AVATAR [Cameron 2009] - movie review by Mandibil

I remember back in the day, when computer graphics started to appear in movies, like in The Abyss, they talked about one day actors would become obsolete when movies would be completely computer made. Two decades later it has become absolute reality and Avatar is the present state of the art of motion capture, computer generated, full length adult oriented movie making. This movie was also the springboard for a relaunch of the 3D format. It seems it has now caught on, not least because of the awe-inspiring effects in this movie.

A crippled marine Sully, is offered his recently diseased brothers job on the moon Pandora in the Alpha Centauri system. His job is to enter the mind of a cloned copy of the native 3 meters tall, blue race of Na'vi, and thereby regaining his mobility. He needs to infiltrate their society and get them to leave their home, a giant tree, so the mining corporation can get to a huge deposit of a certain ore. As he is learning the ways of this alien tribe, he finds his moral compass starts to turn and point against his own race. Now he has to admit to his original purpose and the tribe turns away from him. He now needs to regain the trust of and rally the inhabitants of Pandora to rise against the humans, to save the future of the planet.

This is a technical marvel. The CGI is astounding all the way through and the attention to detail and sheer beauty of this alien planet, is breathtaking. Add to that the 3D effect which was a real treat in theaters. Really impressive. The story is about reaching in and reigniting your empathy and sense of sympathy for other forms of living organisms and nature as a whole. It is also loaded with a huge amount of hardware in the battle sequences, that adds to the contrast between man made destructive machines, and evolutionary nature's slow and gentle existence. The story is somewhat drowned in the desire to throw action at you, but again, those are also very well made and in general you get a sense of being present in a different, yet attractive world. Empathy is a radar for evil and this is also the classic good vs. evil collision. Cameron has always had an eye for setting up these scenarios and building to a final climax.

The story is fine and interesting enough, but, just like with Titanic, the story is a bit of an excuse to visualize a certain scenario. This is about visualizing a different world in a way that is both alien while still a place you would like to go visit. The task is completely accomplished in my opinion and it is a unique movie in that regard.

Rating: 8/10