Directed by James Cameron
Everyone has seen the hype. Blockbuster film director James Cameron has spent a record $330 million and worked as writer, director, editor and producer to create a 22nd century Eden called Pandora. He even put his vision on hold to develop the technology that would meld animation and actual performances to enable audiences to become immersed in his world inhabited by the 3m tall, blue Na’vi. There’s no 3D trickery to make you duck as things fly out of the screen because Cameron wants to take people into his extraordinary world where the most breath-taking beauty exists alongside unimaginable dangers.
Unfortunately the greatest danger posed to the primitive indigenous population of Pandora is by greedy mining corporations who have a private army to deal with any trouble. The audience sees the magical world through the eyes of wheelchair-bound former Marine Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) who becomes the human mind of an engineered alien body in order to survive the lethal air on Pandora. His mission is to infiltrate the Na’vi population and help smooth the way for the mining bulldozers, but falling in love with the feisty Neytiri (Zoe Saldana) and becoming a respected warrior of the clan changes his outlook.
Cameron’s last film, the 1997 Titanic broke all records, winning a record number of awards as well as breaking the $1 billion mark at the box office and Avatar looks like it will live up to its hype. Unfortunately, while the technology is cutting-edge and watching the film in 3D is an amazing experience, the script does not deviate from a traditional narrative where Cameron, who created Terminator, gets to unleash all the special effects in a 20 minute battle scene. Fortunately Sigourney Weaver (as Dr Grace Augustine) gets to deliver one of the best lines in a film (again).
Lezly Herbert
