The ship soon landed on the planet Pandora, and Jake found out that his duty would be to explore the planet and talk to the native people (the Na’avi). However, since humans can’t breathe on Pandora (and Jake is in a wheelchair), scientists have developed surrogate bodies for the members of the project called Avatars. The Avatars are a combination of Na’avi and human DNA, and look just like the other Na’avis. The humans go into chambers similar to the cryogenic chamber Jake first slid out of, and their consciousness is transferred to their Avatar’s body.
So, the main characters go out in their surrogate bodies and begin to explore the planet. Jake, being a true military man, constantly has a finger on the trigger and has no tolerance for the fact that the scientists he’s exploring with need to examine every plant they lay eyes on. Of course, Jake’s brutish behavior gets him into trouble and he ends up dropping his gun and running away from what appears to be a giant, alien dog-monster. The monster’s graphics are done really well, and I was genuinely scared… you could hear the gasps coming from the audience. Jake’s effort to get away seemed hopeless in the chase scene, which was great, because it really put the audience in his shoes.
Jake’s companions are forced to abandon him and go back to base, leaving him to fend for himself… they doubt he’ll last the night. The screen flashes back to Jake, who is now making himself a weapon out of a spear and some sort of cloth from his shirt, which he then lights on fire to scare away several smaller versions of the alien dog-monster from before. Unfortunately, this backfires and at the last minute, Neytiri (Zoë Saldaña, Star Trek), the princess of the Na’avi clan, jumps on to the scene and kills the monsters to save Jake’s life. Then, against Neytiri’s protests, Jake follows her home and begins to become a part of the tribe.
After announcing he’s in, Jake finds out what he’s actually there for. The non-scientist members of their group are planning to knock down the sacred tree in which the Na’avi live to mine for the precious mineral found beneath it.
The movie has a very deep, heart-rending message of how truly precious our world is, and how humans ignore our world in favor of their own greed. The movie seemed very much like Fern Gully and Pocahontas because of the similar storylines and message, but much more dramatic and with a much better story and graphics.
All of the actors were perfect for their parts, and made me forget that I was watching a movie. The Avatars were visibly similar to their human counterparts, and didn’t all look exactly the same as one might have expected.
There was a great deal of symbolism in the movie. From the trees that symbolized God to the ore that the settlers were mining, symbolizing gold, the movie took every opportunity to show that the message was about the Earth without explicitly saying it. The other bodies show the desire of smart humans to be something else, something more advanced than they are.
My only qualm with the movie was how long the final battle with Colonel Miles Quaritch (Stephen Lang, The Men Who Stare at Goats) lasted, but it was necessary to emphasize what a tough adversary the Colonel was.
I highly suggest that you see this movie in 3D while it is still in the theaters; it’s absolutely worth the extra three dollars, but even if you don’t see it in 3D, you still have no excuse to miss Avatar, as the graphics would be just as amazing on any screen.
Rating: ★★★★★
