Cameron, who has delivered the highest grossing movie of all time, Titanic, and timeless features like The Terminator, Aliens and The Abyss, has emerged once again with a movie that will go down in history. With Avatar, he certainly seems like “the king of the world,”—a line from Titanic which he included in his 1997 Oscar acceptance speech for best director award — or at least the king of his times for directing movies well accepted by the critics and the crowd.
Avatar is based in Pandora, a place far away from the human world, inhabited by the Na’vi tribe. The blue, slender and strong Na’vi population underscores the aesthetics of Avatar. The army of humans gathers with their weapons and gadgets in Pandora to research about the Na’vi, their culture, and at the same time, to exploit the US$20 million/kilo mineral. Dr. Grace Augustine (Sigourney Weaver) is the head of the Avatar program that creates the replica of Na’vi amalgamating the human and Na’vi DNA so the human-created avatars can go to Pandora, where it is impossible for humans to breathe, mingle with the Na’vi, and transport information. It’s a mission.
Jake Sully (Sam Worthington), a paralyzed former marine, takes on his dead sibling’s responsibility for the mission. Overjoyed in his walking-running avatar, Jake goes into the wild on duty; his will to explore abscond him from his groupies. Amid the glowing trees, carnivorous creatures and a wonderland for any human, Jake meets his unhuman love interest Neytiri (Zoe Saldaña). Jake is soon accepted in the clan, and learns the tricks and trade of the tribe; he becomes one of them. However, Colonel Miles Quaritch (Stephen Lang) is not happy when Jake defends the attack against the Na’vi, and the human avatar turns against the humans.
Watching avatar in 3D is a theatrical spectacle. Pandora is created in a beautiful manner with nature and wildlife—Direhorse, Viperwolf, Hammerhead Titanothere— in their natural habitat. It definitely brings the vision of an adventurous dream destination alive.
The technology and the graphic simulations in Avatar surpass Cameron’s past projects. Avatar is larger in every scale with new technological innovations used especially for this movie. Cameron said Avatar was conceived in the 1990s but held off for the right time so he could work with advanced technology. And it reflects on the final product, Cameron’s picture-perfect frames. He wanted Avatar to be so perfect that he got on board a linguist from the University of Southern California, Paul Frommer, to create the Na’vi language.
So true to life, Avatar takes you on a cinematic joyride where you don’t have to stress your thoughts but just smile and gaze at the magnificent avatars living their daily life. And each expression of the digitally created figures is more than you could see on a human—their fear, fury and flirtatiousness are well captured for the audience to notice. It cannot be put as award-winning performances but heart-winning for sure.
Avatar also resonates a lot with the current world. It depicts human greed and power; a notion that humans have of their superiority that they can win a war against the less powerful, the indigenous tribe who fight with bows and arrows, as in this case. In some way or the other, the movie also echoes the ongoing war in the world today. Col. Quaritch, for instance, is as an egoistic, dogmatic chief declaring war despite looking for a diplomatic solution (though he gives Jake a chance for some diplomacy) to get control over a multi-million dollar mineral site.
This year, while many hi-fi and superhero movies with digital technology such as X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen and G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra have doomed at the box office and disappointed fans, Avatar brings back the joy of watching an entertaining, graphic movie. And it surely would bring big bucks and happiness to the distributors and the production house this holiday season.
With the award season approaching, Avatar has already been nominated for best picture, best director, best original score by James Horner, whom Cameron has partnered after Aliens and Titanic, and best original song, “I see you,” performed by Leona Lewis. And it wouldn’t be left out at the Oscars too.
Avatar might not be as big as Titanic but it is certain to set a big impression. It is 169 minutes of love, war, adventure, and a fulfilling cinematic experience. You might as well want to buckle up to take a ride to Pandora and get close with the Na’vi.
Bank of Kathmandu (BoK) hosted the premiere of Avatar last week at Jai Nepal cinema hall. The fund from the premiere will be handed over to Dev Training Management Services, Dhangadi, which has been working with HIV AIDS inflicted.
Avatar - currently screening at Jai Nepal Cinema Hall.
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