Avatar (2009)A new world can be a chance for a new start, and even to become a new person. Avatar (2009) is a science fiction film about a disabled ex-Marine, Jake Sully (Sam Worthington), who takes the place of his recently deceased twin brother to embark on a deep space expedition to the lush but deadly planet of Pandora. He's offered the chance to operate a biological cipher and inhabit a tailor-built body, replicated to resemble the indigenous people of Pandora--the giant, blue-skinned, tribal Na'vi--as part of a token diplomatic and scientific effort while his employers exploit the planet's natural resources.
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When Avatar released in theaters in 2009, it was lauded for its special effects, merging sophisticated three dimensional film and cutting edge motion capture technology. The dazzling imagery and jaw-dropping set pieces in director James Cameron's vision of the world of Pandora set a new high-water mark for computer generated special effects in blockbuster movies. What is special about Avatar is how fully these visual fireworks are integrated into depicting a convincing Pandora--this dream-like vision of a hyper-real world beyond the stars. In keeping with Cameron's trends to push the technological envelope in massive budgeted epic movies, Avatar so convincingly portrays the unreal that watching it almost feels like watching a movie from the future. Hardened soldiers like the viciously militaristic Colonel Miles Quaritch (Stephen Lang) strut about in giant mechanical armor, and the assorted denizens of Pandora--consisting of a diverse caste of predators, some similar to those on Earth--make the jungles of Pandora feel dangerously real. Coincidentally, Avatar creates a simulation of an alien reality and the eponymous "Avatar" project in the film is similar in principle. As the brainchild of gifted "exobotanist", Dr. Grace Augustine (Sigourney Weaver), the Avatar project involves creating a Na'vi body--with DNA contributions by a human puppeteer--in order to walk among them while the puppeteer controls the body and ingratiates themselves into the Na'vi culture and community. Originally established to try to teach and learn from this unknown race, the opportunistic financiers of the excavation project try to exploit this opportunity for infiltration and reconnaissance in order to improve their odds at securing a mother load of "unobtanium"--a rare metal in abundance on Pandora--resting beneath the home of the Na'vi.
The Avatar project blurs the distinctions between human and Na'vi, essentially becoming a fusion form of life--physically indistinguishable from a native, but possessing the mind of the puppeteer. As Jake prepares to take on the form of his avatar, he enters an insulated cell, and essentially goes to sleep; when the avatar sleeps, Jake wakes up. This transition further reinforces the connection between these two alternating lives which Jake leads, where he discovers that he is becoming two different people in two different worlds. When Jake comes to Pandora, he discovers that this was the job that he was paid to do by the indifferent and morally ambivalent corporation. Grace believes that it is a mistake, and that his lack of pre-existing knowledge about the Na'vi will make him a poor controller. When he is left in the woods one night to fend for himself in his avatar form, he is saved from an attack by Neytiri (Zoe Saldana), a Na'vi "warrior princess", who ends up teaching Jake the ways of the Na'vi, from language to survival skills. She believes that he will be unable to learn, claiming that his mind is like a "cup that is already full". Jake makes no claims about being the genius his late twin brother was; ironically, this naivete proves to be an asset, and he is open-minded to the learning process, making him an unlikely liaison. The Na'vi begrudgingly come to trust Jake, and his prior training as a "warrior"--as a Marine--serves him well in this capacity. As the Avatar project prepares him to act as an ambassador--a "hero" of the two worlds--Avatar also depicts these two distinct "worlds"--one of Pandora, and the other being our own society taken to the fringes of the galaxy. Most of the representatives of humanity on Pandora are portrayed as self-serving, violent imperialists--uncaring raiders that care little to nothing in despoiling the natural beauty and complex ecological matrix of the world, with few exceptions like the pilot Trudy Chacón (Michelle Rodriguez) as well as Grace and her team of scientists. For men like Parker Selfridge (Giovanni Ribisi), the corporate administrator in charge of excavating Pandora, the planet represents just another treasure chest. They can think only of the bottom line from a narrow interpretation of wealth as they chase this space age gold rush. Men like Selfridge and Quaritch have no interest in diplomacy, making the Avatar project look like it was started as a false flag operation, developed to tranquilize the Na'vi under the pretense of amicability. But the passion to see the Avatar project succeed reveals that it has produced more insight into the world of Pandora than expected. Even though Avatar runs nearly three hours in length, moments where characters expound upon the creatures and history of Pandora are surprisingly rare. With so much mystery and unexplained phenomena in Avatar, these strange, intriguing set pieces take on a sense of wondrous exploration and discovery, giving Avatar much of its fascinating allure as a result.
