CheekyChicago

I imagine seeing Avatar is like seeing Star Wars in 1977 or Lord of the Rings. Despite huge financial production costs, SW and Lord of the Rings were smash successes, and now Avatar is one as well.

Avatar is an event.

The film is set in the year 2154. The U.S. Armed Forces are in mission on an earth-sized moon orbiting a massive star named Pandora. Pandora is home to a mineral that dying Earth is in desperate need of. However, Pandora is inhabited by the Na’vi, a blue-skinned, golden-eyed race of tall, lean giants who reside in a forest. Humans cannot breathe on Pandora. In order to get there, the U.S. has employed a program using avatars – Na’vi look-alikes grown and mind-controlled by humans who remain safe on the ship. The avatars allow the humans to eat, breathe, feel, and smell, and have the same super physical attributes. Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) enjoys these attributes as a paraplegic Marine hired by the United States. You see, his genetic makeup is the exact same as his dead brother who was controlling avatars before his demise. Quickly, Jake is confronted by Col. Miles Quartich (Stephen Lang) and says that if he can get into Pandora and discover their weak points to make for a smooth sailing ambush and destruction, Col. Miles will provide Jake Sully with a pair of fresh new legs. This is Jake’s plan, but on his first trip to Pandora, he gets lost and ends up meeting Neytiri (Zoe Saldana). It’s here that she teaches Jake about her world and he ends up falling in love with her, but most importantly, the world around him. It’s one huge network: the trees help the leaves, the leaves help the odd looking animals, the animals help the Na’Vi…everything and everyone are dependent on each other. Jake slowly earns their trust and becomes one of them. In turn, he ends up going “rogue” and protects Pandora from the U.S. coming in and blowing it up completely.

The acting is okay, nothing that will blow your mind. I do think that what impresses most is that you are completely wrapped up in the characters…and the special effects.

This is a technological masterpiece. Director/writer James Cameron spent nearly 15 years developing the movie, but could not create it until now because the technology was either unavailable or was too expensive. Cameron used breakthrough motion capture techniques, whatever that means. I don’t quite understand how it all works, but the end result is outstanding….all 163 minutes of it.