Avatar – You’re not in Kansas anymore.

Well folks, it’s been a while, and I wanted to shoot out a review for Avatar for a number of reasons.  First being, it’s the new year – Happy New Years everyone, and secondly, Avatar was the movie of the year.  Now, don’t get me wrong.  Avatar was far from perfect.  However, as an experience, Avatar was unparalleled in the realm of cinema and there are few points I wanted to make.  I’m going to try a different setup with just words and then pictures at the end.  So without further ado, let’s get this party started.

It’s been 12 long years since James Cameron has tackled directing and my expectations for Avatar were mixed to say the least.  First off, any movie that relies heavily on CG tends to come out subpar for a various number of reasons.  The CG just is difficult to integrate seamlessly, and with the advent of HD technology, the differences are easily noticeable (See new Star Wars movies et al).  Not to mention, James Cameron has been out of the game for a very long time.  Questions were raised such as: did he still have it in him to direct a Sci-Fi movie on an epic scale?  His last movie was Titanic, which despite its amazing technical feats will forever remain a chick flick.  So, going into the movie, I kept my expectations leveled as I put on my cool REAL3D glasses.  And let me just say, the experience blew my mind.  My eyes took a minute to adjust to the depth of the visuals when the movie first opens inside the space ship but it drew me in from the getgo.  This was the first time I thought to myself: “Wow, this 3D thing isn’t just a gimmick to make Hollywood more money.”

The story on the other hand wasn’t quite as cool as the effects, because it’s a story we’ve all seen quite often.  It’s, well, it’s Dances with Wolves in space, but they cut out the Indians and put in giant blue ethnic people instead.  In the future not so far away apparently, a giant nameless mega-corporation has found an inhabited planet in which of course houses an extremely valuable mineral.  On the downside however, there is a clan of giant mobile/agile/hostile blue natives, which happens to live in a giant Tree home, right on top of the largest untapped source of this mineral.  You can guess what happens next.  Anyways, Jake Sully an ex-marine is sent in as an Avatar – a physical embodiment of these blue natives, to integrate himself into the society in an attempt to negotiate a peaceful resolution.  As always in these stories, Jake starts to fall in love with the native’s culture and the beautiful (this is mostly prospective, because she’s large and blue) Neytiri.  That sums up the plot.  They win, but they don’t really win, because well, nobody wins, except they’re still happy.

On a subject change I wanted to point out a few things that stuck with me and this is in no particular order of importance.   During the Avatar sex scene, my buddy Robby looked over to me and whispered, “Wow, this is…kinda weird.”  Me:  “But it’s in 3D!!!”  We then proceeded to giggle for five minutes like Japanese schoolgirls.  Later it occurred to me, that this is the future of the pornography industry.  After one of the more dramatic scenes, there was a lot of fire and one of the mounts ran across the scene on fire in slow motion.  This prompted a, “Geezus James Cameron…” That brought back flashbacks of that scene in Terminator 2 when Sarah Connor dreamed of a nuclear explosion, in which the scene depicted a playground rocking horse on fire.  It’s just TOO much, sometimes.  Moving on, that scene in which they’re praying is utterly and completely ridiculous. Finally, didn’t it seem entirely awkward to you when Neytiri held the real Jake Sully in her arms?  Holy physically awkward Batman.  I was thinking “That’s a HUGE bitch!” the whole way.  Also, back to that sex scene, didn’t that scene remind you of Watchmen?  When the Blue man was in Vietnam instead of a Vegas show, and had a big blue ____.  Some of you guys get it and by guys I mean Vu.

Anyways, back to the movie’s important facets, despite a hackneyed over arching plot, James Cameron has created both an amazing experience and fully realized lush world.  The story telling is steady and practiced and James Cameron has shown that he’s still got it.  When paired with Sci-Fi and a bottomless budget, he will deliver unto us.  Believe that.  Despite gorgeously choreographed action scenes, I found myself engaged most during the moments when the main characters were simply running through the forest or when Jake Sully flies in the air for first time.  In fact, now I am convinced those are the strongest moments of the movie.  When the movie tried to hammer home its points upon capitalism and corporate moral corruption, the movie lost momentum.  Watch the movie for the experience in 3D, and you will enjoy it.  For these reasons, I will give it 5 out of 5 stars.  It’s not perfect, but I loved it and I am hard pressed to find an experience in the movie theater that I enjoyed more.

Here are some screen shots for you guys.

“I want this mission high and tight. I want to be home for dinner.” – Colonel

“How will I know if he chooses me?” “He will try to kill you.”

Neytiri calls me skxawng. It means “moron.”

We look so cool, I know.  Btw, that lady must’ve not paid the extra for 3D glasses and that is why she looks entirely bored.