Avatar
A+
A review by Frederick Cholowski
A quote from James Cameron from the 1998 Oscars seems to be used a lot lately. "I'm king of the world" Cameron yelled expressing all his feelings in one phrase. Man that line is being over used. Unfortunately I must use it, he was king of the world with Titanic in 1998 and now he is king of the world more than a decade later with Avatar the best of 2009 and one of the most immersive and amazing experiences of the decade.
Avatar starts with Jake Sully a former marine whose scientist twin brother just died one day before he was to start his mission on the planet Pandora. Jake replaces him because he is the only other person able to activate his brother's avatar a remote control body with DNA of both humans and the natives the 10 foot Navi. He get's stuck through orders from both ends of the spectrum. One side led by military guru Colonel Miles Quaritch (Stephen Lang) and the other led by scientist Dr. Grace Augustine (Sigourney Weaver). One wants to clear the out the Navi for strip mining (and if they don't blow them up) and the other wants to recreate peace with the natives. Well after being the first human to g ain the trust of the Navi he falls in love with the land. He falls in love mostly with the native who is training him Neytiri (Zoe Saldana). This makes him sympathise for the Navi and he ends up being on there side when the epic battle ends up coming.
It's nice to see an action sci-fi film with a great story and developed characters. The whole first part of the movie centers on Jake's and the human's in general relationship with the planet and the Navi. It still manages to entertain and keep you at the edge of your seat the entire time throwing some awesome chase scenes with giant animals etc. All leading up to the epicness that is the war.
As performances go Stephan Lang nails his role as the awesome rough beaten up Colonel who wants nothing but to blow crap up. Worthington is great as Sully as he nails the growth of the character and the emotional parts and goes with the role to places I did not know he was capable of. Sigourney Weaver is good for what she's given. The first scene you see her she's the take no crap rough scientist then she becomes all nice and stuff. Two important character roles that I did not mention earlier but deserve great mention are Giovanni Ribisi as Parker Selfridge who is your average corporate d-bag who's in it all for the money and Michelle Rodriquez as Trudy Chacon a military pilot who dose some heroic things to help the Navi.
But my favourite role goes to Zoe Saldana who dose an outstanding job of acting a very emotional character just inside a Navi body. She never makes an appearance in human form and is still dose the best job out of everybody. That to me is impressive.
Well the visuals, two words can describe them. Freaking amazing!!!! The 3D is used in such a way that is not just pop out gimmicky, but it creates this atmosphere an atmosphere that is amazing. While 3D is the best way to see it this is a solid package if you watch it in 2D as well. The visual effects are again freaking amazing and I have never ever seen a more visually stunning experience
Avatar is not just a movie it's an experience. One of the best of the decade. There is a strong script and character development here something that is seriously lacing from a lot of action/Sci-fi this year. The performances are great and the visuals oh the visuals. There Freaking amazing!!!!! As we wind down the year the only film I could consider that I'm going to see that could knock off Avatar from movie of the year is District 9. And even then it has to be really really good
