Even before its release, Avatar, James Cameron’s first film in 12 years, was hailed as the groundbreaking event that would change cinema forever. Like the comet that wiped out the dinosaurs, here on after, the established techniques would have to adapt or die as Cameron’s epic 3D wonderland captured willing drone like audiences.The year is 2154. Earth’s resources are on the wane, the planet is dying and in order to save it, the Military have travelled to the distant planet Pandora, where a priceless mineral, Unobtanium, is inconveniently buried beneath a tribe of the planet’s inhabitants, who aren’t willing to leave.
Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) is an ex-marine paralysed from the waist down. He is given the opportunity to aid earth’s mission by controlling an Avatar body, created from his decease brother‘s DNA, mixed with that of the indigenous Na’vi species.
The Avatar programme is used to improve relationships by providing a familiar blue face for the 12 foot tall, pointy eared Na’vi people to interact with, in the hope that this will smooth their relocation plans.
The humans are cast as the archetypal colonists villains, lead by a war hungry blunt instrument and the epitome of corporate greed. Yes I do mean the Americans. Colonel Quartich (Steven Lang) is straight from a comic book. Is there a such thing as 0D? Unreasonably grating and implausibly aggressive, as if he were the avatar controlled body of one of the rabid wolf like creatures that attack Jake on Pandora. His chiselled jaw and “kill all the savages” mantra make him a farcical cartoon.
When Sully ends up separated from his team on a scouting mission his life is spared by the beautiful all action Na’vi princess Neytiri. Despite his childlike knack of getting into trouble, he is offered the chance to assimilate himself amongst the Na’vi tribe, something no human has ever been able to do.
A good chunk of the film is dedicated to Jake’s exploration of the wildly tropical Padoran lands and Na’vi customs. The planet is beautifully made. Herculean trees and glowing plant life. Beasts that make earth’s tigers and bears look as though they were imagined by a far inferior mind than Cameron’s. Sorry God. The level of involvement required to engage in the story’s evolution and Sully’s transition from marine informant to tribal leader, is around the same amount needed to enjoy the trailer.
However, Cameron’s use of CGI to create something quite literally out of this world is done to perfection, even though I felt the 3D experience somewhat underwhelming and at times, distracting. Sure, dandelion specs float across the eye line as though they were but inches away but rest of the subtle textures and changes in depth were not worth the inflated ticket price. Added to this the darkness of the 3D glasses made sure that blues were not as blue, greens were not as green and the other wonderfully arranged colours of the Na’vi homeland are never as vibrant.
It is easy to buy into the tribal culture. Primitive yet complex, the Na’vi interact with their plant life and animals spiritually through receptors in their tales and it is difficult not to wince as the humans destroy almost every inch of nature they can.
Whether this film will instigate a change in cinema’s landscape is still up for debate, after all, the concept of 3D has been around for over half a century. The box office appeal of Avatar will ensure that future blockbusters will be even more expensive to make but as of yet, the superfluous addition of 3D remains nothing more than decoration.
