Avatar - A Review

I heard of the title of the movie. I knew the movie was directed by acclaimed Oscar winning director James Cameron. I saw some promotional shots of the movie with blue people in it. Other than that, I have no idea what this whole movie is about.

Until I watched it this evening.

And was totally blown away by it!!!


This movie is about a marine, Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) being sent to some planet where he was suppose to replace the place of his dead scientist twin brother to explore a new planet. He met other scientist Grace (Sigourney Weaver) and Norm who controlled Avatars, synthetic clones that were made to look like the native aliens in the planet, with their minds. Jake was later recruited by the military colonel to report to him because he believed that diplomatic measures were useless against the aliens and all they wanted was the precious metal buried underneath the natives' sacred Hometree. In the Avatar, Jake was attacked by some mean looking big ass animal and was rescued by Neytiri (Zoe Saldana). She brought him back to her people and Jake was accepted by the people as a foreigner who was there to learn after Eywa, the natives' goddess showed signs. After 3 months, Jake went through all the passage of rites as a native and gained the people's trust. He also fell in love with Neytiri. However, the humans wanted to attacked the Hometree for the precious metal and killed a lot of natives. After learning Jake's true intentions, he was out-casted by the tribe. To gain their trust back and to help the natives fight for their homes, he tamed the Toruk, a legendary bird that the natives believed can only be tamed by great warriors at dire times. Jake lead the aliens against the human and finally drove the human away from the planet.


The plot is relatively simple. The story wasn't anything remarkable. But the flow was so exciting that I totally forgot to predict whatever that is going to happen next. There was not a moment of boredom in the movie. Every scene was filled with heart- pumping action, imagination-filled creations, tear-jerking emotions... There wasn't a second that the audiences weren't feeling anything. Unless one was asleep during the movie and I doubt that that is possible.


This movie was supposed to be done ten years ago. I am extremely glad that James Cameron did this movie now. Because technology ten years ago can never produce this kind of result. This movie is part live action, part motion capture, heavily CGI-ed with newly developed stereoscopic filming technique specially developed for this movie. The natives looked so real and everything else in the movie is so creative. Insects that were beautiful, move in ways that surprised me, and so creatively designed. Plants that glowed in the dark, turn fluorescent at tactile, plants that don't look like plants, etc. And the action scenes were brilliantly done!! One moment you see Neytiri on top of a tree, the next she was sliding gracefully down the leaf of a tree, the next she was doing flips on a branch, the next she was on a huge colourful bird, etc. And the slow motion techniques used to emphasize the effects of the movements. Simply brilliant!!




I also love James Cameron for his mind. I love many concepts in the movie. The natives in the movie emphasis on Eywa and the balance of life. It is like a bold reminder to human that we need to understand and communicate with our surroundings. The natives loved the nature and embrace nature as it is the provider. But human, we can destroy homes and lives, just for monetary wealth. The theme of the movie also boldly reminded us of our own arrogance of trying to teach the aliens English, giving them highways and houses. It didn't occur to the humans that they don't need us and they were a far more supreme and sensitive species than the human race.


Another concept that I love about this movie is the "connection". There were these tentacles at the end of the braid of every native. They just need to make the connection by letting these tentacles entwined around the tentacles of their "horses" or their "birds" or their "spirit trees". It is literally like a huge network that connects the natives through biochemical interactions. Very much like our own Internet where the tentacles are like the USB port or something. It is very creative isn't it?

The soundtrack of the movie is also awesome. And the composer of the scores are no other than my favourite James Horner. The soundtrack captured every essence of the movie and played the feelings of the audiences like how Carlos Santana shreds his guitar. It was perfect and I think the reasons that I had goosebumps and that I actually sat up straight during all those nerve-wrecking-I-don't-know-if-he-is-going-to-die moments is because of the scores.


Great storyline. Brilliant actions. A total visual buffet with the special effects. And a total audio feast. This is one hell of a movie. I would love to watch it again.

I absolutely salute James Cameron as a director, a creator and an imaginator!!

Ratings : 9/10. This movie is THREE hours long. Bring a jacket and empty your bladder before movies. Large amount of popcorn and drinks might be necessary. Or you will be so blown away that you forget to eat.