Jake narrates much of Avatar, and his speaking voice is unmistakably that of a soldier of war, not a scientist. This gives a grounded tone to his moments of discovery, unburdened by prejudice or jargon. It also emphasizes the unique role Jake has in living between multiple worlds--between the faction of scientists led by Grace and the role he adopts as a double agent. Jake has been feeding intel back to Quaritch about the key defenses and points of interest in the Na'vi society, having been sold on the idea by the Colonel that he could get his legs back if his reconnaissance is good. Even though the world of Pandora has a mysterious, dream-like quality to it, there are details that suggest a complex ecology underneath it, beyond the superficial (yet exciting) moments of colorful avian mounts and floating mountains. Life on Pandora is implied to have an interconnected quality--like the synapses of a brain--which is often vibrant, even bioluminescent. Holy sites to the Na'vi include the mysterious "Tree of Souls", which networks into the very soul of a living being, and can transpose that consciousness into another body. This is similar to the technology used with the avatars, and it also hints at a bio-technological means of interfacing with stored memories in a physiological way. All of this means that in the futuristic world of Avatar, the exploration to other worlds reveals just how similar all creation truly is to one another--between one organic race or another, and the assorted means of networking information, from computers to DNA. Jake represents the person with the most potential, because he is the most sympathetic to the spirit of the worlds he travels between, enriching the proverbial soil with the seeds of knowledge from both sides of the gulf.
Recommended for: Fans of an imaginative science fiction adventure, with a fully realized world and jaw-dropping special effects. Avatar remains the highest grossing film in history, no doubt due to its staggering visuals and universal story. If you have the opportunity, Avatar is a film that is best experienced on the big screen in 3D.
The Avatar project blurs the distinctions between human and Na'vi, essentially becoming a fusion form of life--physically indistinguishable from a native, but possessing the mind of the puppeteer. As Jake prepares to take on the form of his avatar, he enters an insulated cell, and essentially goes to sleep; when the avatar sleeps, Jake wakes up. This transition further reinforces the connection between these two alternating lives which Jake leads, where he discovers that he is becoming two different people in two different worlds. When Jake comes to Pandora, he discovers that this was the job that he was paid to do by the indifferent and morally ambivalent corporation. Grace believes that it is a mistake, and that his lack of pre-existing knowledge about the Na'vi will make him a poor controller. When he is left in the woods one night to fend for himself in his avatar form, he is saved from an attack by Neytiri (Zoe Saldana), a Na'vi "warrior princess", who ends up teaching Jake the ways of the Na'vi, from language to survival skills. She believes that he will be unable to learn, claiming that his mind is like a "cup that is already full". Jake makes no claims about being the genius his late twin brother was; ironically, this naivete proves to be an asset, and he is open-minded to the learning process, making him an unlikely liaison. The Na'vi begrudgingly come to trust Jake, and his prior training as a "warrior"--as a Marine--serves him well in this capacity. As the Avatar project prepares him to act as an ambassador--a "hero" of the two worlds--Avatar also depicts these two distinct "worlds"--one of Pandora, and the other being our own society taken to the fringes of the galaxy. Most of the representatives of humanity on Pandora are portrayed as self-serving, violent imperialists--uncaring raiders that care little to nothing in despoiling the natural beauty and complex ecological matrix of the world, with few exceptions like the pilot Trudy Chacón (Michelle Rodriguez) as well as Grace and her team of scientists. For men like Parker Selfridge (Giovanni Ribisi), the corporate administrator in charge of excavating Pandora, the planet represents just another treasure chest. They can think only of the bottom line from a narrow interpretation of wealth as they chase this space age gold rush. Men like Selfridge and Quaritch have no interest in diplomacy, making the Avatar project look like it was started as a false flag operation, developed to tranquilize the Na'vi under the pretense of amicability. But the passion to see the Avatar project succeed reveals that it has produced more insight into the world of Pandora than expected. Even though Avatar runs nearly three hours in length, moments where characters expound upon the creatures and history of Pandora are surprisingly rare. With so much mystery and unexplained phenomena in Avatar, these strange, intriguing set pieces take on a sense of wondrous exploration and discovery, giving Avatar much of its fascinating allure as a result.
Jake narrates much of Avatar, and his speaking voice is unmistakably that of a soldier of war, not a scientist. This gives a grounded tone to his moments of discovery, unburdened by prejudice or jargon. It also emphasizes the unique role Jake has in living between multiple worlds--between the faction of scientists led by Grace and the role he adopts as a double agent. Jake has been feeding intel back to Quaritch about the key defenses and points of interest in the Na'vi society, having been sold on the idea by the Colonel that he could get his legs back if his reconnaissance is good. Even though the world of Pandora has a mysterious, dream-like quality to it, there are details that suggest a complex ecology underneath it, beyond the superficial (yet exciting) moments of colorful avian mounts and floating mountains. Life on Pandora is implied to have an interconnected quality--like the synapses of a brain--which is often vibrant, even bioluminescent. Holy sites to the Na'vi include the mysterious "Tree of Souls", which networks into the very soul of a living being, and can transpose that consciousness into another body. This is similar to the technology used with the avatars, and it also hints at a bio-technological means of interfacing with stored memories in a physiological way. All of this means that in the futuristic world of Avatar, the exploration to other worlds reveals just how similar all creation truly is to one another--between one organic race or another, and the assorted means of networking information, from computers to DNA. Jake represents the person with the most potential, because he is the most sympathetic to the spirit of the worlds he travels between, enriching the proverbial soil with the seeds of knowledge from both sides of the gulf.
Recommended for: Fans of an imaginative science fiction adventure, with a fully realized world and jaw-dropping special effects. Avatar remains the highest grossing film in history, no doubt due to its staggering visuals and universal story. If you have the opportunity, Avatar is a film that is best experienced on the big screen in 3D.