Pictured: Sam Worthington and Zoe Saldana
To the critics who are saying that the film Avatar suffers from a predictable plot, I ask you, was there a single person on the face of the earth who could not predict the ending of Titanic? The plot of that film is entirely unoriginal and follows the romantic epic formula to a precise t, but we love it just the same because in terms of scope, it was something we had never seen before. The same can be said of Avatar, which has a visual impact more closely resembling the premiere of Star Wars than it does Titanic, James Cameron’s last big-budget blockbuster.
The plot takes place in the year 2154 and centers around ex-marine Jake Sully (Sam Worthington), a paraplegic who is called upon to take the place of his recently deceased scientist brother Tom in a government operation based on the distant moon Pandora, at the core of which lies an extremely valuable mineral not found on Earth. In order to gain access to the mineral stores, a team of researchers helmed by Grace Augustine (Sigourney Weaver) adopts “Avatars” or hybrids of human DNA and that of the native population, the Na’vi, that are neurologically linked to the human that is controlling them.
Jake finds himself among these and soon is welcomed into the nearby native tribe, the Omatacaya, where he quickly realizes that he feels more at home in this alien jungle than in the human world. His loyalties become even more blurred when he falls in love with the Na’Vi warrior princess Neytiri (Zoe Saldana) to whom he bonds himself for life. The rest is an action-packed fight for survival coupled with the existential crisis of Jake trying to figure out where he truly belongs. Yes, it is hackneyed, but the hero’s journey is a tale few ever really get tired of seeing.
Visually, Avatar is what it is purported to be: the next step in CGI animation. Every facial expression, sound, and body movement made by one of the giant blue Na’Vi was performed by the actor, and indeed, many are championing Saldana for an acting consideration as despite the graphics, that genuinely is her performance. I certainly support that cause. It is truly unbelievable what Cameron has achieved here. Think Lord of the Rings, except instead of scouting New Zealand for locations, they simply create the desired landscape with computers. The effects used on the actors to create the graceful blue creatures are very similar to those used on Andy Serkis, but the look is much sharper and far more life-like.
Avatar is massively entertaining and genuinely well-acted (better than Titanic, if I may be so bold to say), and is without a doubt going to revolutionize the way films are made from here on out. The plot is not terribly original, but that clearly is not the point. We learn to love the environment of Pandora and its inhabitants just as much as Jake does, and indeed, I continue to find myself wishing it were a real place.
